The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1900-07-13
CHESTNUT CULTURE.
y Supplementary Crop For Farmers,
Methods of Propagation.

ASthOub OI IFONlSaI1On.
Considerable activity has manifest
ed itself in comparatively recent years
relative to the commercial culture Of
chestnuts. The steady demand for large
nuts and the ready sale of these in
competition with smaller sorts have
stimulated culture experiments with
the large nutted European and Japa-
nese varieties by horticulturists in Il
number of states. The systematic cul-
ture Of chestuuts in the utilization of
waste lands as a supplementary crop
for farmers has been urged.
Chestnuts, according TO experiment
station work, are found native in
America from Maine on the north to
Michigan and Tennessee ON the west
and Louisiana and Georgia on the
south.
European chestnuts were first grown
In this country in the early part of the
nineteenth century. japanese chest
nuts were introduced at q much later
period The first importations are said
to have been made about 1876. The
advent of the japanese nut, with its
large size, early bearing propensities
and complete union on either its own or
American grown seedlings or native
American stocks, at once attracted the
attention of prominent horticulturists
to the possibilities of new and desira-
BILE industry. AS a result both groves
and orchards have been set out in the
eastern states and California, covering
in some instances more than 100 acres
In extent and numbering thousands of
trees.
Chestnuts are usually propagated
from seed and the stocks later grated
or budded with improved varieties
Seed for this purpose can be planted In
the fall soon after the nuts are ripe or
kept over until spring and then planted
In the seed bed in light sandy soil or
pure leaf mold. Seed nuts should not
be allowed to become dry after being
gathered, and when kept over winter
they may be preserved in q box alter.
mating in single layers with moist sand
Holes should be made in the bottom Of
khS IVA W 01lOh CACtSS llOiSlult W Is
cape. The top should be covered with
wire netting to avoid the ravages of
rodents and the whole placed in the
open ground, some knoll or other spot
being selected for this purpose, and the
box buried about six or eight inches
deep.
When possible, 1t is best to plant the
seed where the tree is expected TO
grow, since the long taproot of the
chestnut renders it somewhat difficult
to transplant. Otherwise the seeds are
planted in a seed bed In rows wide
enough apart to permit of easy cult.
walton. The following spring they may
be planted in the nursery in rows four
feet apart and about IS inches distant
In the row. In transplanting the tap
root should be pruned back to about
one-half its length and all side branch
es Of the stem removed. Frequent
cultivation should follow during the
summer.
1t is generally advisable to allow the
stocks to remain in the nursery rows ut
least two seasons before they are graft
ed or until they have attained a size of
from three-eighths to one-half inch in
diameter three or four feet from the
ground. Valuable stocks can often be
secured from natural seeding in the
forest or from the sprouts of cut over
chestnut lands. In fact, the usual
method of growing chestnuts on COM
mercial scale is by grating the sprouts
arising about the stumps Of such for
ests with the European or Japanese
varieties.