832 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
December 2 
; Rural isms 
FRESH NOTES ABOUT CHESTNUTS. 
SIZE UP, QUALITY DOWN. 
The illustration of chestnuts, Fig. 306, 
affords a fine example of the familiar 
adage that valuable goods are usually 
packed in small parcels, for the quality 
rapidly declines as the size of the 
nuts expands. The nuts from which 
the picture was taken were average 
specimens, and, of course, look smaller 
in the plate. The little chinquapin on 
the right is the sweetest of all, but it has 
a hard shell, and only one perfect nut 
usually grows in a burr. It grows in 
many localities on the eastern seaboard, 
from Maryland to the Gulf, and is most 
abundant on gravelly ridges. It usually 
forms a thickly-branching shrub, six to 
12 feet high, and is likely to predom¬ 
inate in scattered thickets and clearings, 
where it forms a striking feature when 
in bloom. Towards the Mississippi Val¬ 
ley, in richer soils, it often grows 20 to 
30 feet high. The dainty little nuts are 
considered quite a local delicacy, and 
can usually be found in the southern 
markets in late September. They are 
easily excited into growth, like some 
acorns, and a few showery days at the 
ripening season will start sprouts out of 
the nuts, while enclosed in the suspend¬ 
ed burrs. The chinquapin, under culti¬ 
vation, seems to be about as hardy as 
any of the chestnuts, and it is rather 
strange that it is so little known in the 
North. A variety is found on the Pacific 
coast, more nearly resem¬ 
bling a small chestnut. 
Next we have the com¬ 
mon American chestnut of 
our pastures and wood¬ 
lands, known and prized 
by every schoolboy. 
Though small in size, it is 
sweet and high in quality, 
and is the standard by 
which all foreign nuts 
should be judged. It forms 
a grand and stately tree, 
and when crowned with its 
billows of creamy bloom in 
July, is the glory of our 
eastern forests. These na¬ 
tive chestnuts vary much 
in size, and to a slighter extent in qual¬ 
ity, but all are good. If the tree came 
into productive bearing as early as the 
foreign varieties, there would be little 
need to go abroad for our chestnut plan¬ 
tations, but it takes 15 to 20 years to 
grow one large enough to produce more 
than a mere sprinkling of nuts. Despite 
their fine quality, our native chestnuts 
are not popular in the markets, on ac¬ 
count of their small size and fuzzy ap¬ 
pearance. Immense quantities are gath¬ 
ered and sold, it is true, but that is 
chiefly because the large and handsome 
exotic varieties are too scarce and high- 
priced. Those of the city dwellers who 
retain memories of happy chestnutting 
rambles during the golden October days 
of their youth, are not to be deceived 
by the pretentious size of the foreigners, 
and always buy the native nuts when 
they are to be had. 
The improvement of native chestnuts, 
for some time at least, is likely to be 
confined to the selection of choice indi¬ 
viduals from the forests, and the rais¬ 
ing of seedlings hybridized with early- 
bearing European or Japanese varieties. 
Considerably larger in size, and much 
lower in average quality, comes the 
“Spanish,” or European chestnut. It 
has a bitter skin around the kernel, 
which should be removed if the nut is to 
be eaten raw. This bitterness largely 
disappears when the nut is boiled or 
roasted. Some excellent varieties, of 
really good quality, are now catalogued 
by enterprising nurserymen, among 
which the Paragon, Numbo, Ridgely, and 
Hannum may be mentioned about in 
the order of their popularity. They all 
form spreading, round-headed trees, 
handsome enough for any lawn, and 
come into bearing very young, when 
grafted on their own seedlings as stocks. 
