Chapter V: The Chestnut (2)

CASTANEA AMERICANA (_American sweet chestnut_).--Leaves oblong-lanceolate, serrate, with rather coarse teeth, each terminated with a feeble prickle or spine; smooth on both sides (Fig. 19). Burs thickly covered with sharp, branching spines a half inch long or less, from a fleshy green envelope, becoming hard and somewhat woody; opening by four valves or divisions when mature. Usually three nuts in each bur, the center one flattened by compression, the two outer ones plano-convex. Shell tough and leathery, dark brown, smooth, or more or less inverted, with a silvery pubescence from the point downward; variable in size from five-eighths to an inch in diameter. Kernel sweet and fine-grained. A very large and common tree in the Middle and Northern States, living to a great age.

CASTANEA NANA (_bush chinquapin_).--Leaves oval-lanceolate, serrate, with feeble prickles on teeth and often wanting; pale green above and white tomentose underneath. Burs in racemes, small; husk thin, opening by two divisions or lobes, instead of four, as in the last species; spines short, somewhat scattering, sessile or very short-stalked; nuts small, pointed, brown, smooth, thin-shelled, solitary or only one in a bur. Kernel fine-grained, sweet and delicious. Common from North Carolina southward to Florida, in dry soils and barrens. A medium-sized shrub or low-spreading bush, rarely reaching a hight of ten feet, the slender twigs usually tomentose. A spike of burs and leaves of this species are seen in Fig. 20.

CASTANEA PUMILA (_chinquapin chestnut_).--Leaves oblong-lanceolate, short or acutely pointed, coarsely serrate, with incurved pointed teeth, green above, tomentose underneath. Burs in racemes (Fig. 21), two-valved. Sometimes the burs are single, as shown in Fig. 22. Spines branching from a short stalk; nuts solitary, ovoid, pointed, with dark-brown polished shell. Kernel fine-grained, sweet and excellent. A medium-sized tree twenty to forty feet high; in rich soils from New Jersey, Southern Pennsylvania and southward, to Georgia, and sparingly westward to Arkansas.

CASTANEA SATIVA OR VESCA (_European chestnut_).--Leaves oblong-lanceolate, pointed, coarsely serrate, with rather long incurved spines on the teeth; smooth on both sides, but glossy and dark green above; thicker and of more substance than in any other species. Burs very large, with thick husk, and long, stout, branching spines, from a woody stem at the base; shell of nut thick, tough and leathery, of a dark mahogany brown; kernel enclosed in a rather tough but thin skin that is usually intensely bitter, a characteristic that readily distinguishes this from any of our species. Trees of large size, rather stocky; young shoots coarse, with smooth bark; buds prominent, glossy, and of a light yellowish-brown color.

CASTANEA JAPONICA (_Japan chestnut_).--Leaves lanceolate-oblong (Fig. 23), finely serrate, indentations shallow, and the teeth slender pointed; pale green above and silvery or rusty white underneath. Burs with a very thin husk; spines short, widely branching from a short stem. Nuts large to very large, usually three in a bur; shell thin, and of a light brown color; the inner skin thin, fibrous, but not as bitter as in the European varieties, and the kernel somewhat finer grained and sweeter. Trees of moderate growth and are said to rarely exceed fifty feet high in Japan. The growth is slender in comparison with the European or American chestnut, and the habit is decidedly bushy, the new growth of the season usually producing a number of lateral twigs late in summer. The leaves here seem to be more persistent, probably because the season is not long enough to insure thorough ripening.

The reader will please bear in mind that this description of the Japan chestnut is drawn from the introduced varieties or those raised from the imported nuts, and not from the trees growing in their native habitats. All the varieties that I have seen appear to belong to one type or species, and they come from the warmer parts of that country; but Prof. Sargent, in his "Forest Flora of Japan," says that while the largest nuts appear in the markets of Kobe and Osaka, from whence they come to this country, there are varieties offered for sale in the markets of Aomori, which is much further north, and these, he thinks, would produce a more hardy race of varieties than those we have already received from that country. As a race, all the Japan chestnuts are very precocious, the trees coming into bearing early whether raised from the nut or propagated by grafting.

