280 pfant "bore, T^ccfeT^^/, and. "bijric/, 



tradition that evil spirits often hide themselves in old Cherry-trees, 

 and delight in doing harm to anyone who approaches them. The 

 Albanians burn branches of the Cherry-tree on the nights of the 

 23rd and 24th of December, and the nights of the ist and 6th of 

 January — that is to say on the three nights consecrated to the new 

 sun ; and they preserve the ashes of these branches to fertilise their 

 Vines. They say that in so doing they burn the evil spirits hidden in 



the trees, who are destrucflive to vegetation. At Hamburg, there 



is an annual festival called the Feast of the Cherries, when children 

 parade the streets, carrying boughs laden with the fruit. This 

 observance dates from the year 1432, when the Hussites threatened 

 the immediate destruction of Hamburg. The inhabitants, in 

 despair, dressed all the children in black, and despatched them to 

 the Hussite leader, P. Rasus, to plead with him. The warrior, 

 touched at the sight of so many little helpless ones, promised that 

 he would spare the city, and after feasting the children with 

 Cherries, sent them back rejoicing and waving in their hands the 



Cherry-boughs. There is an old proverb current in Germany, 



France, and Italy, that you should never eat Cherries with the rich, 

 because they always choose the ripest, or, even worse, eat the 

 luscious fruit, and throw the stones and stalks to their companions. 



The gum which exudes from the Cherry-tree is considered 



equal in value to gum-arabic. Hasselquist relates that during a siege 

 upwards of one hundred men were kept alive for nearly two months, 

 without any other nutriment than that obtained by sucking this 



gum.- The Cherry is held by astrologers to be under the dominion 



of Venus. To dream of Cherries denotes inconstancy and dis- 

 appointment in life. 



CHESNUT. — The Chesnut {Fagus Castanea) was classed 

 by Pliny among the fruit trees, on account of the value of the 

 nut as an article of food. He states that the tree was intro- 

 duced from Sardis in Pontus, and hence was called the Sardian 

 Acorn. The Chesnuts of Asia Minor supplied Xenophon's whole 

 army with food in their retreat along the borders of the Euxine. 

 Once planted in Europe, the Chesnut soon spread all over the 

 warm parts. It flourished in the mountains of Calabria, and is the 

 tree with which Salvator Rosa delighted to adorn his bold and rugged 



landscapes. The Castagno del cento cavalli (Chesnut of the hundred 



horses) upon Mount Etna is probably the largest tree in Europe, 



being more than 200 feet in circumference. Chesnuts are included 



in the list of funereal trees. In Tuscany, the fruit is eaten with 

 solemnity on St. Simon's Day. In Piedmont, they constitute the 

 appointed food on the eve of All Souls' Day, and in some houses 

 they are left on the table under the belief that the dead poor will 

 come during the night and feast on them. In Venice, it is custo- 

 mary to eat Chesnuts on St. Martin's Day, and the poor women 

 assemble beneath the windows and sing a long ballad, or, after 

 expressing their good wishes towards the inmates of the house. 