A Paragon tree, four years from the 
graft, and not over six feet high, on the 
new Rural Trial Grounds, has just 
ripened 38 well-filled burrs, making over 
a quart of handsome nuts. Indeed, the 
tendency of this variety, as well as of 
the Scott and Ridgely, to overbear when 
very small, is so great that the trees are 
likely to be badly stunted. Nearly all 
the burrs should be removed from young 
trees as soon as they attain the size of 
a hickorynut, or before, if they can con¬ 
veniently be found. The only excuse the 
writer has to offer for allowing this par¬ 
ticular tree to overbear is that all the 
tassels (staminate blooms) and one- 
third of the pistillate blooms were re¬ 
moved, and the remainder pollenized 
with other varieties and species, for the 
purpose of obtaining cross-bred seed¬ 
lings. The varieties named above, and 
one or two others, are really very pro¬ 
ductive when established; from three to 
five, and sometimes seven nuts, being 
found in a burr. Though excellent for 
table use when cooked, none of the Eu¬ 
ropean chestnuts have yet been found 
bearing nuts as good as the average 
native, for eating in the raw state, as the 
flesh is harder, more starchy and not as 
sweet. Many nuts much larger than the 
one figured are produced by all the va¬ 
rieties mentioned. 
The big fellow on the left is, of course, 
a Japan chestnut. He is generally as 
low in quality as he is bulky in size, hav¬ 
ing a thick and bitter skin which not 
$10 per bushel, even for fancy large nuts, 
when any considerable number of trees 
come into bearing. The culinary use of 
chestnuts is still undeveloped in this 
country, but we grow such a variety of 
vegetable products that it is not likely 
that they will ever be used as exten¬ 
sively as in southern Europe, where 
they are relied upon as an 'important 
food for subsistence, and often as a sub¬ 
stitute for bread. The French make a 
delicious confection of chestnuts, fre¬ 
quently imported by us under the name 
of “marrons glaces.” We would advise 
any one having a suitable location on 
well-drained light or gravelly soil, to 
plant one or many grafted chestnut 
trees, beginning with the well-tested 
Paragon, and extending to other varie¬ 
ties as fancy indicates. It will always 
be a pleasure to see them grow and 
fruit. _ 
Gascoyne’s Scarlet Is said to be one of 
the handsomest apples grown in England, 
and very prolific when dwarfed on Para¬ 
dise stock. Have any of our readers tried 
it? 
The Pennsylvania Experiment Station 
has been experimenting with various tree 
seedlings. They collected seeds from all 
over the country, and Canada, and planted 
them to observe which section gives the 
strongest seedling. It was found that the 
most vigorous trees are from seeds ob¬ 
tained in Illinois and Kansas. 
Hudson Valley Fruits.— As '.o what va¬ 
rieties of Fall and Winter pears could be 
grown with profit in a valley of the Cats- 
kill Mountains could I think, best be deter¬ 
mined by observing what is being grown in 
similar localities. The best selling va¬ 
rieties are Bartlett, Seckel, Sheldon, Bose 
and Anjou. I would recommend, of straw- 
berries, Bismarck, Glen Mary, Brandy¬ 
wine and Gandy. Of raspberries (red) 
Japan Type. Paragon. Native. Chinquapin. 
CHESTNUTS—AS THE SIZE INCREASES, QUALITY DECREASES. Fig. 306. 
only envelopes the kernel, but frequently 
extends through it in several divisions. 
In texture and taste the Japans are gen¬ 
erally little better than acorns, until 
cooked, when the bitterness disappears 
in a great measure. We hear of some 
good-quality varieties, but have not yet 
had an opportunity to test them. The 
Japan chestnuts make dwarfish, compact 
trees, and are often very precocious and 
fruitful. In a block of seedlings it is 
quite common to find little trees showing 
tassels the second year, and bearing nuts 
the third. One variety, sent out by Bur¬ 
bank, is claimed to have ripened nuts 18 
months after planting the seed. They 
are inclined to ripen earlier than any of 
the previously-mentioned species, ex¬ 
cept the chinquapin. Parry’s Early Re¬ 
liance ripens the last week in Septem¬ 
ber, before the usual time of frosts. 
Other varieties have been selected from 
seedlings grown from imported nuts for 
large size and productiveness, and are 
being disseminated about as fast as they 
can be propagated. It is likely that 
varieties far superior to any we now 
have will be selected in time, and pos¬ 
sibly others produced by hybridizing the 
four species shown in the plate together. 
Chestnut planting, both for domestic 
and commercial purposes, is greatly on 
the increase. It is said that over 1,000 
acres have been planted during the last 
half dozen years. There are, no doubt, 
possibilities of commercial profit in 
chestnut culture, if some way can be 
found to diminish, the ravages of the 
weevil, but it is just as well not to count 
on getting the present prices of $8 to 
Miller and Cuthbert or Loudon, blackcaps, 
Souhegan, Kansas, Nemaha. 
