162 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



keep tliem in earthen vessels in a cold place. Some lay them in a snioak loft, 

 others in dry barley straw, others in sand, &c." One of the modes of drying 

 chestnuts in order to preserve them for several years, is to place those wliich have 

 been collected from the ground on coarse sieves in a dry place, and afterwards 

 expose them to the sun, or to boil them for a quarter of an hour, and then dry 

 them in an oven. In Limousin and Perigord, where the chestnut flour is used, 

 for making the kind of cake called la galette, and the thick porridge called la polenta, 

 which are the common food of the peasantry, the chestnuts are dried with smoke. A 

 thin layer of seeds or nuts which have been deprived of their outer husks, is laid on a 

 kind of kiln pierced with holes, and a fire is made below with the husks and part of 

 the wood of the tree, which is only permitted to smoulder, and is not suffered to 

 burst into a flame. In a short time the chestnuts begin to sweat ; the fire is then 

 extinguished, and they are allowed to cool. They are then thrown aside, and a 

 fresh laj-er spread out. When a sufficient quantity of chestnuts is thus prepared to 

 cover the floor of the kiln at least one foot deep, they are laid upon it, and a gentle 

 fire is made below, which is gradually augmented during two or three days, and is 

 then continued during nine or ten days, the chestnuts being regularly turned like 

 malt, till the nuts part readily from their skins ; they are then put into sacks, which 

 have been previously wet, and thrashed with sticks, or rubbed upon a large bench or 

 table, after which they are winnowed, and are then ready for the mill. During the 

 process of drying, the fire is watched night and day, and the under side of the floor of 

 the kiln (or hurdles, if these have been used as a substitute for a paved floor) must 

 be frequently swept to clear it from the soot. The dust which escapes from the 

 chestnuts when they are winnowed, together with the broken nuts, are carefully pre- 

 served for feeding cattle, and are called in France hiscat. The usual modes of cooking 

 chestnuts in France are boiling them in water simply with a little salt, or with leaves 

 of celery, sage, or any other herbs, to give them a flavour, or roasting them in hot 

 ashes or a coffee-roaster. In whatever way they are cooked, the French cook always 

 slits the skin of all but one, and when that cracks and flies off, it is a sign that the 

 rest are done. 



Chestnut flour will keep good for years in casks or earthen bottles well protected 

 from the air. Chestnuts well boiled in water, and then broken and mashed up like 

 potatoes, form a good dish, and a sweetmeat common in the confectioners' shops in 

 Paris, known as marrons glaces, is made by dipping the chestnuts into clarified sugar, 

 and then drying them. Evelyn says that in his time " the best tables in France and 

 Italy make chestnuts a service, eating them with salt in wine, or pine of lemons and 

 sugar, being first roasted in embers on the chaplet. In Italy they boil them in wine, 

 and then smoke them a little. These they call ausere or geese : I know not why. 

 Those of Piedmont add fennel, cinnamou, and nutmeg to their wine, but first they 

 peel them. Others macerate them in rosewater. The bread of the flour is exceed- 

 ingly nutritive ; it is a robust food, and makes women well complexioned, as I have 

 read in a good author. They also make fritters of chestnut flour, which they wet 

 with rosewater, and sprinkle with grated pai-migans, and " so fry them in fresh 

 butter for a delicate." Evelyn also says, tliat the flour of chestnuts made into an 

 electuaiy with honey, and eaten fasting, is an approved remedy against spitting of 

 blood and the cough : and a decoction of the rind of the tree tinctures hair of a golden 

 colour, esteemed a beauty in some countries." The prescription is also given by 

 Gerard in his Herbal. Sugar Is said to have been obtained from chestnuts in France 

 by the same process as is used for tlie extraction of sugar from beet, and at the i-ate of 

 I'l- jicr cent., which is more than the average produce of the best root. Lately we 



