
This figure shows how important it is to keep your trees away from a frost pocket. By 
watching a row of thermometers all winter a United States Weather Bureau observer 
got these remarkable facts from a California hillside. The figures above the curve, 
which represents the slope of the hill, show the average temperatures at the different 
elevations for 45 clear nights. Figures below the line show temperatures for one clear 
cold might. The temperatures near the top show the “Thermal Belt” so common 
on mountain slopes. From Men & Resources, an interesting book by J. Russell Smith, 
Harcourt Brace & Co., N. Y. 
Soil and Fertilizer for Chestnuts 
The Chestnut tree, more than any other 
nut tree, insists on well-drained soil. It 
will not stand wet feet. It will die in the 
meadow where the Pecan thrives. It does 
not particularly object to sandy soil, does 
not like lime, does not mind some acid, 
can survive in less fertility than any 
other nut tree but rejoices in plenty of 
plant food. One autumn I sent a wagon 
straddling the rows of little Chestnut 
trees in my nursery, spreading manure 
as it went. Next year those trees made 
from 3 to 4 feet of new growth. 
It seems to be a fact that the abun- 
dantly fed Chestnut tree is more resistant 
to blight than a hungry one, so the argu- 
ment for feed is 100 per cent plausible. 
Put it on in late fall or in the spring 
so that the tree can use it early and go 
into winter quarters with well ripened 
wood. Potash makes hardiness, but a 
complete fertilizer, 4% nitrogen, 12% 
phosphorus, 4% potash (4-12-4) is good. 
And don’t let grass crowd the young tree 
for the first three years of its life. Grass 
is the best tree killer known except fire 
and goats. If you are on the northern edge 
of Chestnut territory beware of manure 
6 
or other organic nitrogen. It may make 
late growth and winter kill. Use nitrate 
of soda and other inorganic nitrates. 
Plant Chestnuts 
The Chinese Chestnut is a splendid 
dooryard tree. It is such fun to pick up the 
nuts. Why not plant several hundred trees 
for commercial Chestnut growing? I have 
sold several large orders for that purpose. 
In one case the purchaser expects to let 
the pigs harvest the crop. In this respect 
he will be duplicating the centuries-old 
experience of southern France, Spain, 
and Italy, where Chestnut orchards cover 
whole mountainsides and have supported 
a rather dense population for more than 
a thousand years. In these Huropean 
areas the pig only comes in as a gleaner 
after the main crop has been picked up 
for human food and to serve as grain 
food for horses, cows, sheep and goats. 
Some of the larger Japanese varieties, 
of which there are many, promise to 
give more grain food per acre than can be 
depended upon from corn. The burrs open, 
the nuts fall out, and the pigs will do the 
harvesting, provided we don’t eat the nuts 
ourselves, 
