HI JESCDLUS HIPPOCASTANUM. 



wasliiii? liiions and other stuffs. The nuts must he peeled and p^round, and the 

 flour of twenty ol' them is sutiieient lor ten ([uarts of water; and either Hnens or 

 woollens may he washed with the infusion, without any soaj), as it elfectually 

 eradicates spots of all kinds. The clothes, however, should afterwards be rinsed 

 in clean water. 'I'he ntUs, when ground into flour, and mixed in the propor- 

 tion of one third with the fk^nr of wheat, are said to add to the strength of hook- 

 binder's paste; and when steeped in hot water, and mixed with an equal pro- 

 portion of hran, it makes a nutritious food for pigs and poultry. M. Vcrgaud 

 has pro|)ose(l to change the starch contained in the flour, into sugar, and after- 

 wards emjtloy it in distillation. 



In Muropc and America, the horsc-chesnut can only be considered as an orna- 

 mental tree. It produces a splendid effect when in flower, either singly, in ave- 

 nues, or on the margins of plantations. Gilpin objects to this tree, as being 

 ' lumpish in its form ;"' but in saying this, he evidently judged of the tree merely 

 with reference to picturesque beauty, to which it has but few pretensions till it 

 becomes very old ; whereas in point of floral beauty, it is unequalled by few 

 other trees. " To the painter the magnificence of its stature" and the ricluiess 

 of its drapery, especially when clothed in the beauty of its broad palmated leaves, 

 and embroidered with its profusion of silver flowers, "scarcely atone for the 

 exceeding regularity of its form, terminating, as it invariably does, when left to 

 the hand of nature, in an exact parabola." And in addition to these beauties, 

 its massive and luxuriant summit contrasts well with those of trees of a more 

 airy character, and thus produces that breadth of light and shade so essential to 

 landscape scenery. 



