112 AscuLus mrrocAsTANUM. 



Lincolnsliire It is represented as being a most magnificent tree, fifty-nine feet 

 higli, with iinnions(^ l)r;inclit's. spr\uling over a sparer of tliroo Imndicd and five 

 feet in circunikTence. Tlu' hraiK-lu's arc supjioricd by ]>n)ps, so that at a little 

 distance, the tree appears like an immense Indian banian. At (-oombc Abbey, 

 in Warwickshire, there is another tree of this s|)ccies, wiiicli attained the height 

 of seventy fct^t in one hundred years after piantino;, and liad a truidv s(n'cn feet 

 three inchcij in diameicr, with an ambitns, or sj)rcad of hrandics, of one hnndred 

 and tiirce feet. Sir T. Dick Lander, speaking of horse-chcsnnts in Scotland. 

 Bays, "The horse-chesnnts on the lawn, wliich was formerly llie garden of 

 Dawick. the seat of Sir .lolin Mnrray Nasmyth, Hart., a few miles from Peebles, 

 in Twceddale, are certainly the oldest and finest in Scotland; or, ])erhaps, we 

 should say there are none equal to them in Britain. They stand twelve feet 

 from each other ; but they support a mass of foliage that appears to be but one 

 head, which takes a beautiful form, and covers an area of ground, the diameter 

 of which, is ninety-six feet. The larger of the two is in girt, immediately above 

 the root, sixteen and a half feet. The smaller tree is twelve and a half feet in 

 circumference at the base, and ten feet at three feet high." The age of these 

 trees was estimated by him to be from one hundred and eighty to one hun- 

 dred and ninety years. Mr. Loudon has recorded another tree of this species, 

 as growing at Enfield, near London, which, in 1835, had attained the height of 

 one hundred feet. 



The largest horse-chesnut in France, and which was considered as the parent 

 stock from which all others have been propagated in that country, formerly 

 existed in the garden of the Temple. The second tree of this species introduced 

 into that kingdom, was planted in the Jardin des Plantes, in 1650, and died in 

 1 767. A section of its trunk is still preserved in the Museum of Natural History. 

 There is a tree of this kind existing in the garden of the Tuileries, which is dis- 

 tinguished, even in summer, from all others in the same garden, by the profusion 

 of flowers with which it is covered, and also by the earliness of their putting 

 forth. It is said to unfold its leaves always a fortnight earlier than any others, 

 wliich is exemplified by the following historical incident. On Napoleon's entry 

 into Paris, on the 20th of March, 1815, after his return from the island of Elba, 

 this tree furnished to him and his friends, foliage for their personal decoration, 

 leing the only tree in the leaf in the garden of the Tuileries. 



In Germany, the horse-chesnut, after having been planted at Vienna, soon 

 tound its way to Baden, where it was planted about the end of the XVIth cen- 

 tury, and where some of the trees are said to be still in existence. 



The introduction of the common horse-chesnut into the United States probably 

 dates back to about the middle of the XVIIth century. The tree, supposed to be 

 the first brought to this country, is still standing on the estate of Mr. Lemuel W. 

 Wells, of Yonkers, (formerly Phillipsburgh,) New York, and is ten feet in cir- 

 cumference at a yard above the ground, sixty-five feet in height, with an ambi- 

 tus, or spread of branches of fifty feet. It is in a flourishing condition, and bears 

 a profusion of fruit, from which the New York nurseries and seed-stores are 

 annually supplied. It is said to have been planted by Frederick Philipse, the 

 founder of Phillipsburgh, who formerly lived on the place of its present proprietor. 

 In the vicinity of this tree there are numerous others of nearly the same magni- 

 tude, which were raised from its nuts, and from the accounts of the oldest resi- 

 dents of Yonkers, they have not increased materially in size within their recol- 

 lection. 



Poetical cmd Legendary Allusions. The horse-chesnut, when allowed to attain 

 Its proper shape on a lawn, has been compared by some authors to an immense " lus- 

 tre or chandelier," its long racemes of flowers tapering up from its drooping foli- 

 age like light ; a " giant's nosegay ;" a " gigantic hyacinth ;" a " Brobdignagian 



