24 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
January 13, 
NOTES FROM THE RURAL GROUNDS 
Poor Year for Chestnuts. —The 
splendid local crop of chestnuts, both 
wild and cultivated, in 1904 was followed 
last season by a particularly slim yield. 
Blooms were late and scattering, the pis¬ 
tillate catkins not developing until growth 
was far advanced. The foliage of Euro¬ 
pean varieties, including Paragon, was 
much affected by fungus and red spider; 
the latter pest even spreading over the 
leaves of the more resistant natives and 
Japans. Some very fine individual nuts 
were developed, however, and a few vari¬ 
eties came into bearing for the first on the 
Rural Grounds. 
in two medium-sized burs. Fair in qual¬ 
ity. Tree thrifty, with large, glossy foli¬ 
age. Both varieties of Delaware origin. 
Trees from the Nut Nursery Co., Monti- 
cello, Florida. Kent appears to be the 
earliest Japan in this locality. We hear 
much of its precocity. One-year grafts 
often set full of burs. It is not a good 
plan to allow chestnut trees to bear un¬ 
til established several years, but we 
wished an early test of varietal character¬ 
istics with a view to further breeding ex 
periments. 
Seedling Chestnuts. —Several cross¬ 
bred seedlings between Paragon and 
Japan varieties, six years old, have a few 
burs each. The trees are fairly inter¬ 
mediate between the parents, but the 
nuts and burs most resembled Japans. 
The quality is indifferent, though the 
nuts are of good size and quite showy, 
ripening in early October. They do not 
promise much value at present, but may 
possibly develop good points later. Our 
Paragon seedlings, grown from nuts fur¬ 
nished in 1894 by H. M. Engle & Sons, 
Marietta, Pa., the disseminators of this 
excellent variety, produced a scattering 
crop of small, sweet and well-flavored 
Kerr. —Japan; four years planted. A 
quart of very handsome medium-sized nuts, rivalling the best natives in qual- 
nuts, dark brown in color and broad in ’ty- We have nine of these seedlings, 12 
. , , . „ . to 18 feet high, quite closely resembling 
form, was ripened before September 20. Paragon in everything but size of nut. 
Bur quite small, containing on an average We take them to* be natural hybrids with 
three plump nuts. Quality very good for the wild chestnut, as the nuts were 
a Japan. Tree vigorous, forming a neat, P r °bably grown on grafts set in wild 
round head. Fine, large foliage. In¬ 
clined to bear young and produce well. 
Biddle. —Japan; four years planted. 
Large, light brown nuts, borne two to 
sprouts in natural chestnut woodland 
where chances favored cross-pollination. 
This view seems confirmed by similar 
nuts borne on a six-year Paragon seed¬ 
ling. artificially hybridized with an ordi- 
_ . , , „ . ,, , r nary native. This is, as far as we know, 
five in large burs. Quite woolly and of the first f ru ; ting of an intentional hybrid 
only fair quality. Tree regular and vig- between the American and European spe 
orous in growth. Ripe in early October, cies, though innumerable natural hvbrids 
BLACK.-Japan, two years planted. A h ? v f. Probably resulted during the century 
, . of time the European species has been 
close-growing young tree. Three burs natll ralized in this country. 
containing two to five large nuts each The chestnuts borne by the trees from 
were allowed to develop. Burs large; Messrs. Engle’s nuts and.our hybrid were 
nuts dark brown and rather woolly, rip- identical in appearance and quality. 1 hey 
ening October 1; good quality. ' wc, ; e m ,°derately tomentose or woolly 
‘ T , , and as large as the best natives—about 
Martin. Japan, two years planted. h a ]f the size of a good Paragon. We are 
One large bur containing three immense assured they would meet ready sale in 
reddish-brown nuts matured late in Oc- market, passing for fine natives, if they 
tober. Quality astringent in the raw cmdd be bad in . Lanre chest- 
, , . , , , . nuts are in poor demand; the bitter 
state, but fair when cooked. These four Mammoth Japans have spoiled the mar- 
varieties were received from J. W. Kerr, ket, and even the finest Paragons have 
Denton, Md. All originated in New Jer- been slow of sale this season, but natives 
sey. Kerr and Biddle bloomed freely move readily in any quantity, as buyers feel 
, , , . ' some security in getting what they want, 
and set burs the two previous years, but It is doubtless only a question of time 
they were picked off as developed to and intelligent breeding to develop dilute 
avoid checking the trees. All four vari- hybrids between the native, European 
eties seem precocious and likely to be a pd Japan species, bearing nuts of the de- 
, . * , A , . sired quality, moderate size ano of good 
productive. hey appear to have mei it appearance, that will retain the confidence 
for ornamental planting as well as for of buyers. We scarcely think these direct 
nut-bearing. Paragon-native hybrids will fill the need. 
Coe.—J apan, six years planted. This * be ! uit! ? are R°°d enough,_ but the trees 
,, , . , , . r T , mav be too shy and slow in bearing for 
is a well-advertised production of Luther profitable culture. It appears more like- 
Burbank. Our tree has bloomed for sev- jy that Janan-native crosses may develop 
eral years, but failed to develop nuts a good nut in prolific and precocious 
until the past season. Mr. Burbank thus frees, though so far little has been ac- 
. ., T , r , comnhshed along this line, 
describes it. 1 he best of more than 10 ,- „ ,, T , ... 
