family were the first to raise European chestnut trees to a bearing size in this country, for some of its members were settled in Delaware before the war of the Revolution. Pierre Samuel Dupont de Nemours, during the French ministry of Vergennes, was employed in forming the treaty of 1783, in which the independence of the United States was formally recognized by England. In

FIG. 33. OPEN BUR OF THE RIDGELY CHESTNUT.

1795 (Am. encyclopedia) he came to this country and joined his sons, who had become successful manufacturers of gunpowder at or near Wilmington, Del., where their descendants, or at least some of them, are still engaged in the same business. If any of the old and original chestnut trees have escaped the numerous "powder

mill explosions" which have frequently occurred in that neighborhood, they are probably much older than the Ridgely. I am also inclined to believe that a very large majority of all the hardy chestnut trees of the European species scattered about the country are the direct descendants of the old Dupont stock.

SCOTT.-Burs large, with long branching spines. Nuts from the original tree, as received the past season, are only of medium size, but said to be much larger on younger trees. Shell dark brown, smooth, with a little fuzz around the point. As my specimen tree has not, as yet, fruited, I am unable to say anything of its productiveness from personal experience, but in a note from Mr. William Parry, under date of Oct. 15, 1894, he says: "I send specimens of the Scott chestnuts, grown by Judge Scott, of Burlington, N. J. The crop is about gone and it was with difficulty I could get these, which are about the average size; earlier in the season many are larger. Judge Scott has grown these nuts for market several years. The original tree was bought by his father many years ago from the nursery of Thomas Hancock. He bought three trees for Spanish chestnuts, planted them in a row about thirty feet apart, and the one from which these nuts were obtained happened to be in the middle. It is now a large tree, the trunk about five feet in diameter. It is a regular and heavy bearer. Judge Scott has propagated and planted an orchard from this variety, and claims among its important features, large size and early bearing,-two-year grafts generally produce nuts; immense productiveness and good quality; beautiful, glossy, mahogany color; freedom from fuzz, and an almost entire exemption from the attacks of the chestnut weevil. While the crop of two trees standing on either side of the Scott is badly damaged by worms, it is the exception to find a wormy nut among the Scott

"The crop sells readily at ten to twelve dollars per bushel. This year (1894) some sold as low as eight dollars, the lowest ever known for this variety."

STYER.-Burs large, round; spines long, branching, but not as coarse as those of Comfort. Nuts medium to large, decidedly pointed, and the point fuzzy. Shell dark brown, with a few longitudinal stripes, but not ridged. A handsome nut of good quality. This variety has been distributed under the name of Hannum. The original tree, which is a mammoth in size, is still standing on the farm of a Mr. Hannum, near Concordville, Delaware Co., Penn. But Mr. T. Walter Styer, of the same place, is propagating and introducing it as the Styer.

Some of the varieties in this group may not prove to be distinct, and later they will be relegated to their proper place as synonyms, but I have thought it best to record them by the names under which they have been received. In writing these descriptions I have had the nuts and leaves before me, but there may be characters overlooked which will become more conspicuous as the grafted trees become older and more mature. Dager chestnut, from Delaware, is a promising variety, disseminated through the Department of Agriculture, but as I have not seen the nuts at this writing, a description is necessarily omitted.

The

Among the French varieties of this species which are said to succeed admirably in California, a large proportion would probably do equally well in Delaware and further south. Among those worthy of trial I may name the Avant Chataigne, Comale, Exalade, Green of Lemousin, Grosse Précoce, Jaune Rousse, Lyons, Merle, Nouzillard, Quercy, etc. I have tried some of these, but with such indifferent results that they were abandoned. Cultivators of nut trees located in a milder climate, should take advantage of whatever improve

ments there have been made in Europe, by importing grafted trees or cions. There are a few ornamental varieties of the European chestnut, but none worthy of any special attention.

JAPAN CHESTNUTS.-The first authentic account I have been able to find of the introduction of the Japan chestnut into this country, is of a number of trees received by S. B. Parsons & Co., Flushing, N. Y., 1876, from the late Thos. Hogg, who, as is well known to all horticulturists, spent several years in Japan collecting many rare kinds of trees and shrubs, which were shipped direct to Parsons & Co. The chestnut trees received in 1876 fruited two years later, or in 1878, and soon attracted attention, on account of the large size and excellent quality of the nuts and the precocious habits of the trees.

The success of this typical variety of the Japanese species, as I have assumed to designate it, proved that there were oriental chestnuts-heretofore untested in this country-that were certainly worthy of an attempt to obtain. This variety, introduced by the Messrs. Parsons & Co., does not appear to have been disseminated under any distinct varietal name, but merely bears the rather meaningless one of Japan chestnut, and for the purpose of giving it a position where it may be recognized-by name at least-from other varieties more recently introduced, I shall take the liberty of calling it "Parsons' Japan."

Soon after it became known that the oriental chestnuts would succeed in this country, the fruit growers and nurserymen of California began to import and plant these nuts, shipping an occasional lot to their customers in the Eastern States, and from these hundreds of seedlings have been raised and distributed, under the general name of Japan chestnut. Among the nuts imported there are some of extraordinary size, even larger than anything of the kind obtained from Europe, as shown

in Fig. 34, natural size, and from a specimen received direct from Japan. Some of the nurserymen who have secured these very large nuts for planting, offer the

produce nuts as large as those planted, the proper enough if When an extra

names are rather misleading, although given to grafted varieties of large size. fine variety is produced from the nut, it should, of course, be preserved and propagated in the usual way.

The late Wm. Parry, of Parry, N. J., was one of the first nurserymen to attempt to produce new varieties of the Japan chestnut in this country, and his sons have continued his experi

ments in this direction, Others may have been equally successful, but I have been unable to obtain any satisfactory reports from those to

whom I have applied for FIG. 35. SPINES OF JAPAN CHESTNUT. information; consequently, I can only say that the following, with few exceptions, originated at the Wm. Parry nurseries:

ADVANCE (Parry).-Burs medium, slightly flattened on top; spines medium, short, almost sessile, as shown