94 THE NUT CULTUKIST. 



come to this country, there are varieties offered for sale 

 in the markets of Aomori, which is much further north, 

 and these, he thinks, would produce a more hardy race 

 of Tarieties than those we have already received from 

 that country. As a race, all the Japan chestnuts are 

 very precocious, the trees coming into bearing early 

 whether raised from the nut or propagated by grafting. 



Native Varieties. (Group One). — While it is well 

 known that our American sweet chestnut varies widely 

 in the size, flavor, form, color and general appearance of 

 the nuts, no special effort has been made to select and 

 perpetuate the most distinct and valuable varieties. 

 This is to be regretted, inasmuch as the opportunities 

 for making such selections, and preserving and propa- 

 gating those most worthy of it, are rapidly passing away 

 with the destruction of our chestnut forests ; but there 

 is still time to do something in this direction, and per- 

 haps save a few varieties as valuable as those already 

 destroyed. It is to be hoped that every man who knows 

 of a large variety, will either propagate it himself, or 

 point it out to some one who is sufficiently interested to 

 do so. If proper attention was given to the raising of 

 seedlings, we might soon secure many improved native 

 varieties, and I would urge this mode of propagation 

 upon all whose circumstances and surroundings will ad- 

 mit of it, and especially upon the young men who pos- 

 sess the talent and inclination to make such experiments ; 

 for there is a wide and fertile field open to them, ana 

 they can scarcely fail to reap a rich reward for their 

 labors, if applied with earnestness and a moderate 

 amount of intelligence. 



BxjELBSS CHESTNUT. — This is a peculiar variety or 

 freak, in which the burs are merely shallow cups upwi 

 which the nuts rest, and at no stage of their growth are 

 they enclosed in a husk or bur. The nuts are small and 

 usually perfect, but being unprotected they are preyed 



