So it is with two lives. They start wide 
apart and unknowingly journey towards 
each other. They meet and become one. 
Thus they journey to the sea of eternity and 
ascend to heaven .—South and West. 
Chestnut Culture. 
BY SAMUEL C. MOON. 
Chestnut culture is now claiming consid¬ 
erable attention from orchardists and others, 
and has been found to be profitable. There 
are however some points in relation to it 
which many who are interested in the sub¬ 
ject do not fully understand. First as to 
the difference between the European and 
American chestnut. It is a surprising fact 
that botanists make no distinction of species 
notwithstanding the noticeable difference 
between our native trees and those which 
are imported from Europe. 
They call the native chestnut castanea 
vesca both in Europe and America. There 
are however the following obvious distinc¬ 
tions between them. 
They differ in habit of growth about as 
the Norway and sugar maple differ. 
The European variety forms a round 
headed tree with diameter about equal to 
the height, while the American variety 
makes a taller and larger tree. 
The foliage of the foreign trees is gener¬ 
ally thicker and more healthy; the nuts 
are generally larger, of a lighter color, 
with a more glossy shell, with less of the 
grey down or fuzz around the stem which 
in the American often covers more than 
half the nut. It is very rare to finn a large 
chestnut either American or European 
which is as sweet and delicately flavored as 
the small ones which grow in our native 
forests: the skin which covers the kernel 
itself in many of the large nuts is astrin¬ 
gent or bitter while the kernel itself is of 
very fair quality. 
There are no distinct varieties which can 
be properly d esiguated as French, Spanish 
or Italian chestnuts. 
There are large and small chestnuts found 
in each country just as there are here in 
the various states of the union, but the 
average size of the nuts is larger in the 
southern peninsulas of Europe than it is I 
farther north, and it is in these mild coun¬ 
tries that the largest nuts are found, but 
the trees which come from there are not 
generally hardy in this latitude of the U. S. 
They usually grow well during summer, 
but are almost certain to be killed nearly 
to the ground in winter and then send out 
several shoots from near the root the next 
season, only to be killed down again the 
following winter. Imported trees gener¬ 
ally linger in this way for a few years 
but eventually succomb to the rigors of 
our climate and die. Trees which are raised 
in this country from seed are but little if 
any more hardy. 
There are however some exceptions to 
this rule and occasionally trees are found 
which are as hardy as the native species, 
which flourish equally well in our climate, 
and make valuable trees. Such instances 
however are rare. 
When the seed from such trees is planted, 
the seedlings are generally hardy also. It 
is only by propagating from such acclimat¬ 
ized stock that European chestnuts can be 
successfully cultivated in this country. 
The chestnut varies as much in its fruit 
bearing qualities as do apples, pears or 
peaches, consequently it is equally as im¬ 
portant that the seedlings should be grafted 
in order to secure valuable productive trees. 
Of fifty or more seedling European chest¬ 
nut trees which have come into bearing, 
under my observation, there were only six 
that are really valuable. Most of them 
were not productive enough to pay for the 
land which they occupied. 
The nuts of some were bitter and inferior 
in qualitj r and no larger than the native 
forost nuts. 
One tree which was enormously produc¬ 
tive, bore five large nuts, and was valuable 
in every respect except that its burs did 
not open freely. Very many of them drop¬ 
ped when ripe with the nuts fast in them. 
A few of the trees bear heavy crops of 
large nuts almost every year and are quite 
as profitable as any other kind of fruit trees. 
Natural trees usually commence to bear 
when about ten or fifteen vears old, and 
then it will require several years more to 
thoroughly test their value as nut bearing 
trees. Grafting induces much earlier pro- 
