The Chestnut is at one of the lands of Appalachi-system, from Tennessee to Massachusetts but may found on all lands which are high and rolling. Most prairie soils are unfavorable to it. The general northern limit of its possible cultivation extends into southern Wisconsin and Michigan, northern New York and southern Vermont, but this line varies according to the character of the locality, the nature of the soil having an especially marked effect upon the hardiness of the chestnut. Where the climate is not too severe, the seedlings may be killed to the ground the first one or two winters, but afterward be sufficiently hardy to endure the exposure. Mulching during winter for the first year or two is useful to protect the young trees.

The improved Spanish varieties of the chestnut which have been introduced into this country from time to time are rather less hardy than the native species, and are somewhat inferior in quality. In southern Europe the chestnut forms an important article of food. In Pliny's time six cultivated varieties were known, and in 1865 thirty varieties were catalogued. In this country, superior varieties among the native species are not rare, and considerable attention is now being given to the grafting of these and foreign varieties upon the common chestnut. Thousands of acres of rocky mountain land exist in the eastern United States, to which the chestnut is peculiarly adapted, and on which hardly anything else of value will grow. The conversion of these barren mountains into valuable chestnut orchards is a work well worthy of attention. A serious drawback to the profitable cultivation of the chestnut is the liability of the nuts to become wormy, especially at the south. A remedy for this evil is greatly needed.