=Native Varieties.= (Group One).--While it is well known that our American sweet chestnut varies widely in the size, flavor, form, color and general appearance of the nuts, no special effort has been made to select and perpetuate the most distinct and valuable varieties. This is to be regretted, inasmuch as the opportunities for making such selections, and preserving and propagating those most worthy of it, are rapidly passing away with the destruction of our chestnut forests; but there is still time to do something in this direction, and perhaps save a few varieties as valuable as those already destroyed. It is to be hoped that every man who knows of a large variety, will either propagate it himself, or point it out to some one who is sufficiently interested to do so. If proper attention was given to the raising of seedlings, we might soon secure many improved native varieties, and I would urge this mode of propagation upon all whose circumstances and surroundings will admit of it, and especially upon the young men who possess the talent and inclination to make such experiments; for there is a wide and fertile field open to them, and they can scarcely fail to reap a rich reward for their labors, if applied with earnestness and a moderate amount of intelligence.

BURLESS CHESTNUT.--This is a peculiar variety or freak, in which the burs are merely shallow cups upon which the nuts rest, and at no stage of their growth are they enclosed in a husk or bur. The nuts are small and usually perfect, but being unprotected they are preyed upon by birds and squirrels as soon as the kernels are well formed, few escaping to reach maturity. This chestnut is of no economic value, but is worth preserving as an illustration of extremes in variation. The original tree was found in the forest near Freehold, Green Co., N. Y., by Mr. Harry Bagley, to whom I am indebted for cions sent me in the spring of 1885. Another and very similar variety was found about the same time on Staten Island, N. Y., and this also has been propagated, to a limited extent, as a curiosity.

HATHAWAY.--A very large and handsome native variety, and one of the very best. A strong and vigorous grower, and productive. Raised by Mr. B. Hathaway, the veteran and widely known pomologist of Little Prairie Ronde, Mich. Some thirty years ago Mr. Hathaway purchased a half bushel of native chestnuts of a dealer in Ohio, and from these raised a large number of trees for sale; but a few were reserved for planting out on his own grounds, and when these came into bearing the one named here was selected for propagation, because of its large size and productiveness.

PHILLIPS.--A large and handsome variety of excellent flavor, with a very smooth, dark-brown shell. Grafted trees exceedingly vigorous, upright growth, as well as precocious and productive. The original tree is growing in the grounds of the late Whitman Phillips, at Ridgewood, N. J. Several years ago my attention was called to a number of large varieties of the chestnut growing in and near the village, and from these I obtained cions for propagation; but I name only one at this time, reserving the others until more fully tested.

This is rather an insignificant number of varieties to be named among the many hundreds that are to be found in almost every town or neighborhood where the chestnut is a native, and yet I have been able to find only one named in nurserymen's catalogues as being propagated by grafting. It is true that nearly all dealers in trees offer seedling American chestnuts, which may mean good, bad or indifferent varieties when the trees come into bearing. Among all of the many thousands that have been raised and planted in the East and West, beyond the natural range of the chestnut, as, for instance, in Missouri, Kansas and Iowa, there must be some distinct and valuable varieties worthy of names and propagation. There are not only distinct varieties to be found in every forest, but in some instances the entire product of an extended area of country are distinct in their color, size, and general appearance of the nuts produced; as, for instance, in the woolly chestnuts of the Piedmont district of Virginia, these being so nearly covered with a white down that they remind one of popcorn. Hundreds of bushels of these woolly chestnuts come to our markets, and among them I have often found very large specimens, but so far as known, no effort has been made to perpetuate them.

So far as can now be determined, the wild or original European chestnut was much inferior in its flavor, and little, if any, larger than our American sweet chestnut; but by continued selections of the largest for planting, and propagation by grafting, it has attained to its present size and excellence; but this system of improving our native varieties has scarcely, as yet, been attempted, a fact which does not, in the least, redound to our credit.

BUSH CHINQUAPIN (_C. nana._ Muhlenberg).--Of this I do not know of any named varieties in cultivation. Plants are occasionally seen in cultivated grounds, and I have one in my garden growing in a sheltered position, where it has fruited for several years. It is a pretty, round-headed, silvery-leaved bush, about six feet high; ornamental, if not specially valuable for other purposes, although the little sweet nuts are always acceptable. As a rule, the seedlings of this species are not hardy in the Northern States, but an occasional one will survive if planted in a light, porous soil and a protected situation.

