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PRACTICAL rOEESTRY. 



warp when seasoning, and for this reason is objectional for 

 either hewn or sawed timber, to be used in the frames of 

 buildings. It is extensively employed in the manufacture of 

 furniture, and inside finishing of dwellings and other buildings, 

 but must be very thoroughly seasoned before used. It makes 

 very poor fuel, not worth half as much as hickory, as it burns 

 slow, snaps disagreeably, and throws out little heat. The 

 wood of old trees is quite durable when used for railway ties 

 and fence posts, but the young trees of from six to twelve 

 inches in diameter will seldom last more than eight or ten 

 years, unless charred or coated with coal tar, or some similar 

 wood preservative. I have used many hundred of chestnut 

 fence posts of from five to ten inches in diameter, and must say 

 that this rapid decay, even in very dry soils, has somewhat sur- 

 prised me, inasmuch as the chestnut is so frequently recom- 

 mended for such purposes on account of its great durability. 

 This tree, however, is well worthy of extended cultivation 

 wherever the climate and soil will admit of it, for it is of ex- 

 ceedingly rapid growth and may be transplanted as success- 

 fully as almost any of our cultivated fruit or forest trees. It 

 is said to avoid hmestone regions, and stiff, clayey soils, but 

 is at home on slaty or granite ridges, and in sandy soils, 

 whether high or low. On the red sandstone ridges of New 

 Jersey and southward, the Chestnut trees are abundant, and 

 reach a large size. The nuts are quite variable in size and 

 form, and there are occasional natural varieties that are almost 

 equal in size to the European chestnut. These should be 

 selected in preference to the smaller ones, by those who desire 

 to raise trees for producing nuts. 



The Chestnut is found in Southern Maine, west to Michigan, 

 and southwest to Arkansas. Also in all of the Eastern States 

 and south to Florida. 



C. pumila. — Dwarf Chestnut, Chinquapin. — Lance-oblong 

 leaves, downy beneath. Nuts small, round, solitary, or only one 

 in each burr, very sweet and fine grained. A handsome little 

 tree, with a roundish head, thirty to forty feet high, growing 

 on sandy ridges, from Pennsylvania and Southern Ohio, south- 

 ward to the Gulf of Mexico. Hardy in Northern New Jersey, 

 and about New York City where an occasional tree planted a 

 half century ago is seen. By grafting the Chinquapin on stocks 

 of the common Chestnut, the growth will be greatly improved, 

 and the trees will come into bearing much earlier than when 



