Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-01-22
cHEsTNuTs.

... tho Popular Nuts Are Gathered
Every Specimen supplicdw Ut a Worm.
The sad-eyed Italian with his chestnut
stand. who ornaments every street cor
mar. cxcites in the mind of the average
citizen not so much the memory of the
army of dccrepit jokes that have come
limping down the vistas of ages past as
of the days when he used to roam the
woods in search of the best chestnut tree,
with a cart-wheel spoke or a hickory
stick in his hand rs a weapon of offense
and an old salt-bag slung owe his back
in which to carry of the booty. Every
fail after the first October frost the same
procession wcnds its way through the
New England woods after school is out.
Away goes the troop over stone walls
and across closely-cropped meadows in
search of the most desirable tree, for the
characteristics of each are known.
The tree is tall and venerable. and its
fruit is big, brown and of the sweetest
flavor, but it's branches are so high that
the most aspiring club can not reach
them. and only after a strong wind has
shaken the limbs and scattered the nuts
on the ground, will it pay to visit the
tree. Other trees have fruit that is less
sweet and juicy, but their branches are
lower, and they can be easily "clubbed''
and compelled to yield up their
abundance. Under one of these the
chattcring group gathers. The girls
and the smaller boys pick up,
while the more sturdy lads WELD the
club. There is q warning cry of
Heads" and up goes a club end over
end. 1t circles through the air in tho
majestic n of an eagle whose steer
inc apparatus is out of order, dcscends
in the tip-top of the tree, and bangs its
way downward from branch to branch,
while a perfect rain of chestnuts and
burrs falls alike on the Just and unjust.
The capacious salt-bag gaps wide, but
the spells collected by many busy hands
soon initiate it to the condition of a city
official, and it is borne home in triumph,
TO have its contents poured into count
less shallow m%ilk-pans, if it doesn't burst
on the way there.
Whether the youngstcr who at this
moment may be twisting his shoulder
out of joint and nearly swapping his
head off in the attempt to throw a par
,~icularly big club to the top of the high
est tree in some Connecticut woodland
will ever walk down Broadway and hold
open his pockets to receive a certain
minute and high-priccd portion of the
wares of the sad-cycd Italian of the fu-
turc it is impossible to say. But if such
should be the case he will wonder from
what sources-besidcs the almanacs and
funny papcrs-all the chcstnuts come.
And unless the condition OF the trade
changes his loyalty to his New England
home will be shocked at the knowledge
that none of them comes from the East
crn States. Baltimore, Pennsylvania,
New York and Northern New Jersey arc
the sources of supply for the chestnut
trade of this city. Hundreds of bushels
come here to be consumed OF shipped to
Albany and other cities.
Chestnuts are rarely cultivated SYSTEM
at'caily, even in these regions, but they
are more rigidly guarded from depreda-
tons, as they are not considered COM
mon property, as in New England.
Sometimes chestnut trees are set out,
but it is for the timber primarily, and
the nuts arc an incidental advantage. In
Pennsylvania, especially, a c%hestnutting
party is apt to meet with discourage
mcnts in the shape of Tcutonic cx-
pietivcs, bulldogs and shotguns, which
mar the beauty of the rural picture as
seen IN the Connecticut grove.
''All the chcstnuts go through Wash
ington Market said q dealer, as he
shook q sieve full of the article under
discussion yesterday. The shaking sent
the dirt through the mcshes of the sieve,
and brought the light, wormy nuts
to the top, where they were
picked out and thrown away.
"ln a plentiful season. he CON
tinued, 'like this they bring from 50. so
to $3.50 & bushel of sixty pounds. Some
have to be picked over carefully, and
others don't, according to where they
come from and who gathered them"
II suppose that wormincssis contagi-
GUS" said the reporter, as he picked
out a particularly fat and thriving speci-
men. "Onc wormy chestnut would
corrupt a whole barrelful in time,
wouldn't it?"
Every chestnut you are eating has a
Worm in it," replied the dealer with a
rcassurlng grin. ''You take the %fairest,
soundest one you ever saw and kcepit in
a warm place, like an incubator, and
MI hatch out u worm. Arrangements
are perfected for the future appearance
OF that worm by Il little insect while the
tree is yet in blossom. Then, to help
the thing out, the chestnuts get up heat
themselves by a sort of spontaneous
combustion. If l let the barrel stand
there all night you couldn't bear to run
your hand down into it in the morning
IT would be so hot. They must be kept
in a cold place"
"How many bushels of chestnuts pass
through the market in a year?'
Il don't know, l can't guess. We
handle hundreds of bushels ourselves,
and there are a good many others in the
business. N Y. Tribune.