COMMON CHINQUAPIN (_C. pumila._ Miller).--This is a small tree, sometimes thirty to forty feet high; found sparingly as far north as central New Jersey, and on Long Island. It is more common in cultivation than the bush chinquapin, probably because more hardy and better known, but I do not know of any improved varieties that have been disseminated under distinct names except the one hereinafter described.

Among many seedlings raised, of this species, I have selected one which good judges of such things have thought worthy of propagation, and as I do not raise plants for sale, no one will be likely to accuse me of having any selfish motives, further than a pardonable pride in producing something worthy of perpetuation. Furthermore, as an earnest of my confidence in its merits, I have distributed it under my own name.

FULLER'S CHINQUAPIN.--Leaves large, broadly oval, pointed, coarsely serrate, pale green above, clear silvery white below. Bark on main stem; branches and twigs smooth, light gray, with numerous white dots. The young twigs thick and stocky, cylindrical, with moderately prominent, grayish buds. Burs in long racemes (Fig. 24), very large for this species; spines long, strong, branching and sharp. Nuts only one in each bur, rather short, broad, top-shaped, with blunt point; shell very smooth, glossy, almost black; kernel fine-grained and sweet. Ripens early, or with the earliest of the native sweet chestnuts. The original tree is only six years old, twice transplanted, and is now ten feet high, with a head fully as broad, and as shown in Fig. 25. Although growing in a rather exposed position, it has never been injured by low temperature in winter or a high one in summer. It has thus far been the most rapid-growing chestnut tree in my grounds, although given no special care. Whether it will eventually become a large tree, or soon cease to extend, is, of course, a question to be answered at some future time, but from present indications this tree will be well worthy of cultivation as an ornamental shade tree, even if we leave out of the account its rapid growth, productiveness, and delicious little nuts, which will be very acceptable for home use, if not possessing any great commercial value.

=European Varieties.=--In the use of this term I wish it understood that the varieties named and described in this group are all of American origin; that is, raised in this country from seed. At the same time they are descendants of the European species. They are, in other words, "Survivals of the fittests," the few that have survived the many being raised from imported nuts (perhaps one out of a thousand) that tests and time have shown were adapted to our climate. There may be many other varieties scattered about the country which are worthy of a name and of propagation, but I can speak only of those I have been able to procure, or that have been brought to my notice.

In describing the following varieties, and in seeking to get at the facts relating to their origin, name and history, the reader will please bear in mind that there has been no previous attempt to arrange or classify these semi-American varieties. Furthermore, there is much confusion in regard to the true names of a number of them, and the most I can say is that I have endeavored, under the circumstances, to get as near the truth as possible. Could I defer writing this chapter ten years, some moot points might be cleared up, but as this is out of the question I must follow the light already in my possession.

To Mr. John R. Parry, of Parry, N. J., I am greatly indebted, not only for specimens of new and rare varieties, but also notes relating to the history of several of the older ones.

COMFORT.--Burs very large, broad, somewhat flattened; spines very strong and long, branching; nuts very broad, with short point, and shell covered from base to point with scattering silky hairs, thicker at upper end. In quality, about the same as in the ordinary varieties of the species, but to some persons' taste it is better, having less astringency in the skin surrounding the kernel. Origin uncertain, but said to have been grown for many years at Germantown, a suburb of Philadelphia, Pa., where the Paragon chestnut was discovered. The Comfort certainly closely resembles the Paragon, but I have not had an opportunity of fruiting trees under the two names side by side, as would be necessary to determine their identity or difference, if they are really distinct.

COOPER.--A very large variety; has been in cultivation for several years in Camden Co., N. J., but up to the present time the trees have not been propagated for sale, although I am informed by Mr. John R. Parry that there are a large number under cultivation. The tree is described as of a broad spreading habit, with enormously large leaves, and immensely productive. Nuts very large, smooth and glossy, with little fuzz near the top. In quality they may be considered excellent for a variety of this class. The burs are very large, and this is its greatest or only fault; for when nearly mature they absorb and retain such a quantity of water during heavy rains, in addition to the original weight and the enclosed nuts, that the trees are liable to be broken down by strong winds.

