162 
September, 1890, 
/ ORGHRRDfef GARDEN \ 
Chestnut Culture. 
Soils best suited to the Chestnut— A Profitable Crop 
to Grout— Hou' to Plant and Cultivate — The Amer- 
ican the Finest Flavored— Chestnuts for Cooking 
—European Sorts not Sufficiently Hardy— Dif- 
ference in Habit of Growth— The Japan Chestnut. 
Chestnut culture is a young and growing 
industry that is very properly claiming con- 
siderable attention in this country, and has 
been proven to be profitable. The spirit of 
inquiry is abroad on the subject, and there 
is much to be learned about it by tree men 
and orchardists. I hope that our various 
agricultural colleges and experimental sta- 
tions will give attention to it for the infor- 
mation of the public, and show what are 
the geographical possibilities of chestnut 
culture. Whilst the chestnut is very wide- 
ly distributed throughout the United States 
as an indigenous tree, still there are a great 
many localities where it is not found nat- 
urally, and the questions are often asked 
whether they can be profitably introduced, 
and whether they will grow on limestone 
soil and on alluvial bottom lands. 
I quote from Arthur Bryant’s book on 
“Forest Trees.” “Wher- 
ever the soil is suitable 
and the winters not too 
severe, few forest trees 
merit the attention of 
growers more than the 
chestnut. It seems to 
prefer the sides and 
neighborhood of hills 
and mountains with a 
AMERICAN SWEET dry sandy or gravelly 
Chestnut. soil, although it will 
grow on almost any soil except a wet one, 
but does not appear to grow more rapidly 
in the richer soils than on the poorer lands. 
Lands utterly worthless for cultivation may 
be made to yield an income by planting 
them with chestnuts.” 
The author of the above paragraph prob- 
ably alluded to chestnut culture as forest 
trees, but I shall confine my attention to it 
as an orchard and ornamental tree. Al- 
though chestnut orchards that have come 
into bearing are few as yet, still the experi- 
ments that have been made are encouraging 
and indicate that they w ill be quite as profit- 
able as any 
other fruit 
trees. Here 
is the testi- 
m o n y of 
Henry W. 
Comfort, of 
Fallsington , 
Pa., an ener- 
getic farmer 
who is ex- 
tensively en- Numbo Chestnut. 
gaged in raising large and small fruits, ber- 
ries vegetables, etc. He says, “Having 
planted one acre of Numbo chestnuts, graft- 
ed trees eight years ago, I can say that they 
are of vigorous growth, very ornamental, 
and begin to bear large, sweet nuts early. 
In the fall of 1888 they averaged two quarts 
per tree and sold at 25 cents per quart, at 
wholesale. I consider that in the near future 
this acre of nuts will pay me far better than 
any other acre of fruit I have, KiefFer pear 
excepted.” 
There are no other trees as well adapted 
for avenues, that will at the same time yield 
profitable returns, as our native nut-bearing 
trees, and none more suitable for shade and 
ornament about farm buildings, along 
farm lanes or in pasture fields. In planting 
chestnut orchards or avenues the trees 
should be set at least 40 feet apart, and some 
varieties will require 45 to 50 feet, and like 
all other fruit trees they need to be heavily 
mulched or have the land kept mellow' about 
them while they are small. The bearing 
age for chestnuts is similar to that of apples 
and pears. Natural trees usually commence 
to bear at from 12 to 20 years of age, and 
grafted trees of the most prolific varieties 
in from two to seven years after grafting, 
varying, of course, with the age of the stocks 
on which they are worked, and other con- 
ditions. An orchard of Numbo or Paragon 
chestnuts will become profitable as early as 
an orchard of Baldwin or Smith’s Cider ap- 
ples, and pay as well. Both of these va- 
rieties possess in an eminent degree the es- 
sential qualities of hardiness, productive- 
ness and early bearing, with large size and 
fine appear- 
ance of nuts. 
There are 
many other 
fine varieties 
of chestnuts 
through out 
the country 
which have 
Spanish Chestnut. local reputa- 
tions for superiority, and are no doubt wor- 
thy of more general dissemination, but they 
have not been introduced to the public, and 
like all other new fruits will have to be 
tested in different localities and under var- 
ied circumstances before they can be con- 
fidently recommended as profitable. 
Chestnut culture is in its infancy yet, and 
as the demand for improved new' sorts grows 
they will be found and offered. In flavor 
no large chestnut, and no European or Ja- 
pan chestnut, either large or small, that I 
have eaten are equal to the small ones found 
in our native woods and meadows, if eaten 
raw. They lack the sweet, delicate flavor 
which is the standard of excellence in nuts, 
and in most large nuts there is more or less 
astringency in the skin w T hich covers the 
kernel, but boiling or roasting corrects this 
defect, and after they are cooked and the 
skin removed, which p< els very readily 
from large nuts, there is but little difference 
in the taste of different kinds. When the 
culinary uses of chestnuts are more gener- 
ally appreciated in this country, as they are 
in Europe, the demand for those of large 
size will be greatly increased. When they 
are boiled alone, or shelled and boiled with 
Lima beans and properly seasoned, they 
make a delicious dish. European cooks 
know how to utilize them in a variety of 
ways. Repeated efforts have been made to 
introduce the Maron de Lyons and other 
large varieties which are cultivated in Eu- 
rope, but w ithout success as they are not 
hardy in this latitude. The majority' of 
imported trees and seedlings raised in this 
country from imported nuts are injured or 
killed entirely by our severe winters. It is 
doubtful if more than five per cent, of im- 
ported European chestnuts live long enough 
to come into bearing. But stock raised from 
seed of the few exceptionally hardy trees 
which do flourish here, is generally hardy, 
and in this way a strain of European chest- 
nuts has been secured that is well adapted 
to the climate of the Eastern States. In 
habit of growth the European chestnut dif- 
fers from the native species about as the 
Japan Giant Chestnut. 
Norway' maple differs from the Sugar maple. 
The foreign species branches low and forms 
a round headed tree, while the American 
grows taller and more spreading. Anoth- 
er characteristic distinction is in the nuts; 
the fuzz about the point being thicker, and 
covering a much larger proportion of the 
shell on the American than on the foreign 
species. The Japan chestnut appears to be 
a smaller tree than either of the other spe- 
cies and a valuable introduction. It has 
slender branches and handsome foliage, is 
of compact, symmetrical habit, and will be 
found a useful ornamental tree for small 
plantations w'here there would not be room 
for some of the larger shade trees. I have 
not yet had opportunity of observing its 
adaptability as an orchard tree, but fear 
that many w ho plant them with the expec- 
tation of gathering such giant nuts as those 
imported from Japan, w'ill be disappointed. 
All the fruit that I have seen that grew in 
this country was quite medium in size. — 
Samuel C. Moon. 
1 » i 
Preserving Chestnuts for Seed. 
Messrs. Storrs & Harrison, who have had 
considerable experience, give the following 
as their method of keeping seed: “We buy 
it in the fall from growers, put it in a box, 
three parts sand to one of chestnuts, put this 
box in the ground and cover it about a foot 
deep with the soil, and we have always had 
good success. We tried keeping them in the 
cellar but never had good success. We have 
also planted in the fall but like spring the 
best.” 
