IOO 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
February 11, 
NOTES FROM THE RURAL GROUNDS 
The Japan Chestnut in America.— 
Although the Japan chestnut has scarcely 
been known in this country 30 years, al¬ 
most as many named varieties have been 
produced as from our native and the 
long-cultivated European species together. 
Trees of the Japan chestnut were first 
offered by S. B. Parsons, blushing, N. Y., 
in 1876. About that time J. M. Thorburn 
& Co., New York, received a quantity 
of nuts by mistake in an importation of 
lily bulbs from Japan. Japanese bulbs 
were then packed for shipment in tea 
chests, instead of the baskets now in 
use, and it was supposed that chests con¬ 
taining chestnuts for local use had been 
wrongly labeled with the bulb importer’s 
name and address, and thus included in 
the shipment. The nuts came over in 
good condition, and were of the usual 
gigantic size and wretched quality associ¬ 
ated with this species. There was no 
market for these stray nuts, and they were 
planted for trial by the senior partner 
of the seed house, F. W. Bruggerhof, 
at his home in Noroton, Conn. They 
grew well, the trees proved fairly hardy, 
bore early, and are now immense broad- 
headed specimens, probably the finest in 
this country. There was soon a call for 
the nuts for nursery use, and they have 
since been regularly imported. Thou¬ 
sands of seedlings have been grown from 
these foreign nuts, almost invariably of 
the big size and low quality type, and 
planted over the country. As seedlings 
bear in from two to five years great quan¬ 
tities of these low-grade nuts have found 
their way to the markets, disgusting buy¬ 
ers who expect something better, and to 
a considerable extent “queering” the 
whole trade in large or foreign chestnuts. 
Seedlings have been grown from these 
seedlings, often where the parents may 
have been exposed to the pollen of the 
native or European chestnuts, quite likely 
to the third or fourth generation. Some 
desirable varieties have been thus pro¬ 
duced, named and disseminated. As a rule 
they are thrifty, productive and bear 
early. The nuts are handsome and mostly 
of good size. They are usually claimed to 
be sweet and of good quality, but none 
we have tried approaches {lie native or 
even the Paragon in acceptable flavor, 
though all are good for cooking, which is 
more than can be said of their ancestors 
as imported. In any collection of 100 or 
more Japan chestnut seedlings grown from 
home-raised nuts, one is likely to find 
one or several approaching the best of 
the named kinds in desirable qualities. In 
one block of second-generation seedlings 
the writer has noted nuts ranging from 
the two-inch giant almost as harsh and 
acrid as a horse-chestnut, to a sweet little 
one, smaller than the average native, and 
running from one to seven in a bur. In 
every case the trees had the characteristic 
small and glossy leaf of the Japan species, 
but varied in stature, at eight years of 
age, from shrub-like bushes to well- 
grown saplings. With such facility for 
rapid acclimatization and great variation, 
we can look for immense future improve¬ 
ment. It appears probable to the writer 
that the future commercial chestnut will 
be evolved from the Japan type by in¬ 
telligent breeding, but it must be far bet¬ 
ter than any we have yet obtained. 
The Marron or European Chestnut 
was brought to this country as early as 
1803 by a Frenchman living in Dela¬ 
ware, and has been assiduously cultivated 
by nut fanciers wherever it could be in¬ 
duced to grow. In this long interval it 
has given rise to a number of varieties, 
of which Paragon, Ridgely and Numbo 
are best known. This species, Castanea 
sativa, is plainly less hardy than either the 
Japan, C. crenata, or our native kind, 
C. Americana. In the Old World its 
range coincides with that of the Vinifera 
grape, being found from southern Europe 
and northern Africa eastward to China. 