CORSON.--Burs of immense size; spines an inch or more in length, from a stout, woody, irregularly branching stem, resting on the moderately thin husk. Nuts extra large, usually three in a bur; shell dark brown, somewhat ridged; the upper end or point of the shell densely covered with a white, almost woolly, pubescence, or fuzz as it is usually termed. This is a remarkably large and fine variety and of good quality. Originated with Mr. Walter H. Corson, Plymouth Meeting, Montgomery Co., Pa.

DAGER.--A large variety originated near Wyoming, Delaware, from seed of the Ridgely. My specimen trees are good vigorous growers, and hardy, but have not, as yet, produced fruit. It is said that the nuts are of fair quality, but not as good as the best of its class.

MONCUR.--Another seedling of the Ridgely, raised on the farm of Mr. Frank Moncur, near Dover, Del. The original tree is about thirty years old. Described as smaller than its parent, but of better quality.

NUMBO.--Burs medium, and distinctly long pointed before opening, as shown in Fig. 26, the four divisions of the burs extending an inch or more beyond the nut as they open. This is an exceptional form of the bur, and will enable almost any person to recognize the variety with bearing trees. Spines only medium in length (Fig. 27), and not as strong as in most other varieties of this species. Nuts very large (Fig. 28), smooth, decidedly pointed, light brown when first mature, and of good flavor. Tree hardy and a vigorous, free grower, and is very productive even when young. The original tree is now some forty years old, and is one of a large number raised from imported nuts, by the late Mahlon Moon, of Morrisville, Pa.

MILLER'S DUPONT.--Burs large, spines long and strong but not as stout as in some of the closely related varieties. Nut medium, and kernel of fair quality. A promising variety. Origin unknown. Received from Jos. Evans, Delaware Co., Pa.

PARAGON.--Burs of immense size, often five inches and more in lateral diameter; distinctly flattened on the top, or cushion shape (Fig. 29); spines an inch in length, widely and irregularly branching from a stout stem springing from a thick, fleshy husk, as shown in Fig. 30, the whole making an involucre or bur out of proportion to the nuts within. Nuts of large size, slightly depressed at the top (Fig. 31), and they are usually broader than long; shell very dark brown, slightly ridged, and covered with a fine but not very conspicuous pubescence. Kernel sweet, fine-grained, and of superior flavor for one of this species. Tree hardy, exceedingly precocious and productive when grafted on strong, healthy stock. A four-year-old tree on my grounds is shown in Fig. 32. It was loaded with nuts in the fall of 1894. This is one of the best of its class. Origin somewhat in doubt, but it is claimed that the late W. L. Shaffer, of Philadelphia, raised it from a foreign nut planted in his garden, and who, some eighteen years or more ago, gave cions to W. H. Engle, of Marietta, Pa. Mr. Engle has since propagated and disseminated this variety quite extensively under its present name, but should further investigation prove it to be distinct and that it was raised by Mr. Shaffer, then it should certainly bear his name, and Paragon become a synonym. No more appropriate monument could possibly be erected in honor of a distinguished horticulturist like the late Mr. Shaffer, than a chestnut tree, nor could his memory be perpetuated under more pleasant and agreeable surroundings than to have his name linked inseparably with such an excellent and valuable variety.

RIDGELY.--Burs large, with dense spines, but not as long as those of the Paragon. Nuts large, pointed; shell dark brown, with very little pubescence, and this mainly at the point (Fig. 33). In quality this variety ranks very near, if not the equal of, the best of its class, and it has been highly commended, by those who have been acquainted with it, for many years.

