Tree Study 



761 



Chestnuts. 

 Photo V.y O. L. Foster. 



on one stem ? Where are the pistillate flowers which will grow into young 

 chestnuts"' Describe them. 



7 . How much are chestnuts worth per bushel ': To what uses is chest- 

 nut timber put ''. What is the character of the wood? 



THE HORSE-CHESTNUT 

 Teacher's Story 



HE wealth of children is, after all, the truest 

 wealth in this world; and the horse-chestnuts, 

 brown and smooth, looking so appetizing and so 

 belying their looks, have been used from time 

 immemorial by boys as legal tender a fit use, 

 for these handsome nuts seem coined purposely 

 for boys' pockets. 



The horse-chestnut is a native of Asia 

 Minor. It has also a home in the high moun- 

 tains of Greece. In America, it is essentially a 

 shade tree. Its head is a broad cone, its dark- 

 green foliage is dense and, when in blossom, the 



flower clusters stand out like little white 

 pyramids against the rich back-ground 

 in a most striking fashion. "A pyramid 

 of green supporting a thousand pyra- 

 mids of white" is a clever description of 

 this tree's blossoming. The brown bark 

 of the trunk has a tendency to break into 

 plates, and the tnmk is just high enough 

 to make a fitting base for the handsome 

 head . 



The blossom panicle is at the tip end 

 of the twig and stops its growth at that 

 point; the side buds continue to grow 

 thus making a forking branch. Each 

 blossom panicle stands erect like a candle 



a, blossom of the sweet buck-eye and 



young fruit; b, blossom mid young 



fruit of horse-chestnut. 



