114 CHESTNUTS. [Dec, 



CHESTNUTS. 



lAPPENING to turn to the 'Journal of Forestry' for 

 February, 1882, p, 703, I noticed that a correspondent 

 (' H. E.') does not do justice to the merits of the Sweet or 

 Spanish Chestnut as a timber tree. 



It is true that the tree when old and large often grows with a twist, 

 and, it is said, is apt to be shaky in the interior. But it will certainly 

 grow tall and straight up to a diameter of 2 to 3 ft. or more, and this 

 upon very poor soil, such as that of the Hastings Sands, the strata 

 which form the lower division of the Wealden formation, and which 

 run through Sussex and Kent. 



Every one knows that the Chestnut grows much faster than the 

 Oak, but so much depends on soil and situation that it would be 

 difficult to state the comparative growth with precision. I apprehend, 

 how^ever, that the Chestnut grows at least twice as fast as the Oak ; I 

 find that a Chestnut has in nine years attained a girth of 14 in. at 

 four feet from the ground ; but this is from an old stool. I find 

 that the rings of annual growth of a Chestnut between 30 and 40 , 

 years old average ^^ of an inch each, and in a specimen of Chestnut 

 •wood which formed part of some carved work executed at Avignon 

 before 1550, that the rings measure just the same, 51 measuring an 

 inch. 



But the wood not only is quickly produced, but is of excellent 

 quality. I have just tried the strength of it in comparison with that 

 of Oak, and I find that a rod of Chestnut half an inch square, supported 

 on points ll in. apart, required a weight of 49^ lbs. to break 

 it, while a like rod of Oak, of fair quality, of (I believe) English 

 growth, broke with a weight of 46 lbs., and one of ordinary wainscot 

 Oak with a weight of 35 lbs. 



It is a wood extremely well adapted for decorative carving, for it has 

 great smoothness and fineness of texture ; in these respects it is 

 much superior to Oak, and when old it acquires a fine, rich brown 

 colour decidedly preferable to the somewhat dull brown of old Oak. 



Whether it would be as durable as Oak under all circumstances, I 

 do not know, but I observe in the carving mentioned above, now 

 more than 300 years old, the heart wood is in the soundest condition 

 and quite untouched by worms ; the sapwood, on the contrary, of 

 which some portions of the panels of carving were formed, was much 

 decayed and worm-eaten. 



Mr. Hunter, in his notes on Evelyn's ' Sylva,' says that parts of 

 Chestnuts are more durable than those of Oak ; and if parts, why not 

 other things ? 