The origin of the Ridgely, as recorded, leaves the question of name a debatable one. Some sixty years ago a Mr. Dupont, of Wilmington, Del., gave or sent to Mr. D. M. Ridgely, of Dover, Del., a sprouted chestnut, and this was planted and became the original tree of the variety under consideration. It has been called Dupont, because he raised the nut and kept it over winter and until it sprouted; then it passed into the care of Mr. Ridgely, who thenceforward gave it his attention. The tree is now of immense size, and some seasons has produced more than five bushels of nuts, selling at eleven dollars per bushel. It is quite probable that the Dupont family were the first to raise European chestnut trees to a bearing size in this country, for some of its members were settled in Delaware before the war of the Revolution. Pierre Samuel Dupont de Nemours, during the French ministry of Vergennes, was employed in forming the treaty of 1783, in which the independence of the United States was formally recognized by England. In 1795 (Am. encyclopedia) he came to this country and joined his sons, who had become successful manufacturers of gunpowder at or near Wilmington, Del., where their descendants, or at least some of them, are still engaged in the same business. If any of the old and original chestnut trees have escaped the numerous "powder mill explosions" which have frequently occurred in that neighborhood, they are probably much older than the Ridgely. I am also inclined to believe that a very large majority of all the hardy chestnut trees of the European species scattered about the country are the direct descendants of the old Dupont stock.

SCOTT.--Burs large, with long branching spines. Nuts from the original tree, as received the past season, are only of medium size, but said to be much larger on younger trees. Shell dark brown, smooth, with a little fuzz around the point. As my specimen tree has not, as yet, fruited, I am unable to say anything of its productiveness from personal experience, but in a note from Mr. William Parry, under date of Oct. 15, 1894, he says: "I send specimens of the Scott chestnuts, grown by Judge Scott, of Burlington, N. J. The crop is about gone and it was with difficulty I could get these, which are about the average size; earlier in the season many are larger. Judge Scott has grown those nuts for market several years. The original tree was bought by his father many years ago from the nursery of Thomas Hancock. He bought three trees for Spanish chestnuts, planted them in a row about thirty feet apart, and the one from which these nuts were obtained happened to be in the middle. It is now a large tree, the trunk about five feet in diameter. It is a regular and heavy bearer. Judge Scott has propagated and planted an orchard from this variety, and claims among its important features, large size and early bearing,--two-year grafts generally produce nuts; immense productiveness and good quality; beautiful, glossy, mahogany color; freedom from fuzz, and an almost entire exemption from the attacks of the chestnut weevil. While the crop of two trees standing on either side of the Scott is badly damaged by worms, it is the exception to find a wormy nut among the Scott.

"The crop sells readily at ten to twelve dollars per bushel.
This year (1894) some sold as low as eight dollars, the lowest
ever known for this variety."

STYER.--Burs large, round; spines long, branching, but not as coarse as those of Comfort. Nuts medium to large, decidedly pointed, and the point fuzzy. Shell dark brown, with a few longitudinal stripes, but not ridged. A handsome nut of good quality. This variety has been distributed under the name of Hannum. The original tree, which is a mammoth in size, is still standing on the farm of a Mr. Hannum, near Concordville, Delaware Co., Penn. But Mr. T. Walter Styer, of the same place, is propagating and introducing it as the Styer.

Some of the varieties in this group may not prove to be distinct, and later they will be relegated to their proper place as synonyms, but I have thought it best to record them by the names under which they have been received. In writing these descriptions I have had the nuts and leaves before me, but there may be characters overlooked which will become more conspicuous as the grafted trees become older and more mature. The Dager chestnut, from Delaware, is a promising variety, disseminated through the Department of Agriculture, but as I have not seen the nuts at this writing, a description is necessarily omitted.

Among the French varieties of this species which are said to succeed admirably in California, a large proportion would probably do equally well in Delaware and further south. Among those worthy of trial I may name the _Avant Chataigne_, _Comale_, _Exalade_, _Green of Lemousin_, _Grosse Precoce_, _Jaune Rousse_, _Lyons_, _Merle_, _Nouzillard_, _Quercy_, etc. I have tried some of these, but with such indifferent results that they were abandoned. Cultivators of nut trees located in a milder climate, should take advantage of whatever improvements there have been made in Europe, by importing grafted trees or cions. There are a few ornamental varieties of the European chestnut, but none worthy of any special attention.

JAPAN CHESTNUTS.--The first authentic account I have been able to find of the introduction of the Japan chestnut into this country, is of a number of trees received by S. B. Parsons & Co., Flushing, N. Y., 1876, from the late Thos. Hogg, who, as is well known to all horticulturists, spent several years in Japan collecting many rare kinds of trees and shrubs, which were shipped direct to Parsons & Co. The chestnut trees received in 1876 fruited two years later, or in 1878, and soon attracted attention, on account of the large size and excellent quality of the nuts and the precocious habits of the trees.

