rtance and should be carefully determined. Eating quality
is generally good but distinctly superior selections may be found in the
future. For the most part eating quality is dependent on the proper
curing of the nuts. The type of bur opening is more important than
usually considered, as it materially affects the satisfactory harvesting
of the nuts. From the commercial standpoint it appears that the most
desirable bur should drop from the tree with the nuts still in it but be
well split so that the nuts can be readily removed. Such a bur type
prevents exposure of the enclosed nuts to the hot sun while on the tree
and reduces injurious drying to a minimum yet permits rapid gathering of
the nuts in the burs for later mechanical separation. Nuts that drop
free from the burs are more subject to injury by drying and require more
hand work in gathering. Burs that do not split readily would be more
difficult to separate mechanically; and mechanical aids will be
necessary for the economical daily gathering of the nuts in commercial
orchards.
If is encouraging to note that many of the present new plantings in the
Southeast are being made by orchardists rather than hobbyists. Many home
owners are planting a few trees but the acceptance of the Chinese
chestnut for commercial production by men already growing other orchard
crops portends the future success of the industry. The hobbyist has been
of great service and should be given full credit for his far-sighted
interest in a crop that now has commercial promise, especially in the
Southeast. Much experimental work is still needed by both State and
Federal agencies and by individuals. This work needs be concerned now
more with details of refinement rather than with basic possibilities of
the crop.
* * * * *
President Davidson: Mr. Carroll D. Bush, of whom I am sure you have
often heard and whom very few of you, including myself, have met, of
Grapeview, Washington, will now tell us something about the Marketing of
Chestnuts on the Pacific Coast. Mr. Bush.
Marketing Chestnuts on the Pacific Coast
CARROLL D. BUSH, Grapeview, Washington
Mr. Bush: Friends of the Association: There are so many here that I have
known through correspondence that I have welcomed this opportunity to
say something to you today. I don't think that I will add very much to
anything that has been said. I hope perhaps we will have some ideas from
what we have been
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