Let us go on a chestnutting expedition to the southern part of France. We can gather the nuts in many of the states of our own country, but the trip to a strange land will be enjoyed by all.

The chestnut trees, many of which are very old, spread their branches to great distances. The nuts, as you see, are inclosed in a bur or coat which covers the shell. There are generally two nuts in each bur.

When you eat chestnuts, you eat them as a sort of dainty, not as a regular article of food. This is not the case in the home of Jean, the boy who is helping his father fill those sacks. In his home, as in many homes in southern Europe, the nuts form one of the chief articles of daily food.

In the winter Jean sells the freshly roasted nuts on a street corner in the city of Lyons. He gets a good many pennies each noon from workmen and poor people generally, who use them for their midday meal. He sells ten nuts for a penny.

This is not the only way in which they are eaten. Jean's mother boils them with celery and mashes them as we do potatoes. The nuts are also ground into a flour from which bread is made. They are often used in the dressing for fowls.

Confectioners use great quantities of chestnuts. In Lyons there are establishments where as many as two hundred persons are employed in preparing them.

The nuts are first peeled, and then boiled in clear water, which removes the thin coating next the kernel. They are then placed in a sirup flavored with Mexican vanilla, in which they remain for about three days. After draining, they are coated with vanilla or chocolate and packed in attractive boxes. In this form they are worth forty-five or fifty cents a pound.