The success of this typical variety of the Japanese species, as I have assumed to designate it, proved that there were oriental chestnuts--heretofore untested in this country--that were certainly worthy of an attempt to obtain. This variety, introduced by the Messrs. Parsons & Co., does not appear to have been disseminated under any distinct varietal name, but merely bears the rather meaningless one of Japan chestnut, and for the purpose of giving it a position where it may be recognized--by name at least--from other varieties more recently introduced, I shall take the liberty of calling it "Parsons' Japan."

Soon after it became known that the oriental chestnuts would succeed in this country, the fruit growers and nurserymen of California began to import and plant these nuts, shipping an occasional lot to their customers in the Eastern States, and from these hundreds of seedlings have been raised and distributed, under the general name of Japan chestnut. Among the nuts imported there are some of extraordinary size, even larger than anything of the kind obtained from Europe, as shown in Fig. 34, natural size, and from a specimen received direct from Japan. Some of the nurserymen who have secured these very large nuts for planting, offer the seedlings raised therefrom under such names as Mammoth and Giant Japan, but as there is no certainty, and scarcely a probability, that such seedlings will produce nuts as large as those planted, the names are rather misleading, although proper enough if given to grafted varieties of large size. When an extra-fine variety is produced from the nut, it should, of course, be preserved and propagated in the usual way.

The late Wm. Parry, of Parry, N. J., was one of the first nurserymen to attempt to produce new varieties of the Japan chestnut in this country, and his sons have continued his experiments in this direction. Others may have been equally successful, but I have been unable to obtain any satisfactory reports from those to whom I have applied for information; consequently, I can only say that the following, with few exceptions, originated at the Wm. Parry nurseries.

ADVANCE (Parry).--Burs medium, slightly flattened on top; spines medium, short, almost sessile, as shown in Fig. 35, and this is a characteristic of all the Japan chestnuts; branching and widely separated on a very thin husk. Nuts very large; shell a light yellowish brown, with a few slight darker streaks from base to apex. Quality excellent for one of this species. Ripens early, and long before touched by frost.

ALPHA (Parry).--Very similar to the last, but ripens earlier, which would be an advantage in some localities. Tree vigorous and productive.

BETA (Parry).--Bur medium; spines rather long and thin for one of this group, set on a thin husk. Nut large; shell light brown, smooth, with a slight trace of pubescence near the tip. The leaves are shallow and coarsely serrate, and on some the teeth or serratures are entirely wanting. Ripens a little later than the Alpha, or about the first of October in northern New Jersey.

EARLY RELIANCE (Parry).--Burs medium, with short, almost deflexed spines, on an exceedingly thin husk. Nuts large, more pointed than in the last, and of a lighter color the past season, but this may not be constant, and may be due to the long and severe drouth of the summer of 1894. Usually three nuts in a bur, and sometimes four or five, but I do not consider this increase in number a merit in any variety, for where there are more than three they are likely to be of small size and very much deformed. The original tree of the Reliance is enormously productive, and a regular bearer.

FELTON.--A seedling of the common Japanese chestnut, raised by J. W. Killen, of Felton, Delaware.

GIANT JAPAN (Parry).--Burs large to extra large for a variety of this species, with medium low branching spines on a very thin, parchment-like husk. Nuts extra large, usually only two in a bur, often only one, and about two inches broad, much depressed at the top, with a short point set in an irregular depression or basin. Shell dark mahogany color, more or less ribbed; kernel coarse grained, as is usual in the extra large varieties of nearly all species of the chestnut. This is probably the largest variety of the Japanese chestnut raised in this country, of which grafted trees are obtainable at this time. There may be others equally as large, but if so they are unknown to the writer.

KILLEN.--Of the Japan species, and described as very large, the nuts over two inches in diameter and of fair quality. Raised by J. W. Killen, of Felton, Del.