„„„ ... , . , , Chinquapin Prospects.—W e are build- 
000 seedlings, a tree which each season inR hopes on modifications of the dwarf 
bears all it can hold of fat, glossy nuts chinquapin, the best flavored nut and the 
of the very largest size, and as sweet as most distinct plant in the chestnut tribe, 
any American chestnut.” About 20 good- an .^ bav ? n °w crosses between selected 
. . ,. , , , , ' chinquapins and Paragon, Ridgely, many 
sized, roundish, daik brown nuts were jq ie jj eS f j a p an varieties now grown. 
borne in six burs. Fair cooking quality, good natives, and our Paragon-'native 
but no comparison with even the poorest hybrid. As the oldest seedlings are only 
native can be justified. Tree a good, up- tbr ? e years old none has fruited. The 
. . mam botanical differences between the 
ngnt giower. . chinquapin and other chestnuts, aside 
McFarland.—J apan, six years plant- from its usual bushy shrub-like growth, 
ed. First bloomed and bore this season, He in the small, round hard-shelled nuts. 
ripening a few large light brown nuts, one in a bu [’ the sma11 burs Ponced in 
* , „ j. . . .. racemes of three to 11 or more, and the 
three in a bur. Ordinary cooking quality, silvery or downy under surface of the 
astringent when raw. leaves. Chestnuts have the leaves green 
Hale—J apan, six years planted, but on both sides, large burs singly or in 
broken down by ice three Winters ago. J at and two or nlor ? m,ts r to * he 
.. . ... ....... bur. We have no conception of what 
A dozen burs containing 1.) fair-sized, changes may occur in the nuts and burs 
rlark brown nuts matured this season in of the hybrids, but hope that the large 
the new head; ripe in late September; size of the chestnut may be blended with 
quality fair, very slightly astringent. Me- something of the exquisite quality of the 
H chinquapin, and that prolific and early- 
Farland and Hale are also Burbank’s 
productions. Hale is the famous variety 
so freely written about that fruited in 18 
months from seed. Tree a fair grower, 
but shows no indications of unusual pre¬ 
cocity. Trees of the the last three varie¬ 
ties were received from J. H. Hale, South 
Glastonbury, Conn. 
Kent. —Japan, two years planted; the 
first chestnut to ripen. Two burs al¬ 
lowed to develop; opened September 4, 
several weeks before frost; burs quite 
small, but each contained three good- 
sized nuts of fine cooking quality. Tree 
thrifty and upright in growth. 
Killen. —Japan, two years planted. 
Four very large and handsome nuts, rip¬ 
ening in late September, were produced 
bearing trees may result. Such day 
dreams would seem to be allowable, as 
they tend to keep the plant breeder up 
to his work despite almost constant fail¬ 
ure to reach his ideals. The wood and 
foliage of our hybrids are plainly inter¬ 
mediate, and the latter is green, or at 
least only slightly silvery on the under 
surface. The growth is fair and the 
plants appear healthy. When Paragon 
nuts fertilized with chinquapin pollen 
are used the young trees have a scrubby 
growth, with a tendency to retain the 
withered foliage in Winter, like a beech 
or White oak. Luther Burbank writes 
that he also has hybrids between the 
chinquapin and native and Japan chest¬ 
nuts. 
A Dwarf Nut-bearer.— In Fig. 13, 
page 19, is shown racemes of chinqua¬ 
pin burs borne on a seven-year bush 
barely three feet high, that has fruited 
three years. The large cluster is made 
up of 11 burs, each containing its plump 
little nut, all pollenized with Ridgely pol¬ 
len. This bush was grown from seeds 
collected for the writer in northern Vir¬ 
ginia. Other bushes from the same 
batch have grown nine feet high, and 
first bore nuts last Summer. There are 
supposed to be two species of chinqua¬ 
pin, Castanea pumila and C. alnifolia, but 
mighty few botanists can tell them apart. 
The most common form is C. pumila, 
ranging from Central Pennsylvania and 
New Jersey to the Gulf, and west to 
Texas, varying in stature from a low 
bush to a tree 50 feet high. We think 
our plants belong to this species. C. al¬ 
nifolia is supposed to be a truly dwarf 
form confined to the warmer portions of 
the Gulf States, and to have larger leaves 
and nuts. Chinquapins are not supposed 
to be hardy north of New York City, 
but crossing with natives chestnuts may 
increase their resistance to cold. 
The Rush Chinquapin. —This prom¬ 
ising variety has been described in The 
R. N.-Y. (April 30, 1904). Trees planted 
in the Spring of 1904 have become well- 
established, making a fair growth and 
blooming both seasons, but were not al¬ 
lowed to set burs. The leaves are large 
and chestnut-like, colored green on both 
surfaces. The blooms or male catkins are 
formed like those of the ordinary chin¬ 
quapin. The parent tree is said to be 40 
feet hieh, growing in Lancaster County, 
Pa., and to be an annual and prolific 
bearer of nuts nearly as large as the com¬ 
mon chestnut, ft is supposed to be a nat¬ 
ural hvbrid between the bush chinquapin 
and wild chestnut. Trees are propagated 
and offered by the Nut Nurseries Co., 
Monticello. Fla. w. v. f. 
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