George W. Endicott was born in Belmont County, Ohio, July 25, 1837. He joined the Forty-eighth Illinois Infantry in 1861, serving nearly three years, when he was discharged owing to wounds received. Then he went to farming in Wayne County. In 1867 he settled at Villa Ridge, Ill., devoting himself to fruit and vegetable growing, in which he was eminently successful. Mr. Endicott was a man of strong character and a leader in his community. Energetic and up to date in all his operations, he procured and tested all kinds of new fruits as fast as introduced. He died at his home November 14, 1913. Of the greatest interest to the nut growers of this country was his work of creating the Boone chestnut. About 1888 Mr. Endicott conceived the idea of producing a cross between the American and Japan chestnuts and getting one combining the sweetness of the native with the large size, early ripening and young bearing habits of the Japan. He encountered an obstacle in the fact that the Japan blossomed before the native and it was not until seven years later that he found a native blossoming early enough to make the cross. In the spring of 1895 he carefully hand pollinated some Japan Giant with the pollen of this early flowering native, sacking the same to prevent other pollen reaching them. The seed so produced was planted in the spring of 1896 in rich soil that had been used as a vegetable garden. One of the seeds so planted bore six burs in 1897, eighteen months after planting the seed and has produced crops every year since as follows: 1898, 1 pound of nuts; 1899, 3 pounds of nuts; 1900, 5 pounds of nuts; 1901, 6 pounds of nuts; 1902, 8 pounds of nuts; 1903, 12 pounds of nuts; 1904, 17 pounds of nuts; 1905, 25 pounds of nuts; 1906, 31 pounds of nuts; 1907, 43 pounds of nuts; 1908, 50 pounds of nuts; 1909, 56 pounds of nuts; 1910, 5 pounds of nuts (early bloom killed by late freeze); 1911, 80 pounds of nuts; 1912, 76 pounds of nuts; 1913, 140 pounds of nuts--a grand total of 568 pounds from the time of planting the seed seventeen years ago. This nut is of very good quality, has large size, ripens early and comes into bearing very early. Has been well tested and proven to be one of the best chestnuts we have. It has but one fault, it is very hard to propagate by either budding or grafting. Mr. Endicott and others have grown many seedlings of Boone, but none are in all respects as good as the parent. Mr. Endicott did a good work in producing the Boone chestnut and deserves the thanks of the nut growers of this country. LETTER FROM G. H. CORSAN, TORONTO, CANADA My place of 15-1/2 acres just west of Toronto, is in a small valley containing sandy, gravelly and clay soils, while the creek bottom land is rich black humus. My efforts are purely experimental and the losses do not worry me as I simply wish to know what will succeed in this district. Peaches and grapes grow on my place.