THE CHINESE CHESTNUT 
Castanea mollissima 
The following description of the Chi¬ 
nese Chestnut is quoted from the 1937 
Year Book of the United States Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture. 
“The Chinese Chestnut is highly resist¬ 
ant to blight, and so far as observed, the 
best seedlings and varieties bear freely 
without being overproductive. 
“Some of the heaviest bearing trees 
of this species in a seedling ^orchard locat¬ 
ed at the United States Pecan Field Sta¬ 
tion, Albany, Ga., now 10 or 12 years old, 
are annually producting from 50 to 70 
pounds of nuts each. 
“The finest nuts of the Chinese species 
are about all that could be desired. The 
largest are equal in size to the average 
chestnuts imported from Italy.” 
The Chinese chestnut makes a pleas¬ 
ing and striking lawn tree, with its long, 
crinkled leaves and large burrs. What is 
more important, it gives every promise of 
becoming a profitable orchard crop. More 
than 50,000 trees have been distributed by 
the United States government during the 
past 25 years. These are growing on a large 
variety of soils and elevations from Geor¬ 
gia to New York. 
The trees are hardy, but show some 
winter-killing at 30 degrees below zero. 
They show decided resistance to drought. 
Bearing of seedling trees usually begins in 
from three to five years from transplant¬ 
ing. Grafted trees begin bearing sooner. 
Blossoming occurs in June and nuts 
ripen in September, a month before the 
American chestnut in this locality. The nuts 
are larger than the American chestnut and 
equally as sweet. So far they have been 
much less subject to the chestnut weavil 
that infests the native chestnut, and are 
better keepers. 
The seeding trees we offer have been 
grown from select, large imported nuts. In 
our own orchard, now coming into bearing, 
we have both gratfed and seeding trees. 
From now on we will produce our own 
seed, selecting the best strains for planting. 
