106 



THE NUT CULTUEIST. 



family were the first to raise European chestnut trees to 

 a hearing size in this country, for some of its memhers 

 were settled in Delaware hefore the war of the Eevolu- 

 tion. Pierre Samuel Dupont de Nemours, during the 

 French ministry of Vergennes, was employed in form- 

 ing the treaty of 1783, in which the independence of the 

 United States was formally recognized by England. In 



FIG. 33. OPEN ETIR OF THE EIDGELY CHESTNUT. 



1795 (Am. encyclopedia) he came to this country and 

 joined his sons, who had become successful manufactur- 

 ers of gunpowder at or near Wilmington, Del., where 

 their descendants, or at least some of them, are still en- 

 gaged in the same business. If any of the old and orig- 

 inal chestnut trees have escaped the numerous "powder 