WALTER F. TABER. 
Among dessert apples especially suitable 
for dwarfs, an English authority gives 
Mother—or American Mother, as known in 
England—as a handsome and delicious 
fruit. Is this grown to any great extent 
here, except locally? 
c 
HOICE Vegetables 
will always find a ready 
market—but only that farmer 
can raise them who has studied 
the oreat secret how to ob- 
o 
tain both quality and quantity 
by the judicious use of well- 
balanced fertilizers. No fertil¬ 
izer for Vegetables can produce 
a large yield unless it contains 
at least 8% Potash. Send for 
our books, which furnish full 
information. We send them 
free of charge. 
GERMAN KALI WORKS, 
93 Nassau St., New York. 
For the 
Baby 
The fifty-cent size is just 
right for the baby. A little 
of it in the bottle three or 
four times a day will supply 
precisely the fat all thin ba¬ 
bies need. If your baby does 
not gain in weight as fast as 
you would like, try 
Scott’s Emulsion i 
The result will please you. If 
: the baby nurses, the mother 
should take the emulsion. 
: It makes the baby’s food 
richer and more abundant; 
; only buy the dollar size—it’s 
more economical. 
Both mother and child will feel at 
once its strengthening, upbuilding 
and fat-producing properties. 
At all druggists; 50c. and $1.00. 
--”, Che 
L SCOT 
SCOTT & BOWNE, 
lemists, New York. 
»♦♦♦- 
Moo Fibre and Jadoo Liqnid 
Will give yon Early Crops and Large Crops 
of Vegetables or Fruit. Send for Catalogues 
and be convlnoed of the merits of these 
new Fertilizers. 
THE AMERICAN JADOO CO., 
815 Falrmount Avenue. Philadelphia, Pa. 
now to drain land profitably. 
On every farm there is probably some land 
that could be made more productive by under¬ 
drainage. Properly drained land can always 
be worked earlier, and more profitably. The 
best and most 
economical way 
to drain is ex¬ 
plained In the 
book, “ Benefits of Drainage and How to Drain,” 
which Is sent free by 
JOHN H. JACKSON, Third Ave., Albany, N.Y. 
'AS 5 seEI 
.Sows nil (’lovers, Alfalfa, Timothy, Red Top, nil Grass | 
Seeds, Flax, See, Special hopper for wheat nnd oata. Sows‘20 
to 40 acres per day in wet, dry or windy weather. Puts on 
just exact amount of seed desired—don’t waste any. Weighs I 
' only 40 lbs. Last indefinitely. Price list and catalogue free* 
O. K. THOMPSON A' SONS, YpailnnU, Mich. 
Plants 
CABBAGE 
AND 
LETTUCE. 
Cheap In Large Lots. 
J. LINTHICUM, Woodwardville, A. A. Co., Md. 
Qfl acres in Strawberry Plants. Millions good 
wU Roots; first-class. T. C. Kevitt, Athen a, N.J. 
Tnrrp at Wholesale prices. Apple, Plum and 
r A Pears, $ti per 100; Peach, 3c. Cat. Free 
Reliance Nursery, Box 10, Geneva, N. Y. 
The President Wilder Currant 
and other choice new fruits can be had at 
bottom prices of the subscriber. Send 
for descriptive list and prices to 
8. D. WILLARD, Geneva, N. Y, 
For Sale.— Rhubarb Roots for winter 
forcing or late planting, Victoria and Linnaeus 
varieties. Write for low prices. 
J. G. CURTIS, South Greece, N. Y 
Thrice-a-Week World 
Gives you all the news of the whole world 
every other day. It’s the next best thing to a 
daily paper—18 pages a week, 156 pages a 
year. It is independent, fearless, and is with 
the plain people as against trusts and mono¬ 
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The Rural New-Yorker, one year, for $1.65. 
Choicest Fruit and Ornamental Trees. 
Shrubs, Plants, Bulbs, Seeds. 40 Acres Hardy Roses, 
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44 Greenhouses 
Correspondence 
the STORRS & HARRISON COi, Painesville, O. 
