Map of Climate Zones from Manual of Cultivated Trees and Shrubs by Alfred 
Rehder of Arnold Arboretum. The figures at ends of lines separating the zones 
show lowest average temperatures of the coldest single month on record. Look 
at page 6 and you will appreciate how elevation, air drainage, water bodies and 
other local conditions may have much influence in affecting the way trees will 
survive in particular locations. Therefore this map is only an approximate guide. 
The heavy line (170) marks average length of frost free season of 170 days. 
Lewisburg, Pa., is just above it on the Susquehanna River. Note this line again 
near Great Lakes. Remember that this line is an average. Some seasons are 
shorter and some are longer. In Pennsylvania, a careful study of the records 
shows that in one-fourth of the years the growing season is three weeks longer 
than the average. That fact makes it possible for a Pecan tree to come through 
with an occasional crop much farther north than it can be depended upon to 
ripen its nuts. But it is an ornament every year. So is every other tree on our list. 
freeze of 1940 when apple trees per- 
ished alongside it in Iowa. 
These trees resist winter better after 
they have had a few seasons to re-es- 
tablish their root and top ratios and 
get settled into the new home. 
All these nuts are of beautiful brown 
color like the native American Chest- 
nut and slightly larger. On an eating 
test you would have great difficulty in 
telling which was American and which 
Asiatic. 
Let the nuts shrivel a little to de- 
velop flavor before eating them raw. 
For varieties see price list. 
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 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 argument for feed is 100% plaus- 
ible. 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 
