TREES OF AMERICA. 173 



" I suppose there must be something in the 

 soil there very good for the trees, since they 

 grow so large." 



"YeSj chestnuts love the sides of moun- 

 tains, and a climate that is neither very hot 

 in summer, nor very cool in winter; the 

 largest in this country are found in the hilly 

 parts of North Carolina and Virginia : I have 

 seen them there fifteen or sixteen feet in cir- 

 cumference, and more than a hundred feet 

 high. I have read of one in France that 

 is supposed to be a thousand years old ; in a 

 book written six hundred years ago it is called 

 the great chestnut^ and it is still sound, and 

 bears nuts every year : it is ten feet in di- 

 ameter. There is another in England four- 

 teen feet thick, which is also believed to be 

 nearly a thousand years old. But it is time 

 for us now to look at the leaves and the wood. 

 You have noticed the leaves, I dare say ; but 

 in case you have not, we will pluck one ; you 

 see that it is long and narrow, and pointed at 

 both ends, like the leaf of the peach-tree, only 

 a great deal -larger. The peach-leaf, you 

 know, is not more than two inches long, 

 whereas, the chestnut is seven or eight, and 



