Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1897-12-02

earliness of the Japans.
There are many varieties of the ia
pan strain, all of which are early and
profitable. AS a few are better than
the order named:
ALPHA is the first to ripen. 1t is
large in size, two and three in a burr,
productive; opens September $40;
brings the highest market price
RELIANCE. very early bearer;
nuts large and uniform; very product
i've; ripens after Alpha.
SUPERB, very productive, running
three nuts to the burr; ripening after
Reliance.
GIANT, the largest chestnut, measur-
ing inches in circumference; smooth,
dark color; handsome; ripening after
Superb.
The Spanish strain ripens after the
Japanese. They are larger growing
trees and in planting require more room
than the Japanese. There are many
profitable varieties of this strain,
among the best of which are Numbo,
Paragon, Ridgely and Scott. These
ripen after the Japanese and prolong
the season well into october.
There are two ways of obtaining
chestnut groves. First, by planting the
trees when a grove is desired. The
Japans may be planted 20 to % feet
apart, but the Spanish varieties should
be placed 30 to 40 feet apart Apples
or pears may be put between the chest
nuts and cherry or plums between trese
again. AS the chestnuts need the
ground these others may be cut out
The second plan is by grating nat
ural groves. After chestnut timber has
been cut the stumps will throw up
numerous suckers. When two years
old these suckers may be grated; three
or four gratis should be set around
each stump, 15 or 20 feet apart, and
after they have grown a year or two
two grated suckers should be left to
each stump and the rest kept cut out.
When these trees begin to crowd each
other they may be thinned out, SO as
to give ample room for bearing 1t is
claimed that in Europe success has
been obtained by grating chestnut,
oak and black oak, but in this country
such gratis, as far as I know, have
lived but a few years and never borne.
This second plan has the advantage
over the first of a good, well-estab-
lished root system that makes a more
rapid growth and produces a bearing
grove much sooner. When the stumps
are too thick they can be destroyed, and
where they are too far apart other
trees can be set out. Such grove can
be depended upon to commence bear
ing in three years from grating and in
five years yield a good revenue.
In reference to the profit of chestnut
growing at the present time. it is very
large. AS much as $14 per bushel have
been realized from the first conSign-
ments of chestnuts to New York
From this figure the price rapidly falls
to $40 and So per bushel, at which fig
ure large quantities can be sold in New
York. New York is a much better mar
ket for the earliest nuts than Philadel-
phia. Philadelphia will not use many
nuts above $S per bushel, and large
supplies soon reduce the price to $6
and So per bushel. When it is consid-
cred that chestnuts can be produce
for less figure than wheat it will be
seen how profitable these figures are
After a grove comes once into bearing
the expenses thereafter are very light.
The original tree of Ridgely has pro-
duced in one year S55 worth of nuts.
| The Hannum tree in one year returned
to it's owner $57. Judge Scott stated
that he sometimes realized more profit
from one tree of the Scott chestnut
than from the, whole field of wheat in
which it stood.
! By planting 30 feet apart we would
| have 4S trees per acre: a yield of
bushels per tree would be a moderate
crop, and at S5 per bushel would be
| $40 per tree, or $3.50 per acre. This
would be a large yield and a large
| price for common Anne rican nuts, but
| it is not a large estimate for the best
| Japanese or Spanish varieties. But
cutting the price to So per bushel would
still give a yield of nearly $500 per
acre; and there are very few crops
| that can be depended upon to produce
| this amount per acre, even when cost
ing far more in planting and cultivat-
/ ing. Occasional yields of such crops
| as celery, Strawberries. onions, etc.,
surpass this yield, but it must be re-
collected that these crops can only be
grown in limited quantities at great
expense for fertilizers, cultivators,
labor, etc., while chestnuts may be
grown by the 100 or 1000 acres, with
| little care beyond the gathering. The
| product is not perishable. It is a staple
product like wheat or corn. 1t may be
shipped to distant cities or foreign
countries.
There are chestnut groves in Europe
| hundreds of years old still yielding
their annual crops of nuts. The fa-
nous chestnut tree on Mt. Etna is sup
| posed to have been bearing nearly
20O0 years, and it still bears annually.
! What better inheritance can a man
leave to his children than a bearing
grove of improved chestnuts, or how
can he so easily add permanent value
to his estate as to plant SO or 100 acres
out in chestnuts? Nor is it necessary
to have cheap land in order to accom-
! plish this. ] know of one farm of 120
acres worth $500 per acre that was set
| last spring entirely to chestnuts. Such
a plantation is better as an inheritance
than stocks, bonds, or even life insur-
ance. Stock fail to pay dividends,
bonds default on their interest, the Of
ficers of insurance companies some
times make way with the funds and
the companies fail. But as the seasons
roll around the chestnut yields it's crop
of nuts, and while there is demand
for food the crop will sell at paying
price. The rise or fall of the gold or sill
yer standard would carry terror to the
possessors of many kinds of wealth,
while a revolution might destroy the
value of even Government bonds. But
nothing can destroy the demand of the
| human race for food.
| President BuckmanS once related to
me the story of a friend of his who was
a wealthy planter before the war. The
war swept away all he had-Slaves and
everything except a grove of pecans;
and from the. receipts of this grove he
was now supported comfortably with
no other effort than to yearly gather
the nuts. What the pecan is to the
South the chestnut is to the North, and
the possessor of a large grove of these
nuts has an inheritance, the value of
which cannot be estimated; but it can
be safely said that as long as he keeps
the grove, the grove will keep him.
IN Sir Walter scott's Mail Bag.