

To My Customers and Friends of 1946 
Greetings: 
Chestnut growing is rapidly coming to the 
front, not only as a hobby but also as a profitable 
commercial crop. Before the war millions of 
pounds of chestnuts were imported into this coun- 
try each year from southern Europe. 
These nuts should and could be grown at 
home. Trees come into bearing as soon as apple 
trees, and are a most promising venture for the 
farmer. These trees will live and bear profitable 
crops for future generations, 
Chestnut trees make good shade, and are 
beautiful and attractive as ornamental specimens. 
Instead of merely getting a job of raking and 
burning a crop of leaves each fall from other 
trees, why not plant a few chestnut trees and put 
away a supply of nuts for the family. Or, plant 
a few trees in a corner of a field and build a 
fence around them, to furnish food for the squir- 
rels and other wild life. They will enjoy it and 
you will help to make game more plentiful. 
Chestnuts come into bearing very young. I 
have trees in my nursery bearing 2 to 6 burrs at 
3 years from planting the seed. At 10 years I 
have trees which yielded 10 quarts of nuts. 
Chestnuts bear annually. They bloom about 
the middle of June and so are not injured by 
frost. They require very little pruning, no spray- 
ing, no ladder climbing. They ripen from mid 
September to October. They fall from the burrs 
when ripe, as the burrs open before frost, and 
what a treat to roast a few on the stove or cook 
in water, and eat in the cool fall evenings. 

