18C5.1 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
Cultivating Chestnuts. 
The striking picture ■which is presented of a 
chestnut burr with its fruit, is no exaggeration. 
The measurements were fairly taken, and the 
character of the nuts, their 
sw’eetness and freedom from 
bitter inside skin convinced 
every one, without other tes¬ 
timony, that they are genu¬ 
ine native Americans, or at 
least just as good. They 
were brought to our office by 
E. S. Lamoreaux, Somer¬ 
set Co., N. J., who has for 
four or five years exhibited 
chestnuts from this tree. 
Each year they have been 
larger than the year before, 
and this year the nuts weigh 
40 to the pound. Mr. L. 
states that when he came 
in posession of the place he 
now occupies, he found the 
tree which bears this fruit, 
then in bearing, and of good 
size, standing isolated in 
arable land. . The field has 
been regularly cultivated to 
common farm crops, corn, 
potatoes, etc., well manured; 
but the chestnut tree, which 
originally bore fine large 
fruit, has received on its own 
account, an additional dres¬ 
sing of about one load of ma¬ 
nure in the spring, and a 
quantity of lime in autumn. 
The result is a constantly 
increasing vigor in the tree, 
and larger crops, and at the same time very 
greatly augmented size of the nuts. 
, Every one who has taken pains to observe the 
fruit of different chestnut trees must have no¬ 
ticed very great diversities both in size and 
sweetness. In Europe where this nut has been 
cultivated for centuries, there are over thirty 
catalogued varieties which may be had of nur¬ 
serymen there. Should we turn our attention 
to the cultivation of the chestnut here, valuable 
varieties would soon multiply upon our hands, 
as do the sorts of native grapes. That their cul¬ 
ture will pay need hardly be argued; chestnuts 
now bring $7 to $13 per bushel. 
While there is no doubt that if large chestnuts 
are planted, trees may be raised, the majority of 
which will produce improved fruit, there is 
no certainty of this, and in Europe, recourse is 
had to grafting or rather, budding. As there is 
but little American experience in chestnut cul¬ 
ture to draw upon, we condense the following 
account of the manner of proceeding in the 
French nurseries from the “Arboriculture” of 
DubreuiT.—Stocks are raised from the seed, and 
for this purpose the ordinary chestnut answers 
perfectly well. The chestnuts, after being gath¬ 
ered, are exposed for several days to the sun, to 
rid them of superfluous moisture, and they are 
then packed in an abundance of sand, where 
they are kept until the soil is ready for planting 
in spring. This treatment is necessary to pre¬ 
vent the nuts from heating or becoming too dry, 
either of which would destroy their vitality. 
The nuts are planted in rows about 15 inches 
apart, at distances of some 10 inches, and cov¬ 
ered about 3 inches deep. During the first two 
years the plants remain in the seed bed, which 
is to be kept clean. The third spring after 
planting, they are set in nursery rows, the tap 
root being shortened at transplanting. When 
the young trees are about 8 feet high, they arc 
set where they are to remain. To graft or bud 
the chestnut, the young trees are cut back in 
AMERICAN CHESTNUTS, BIPROVED BY CULTIVATION. 
spring to 6 or 8 feet, when numerous shoots 
will start, 5 or 6 of which are selected upon 
which to bud, and the rest removed. The 
method of budding said to succeed the best, is 
the ring or flute budding. A ring of bark con¬ 
taining a bud, is removed from a twig, of the 
variety it is desired to propagate, of the same 
size as the stock, and neatly fitted in the place 
of a similar portion of bai'k that has been re¬ 
moved from the stock. In France this opera¬ 
tion is performed in August, but the time to be 
selected here must be that at which the bark 
will separate most readily from the wood. 
Since the foregoing was in type, a friend, who 
has been experimenting with chestnuts, informs 
us that he has been successful in propagating 
them by the ordinary whip grafting. The work 
was done in the spring, just before the trees 
started into growth. Young shoots were selected 
to graft upon, and the cions were of the same 
size as the stocks upon which they were placed. 
^ 1 0 BiM r —i 
Coleus Verschafeltii. 
This very pretty “ foliage plant ” with an un¬ 
pleasantly awkward name, (pronounced Co-le-us 
Ver-sliaf-fel-ti-i,) was engraved in June 1863. 
It was then new and quite rare, but such is the 
ease with whicli it is propagated, that it is now 
one of the most common, as it is one of the 
most useful bedding plants. In the figure refer¬ 
red to, the foliage is given as variegated, and it 
usually is so when grown in-doors, but when 
put out in the grounds, it becomes a rich mass 
of maroon-crimson foliage, often beautifully* 
tinged with bronze. It is pleasing when grown 
in single specimens, but the best effects are ob¬ 
tained by planting it in masses. A bed cut out 
in a lawn and rather thickly planted with this, 
with a border of other and lower growing plants, 
A very white leaved plant, 
Candida, is a good one to use with 
Coleus is not inelegant as a 
pot plant, and it may be 
easily kept over winter in 
the house, and afford plenty 
of cuttings with which to 
start a stock in the spring. 
Nothing is easier to propa¬ 
gate. Placed in a dish of 
wet sand, every joint will 
strike root and make a plant. 
The Trailing Arbutus. 
{Epigcca repens.) 
Engravings, be they ever so 
faithful as to form and out¬ 
line, generally fail to convey 
an idea of the exquisite del¬ 
icacy and beauty of flowers, 
as a photograph gives a cor¬ 
rect map of the face of a 
friend, and yet lacks the ex¬ 
pression which is character¬ 
istic of it. No stronger in¬ 
stance of the inability of the 
engraver’s art to present that 
W'hich we most wish to show 
about a flower, has occurred 
to us than the one now be¬ 
fore the reader. Both artist 
and engraver have done 
well, and yet the delicate 
texture, the fresh breath of 
spring, in short the living 
plant is not there; and if 
those who do not know the 
Trailing Al’butns, would learn how lovely a gem 
our woods contain, they must go in March 
or early April to some wooded hill side, where, 
upon the edges of the wood, snugly nestling 
among the fallen leaves, they will find a treasure 
worth the seeking. The plant is common in 
New England and extends to the Carolinas, 
generally preferring a sandy soil, though some¬ 
TRAILING ARBUTUS. ' 
times found on the borders of rocky woods, 
especially where there are pine forests. It is a 
littie evergreen shrub, growing prostrate upon 
the earth, as its name Epigoea expresses. The 
stems and leaves bear brown hairs, which give 
makes a fine show. 
Centaur ea 
the Coleus. The 
