Japanese Chestnuts – The Precocious And Produced Larger Nuts
Chestnut Tree
Local business man sampled his first Chinese chestnut at a produce dealers booth. He purchased 5 pounds and said, “I am buying these for my father. He never got over the loss of the native chestnut and these are the first Ive found with the oldtime flavor.”
This incident probably better illustrates the nostalgia of an old man rather than the worth of the Chinese chestnut but it does give an appraisal of its flavor by one who knows.
The destruction of the American chestnut, Castanea dentata, by an oriental chestnut bark disease is an old story that need not be repeated here for this article deals with two species which can be grown in this country in spite of the blight.
These two exotic species which are now also being crossed with the native chestnut to develop new varieties are the Chinese Castanea mollissima and the Japanese Castanea crenata. Both have a high degree of resistance to the blight having been exposed to it for unknown centuries in their native lands.
My own personal experience with these began about 1928 when I secured a small quantity of seed from the government planting at Glen Dale, Maryland. My efforts have been in the direction of nut production rather than timber as this seemed to offer more promise of immediate reward.
Practically the first thing I learned about chestnuts was that the species cross-pollenize and hybridize about as readily as pop corn with field corn. The offspring of that seed were an interesting lot of hybrids.
One bore nuts the third year; another, very vigorous, never bore more than a few nuts and those only after many years; a vigorous, upright tree ripened large, glossy nuts in August; a small, shrubby specimen insisted on blooming from June to frost, setting abundant clusters of burs that produced very small nuts. This was probably a hybrid of the Chinese chinkapin, C. seguini. Thus, I learned the importance of planting pure strains.
Both the Chinese and Japanese chestnuts are trees of moderate growth and size but more spreading than the American species. Neither is as winter-hardy as the American. Both will grow wherever peaches are hardy.
Neither is particular as to soil as long as it is reasonably fertile and well drained. As a safeguard against late spring frosts, air drainage is important but on the whole, the climate, soil, site and culture suitable for peaches suits the oriental chestnuts fine.
With me, the Japanese has been more precocious and prolific and has generally produced larger nuts. Select strains developed in Japan have nuts more than 2 inches across”the largest known. In contrast to the select strains, seed of a shrubby wild chestnut I imported from Japan produced very small nuts with some plants maturing nuts when only knee high and 18 months old. The Chinese, however, has proven to be the more vigorous and blight resistant of the two and to have higher quality nuts.
At the present time, the Chinese species is considered to be the more desirable for both home and commercial plantings. In the South the trees grow more rapidly and are larger than in the North and so should be planted spaced not less than 40 feet apart.
Seedling trees vary widely in precocity, productiveness and size and quality of nuts. Under favorable conditions of culture, seedlings of good parentage have been known to produce an average of 40 pounds of nuts per tree at ten years from setting. Select trees, in some cases, have produced more than twice that amount.
Out of the thousands of seedling trees distributed by the Department of Agriculture and set out in small plantings throughout the eastern part of the United States, some selections have been made and a few have been given variety names and are being propagated by grafting and budding.
Among the named varieties selected from government plots are Meiling, Kuling and Nanking. Those selected from private plantings are Abundance, Hemming and Hobson. These may be expected to be superior to average seedlings in productiveness, early bearing and size and quality of nuts.
Under good conditions Chinese chestnuts are very regular bearers. Hobson, a medium sized nut of good quality, usually bears for me the second year after grafting if left undisturbed in the nursery row. A tree on my home grounds, top-worked in 1932 to the Hobson variety, has borne 16 consecutive crops. A nearby tree of the same age, of the Carr variety, however, has failed twice during the same period due to late spring frosts.
A tree usually ripens its crop in about one week but individual differences in trees extend the harvesting period over a month or more. In Georgia, harvest begins in August. In the north, it may extend to October.
Ripe nuts generally fall free from the spiny burs. Those of the Chinese species average somewhat larger than those of the American but not as large as the European and Japanese. Color varies from a bright mahogany red to a dull gray or brown.
With all the chestnuts the kernel is covered with a skin or pellicle which carries a bitter and indigestible substance known as tannin. In the American and Japanese chestnut this pellicle adheres closely to the kernel and is very difficult to remove.
In the best selection of the Chinese, however, the pellicle separates freely from the kernel leaving it clean, bright and free from bitterness. This characteristic, coupled with the sweetness and texture equal to the American species, makes the Chinese the best of all chestnuts for culinary purposes.
Today prospective chestnut planters have little to fear from blight. Ten years ago, I had a Hobson, Carr and a number of seedling trees tested for blight resistance by having cultures of Endothia parasitica, prepared by the U. S. Division of Forest Pathology, injected beneath the bark. No infection resulted except in a few seedlings. Most of those infected recovered”only one or two died.
The other great pest of theAmerican chestnut was the weevil that infested the nuts soon after they ripened. Where present, this weevil also attacks the Chinese species. Almost perfect control of this pest has been achieved, however, by thorough spraying of bearing trees. Spraying should begin six weeks before the ripening of the earliest nuts and be continued at two week intervals until harvest.
The only hazard commercial growers have to face is competition offered by the European species. But since in the East, the home grown crops can be placed on the market a month ahead of the European whether grown abroad or on the Pacific coast, there is little to fear from such competition.
This is attested to by the fact that local dealers eagerly took my crop at the wholesale price of 35 cents a pound. Later, in November, European chestnuts were being offered on the local market at 20 cents a pound retail!
Moreover, the chestnut blight has invaded Italy and threatens all of Europe. Castanea sativa, the European species, is fully as susceptible to the blight as was the American. Whatever the outcome, it would seem as if importation of European chestnuts faces curtailment in the coming years.
As an orchard crop the Chinese chestnut undoubtedly has a future in this country though it must be admitted that it is still in the Johnny Appleseed stage. Some commercial plantings have been made in Georgia and a few as far north as Erie, Pennsylvania, where the lake somewhat tempers the winter climate.
Many general nurseries are now offering seedling trees like flowering fruit trees although named varieties of grafted trees are, as yet, available only in limited quantities from nurseries specializing in nut trees.
As more are made available, the home owner will get them. Wherever the peach survives the winter, he can enjoy his own fruitful “spreading chestnut tree” within a few years from planting. He will probably have two or more for chestnuts are self-sterile and more than one seedling is needed for cross pollination.
With plenty of room and left to itself, the Chinese chestnut assumes something of the size and form of a large apple tree and is as inviting to children to climb in. It makes a pleasing shade tree that is very decorative on the home grounds. It is lovely in late spring when the feathery tassels of blossoms appear, beautiful all summer and interesting in fall when loaded with burs.
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