Beta (Parry).—Bur medium; spines rather long and thin for one of this group, set on a thin husk. Nut large; shell light brown, smooth, with a slight trace of pubescence near the tip. The leaves are shallow and coarsely serrate, and on some the teeth or serratures are entirely wanting. Ripens a little later than the Alpha, or about the first of October in northern New Jersey.
Early Reliance (Parry).—Burs medium, with short, almost deflexed spines, on an exceedingly thin husk. Nuts large, more pointed than in the last, and of a lighter color the past season, but this may not be constant, and may be due to the long and severe drouth of the summer of 1894. Usually three nuts in a bur, and sometimes four or five, but I do not consider this increase in number a merit in any variety, for where there are more than three they are likely to be of small size and very much deformed. The original tree of the Reliance is enormously productive, and a regular bearer.
Felton.—A seedling of the common Japanese chestnut, raised by J. W. Killen, of Felton, Delaware.
Giant Japan (Parry).—Burs large to extra large for a variety of this species, with medium low branching spines on a very thin, parchment-like husk. Nuts extra large, usually only two in a bur, often only one, and about two inches broad, much depressed at the top, with a short point set in an irregular depression or basin. Shell dark mahogany color, more or less ribbed; kernel coarse grained, as is usual in the extra large varieties of nearly all species of the chestnut. This is probably the largest variety of the Japanese chestnut raised in this country, of which grafted trees are obtainable at this time. There may be others equally as large, but if so they are unknown to the writer.
Killen.—Of the Japan species, and described as very large, the nuts over two inches in diameter and of fair quality. Raised by J. W. Killen, of Felton, Del.
Parsons' Japan.—Burs medium, with rather thick-set and long spines. Nuts large, one inch and a half broad, curving regularly to a point; shell smooth, almost glossy, brown, with faint stripes of a darker shade extending from base to apex. In quality the kernel is far better than most of the European varieties, being finer grained and sweeter. When grafted on strong stocks the trees come into bearing early, or in two or three years. This is the best known, and probably the most widely distributed variety, of the Japanese species in this country, having been introduced, as I have stated elsewhere, in 1876.
Parry's Superb (Parry).—Burs broad, cushion-shaped, or much flattened on top, with extra long, widely branching spines from single or multiple stems, very much as in the European varieties. But the thin husk, the nuts, and the growth of tree, wood and leaves, stamp it as a pure Japanese variety. Nuts large, broader than long, with a decided sharp woody point; almost entirely destitute of even a sign of pubescence. A very promising and distinct variety.
Success (Parry).—Burs very large, broad, with only a few short, scattering, branching spines on the top, thicker toward the base; on a thin, parchment-like husk, and this is so thin that it sometimes cracks open and exposes the nuts within before they are fully ripe. Nuts extra large, nearly equal to the Giant, but of a more regular and symmetrical form, being nearly as long as broad, tapering to a point. Shell smooth, dark brown, with a slight pubescence about the point. Usually three nuts in a bur; an ideal variety in every respect.
There is a variety of the Japan chestnut recently much lauded under the name of Mammoth or Burbank, which is said to be of immense size, and as sweet as the common American chestnut.
Injurious Insects.—The chestnut tree is rarely attacked by insects. It is true that grubs may occasionally be found boring into the wood or cutting sinuous burrows under the bark, but this is mainly in trees weakened by exposure, in removing protecting companions, as when removing forests, or by plowing up and destroying the roots, in cultivating the land about them; but the attacks of insects upon such specimens is nature's way of getting rid of the feeble and least valuable, making room for the healthy and strong. But my thirty years' residence in a chestnut grove leads me to think that this nut tree is exceedingly free from wood borers of any kind.