From the earliest times chestnut has been 
used for stakes and trellis posts in vine¬ 
yards. In this country it thrives best in 
the temperate Atlantic States and through¬ 
out the highlands of Kentucky and Ten¬ 
nessee. It is also very successfully culti¬ 
vated on the Pacific Coast. The foliage is 
frequently attacked by fungi that also oc¬ 
casionally trouble . our native kind, but 
seldom affect the Japan group. Seedlings 
from imported nuts, and varieties of 
European origin, seldom amount to much 
in the Eastern States, though some named 
kinds from France are grown in Cali¬ 
fornia. Of the varieties originating here 
Paragon and Ridgely are without doubt 
most valuable. Ridgely seems the hardier, 
and has fruited very well on the prairie 
soils of Illinois, but Paragon has proved 
the most wiJely profitable of all chest¬ 
nuts, and is afhiost exclusively planted 
by growers of extended experience. It is 
a good grower, uniting well with native 
and seedling stocks, and is precocious to 
a fault. The nuts are of good size, hand¬ 
some in appearance and of excellent qual¬ 
ity. Numbo makes a large and handsome 
tree, but is slow about bearing, and not 
reliable in most localities when it does 
some in appearance and of excellent qual- 
brid with the native chestnut, as its seed¬ 
lings almost constantly bear nuts less in 
size than the Paragon type, and of sweet 
quality quite comparable with those of the 
native. Many of these Paragon seed¬ 
ling nuts are fuzzy or covered with pale 
tomentum quite in the manner of the na¬ 
tive. We have fruited many seedlings 
on the Rural Grounds, and have ascer¬ 
tained from other growers there are 
scarcely any exceptions to this rule where 
observations have been made. 
The Native Chestnut. —This has al¬ 
ways been one of our most valued tim¬ 
ber trees, and, notwithstanding the pro¬ 
digious vitality of its roots, sending up 
generation after generation of sprouts, 
has been almost exterminated in many 
localities. The great demand for this 
wood for telephone and trolley poles, as 
well as its renewed use for fencing, on 
account of the lowered quality of galvan¬ 
ized wire, greatly stimulates interest in 
the preservation of the remaining stands 
of chestnut and their rational protection 
and control as a timber crop. The tree 
grows so large and is so long in coming 
into bearing that pure natives are little 
likely to be grown, except in rare in¬ 
stances, for the nuts, which nevertheless 
are so agreeable in quality that they are 
invariably preferred to the large foreign¬ 
ers. A few varieties have been propagat¬ 
ed by grafting, but they will chiefly be 
useful for breeding with the other species. 
The native chestnut is most at home in the 
Appalachian region, but is found from 
Maine to Georgia and westward to Michi¬ 
gan and Louisiana. It has been for some 
years dying out in its southern areas, 
most probably from the destruction of nuts 
and seedlings by hogs allowed to roam the 
forests in most Southern States. It is 
seldom productive when planted on the 
Pacific Coast, and is not hardy enough 
to endure Winters in British America. 
Commercial Chestnut Culture. —The 
craze for chestnut planting, so evident 
five or six years ago, has largely sub¬ 
sided ; yet more trees are probably planted 
than ever for home use and adornment. 
Culture for profit has practically resolved 
itself into grafting sprouts on natural 
chestnut land with the large-fruited Euro¬ 
pean and Japan kinds. Reports from some 
of the oldest chestnut growing enterprises 
show little or no profit in the venture, 
no matter how conducted. The reasons 
assigned are the depredations of the wee¬ 
vil and the cold reception in the mar¬ 
kets of large home-grown nuts of the 
Japan group on account of their low qual-- 
ity. When Paragon or Ridgely quality 
can be guaranteed to discriminating cus¬ 
tomers there is no difficulty in getting 
satisfactory prices, but consumers a,re 
getting shy of Japanese “giants.” The 
present Japans are also sensitive to late 
Spring and early Fall frosts, though hard¬ 
ier in tree than the Europeans. This de¬ 
fect will probably be lessened in time, and 
the quality improved by systematic cross¬ 
ing with best natives. Late reports from 
France, the headquarters of European 
chestnut culture, show that a gummy dis¬ 
ease of the trunk at the base of the trees 
is becoming alarmingly prevalent. The 
only remedy suggested is to graft choice 
varieties on American or chinquapin 
stocks in the hope they may prove re¬ 
sistant. It is to be hoped that this dis¬ 
ease will not be brought over here by im¬ 
porting European trees, for which there 
is not the slightest occasion, as our nat¬ 
uralized varieties thrive much better. The 
only remedy yet suggested for our own 
Chestnut weevil is to gather all nuts as 
soon as they fall, treat those apparently 
sound with bisulphide of carbon, which 
kills the contained larvae, if any, and 
does not injure the nut, and to burn all 
defective nuts or feed them to hogs; also 
to gather and burn all imperfect burs as 
they fall. There is still talk about graft¬ 
ing the chestnut on oaks. A New Jersey 
nut company, with 14 years experience, 
reports that of 1,000 scions successfully 
grafted on oak not one survived to bear¬ 
ing age. The union readily occurs, but 
is never permanent. Native sprouts, Par¬ 
agon seedlings and tree chinquapin make 
the best stocks, in the order named, but 
the chinquapin sometimes suckers from 
underground stolons. w. v. f. 