PARSONS' JAPAN.--Burs medium, with rather thick-set and long spines. Nuts large, one inch and a half broad, curving regularly to a point; shell smooth, almost glossy, brown, with faint stripes of a darker shade extending from base to apex. In quality the kernel is far better than most of the European varieties, being finer grained and sweeter. When grafted on strong stocks the trees come into bearing early, or in two or three years. This is the best known, and probably the most widely distributed variety, of the Japanese species in this country, having been introduced, as I have stated elsewhere, in 1876.

PARRY'S SUPERB (Parry).--Burs broad, cushion-shaped, or much flattened on top, with extra long, widely branching spines from single or multiple stems, very much as in the European varieties. But the thin husk, the nuts, and the growth of tree, wood and leaves, stamp it as a pure Japanese variety. Nuts large, broader than long, with a decided sharp woody point; almost entirely destitute of even a sign of pubescence. A very promising and distinct variety.

SUCCESS (Parry).--Burs very large, broad, with only a few short, scattering, branching spines on the top, thicker toward the base; on a thin, parchment-like husk, and this is so thin that it sometimes cracks open and exposes the nuts within before they are fully ripe. Nuts extra large, nearly equal to the Giant, but of a more regular and symmetrical form, being nearly as long as broad, tapering to a point. Shell smooth, dark brown, with a slight pubescence about the point. Usually three nuts in a bur; an ideal variety in every respect.

There is a variety of the Japan chestnut recently much lauded under the name of Mammoth or Burbank, which is said to be of immense size, and as sweet as the common American chestnut.

=Injurious Insects.=--The chestnut tree is rarely attacked by insects. It is true that grubs may occasionally be found boring into the wood or cutting sinuous burrows under the bark, but this is mainly in trees weakened by exposure, in removing protecting companions, as when removing forests, or by plowing up and destroying the roots, in cultivating the land about them; but the attacks of insects upon such specimens is nature's way of getting rid of the feeble and least valuable, making room for the healthy and strong. But my thirty years' residence in a chestnut grove leads me to think that this nut tree is exceedingly free from wood borers of any kind.

Entomologists, however, have noted several instances of insect depredations upon individual trees, by a few species of the long-horn beetles, three or four in all, but these occur so rarely that they are scarcely worthy of notice as pests of the chestnut. There are also several species of caterpillars occasionally found feeding on the leaves of this tree, also some sucking bugs or tree hoppers, and two or three kinds of plant lice, but none of these have, as yet, become at all formidable enemies, or likely to become so later. But the chestnut has one enemy which is so abundant and destructive to the nuts as to call for an extended notice. I refer to the common native chestnut weevil (_Balaninus carytripes_, Boheman). The little fat, white, round, legless grubs, nearly or quite a half-inch long, must be familiar to every person who has handled or eaten chestnuts raised in this country, whether of the exotic or native varieties. The parents of this grub are oval-shaped beetles about one-half inch long or less; wing covers, body and legs densely covered with a short yellow down, and from the front or thorax there extends a long, slightly curved, slender snout (Fig. 36), sometimes nearly an inch in length in the females, but usually less in the males. The mouth parts are at the extreme end of this snout or proboscis, and the female, with her mandibles, it is claimed, reaches down among the chestnut spines and gnaws a hole in the husk, into which she drops an egg; and when this hatches, the minute grub cuts its way through the green husk and into the nut, the hole made in its progress closing up behind, leaving no mark or scar. Although I have taken hundreds of these weevils on chestnut trees, I never have been so fortunate as to take one in the act of ovipositing, but have come so near it as to find the ovipositor still extended as the insect crawled out from among the spines.

The chestnut weevil usually appears in great numbers soon after the trees bloom in spring, but they continue to come out all through the summer; I have occasionally found them late in September, which probably accounts for finding small and half-grown grubs in the nuts as they ripen and fall from the trees. These late grubs often remain in the nuts all winter, but the greater part escape earlier, or very soon after the crop is ripe. The grubs crawl out of the nuts and work their way into the ground to a depth of from a few inches to two feet, much depending upon the nature of the soil. Having very powerful jaws, they readily cut through a layer of leaves or soft wood, and I have known them to cut holes in sheets of dry cork. These grubs remain in the ground until the following season, then come forth in their winged or weevil stage, except the belated, broods, or those that have not reached full size in the autumn; these remain in the ground the entire summer, coming out late in the fall, or pass over until the second year, as I have proved by burying the grubs in a barrel sunk in the ground, covering the top with fine wire netting, to prevent the escape of the weevils as they emerged from time to time during the season.

