464 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. >t SPART 15. 
may be tried by any one, as the flowers may be perceived with a common mag- 
nifying glass ; -but, as detaching the scales requires care, it would be advisable 
for an unpractised student to gather the bud in early spring, when the sun is 
just beginning to melt away the gum with which the scales are sealed together. 
(Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. iii. p. 135.) 
Geography. “ The native country of the common horsechestnut,” Mr. Royle 
observes, “ is yet unknown, though stated, in some works, to be the north of 
India.” He adds that he has “ never met with it, though often visiting the 
‘lofty mountains of Northern India, where, if anywhere, it was likely to be 
found, and where the nearly allied Indian pavia is so abundant.” (Ilust., 
p- 135.) As the genus Pavia is a native both of India and America, and 
‘as A¥'sculus ohioénsis, which is nothing but a variety of the common horse- 
chestnut, is a native of North America, it seems to us highly probable that 
the genus 4%’sculus will ultimately be found to belong to both continents. 
History. The horsechestnut passed from Asia to Europe about the middle 
of the sixteenth century. The tree was first described by Matthiolus, and after- 
wards by Clusius in his Rariorum Plantarum Historia, §c. We there says, 
that, in 1581, it was still considered as a botanical rarity; but that in 1588 
there was a plant of the species at Vienna, that had been brought there twelve 
years before, but which had not then flowered. In France, it was first raised 
from seed procured from the Levant, in the year 1615, by one Bachelier 
whose flower-gardens at Paris were then celebrated. The largest tree of the 
kind in France, and which was considered as the parent stock from which all 
the others have been propagated, formerly existed in the gardens of the 
Temple. (Beckmann’s Hist., vol.i, p.317.) A tree of this species was planted 
in the Jardin des Plantes, in 1650, which was the second plant introduced 
into France: it died in 1767; and a section of its trunk is still preserved in 
the Museum of Natural History. According to M. Jaume Sainte-Hilaire 
(see p. 147.), and his account appears to us the most probable, the horse- 
chestnut passed from the mountains of Thibet to England -in 1550, and 
was afterwards taken to Vienna by Clusius, and thence to Paris by Bachelier. 
The earliest notice which we have of the horsechestnut being in England is 
in Gerard’s Herbal, where, in 1579, he speaks of it as a rare foreign tree. In 
Johnson’s edition of the same work, in 1633, the horsechestnut is said to be 
growing in Mr. Tradescant’s garden at South Lambeth. Parkinson, in 1629, 
says, “ Our Christian world had first a knowledge of it from Constantinople.” 
The same author placed the horsechestnut in his orchard, as a fruit tree, be- 
tween the walnut and the mulberries. How little it was then known may be 
inferred from his saying, not only that it is of a greater and more pleasant 
aspect for the fair leaves, but also of as good use for the fruit, which is of a 
sweet taste, roasted and eaten, as the ordinary sort. Houghton (1700) men- 
tions some horsechestnut trees at Sir William Ashhurst’s at Highgate, and 
especially in the Bishop of London’s garden at Fulham. Those now standing 
at Chelsea College were then very young. There was also a very fine one in 
the Post-house Garden, in Old Street, and another not far from the Ice-house, 
under the shadow of the Observatory in Greenwich Park. (Mart. Mill.) In 
Germany, as we have seen in p. 147., the horsechestnut, after having been 
planted at Vienna, soon found its way to Baden, where it was planted about 
the end of the sixteenth century, and where some of the trees are still in ex- 
istence. The tree is now generally cultivated in the middle states of Europe, 
and also in North America. 
Properties and Uses. The wood weighs, when newly cut, 601b, 40z. per 
‘cubic foot ; and, when dry, 35 lb. 7 oz.; losing, by drying, a sixteenth part .of 
its bulk. According to other experiments, the wood, green, weighs 62 lb. 
3.07.3, half dry, 46 lb. 2.0z.; and quite dry, 37 lb. 30z, It is soft, and unfit 
for use where great strength, and durability in the open air, are required ; 
nevertheless, there are many purposes for which it is applicable when sawn 
up into boards; such as for flooring, linings to carts, packing-cases, &c. In 
France, sabots are made from it ; and it is said to be used by carvers, turners, 
