lo Oct.. 1 



910. 



Tlie Chestnut. 



659 



nece-ssary to tunnel out of the rock, will give some idea of what rough 

 country this really is. In the Cevennes and other parts of the flanks of 

 the central plateau of France, thousands of square miles of this kind of 

 country have for centuries past supported a fairly dense population — 

 hardy, happy, and contented, in spite of the difficulties of raising the 

 necessary food supplies. 



It is such districts as this which are the home of the chestnut. 

 \\'here\er the lime percentage of the soil is sufficiently low to permit of 

 satisfactory growth, and the underlying rock is at all penetrable, 

 plantations are to be seen in abundance, becoming the main feature of 

 the landscape. As well as supplying food for man and beast, its power- 

 ful roots bind the scanty soil together on the steep hillsides, counteracting 

 the erosion of heavy winter rains which would otherwise most certainly 

 have long since transformed the greater part of the country into a rocky 

 desert. In the department of Ardeche alone it is estimated that 82,000 



ROAD NEAR RIOMS, FRANCE. 



acres are occupied by chestnuts, an area considerably less than what it 

 was a few years ago for reasons that we shall consider presently. 



In Victoria, apart from our mountain regions, we have little country 

 of the same type as that above referred to. Even in our poorer districts 

 the hillsides are usually covered with soil, hiding the rock, the presence of 

 which in a bare state, as a leading feature of the land.scape, strikes the 

 Australian visitor to Europe very forcibly in many hilly regions, especially 

 where timber is scarce. Nevertheless, there are thousands of acres of our 

 mountain valleys too steep for the plough, and. as a means of utilizing 

 these and, in fact, any odd bits of waste land, this neglected tree will no 

 doubt some day have its value thoroughly recognised and be largely 

 planted. In the valleys of the North-east district of Victoria, running 

 right up into the high mountains, are enormous areas, much of which is 

 too steep for any form of agriculture. In any such land, and more par- 

 ticularly where the soil is supported by fissured rock, as is very often the 

 ca.se, the chestnut tree will thrive, and in such cases enable profitable use 