As a rule, we find only one grub in a nut, of the American sweet chestnut, but in the larger varieties of the European and Japanese, two or more is not unusual, which rather favors the idea that the female weevil does possess something akin to reason, which guides her in locating stores of food available for her progeny. I have never observed that the weevils had any choice among varieties, all being subject to their attacks alike, provided all were growing in equally favorable positions. But if the trees are of different sizes, some tall and others short, some exposed to the winds and others protected, then the ravages of this pest will, no doubt, be as variable as the surrounding conditions. As the weevils emerge from the ground in spring or early summer, they will naturally seek the nuts most convenient and on the small trees, then those on the lower branches of the larger ones, while those on the upper part of the tree, where they are fully exposed to the winds, may wholly escape the attacks of these pests. This leads me to think that whoever attempts to cut off native chestnut forests, with the expectation of renewal with the larger varieties, by grafting the sprouts, will find the chestnut weevil a rather formidable enemy. I have found it so on a limited number of trees in my own grounds, that are grown from grafted sprouts near large native specimens, the weevils destroying nearly every nut; but out in the field, away from the woods, and where the young trees are scattered and exposed to the full sweep of the winds, the nuts are sound and free from insect enemies. The only remedy is to collect and destroy the weevils, which is not a serious matter where only the larger varieties are cultivated.

=Diseases of the Chestnut.=--I have never noticed any special disease among chestnuts, neither do I find any mentioned in European works on forestry. The nearest approach to any such malady being recorded as having appeared in this country, is found in a paragraph in Hough's "Report on Forestry," 1877, p. 470, where the author copies from Prof. W. C. Kerr, State Geologist, North Carolina, as follows: "The chestnut was formerly abundant in the Piedmont region, down to the country between the Catawba and Yadkin rivers, but within the last thirty years they have mostly perished. They are now found east of the Blue Ridge only, on higher ridges and spurs of the mountains. They have suffered injury here, and are dying out both here and beyond the Blue Ridge. They are much less fruitful than they were a generation ago, and the crop is much more uncertain."

While there is nothing said about any chestnut disease in the paragraph quoted, we only infer that the author intended to convey the idea that the trees were suffering from some endemic malady, although it may have been due to long drouths, insect depredators, or other causes. A few years later Mr. Hough, in his "Elements of Forestry," refers to the subject again, and admits that "the cause of the malady is unknown." But as chestnuts continue to come to our markets in vast quantities from the Piedmont regions, there must be a goodly number of healthy trees remaining.

=Uses.=--The economic value of the chestnut, as food for mankind and the lower animals, has been, and is still, so well known, that no extended dissertation or compilation of historic instances of its usefulness are required here. For almost two thousand years it has been an important article of food throughout southern Europe, and in some of the mountainous districts it is almost the "staff of life" among the poorer people, who not only use these nuts in their raw state, but roasted, boiled, stewed, and even dried and ground into flour, from which a coarse but nutritious kind of cake or bread is made. These nuts are also used in the same way by the poorer classes of China and Japan, and probably in other oriental countries. In France, Italy, Spain and Portugal, the chestnut crop is of immense importance, not only for domestic use, but commercially, because all surplus is wanted by other nations, who are ever ready to take a share, and pay a good round price for the same.

In this country chestnuts are mainly used as a luxury or a kind of pocket lunch for the children, as they are rarely brought to the table, and it is very doubtful if the American housewife, or our cooks,--unless foreign born and bred,--know anything about preparing these delicious nuts for comestible purposes. Cereals, meats, fruits and vegetables have always been so abundant and cheap in this country, that the poorest of the poor could indulge in them without stint or limit; but all this will change sooner or later, and when our population has doubled or trebled, the edible nuts must become of much more importance than now, and a roast turkey stuffed with chestnuts may figure as the ideal of gastronomic art.

As our native chestnuts are now annually consumed by the thousands of bushels, and the imported varieties by millions of pounds, and all as a mere luxury,--not a necessity nor an article which we could not dispense with without any serious inconvenience,--we may well consider what the future demand must be, and make haste to meet it with an abundant supply.