CHAP. CV. CORYLA'CE^.. CASTA ^NEA. 1991 



useful as a fruit tree than for its timber. The wood of the chestnut, how- 

 ever, has the remarkable property of being more durable when it is young 

 than when it is old ; the sap or outer wood very soon changing into heart 

 wood ; and hence the great value of this tree for posts, fencing-poles, stakes, 

 hoops, &c. The wood, when green, weighs 68 lb. 9 oz. per cubic foot ; and 

 when dry, 41 lb. 2oz. According to some authors, however, it weighs, when 

 dry, 48 lb. Tiie wood is easily distinguished from that of the oak, by the 

 transverse fibres being more confused, and much less evident to the naked eye, 

 more especially in a section newly cut ; so that, to ascertain whether a plank 

 of timber is oak or chestnut, it is only necessary to saw off a thin slice at one 

 of its extremities. Bosc agrees in this, and draws as a conclusion from it, 

 that the annual layers of the wood not being freely united together by trans- 

 verse fibres, must necessarily be liable to separate, and to become subject to 

 the disease which is called, in France, cadranure (literally, dialling). This 

 disease cannot be discovered till the tree is cut down ; when it is found to be 

 open at the heart, with rents radiating from its centre towards the circum- 

 ference ; in consequence of which the wood is unfit for being sawn into either 

 planks or beams, and can only be employed for laths or fencing. Bosc found 

 that of the trunks of 30 chestnut trees, about 1 ft. in diameter, which he had 

 seen cut down and squared in the forest of Montmorency, there were 20 in 

 the diseased state above described. Hence, he says, we seldom find any trunks 

 of old chestnut trees, because this peculiarity in their organisation not only 

 unfits them for every purpose of carpentry or joinery, but occasions them to 

 decay from the centre outwards. To us it appears probable that this organ- 

 isation, by lessening the communication of the juices of the tree in a horizontal 

 direction, may also be the cause why the sap wood so soon becomes heart 

 wood. Be that as it may, it is clear that all that has been said in favour of 

 planting the chestnut for its timber can only rank, in point of authority, with 

 what has been said respecting [)lanting the locust for the same purpose. The 

 French writers state that chestnut wood is a good deal used for making wine- 

 casks; a circumstance noticed by Rapin, in his poem entitled The Garden: — 



" With close-grain'd chestnut, wood of sov'rcign use. 

 For casking up the grape's most powerful juice." 



Wine is said to ferment in chestnut casks more slowly, and be less likely to 

 evaporate : it also does not contract any unpleasant taste. There is scarcely 

 any wood, according to Du Hamel, which makes better hoops, as these resist 

 the dry rot in cellars where every other kind of wood decays. Du Hamel 

 observes, at the same time, that chestnut wood decays speedily, when it is 

 subjected alternately to dryness and moisture. {Exploit de Boh, p. 296.) 

 Varennes de Fenille, on the other hand, states that, in La Bresse, posts of 

 chestnut are preferred to those of every other wood for forming the supports 

 of huts, notwithstanding these posts are subjected to the action of alternate 

 humidity and dryness. The wood of the chestnut is not much ajiproved of 

 as fuel : it throws out sparks, and smoulders in the fire rather than flames ; 

 though it gives out a great deal of heat. The charcoal, though good, is not 

 of the first quality : it is inferior to that of the oak for domestic purposes, and 

 for iron founderies; but, according to Bosc, and most other Continental writers, 

 it is superior to that of oak, or any other wood, for forges; and it is much 

 used for that purpose in Biscay and in Spain. In Switzerland, chestnut wood 

 is ecjually valued for forges ; but, the tree being rare there, the charcoal is very 

 dear. {Hist. Xat. da Jorut, i. p. 9.) The same thing, Michaux informs us, is 

 the case in North America. The ashes of the wood of the chestnut furnish 

 a great deal of potash. The bark, especially of young trees, is used for tan- 

 ning ; but it only sells for half the price of that of oak. The leaves, in country 

 places in France, are used as litter for cattle; and, when dried, they are em- 

 ployed, like those of the beech, by the poor, for stuffing mattresses. " But 

 those leafy beds," Evelyn observes, " for the crackling noise they make when 

 one turns upon them, the French call lids de fxirliameiit." (Hunt. EveL, i. 



