Editing American chestnut (section)

==Uses==

===Food===
[[File:1998.105.157 bw-General Use.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Winslow Homer]] (American, 1836–1910). Chestnutting, 1870. Wood engraving, Sheet: {{frac|11|3|4}} × {{frac|8|3|4}} in. (29.8 × 22.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Harvey Isbitts, 1998.105.157]]

The nuts were once an important economic resource in North America, being sold on the streets of towns and cities, as they sometimes still are during the Christmas season (usually said to be "[[The Christmas Song|roasting on an open fire]]" because their smell is readily identifiable many blocks away). Chestnuts are edible raw or roasted, though typically preferred roasted. One must peel the brown skin to access the yellowish-white edible portion.

The nuts were commonly fed on by various types of wildlife and was also in such a high abundance that they were used to feed livestock by farmers, by allowing those livestock to roam freely into the forests that were predominantly filled with American chestnut trees.<ref name="History of the American Chestnut"/> The tree was important to many [[Native American (Americas)|Native American]] tribes in North America as it served as a food source, both for them and the wildlife they hunted,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Schlarbaum|first=Scott|date=1998|title=Three American Tragedies: Chestnut Blight, Butternut Canker, and Dutch Elm Disease|url=https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/jrnl/1998/1998_exotic-pests-papers/schlarbaum_1998-exoticpests.pdf|website=Forest Service Northern Research Station|access-date=April 20, 2020|archive-date=September 25, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200925134828/https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/jrnl/1998/1998_exotic-pests-papers/schlarbaum_1998-exoticpests.pdf}}</ref> and also as a component in [[traditional medicine]].<ref name="FNA" />

===Furniture and other wood products===
The January 1888 issue of ''[[Orchard and Garden]]'' mentions the American chestnut as being "superior in quality to any found in Europe".<ref name="orchard">Fuller, A. S. [https://books.google.com/books?id=pylOAAAAYAAJ&dq=american+chestnut+Snowline+Orchard&pg=PA4 "Nuts & Nut Trees"]. ''Orchard and Garden'', 10 (January 1888): 5. [[Little Silver, NJ|Little Silver, New Jersey]]: J.T. Lovett. via [[Google Books]]. Retrieved June 6, 2014.</ref> The wood is straight-grained, strong, and easy to saw and split, and it lacks the radial end grain found on most other hardwoods. The tree was particularly valuable commercially since it grew at a faster rate than oaks.<ref name="Dominance of interplanted American"/> Being rich in [[tannin]]s, the wood was highly resistant to decay and therefore used for a variety of purposes, including furniture, [[split-rail fence]]s, shingles, home construction, flooring, piers, [[plywood]], [[paper pulp]], and [[telephone poles]]. Tannins were also extracted from the bark for tanning leather.<ref name="FNA"/> Although larger trees are no longer available for milling, much chestnut wood has been reclaimed from historic barns to be refashioned into furniture and other items.<ref name=tappan>[http://www.tappanchairs.com/the-american-chestnut-foundation-chair.html "The American Chestnut Foundation Chair"]. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151001124503/http://www.tappanchairs.com/the-american-chestnut-foundation-chair.html |date=October 1, 2015}} www.tappanchairs.com. Retrieved September 24, 2015.</ref>

"Wormy" chestnut refers to a defective grade of wood that has insect damage, having been sawn from long-dead, blight-killed trees. This "wormy" wood has since become fashionable for its rustic character.<ref name=tappan/><ref>{{Cite web |title=Wormy Chestnut |url=http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/hardwoods/wormy-chestnut/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150926013509/http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/hardwoods/wormy-chestnut/ |archive-date=26 September 2015 |access-date=25 September 2015 |website=www.wood-database.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Antique Wormy Chestnut Lumber |url=https://www.appalachianwoods.com/reclaimed-lumber-and-timbers/reclaimed-lumber/antique-wormy-chestnut-lumber/ |access-date=25 September 2015 |website=Appalachian Woods, LLC |language=en-US}}</ref>