(800) 853-2651
SHOP NOW

Chestnut trees

3

37 chief

Well-known Member
Anyone ever seen a Chestnut tree? There was thousands of acres of them. A post below got me interested about the tree, because I bought a table at a antique shop years ago. When I bought it I was told no more wood was available from these trees because they all died out years ago from a disease. I found some very interesting information on the trees. A lot of people made a living selling the nuts, and raised hogs on them, during hard times. Maybe my table is worth something? even if it is I hardly ever sell anything.Stan
 
Horse chestnut? Yes we have a few around here. More of a decrotive tree.
cvphoto9731.png
 
One of my son's majored in forestry and thought about planting some here. Researchers kept breeding seedling from trees that are blight resistant and they can be purchased but are expensive. Besides cost it seems deer like to eat them. We decided growing them would not be worth the cost.
 
Horse chestnut is Not the same as the American chestnut! Two completely different species. American chestnut composed up to 25% of the deciduous forest in eastern North America until the chestnut blight in the early 1900s virtually eliminated it. In addition to its edible nuts, its wood was widely used in furniture and general construction. It was also resistant to decay. Horse chestnuts are an imported specie from eastern Europe, closely related to the Ohio buckeye, with inedible nuts and lumber that has few desirable qualities.
 
Our old barn built in the early 1900s was primarily built with chestnut. When the REMC started here they would buy pole from chestnut trees that were dying, a lot of farmers sold trees and made poles for them. The first pole remc installed was removed about 10 years ago and still in good shape, chestnut is rot resistant. My wife parents farm still has a few chestnuts on it. We started several trees from the seeds and this year I am going to send a leaf and twig off to be tested. A good website for info is the American Chestnut Foundation.
 
As said it was an abundant tree here in the northeast. In this area many houses had chestnut trim. It was used for everything. As a youngster growing up in the woods (dad was a logger and sawyer) many dead chestnut trees were still standing in the woods (wood is naturally rot resistant). Sometimes we would saw some of these old dead trees which had holes from grubs in them. The wood, called wormy chestnut, was used for decorative paneling. Saplings would start to grow and once they got large enough to produce fruit the blight would kill them (I tried growing some I found). Also as mentioned they publically asked for locations of any surviving trees so they could be used to breed blight resistant saplings. I used to know where there was a few. Now 50 years later those old dead trees, many very large, no longer stand or lie in the woods, all rotted away.
 
Hopefully BillVA will see this and tell about his brother and Chestnuts.The barn on the farm here has some Chestnut beams as well as some Chestnut boards in it some up to 2ft wide. The Chestnut Blight was a huge financial blow to the SE USA as it was the most sought after for lumber,posts and the chestnuts were eaten and also people turned hogs loose in the Fall to fatten up off Chestnuts before slaughtering them.Rail fences were made of Chestnut some still around.
 
The beams in our old barn is chestnut and some of the floor boards in the loft were 2 foot wide.
 
I buy and sell old grist mill stones a few years back a man in New Betheleham,Pa had an old mill he wanted to sell that had four buhr millstone inside i he wanted to sell the building and stones i wasn't interested in the building he sold the building and called me about the stones i went to Pa.to get the stones after loading the stones i noticed the beams in the building everyone was CHESTNUT if i had known that i would have bought the building and stones the beams were at least 12x12 just one of the many times i have goofed.
 
There were quite a few on the farm died off. The last one, according to FIL, was cut and made into cabinets and trim for the kitchen. Saved it all when we remodeled. That tree was close to where we built our house but the stump is gone now.
 
The mountains around here were full of them before the blight hit them.
Still some cabins and barns around that were built from them.
They still sprout up from old dead trunks in the mountains, but when they get a little growth on them, you will see the white foam from the blight on them.
A group here in our county have tried to bring them back from small sprouts they find.
Here is a farmstead in the Smokies that was built from them.
Richard in NW SC
Untitled URL Link
 
We have probably 5 acres of mature (50 year old plus trees). They were planted as an orchard. Not sure how they survived but the goats love the nuts. Only bad thing is the spines are very painful and if you don't boil them they get wormy a week or so later. There's a Vietnamese lady that comes and tries to collect them every fall that I chase off. It would be one thing if she asked permission but she doesn't..
 
There is a group that is breeding blight resistant american chestnut trees. A guy at church belongs to it. They have several groves, but as said expensive or they won't sell.
 
Mom planted a few on her place. I think these are what they call Chinese chestnuts. I don't think they are to get real big ? Nuts are edible.
 
Back in the mid 1950's dad drug in some dead American Chestnut snags and took them to the mill and had them cut into beams for our house. I used to see chestnut sprouts in the woods. They would get up to a couple inches in diameter and then the blight would kill them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Ellis Kinney
Chestnut trees
Replies
16
Views
2K
Dennis(IA)
D
C
Cutting black locus trees
Replies
11
Views
1K
Ellis Kinney
Ellis Kinney
P
Panzer thread/Pennyslvania 88 Mower
Replies
3
Views
257
psimmer
P
Gary Mitchell
Todays, Survey Says
Replies
14
Views
532
Donald in MN
D
N
Can anyone help me identify this old plow?
Replies
0
Views
647
NorthernRailroader
N
Tractor Parts Tractor Manuals

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Copyright © 1997-2024 Yesterday's Tractor Co.

All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.

Yesterday's Tractors - Antique Tractor Headquarters
Website Accessibility Policy

Back
Top