AMENTlFERiE. 161 



to tlic oak, it will make a fair show outwardly, when it is all decayed and rotten 

 within; but this is iu some sort recompensed, if it be true that the beams made of the 

 chestnut tree have this property, that being somewhat brittle, they give warning, 

 and jjremonish the danger by a certain crackling ; so as it is said to have frighted 

 those out of the baths at Antandro, whose roof was laid with this material, but which 

 Pliny says was of hazel, very unlike it." But though far more brittle and perishable 

 than it was formerly considered, chestnut is by no means so worthless a wood as 

 modern writers have represented it. In fences it seems as durable as most other 

 woods, posts of it ha^dng stood little injured for forty or fifty years ; and in houses 

 and outbuildings it has been, known to last as long, even where exposed to weather. 

 The wood of the chestnut has the remarkable property of being moi'c durable when 

 it is young than when it is old ; and Mr. Kent, in the " Transactions of the Society of 

 Arts in 1792," observes, " When the chestnut is suffered to stand beyond its fuU 

 growth it is the worst of all timber, being more brittle and more apt to fly into 

 splinters than any other ; but I have never known this to be the case with young 

 chestnut." Hence he directs the tree to be cut when it is in a gi'owing or healthy 

 state, because it is " so eax^ly useful, that if it be cut when it squares only six inches, 

 it will be as durable as an oak of six times its size and age." French writers state 

 that chestnut wood is a good deal used for making wine-casks, a circumstance noticed 

 by Rajjin, in his poem entitled " The Garden :" — 



" With close-grain'd chestnut wood of sovereign use, 

 For casking up the grape's most powerful juice," 



Wine is said to ferment in chestnut casks more slowly, and be less likely to evaporate 

 than in vessels of any other wood. According to Du Hamel, there is no wood which 

 makes better hoops, as it resists the dry rot in cellars. As fuel, the wood of chestnut 

 is not much approved ; it throws out sparks and smoulders rather than flames, and 

 the charcoal is not of the first quality. Michaux informs us that the ashes of the 

 wood furnish a great deal of potash. The bark is used for tanniuj but it only sells 

 for half the price of that of oak. The leaves in country places in France are used as 

 a litter for cattle, and when dried they are made, like beech leaves, into beds for the 

 poor. " But these leafy beds," says Evelyn, " for the crackling noise they make 

 when one turns upon them, the French call lits de parlementy As a fruit tree, 

 the chestnut is not estimated in England, according to its worth, the nuts being 

 seldom eaten but as a desert, and then in only one universal form, plainly roasted, 

 and occasionally as a stufl&ng for turkeys or fowls. Possibly if the fruit attained a 

 greater perfection in this climate, it might be more generally used, as it is in France 

 and other countries in the south of Europe. The seeds or nut, as they are commonly 

 called, contain large quantities of oil, and in Italy and the south of France serve as a 

 substitute in a great measui'e for potatoes and bread. Evelyn \Yrites, " We give that 

 fruit to our swine in England which is amongst the delicacies of princes in other 

 countries ; and being of the larger nut, is a lusty and masculine food for rustics at all 

 times, and of better nourishment than cale and rusty bacon, 3'ea, or beans to boot. 

 How we here tise chestnuts in stewed meats and beatille pies, our French cooks teach 

 us ; and this is, in truth, their very best use, and very commendable ; for it is found 

 that the eating them raw or in bread, as they do in Limousin, is apt to swell the 

 belly, though without any other inconvenience, that I can learn ; and yet some 

 condemn them as dangerous for such as are subject to the gravel in the kidneys ; and 

 however cooked and prepared, flatulent, offensive to the head and stomach, especially 

 to those who are subject to the cholick. The best way to preserve them is to 

 VOL. VIII. Y 