PISOS CURE FOR 
CURES WHERE ALL ELSE FAILS 
Best Couch Syrup. 
Use in time. Sold 
Tastes Good, 
by druggists. 
CONSUMPTION 
When you write advertisers mention The 
I t. N.-Y. and you'll get a quick reply and 
“a square deal.” See guarantee, page 14. 
DON’T LET THE 
SAN JOSE SCALE 
DESTROY YOUR TREES. SPRAY' WITH 
LIME, SULPHUR AND SALT WASH 
AND BE SURE TO USE 
BERGEN PORT 
SUBLIMED FLOWERS OF SULPHUR, 
This brand is prepared especially for 
Spraying purposes: insist on having it. 
Ask your dealer, or write to 
T. & S. C. WHITE CO., 
28 Burling Slip, New York. 
U S. STANDARD. CAUSTIC POTASH 
WHALE-OIL SOAP. 
A positive destroyer of San Jose Scale. The OWEN 
SPRAYING CPAR for Power Sprayers. Other Or- 
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catalogue and prices. W.H. OWEN, Port Clinton,O. 
HOWTO RID YOUR ORCHARD 
OF 
SAN JOSE SCALE 
PATENTED JULY 5, 1904, 
CONCENTRATED LIME-SULPHUR WASH 
Dilute One Gallon of “ CONSOL ” with 
Forty Gallons of Water; No Cook¬ 
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See IKON-CLAD GUARANTEE 
iu Our Booklets. 
AMERICAN HORTICULTURE 
DISTRIBUTING CO., 
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SALIMENE 
KILLS SAN JOSE SCALE 
Write for circulars and testimonials. 
DRY OR LIQUID FO RM. 
Monmouth Chemical Works. Shrewsbury, N, J. 
TAONTICS 
RED CYPRESS—WHITE 
PINE—GALVANIZED 
STEEL 
CALDWELL 
Tanks are the beat made 
Ask for illustrated cat¬ 
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ul.o references. 
W. E. CALDWELL CO. 
Louittville, Ky. 
GASOLINE 
ENGINES 
for pumping or commercial pur¬ 
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HYDRAULIC PRESS MFG. C0„ 
39 Cortlandt St., New York City. 
use nitro-culture 
Culture Is a natural plant food, gathering germs 
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HARNESS 
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THE KING HARNESS CO., 0 Lake St. ,Owego, Tioga Co.,N.Y. 
Better Fruits-Better Profits 
Better peaches, apples, pears and 
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Send for our practical books of information ; 
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0ERMAN KALI WORKS 
93 Nassau St., 
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SAVE TREES BEFORE DISEASED 
by spraying, and thus add to your profits. Use THE 
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THOMAS PEPPLKK, Box 45, Hightstown, N. J. 
AUTO-POP, 
AUTO-SPRAY. | 
Great cleaning' attachment on per¬ 
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i 
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m Automatic Compressed Air 
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OUR NEW CATALOGUE 
“HUBBARD’S FERTILIZERS FOR 1905” 
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IP YOU ARE GOING TO USS ANY 
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MANUFACTURERS OF 
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Middletown, Conn. 
