Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1891-01-01
cHEsTnuTs ron PROFIT.


One of the Nest Promising OF AN Nuts for
Orchard Culture.
The chestnut-the good, sweet, reliable
American chestnut-may safely be con-
sidered the most promising of all nuts
suitable for orchard culture. ALI we
will have to do is to plant seed for stock
in orchard rows, then look up some of
the largest and finest varieties, known
to be good bearers, and graft them upon
the seedlings This would give us q
valuable orchard after awhile, and per-
haps as profitable, as if we planted
Numbo, Paragon, or any other.
Mr.. A. S. Fuller, in recent contribu-
ton to the New York Tribune, calls at
tention to the dwarf Chinqpapin chest
nut, as variety for the fruit garden
and for the ct6ldren's pleasure. Whether
it could be depended upon as source
OF revenue or not, certainly it will
prove to be an object of interest, and
well worthy of place on the lawn or
in the garden.
The Chinquapin chestnut (Castanea
pumila) gives little promise of ever
yielding vaaieties of large size. says Mr..
Fuller, still it deserves to be better
knowne in cultivation. The nuts are
small, globular or slightly oblong, and
produce singly, or only one in each bur,
buS the burs are borne on long fruit
stalks, sometimes dozen ON each; coE
sequently Che increase in Number
makes up in part for diminueive size.
The nuts are sweet and Gender, even
m0se delicate than our common chest
1ue.
The Chinquapin is most abundant in
the South, although found sparingly on
| the sandy ridges of Pennsylvania and
Southern Ohio. In the more northern
localities, as well as in the richer soils
Of the South, this species grows thirty
! ox forty feet high, while on the poors
sandy soils Of Che South it is mere
| bush, often not more than three or four
feet high, even when it is old and the
plants are mafured.
} Taken as whole, this species appears
60 be more variable than our common
sweet chestnut, and this lends to it its
greatest value in cultivation. By select
ing the very dwarf varieties we may
cultivate them in rows as we do goose
berries or currants; q they may be
planted among ordinary low-growing
shrubs about the lawn and garden, and
\ where the children can have the fun of
picking chestnuts from the tree without
climbing OF waiting for nuts 70 fall.
Several years ago I raised a numbee
OF Chinquapius from the nuts: some
came into bearing when only three
years old. and all when not more than
four or Eve. The variation in form,
color and size Of leaf and habit of
growth seems % be almost endless, for
no two are alike. One has leaves nearly
| as large as the European chestnut, and
On another they are small, slightly
oblong, and green on both sides, instead
OF hoary tomentose underneath, as usual
in this species.
In productiveness there is as great a
difference as in other characteristics,
3! but all are curious and interesting. The
nuts from which these seedlings were
raised came from the South, but have
proved hardy in N orthern New Jersey.
| Give the children few Chinquapin
bushes or trees, If FOR nothing more
than to add to their pleasure, years
hence, when thinking Of youthful days
and agreeable suxroundings.-Popu
Gardening