THE CHESTNUT. 
The Chestnut is a hardy tree, whose crop, except that of the Japan chestnut, is 
seldom injured by late frosts in the spring, as it blooms late in June ; it is a regular 
mountain tree, and may be regarded right at home in our mountains. The soil best 
suited to the chestnut is a sandy, granite, or ferrugiuous-sandy-clayish, deep soil. lu 
Nevada County, up to an altitude of 3,000 feet, can be seen 26-year-old chestnuts 
bearing well, and bearing nice nuts. This nut is certainly better adapted to Central 
and Northern California than to Southern California, unless planted in the mountains 
there and at a northern exposure, for the chestnut dreads a too hot sun. Oregon and 
Washington, especially the former, are well adapted to chestnut culture, though a 
southern exposure in both States might be the best. The chestnut will mature its 
niits well at an altitude of .3,000 feet in the latitude of Northern California. In moun- 
tain gorges, and with a sunny exposure, the chestnut does splendidly ; otherwise an 
eastern exposure is best for that tree. The chestnut does not reproduce itself very 
well from the seed, hence the reason why that tree is invariably grafted to obtain those 
large round nuts known the world over under the name of " Marrons " or French 
chestnuts. The American chestnut is propagated from the seed, and is almost barren 
in California, but much better results could be obtained as to size, quality and pro- 
ductiveness, if its best types were propagated by grafting, which we ourselves intend to 
do hereafter. In certain soils where the chestnut root does badly, but the oak root 
does well, the chestnut may be grafted with advantage on the oak, but it should not 
be done high, for the chestnut outgrows the oak a good deal. 
The common European chestnut, whether French, Italian or Spanish, is small, 
flat on both sides, at least half of them, and grow generally four to six in one burr! 
In Europe they are dried hard -and ground to the consistency of meal, and a delicious 
mush made with it and milk. The cultivated chestnut— the kind raised for dessert 
and market, and which is either roasted or boiled — is the Marron ; it grows single or 
in pairs, sometimes three in one burr. The Marrons, the best and finest marketable 
chestnuts, are large, sweet, and when roasted or boiled the inner skin comes off 
nicely. If roasted, a small incision should be made with a knife at the small end 
before putting them on the fire ; if boiled, the shell should be first removed and the 
nats boiled in water as potatoes, with a little salt and a twig of celery. They are 
delicious cooked both ways. A Thanksgiving turkey stuffed with "chestnuts" is also 
getting to be quite a la mode up here, in this chestnut growing region, and it is a 
capital dish. That delicious nut is largely consumed in all the cities and towns of 
Europe, Paris alone consuming 25,000,000 pounds of Marron chestnuts. 
The Marrons are solely propagated by grafting ; from the seed they generally go 
back to the mother type or common chestnut, called here Italian chestnut, a very 
inferior kind in all respects. All the varieties that we describe in this catalogue have 
been bearing with us, some of them for 24 years ; so we are able to tell about their 
bearing qualities, size and flavor of the nuts, and we do not hesitate in warmly rec- 
ommending such kinds as Combale, Quercy, Avant-Chataigue, Nouzillard, Merle, 
Chalon, Precoce-Prolilique, and others on our list. People must bear iii mind! 
though, that trees have to be of a good size to bear large burrs and consequently 
large nuts ; when too young, very often the burrs are empty. We shall right here 
call the attention of the public to the marked difference that exists between those 
various kinds of French chestnuts ; color of the wood, size and glossiness of the 
leaves and difference in color of the nuts, make of each of them a distinct variety, and 
whenever seedlinp trees are sold for those grafted kinds, the fraud can easily be 
detected the very first summer. 
FRENCH CHESTNUTS, 
or MARRONS. 
(Solely propagated by grafting.) 
Marron Combale.— This kind bears 
the largest nut of our whole collection of 
French Chestnuts. It is very productive, 
but bears more heavy with age The nut 
is very large, round, sweet and nicely 
flavored. The wood of the Combale is of a 
yellowish-brown, the leaves narrow and 
very glossy. The Combale tree represented 
on plate IV, bore this year (1898), 132 
pounds of most beautiful nuts, with shells 
of a -dark brown. For size of nuts, see 
Fig. 17, Plate V. 
Miirron Quercy.— This fine variety of 
chestnut was obtained from the old pro- 
vince of that name in the southwest of 
France. It is quite precocious, that is 
goes to bearing sooner than Combale and 
other varieties, and is a very heavy bearer. 
The nut is large, next to Combale for size, 
of a very dark brown, almost black, also 
sweet and well flavored. The wood of the 
