e as
readily as peaches, apples and pears. There certainly can be no excuse
for the neglect of such nut trees on the score of cost of labor in
propagation and planting, because our streets and highways are lined and
shaded with equally expensive kinds, although they are absolutely
worthless for any other purpose than shade or shelter, yielding nothing
in the way of food for either man or beast. Can any one invent a
reasonable excuse for planting miles and miles of roadside trees of such
kinds as elm, maple, ash, willow, cottonwood and many other similar
kinds, where shellbark hickory, walnut, butternut, pecan and chestnut
would thrive just as well, cost no more, and yet yield bushels of
delicious and highly prized nuts, and this annually or in alternate
years, continuing, and increasing in productiveness for one, two or
more centuries. The nut trees which grow to a large size are just as
well adapted for planting along roadsides, in the open country, as other
kinds that yield nothing in the way of food for either man or beast.
They are also fully as beautiful in form and foliage, and in many
instances far superior to the kinds often selected for such purposes.

The only objection I have heard of as being urged against planting fruit
and nut trees along the highway is that they tempt boys and girls as
well as persons of larger growth to become trespassers. I find this only
applies to where there is such a scarcity that the quantity taken
perceptibly lessens the total crop. But where there is an abundance
either the temptation to trespass disappears or I fail to recognize the
loss. As we cannot very well dispense with the small boy and his sister
I am in favor of providing them bountifully with all the good things
that climate and circumstance will afford.

On my farms in Irish Valley, Northumberland County, Pa., I have planted
a Paragon chestnut tree every forty feet along the public highways and
driveways making a total of 769 trees. These trees range in age from
four to ten years old.

A mile in this country is 5,280 feet, and if chestnut trees are set
forty feet apart, which is allowing sufficient room for them to grow
during an ordinary lifetime, we get 133 trees per mile in a single row.
Two rows may be planted, where the roads are wide enough, one on each
side, and then we get 266 trees per mile. I can estimate the crop when
the chestnut trees are twenty years old at two bushels per tree, or 532
bushels for a do