"And I guess every one knows that the fruit is found in a burr that pricks your fingers like fury if you're not careful," added Elena.
"I know that the wood is good for fence-posts 'cause Dad ordered Bill to be sure and get chestnut posts for the fence that closes in the out-houses," Zan remembered.
"Anybody else wish to contribute?" asked Miss Miller.
"Every one wants to but can't afford it this time," laughed Jane eagerly.
"Well then, the chestnut is a deciduous tree that grows to a considerable height and size. Its timber is light weight, cross-grained and very durable; that is why it has been preferred in the past for posts. Its leaves are long and shiny and has sharp pointed edges. The nuts are sweet and of a starchy nature, also highly nutritious. The variety we have had in such
numbers in the Middle Atlantic States have been destroyed by a strange fungoid disease that attacked them and was spread rapidly by wind and the birds until the finest trees are gone! It is almost impossible to detect the diseased tree until it is fated and soon an entire grove is doomed beyond help or cure.
"Foresters and gardeners have sought to protect and save other trees by cutting down a tree the moment the symptoms appeared, but it has been found useless. Even the timber of a diseased tree is worthless as it is soon entirely eaten by worms that are bred in the tree during the first stages of the disease."
"Maybe that is why we don't see so many chestnuts for sale?" pondered Hilda, who was very fond of the nut.
"Perhaps, and perhaps it is because a sick tree does not bear well. Personally, I believe chestnut trees like quiet and retirement and droop to die when civilisation creeps too close to their environment. If that is so, the chestnut trees have seen their best days, and the future will continue without any acquaintance with the extinct tree," said Miss Miller.
"Miss Miller talks of trees just as if they knew what was going on about them!" laughed Nita.
"That's what always makes her talks so vital and interesting to us!" commended Zan.
"They are all alive, and do know all that concerns them, but mortals never stop to think of this! I look at it in this light. We read in Genesis that God made everything and He saw that it was very good. Then, the narrative goes on to say that the Creator who made everything that was made had all Life, all Intelligence, all Love within Himself. Of this great power and love He created man in His own image and likeness. Man was given dominion over all living creatures and things. Now take that into your thought, girls! All living things! I firmly believe that the good God who gave us charge of all living things wanted us to watch over and love and use intelligence in the way we governed His creation. This tree is a living thing it has as much of the divine authority to live as we have. It has as much divine intelligence as anything created for a purpose. So, this tree is recognised by me, who am also created by the same Father for a purpose, as a living thing growing to beautify the universe and to provide man with delicious food."
"Oh, Miss Miller if you were only a man what a fine preacher you would make!" exclaimed Zan enthusiastically.
"I can preach as well in my sphere as a woman!" laughed Miss Miller.
"Oh! are you a suffragist!" gasped Nita.
"Would it change your opinion of my qualities and character, if I admitted I was? I did not say I was, I only ask you if it would make a difference to you with what I really am?"
"Well, I don't know anything about the matter except what my mother said to her friends at a card party one day. She didn't understand how women could lecture and parade and ask for the vote when they could have a good time at home playing bridge and going out shopping, or taking a week-end trip to some friend's country house."
Miss Miller never said a word in reply neither did she tell Nita whether she was a suffragist, or just a pleasure-seeking woman.
"Dear me, what was it we were talking about when we got switched off the track!" said Elena.
"Chestnuts!" laughed Zan, the others joining her.
"I see a hickory tree I'll choose that if you're through with other subjects," said Nita.
"All right, and we will give you first choice to tell us all about the tree," replied Miss Miller, as they forced a way through the undergrowth until the tree was reached.
"I don't know a thing about it except that I like the nuts."
"How did you know it was a hickory tree if you were not familiar with the bark or leaves," asked Miss Miller.
"I heard Zan say so and point it out to Jane as being a splendid tree for nuts in the fall," replied Nita.
"I can describe the nuts and the shell, and that's about all. I always know a hickory when I see one, by its leaves and the way it grows, but I can't tell why it is so," said Zan.
No one could tell so Miss Miller explained. "The hickory is found in plenty in North America. It has pinnate leaves, grows from seventy to ninety feet high and is slender in trunk. The timber is heavy, tenacious, and strong, but it decays rapidly when exposed to heat or moisture. The bark is rough and easily stripped. The blossoms are short catkins, sweetly perfumed, and the nuts are highly nutritious, forming inside of a cover of shell-bark that peels off in quarter-plates."