The Arizona sentinel., 1886-01-23
CHESTNUTS.
Where the Popular Nuts Are Gathered
 Every Specimen Supplied With a Worm.

Where the Popular Nuts Are Gathered
 Every Specimen Supplied With a Worm.
 The sad-eyed Italian with his chestnut
 stand, who ornaments every street cor ner, excites in the mind of the average citizen not so much the memory of the army of decrepit jokes that have come
 iimping down the vistas of ages past as
 of the days when he used to roam the woods Tn search of the best chestnut tree,
 with cart-wheel spoke or hickory stick in his hand as a weapon of offense and an old salt-bag slung over his back in which to carry off the booty. Every fall after the first October frost the same procession wends 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 its branches arc so high that the most aspiring club can not reach them, and only after 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 chattering group gathers. The girls and the smaller boys pick up, while the more sturdy lads wield the club. There is a warning cry of Heads, '" and up goes a club end over end. It circles through the air in the majestic manner of an eagle whose steer ing apparatus is out of order, descends in the tip-top of the tree, and bangs its way downward from branch to branch, while 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 infate it to the condition of city official, and it is borne home in triumph, to have its contents poured into count less shallow milk-pans, if it doesn burst on the way there.
 Whether the youngster who at this moment may be twisting his shoulder out of joint and nearly snapping his head off in the attempt to throw a par tlcularly 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-priced portion of the wares of the sad-eyed Italian of the fu- ture 1t is impossible to say. But if such should be the case he will wonder from what sourceS-beSides the almanacs and funny papers-all the chestnuts 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 ern States. Baltimore, Pennsylvania, New York and Northern New Jersey are | the sources of supply for the chestnut | trade of this city. Hundreds of bushels | come here to be consumed or shipped to | Albany and other cities.
 Chestnuts are rarely cultivated system | atically, even in these regions, but they | are more rigidly guarded from depreda- | tions, as they are not considered con- mon property, as in New England. | Sometimes chestnut trees are set out, | but 1t is for the timber primarily, and | the nuts are an incidental advantage. In | Pennsylvania, especially, chestnutting | party IS apt to meet with discourage | ments in the shape of Teutonic ex- | pletiVes, bulldogs and shotguns, which | mar the beauty of the rural picture as | seen in the Connecticut grove.
 ''All the chestnuts go through Wash ington market" said dealer, as he shook sieve full of the article under discussion yesterday. The shaking sent the dirt through the meshes of the sieve, and brought the light, wormy nuts to the top, where they were picked out and thrown away. ''In plentiful season. he con- tinued, like this they bring from S25O to S3.50 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"
 '1 suppose that worminess is contagi- ous," said the reporter, as he picked out particularly fat and thriving speci- men. ''One wormy chestnut would corrupt whole barrelful in time. wouldn't it?''
 Every chestnut you are eating has worm in it." replied the dealer with reasSurlng grin. ou take the falrest, soundest one you ever saw and keep it in a warm place, like an incubator, and it'll hatch out a worm. Arrangements are perfected for the future appearance of that worm by 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 1 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?"
 T don't know, can't guess We handle hundreds of bushels ourselves, and there are good many others in the business. ''-N r. Tribune.
 
 The Boss Pumpkin Story.