IO 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



AMERICAN FOREST TREES. 



Chestnut. 

 Castanea dentala (Marsh.) — Borkh. 

 The range of growth of this well-known 

 tree is from southern Maine to northwest- 

 ern Vermont, southern Ontario and the 

 southern shores of Lake Ontario, and to 

 southeastern Michigan; southwest to I 1 

 ware and southeastern Indiana, and on the 

 Uleg] ai in 'H. in in- to central 

 Kentucky and southern Tennessee, 

 and to central Alabama and Mis- 

 sissippi. 



-Hint is one of the few well 

 known woods of the United States 

 t hat does not bear a half dozen 01 

 more local names in the various 

 localities of its' growth, but tin- 

 wood is invariably in its entire 

 range of growth known as chest 

 nut. and its only vulgar equiva 

 lent is the name of o-heh-yah tah, 

 or prickly burr, by which name it 

 was known to the Indians of New 

 York. 



1 test "it is of the beei b family. 

 In shape it is round-topped, with 

 wide spreading branches. In height 

 it ranges from fifty to one hundred 

 feet or higher. Its time of bloom 

 is in June or July, and its ti lit 

 ripens in September and Oct. 

 In the young tree the bark is 

 smooth, but becomes very much 

 ridged and furrowed in mature 

 growth; the color of the bark is 

 granite gray. The leaves are sim- 

 ple; alternate, with short petioles; 

 oblong-lanceolate; pointed at the 



and rounded at the I 

 feather veined; coarsely sen 

 the ribs terminating in the sharp, 

 bristle p,,ii. ted teeth of the ' 

 The re round, and the 



leaf is dark green above and light- 

 er below; glabrous. The sti 



are yellow ; sweet scented ; 

 growing in slender axillary cat- 

 kins; the tell:, m . :,|„,||| 



tine.' ,,,■ tour in each involucre. The 

 fruit fjrows in a green, pricklj 

 husk whicl 1 ions 



and has three or four ovoid nuts, 

 d on one or both sides; rich 

 ' i" color, and t ipped w it b a 



white remnant of I he Stj le. 'i 



ire than three Eulbj 

 developed nuts in the husk; they 



le. 



1 ry rapid growing tre3, 



which is said to be rivaled only bj thi 



hardwoods. When 



five veins of age it illy bear fruit. 



J n fifteen years' time it is valuable as tim- 



and if then cut down its shoots, which 



•n more rapidly than seedling. 



lily develop into considerable trees 



ELEVENTH PAPER 



within a period of ten years. It is author- 

 itatively alleged that an orchard of chest- 

 nuts will bring its owner larger returns 

 than an apple orchard of the same size. In 

 Iowa certain chestnut orchards planted 

 twenty years ago are bringing their owners 

 bi iter returns than the same acreage in farm 

 10 oducts. 



TYPICAL CHESTNU1 GROWTH, BLOUNT COUNTY, 

 TENNESSEE 



Outside of the chestnut growth of th 

 United Sta 1 anada, it is found in 



the timber regions of central and southern 

 Europe, northern Africa, China and Japan 

 While 1 lie mood is valued in construction, 

 especially where lightness and durability 

 rather than transverse strength are re- 

 quired, its chi. | in furniture con- 

 struction, interior finish, coffin and casket 



making. In the Continental countries it is 

 employed to a considerable extent for beams 

 exposed to the weather, in either old Eng- 

 lish or Swiss chalet style of architecture. 



Lately, in this country, it has been dis- 

 covered that chestnut lends itself admira- 

 bly to a soft and beautiful coloring, in- 

 duced by means of the fumes of ammonia, 

 and tin- method of handling the 

 wood for interior finish and to a 

 considerable extent in mission and 

 kindred styles of furniture, is con- 

 siderably in vogue. The better 

 grades of the wood are often em- 

 ployed in coffin making, while the 

 grade known as "sound wormy" 

 is almost exclusively employed in 

 the manufacture of cloth-covered 

 caskets and for the base or filler 

 for veneer work. 



1 bestnut is very susceptible to 

 the ravages of borers, especially 

 following forest fires, and therefore 

 a verv large proportion of Ameri- 

 . an chestnut forest growth is ma- 

 terially damaged by this defect. 

 The ingenuity of American casket 

 an I furniture makers in concealing 

 these defects underneath glue and 

 cloth or veneer coverings has cre- 

 ated a relatively high price for 

 what otherwise would, be cull 

 mat' rial. 



During the last few years a large 

 quantity of chestnut has also been 

 employed for the making of tan- 

 ning extract, the wood being run 

 through grinders or "hogs" and 

 the tannic acid extracted from the 

 resultant product. Small chestnut 

 r is also frequently employed 

 for t ie materials. 



The wood is not ordinarily of 

 extraordinary size, but frequent 

 specimens are encountered of from 

 six to ten feet in diameter, which 

 -how an age up to 1,000 years. 

 Ilypermature growth of this char- 

 ■ is very defective in its butt 

 cuts, being ordinarily badly seamed 

 and shaken, and frequently is hol- 

 low. 



The famous Mt. Etna chestnut 

 is alleged to have measured 204 

 feet in circumference. It was 

 11 as the "castagno di sento 

 cavUU," so called from having 

 sheltered one hundred mounted cava- 

 liers. It ured by Brydon in 1770. 

 The physical ' '• racteristics of chestnut ara 



oided dry weight of from thirty-two to 



forty-six and a half pounds per cubic foot. 

 It is a me, In,,,, hard wood. It has no odor, 

 but its taste is astringent and unpleasant. 

 It burns well, but the embers expire in still 

 air and leave the carbonized wood. The 

 grain is coarse and open, with a somewhat 



