122 



JOURNAL OP HOBTIODLTURB AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



( FebriTaiy U, 1875. 



the name Ormun, derived from a root-word implyiug naked- 

 nosfl, is believed by recent authorities to apply more fittingly 

 to the Plane tree, which sheds its bark annually. It is found 

 native over all southern Europe, but especially in the warmer 

 parts of the temperate zone. It has been doubted whether the 

 Chestnut is an English indigenous tree; but if not, it must 

 have been introduced before the Norman Conquest, for in the 

 reign of Henry II. (1154-1189) the Earl of Hereford granted 

 a tithe of aU his Chestnuts in the forest of Dean to Flexley 

 Abbey. 



The most noteworthy Chestnut trees in England are those 

 in Lord Ducie's Park at Tortworth in Gloucestershire. Even 

 in 1150 one of them was known as " the great Tortworth 

 Chestnut." It marks a boundary of the manor, and a century 



since was considered to be a thousand years old. Its girth in 

 1720 was 51 feet at C feet from the surface. Even this is small 

 compared with the " Chestnut of a Hundred Horses " on Mount 

 Etna in Sicily, of which we add an engraving (fig. 31). 



Houel writes of it as follows : — " Its size is so much beyond 

 all others that we find it impossible to express the sensation 

 we experienced on first seeing it. Having examined it care- 

 fully I proceeded to sketch it from nature. It is a faithful 

 portrait, having demonstrated to my own satisfaction that the 

 tree was 100 feet in circumference, and having heard its his- 

 tory related by the savants of the hamlet. This tree is called 

 the ' Chestnut of a Hundred Horses ' in consetiuence of the 

 vast extent of ground it covers. They tell me that Jean of 

 Aragon, while journeying from Spain to Naples, stopped in 



Fig. 81.— The ohestnot of a ufnbred horses. 



Sicily and visited Mount Etna, accompanied by all the noblesse 

 of Catania on horseback. A storm came on, and the Queen 

 and her cortege took shelter under this tree, whose vast foliage 

 served to protect her and all these cavaliers from the rain. 

 It is true that out of the hamlet the tradition of the Queen's 

 visit is looked upon as fabulous ; but however that may be, 

 the tree itself seems very capable of doing the office assigned 

 to it. 



" This tree is entirely hollow. It is supported chiefly by 

 its bark, having lost its interior entirely by age, but is not the 

 less crowned with verdure. The people of the country have 

 erected a house here, with a sort of furnace for drying the 

 Chestnuts and other fruits which they wish to preserve. They 

 are even so indifferent to the preservation of this wonderful 

 natural curiosity that they do not hesitate to cut off branches 

 to burn in the furnace. 



" Some persons think that this mass of vegetation is formed 

 of many trees which have united their trunks ; but a careful 

 examination disposes of this notion. They are deceived. AU 

 the parts which have been destroyed by time or the hand of 

 man have evidently belonged to a single trunk. I have mea- 

 ur ed them carefully, and found the one trunk as I have said, 

 160 feet in circumference." 



We regret that this Chestnut is not more largely planted. 

 It is one of the most ornamental of trees. When of mature 

 growth it has a noble bearing, its branches graceful, and its 

 foliage bright and free. It is a total contrast to the Horse 

 Chestnut, which Gilpin justly condemns as a heavy dis- 

 agreeable tree, and even when in flower inharmonious and 

 nnpicturesque. 



EUCHAEIS AMAZONICA. 



This beautiful plant is rather capricious in flowering, some- 

 times growing for several seasons and never blooming. I can- 

 not give the modus operandi to flower it with the same cer- 

 tainty as a Hyacinth or Tulip, for I think it would be difficult 

 to attain ; but the following may not appear a bad result :^ 



In the spring of 1873 we potted several bulbs in a 14-inch 

 pot in a compost of turfy loam, leaf mould, and rotten dung, 

 with good drainage. They grew luxuriantly, but never bloomed. 

 The following spriug we partially dried them off by spare water- 

 ing, then in about two months placed the pot on a slate slab 

 over the hot-water pipes, and watered copiously. When the 

 new growth was made it threw up fourteen spikes, six or seven 

 blooms on each, and was in perfection in July. After flower- 



