197 
The Garden Magazine, May, 1920 
PECAN IN THE NORTH 
A tree of the South where it is the oldest cultivated nut, 
the Pecan is the largest of all nut-bearing trees. This speci- 
men in the Arnold Arboretum is curiously hardy it seems 
I he fruit of all the Chestnuts — there are seven species — is 
edible. In eastern Asia grow four species, in this country two 
and in south Europe and extending to Asia Minor, the Caucasus, 
and northern Persia the remaining one. There is a strong 
family likeness between all, so much so that many botanists have 
united them all into one species; but the seven species may be 
distinguished by the absence or presence and distribution of 
minute, round, scale-like glands, and of hairs on the leaves as 
well as other less obvious technical characters. 
The European (C. sativa) is the best known and most famous 
of Chestnuts, but unfortunately it is not hardy in the colder 
parts of this country. It is much cultivated in Italy, Spain, and 
in France, where the nut is a staple article of food. In England 
it has been widely planted but, except in a few favored localities, 
the fruit does not properly mature. This Chestnut is one of the 
largest and noblest of European trees. It is indeed the largest 
of the genus and trees 100 feet tall and 20 feet in girth of trunk, 
with a wide-spreading crown of massive branches are not un- 
common. The nuts are usually three in each spiney, round 
husk, occasionally more, sometimes only one. There are many 
garden varieties and some with a very large nut are grown in 
Madeira. 
Rivalling in size of nut the European species is the Japanese 
C. crenata, wide-spread in Japan and in Korea. It is hardier 
than the European Chestnut but is prone to disease. It is not 
a very large tree but some of the named sorts like Tamba or 
Mammoth have huge nuts. The flavor is rather inferior, how- 
ever. The type and the best known varieties have been intro- 
duced to this country. The trees grow rapidly and fruit at a 
comparatively early age, and it is regrettable that they are not 
more disease resistant. 
More valuable is the Chinese Chestnut (C. mollissima) intro- 
duced into this country from Peking by Professor Sargent in 
1903. The nut is rather smaller than those of the preceding 
species but is sweet and of excellent flavor. It is a tree of mod- 
erate size, wide-spread in China from east to west, and north- 
ward into Manchuria. It is cultivated in northwest Korea and 
is esteemed above the native species. Long shaggy hairs on 
the shoot distinguish this species from all others. Though sub- 
ject to Chestnut blight in the Orient, this kind seems to be im- 
mune or nearly so in this country and this, combined with its 
hardiness, makes it a most useful tree for cultivating and breed- 
ing purposes here 
Common in central and western China, growing in mixed 
forests of the higher mountains, is the largest of the Asiatic 
Chestnuts, C. Henryana, which is occasionally 100 ft. tall and 
18 ft. in girth of trunk and is characterized by having normally 
a solitary ovoid nut in each spiney husk. The leaves are smooth 
without glands and the lateral nerves project beyond the margin 
in long hair-like points; the petioles and shoots are quite smooth 
and dark colored. The nut, though small, is very sweet and of 
most excellent flavor. 1 introduced it in 1907 to the Arnold 
Arboretum where it has proved quite hardy. 
W E NEED say nothing here about the American C.dentata, 
but a passing word is due the Chinquapin or shrubby 
Chestnut (C. pumila). This bush or small tree is distributed 
south from Pennsylvania to northern Florida and westward to 
southern Arkansas and eastern Texas. It bears usually a single 
nut in each husk which, though very small, is very sweet and 
good eating. This species in the hands of the hybridists may 
be the progenitor of a race of Bush-chestnuts of great value for 
orchards. As before mentioned Dr. Van Fleet has already 
made some very promising crosses, and there is no reason why 
future generations should not have a strain of Bush-chestnuts 
bearing fruits as large as the European and Japanese kinds, and 
as hardy and sweet in flavor as the Chinese. 
In the southeastern United States at low elevations from 
North Carolina to western Florida and west to Louisiana grows 
the dwarf C. alnifolia in which the husk is only sparingly clad 
with spines. This is a shrub or low tree from 10 to 30 feet tall. 
There is in China also a bush Chestnut (C. Seguinii) which 
ought to be reintroduced to our gardens. It has long been 
known, and Robert Fortune introduced it to England in the 
fifties of the last century, but it seems to have soon become lost 
and its value unappreciated. This also 1 introduced to the 
Arnold Arboretum in 1907, but the plants were afterward de- 
stroyed by a grass fire caused by a careless visitor. It is abun- 
dant on the hills throughout the Yangtsze Valley and there 
should be no difficulty in securing seeds, though they travel 
badly. It forms a bush from 10 to 18 feet high and is sometimes 
a small tree; the husk contains from 3 to 6 small nuts which have 
a peculiarly sweet and pleasant flavor. I never saw it attacked 
by the Chestnut blight. 
Tree and Bush Hazels 
T HE genus Corylus, which yields the Hazelnut, is spread 
throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Some twelve 
species and several varieties are known, three species in this 
country, four in Eastern Asia, two in the Himalayas, and three 
in Europe and Asia Minor. Three of them (C. colurna, C. 
Jacquemontii, and C. chinensis) are large trees; the others are 
best described as large bushes, though occasionally they form 
small trees. The Chinese (C. chinensis) is a very large tree and 
1 have a vivid recollection of one giant growing in central China 
fully 120 feet tall and 18 feet in girth of trunk, with a broad oval 
crown. The nuts of all the species are edible but in the tree 
species the shell is very thick. 
F OR orchard culture the European C. avellana only has so 
far received attention. This is much grown in Italy, 
Spain, France, and the county of Kent in England, but the bulk 
of its nuts in commerce are shipped from the Spanish port of 
Barcelona, hence the name Barcelona nuts. This species is wild 
in the hedge-rows and coppices of Europe and nuts of the wild 
tree are excellent eating— and in England much sought after by 
the country-folk. According to French authorities the nuts of 
Provence and Italy are preferable to those of Spain and the 
Levant. A number of varieties are grown and in France the 
better kinds are called “Avelenes,” while the best known are 
