Mr. $ohn Flower—Chain in Horse-Chestnut Tree. 5 
2.—On A PorTION OF THE TRUNK OF A HorsE-CHESTNUT 
TREE IN WHICH AN IRON CHAIN HAS BECOME 
IMBEDDED. 
By Joun Frower, M.A., F.Z.S. 
[Read Nov. 20th, 1878.] 
When I first went to live at Park Hill, in April, 1844, there 
were two large horse-chestnut trees, a few yards apart, growing 
close to the house. One is still growing there ; but the other 
(from which this piece was taken) was cut down in the spring 
of the present year. Previous to 1844, an iron chain had been 
put round this tree, sometwenty feet, or perhaps rather more, from 
the ground, and to this chain another iron chain was attached, 
and passed round a bough of the tree which is now standing, 
with the object, apparently, of preventing that bough from 
breaking off and falling on some farm buildings over which it 
hung. I can quite well remember seeing this chain between 
the two trees, but many years ago it broke in two places, and 
nearly the whole of it fell down; and from that time little more 
was thought about it. About 1854, but it may have been a 
little earlier, it was noticed that the upper part of the tree from 
which this piece was cut was weak. The leaves were much 
smaller on that part of it, and there was an evident want of 
vigour about it. This was the subject of constant remark in 
the summer, but no one knew exactly what was the cause of 
it. Later on several large and vigorous boughs began to 
show themselves about fifteen feet from the ground, and below 
the place where the chain had been put round the tree. These 
continued to grow very freely up to the time when the tree was 
cut down, but the upper part never recovered itself. It seemed 
to get rather stronger for some years before the tree was cut 
down, but it was never really strong, and the leaves on it con- 
tinued to the last to be unusually small. For some years 
past I have had but little doubt in my own mind that the iron 
chain had become embedded in the trunk, and that that was 
the cause of the tree’s singular behaviour. After it was cut 
down a careful examination proved beyond doubt that this was 
the case, and so interesting did it appear to me to be that I 
had an entire section of the trunk cut out, from about eight 
inches above the chain to below the point from which the 
large and vigorous boughs previously mentioned took their 
origin. That section, 34 inches in height, is now in the Small 
Hall, where it can be inspected by any one who chooses to 
examine it, but it is too big to move upstairs. I ought, 
