1992 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



p. 103.) Such arc the uses of the'chestnut tree on the Continent ; from wliich, 

 we tliink, it will not be wondered that Emmerich {Culture of Forests, (!v:c.), and 

 German authors generally, should consider the chestnut as not ranking as a 

 forest tree. 



We shall now take a short view of the uses of the chestnut tree in England 

 from the time of Evelyn. Tliis author commences by saying, that " the chest- 

 nut is, next the oak, one of the most sought after by the carpenter and joiner. 

 It hath formerly built a good part of our ancient houses in the city of London, 

 as does yet ap|)ear. I had once a very large barn near the city, framed entirely 

 of this timber ; and, certainly, the trees grew not far off^ probably in some woods 

 near the town ; for, in that description of London written by Fitz Stephens, 

 in the reign of Henry IL, he speaks of a very noble and large forest, which 

 grew on the boreal part of it, and which was well stored with all sorts of good 

 timber." (Hunt. Evel., i. p. IGl.) It is evident that Evelyn here falls into 

 the common error, already noticed, of confounding the chestnut with the oak. 

 He goes on to say that the chestnut alfords the best stakes for palisades, props 

 for vines and hops, and is good for mill timber and water-works, or where it ujay 

 lie buried ; " but if water touch the roots of the growing tree, it spoils both fruit 

 and timber." It does well, he says, if kept dry, for columns, tables, chests, 

 chairs, stools, and bedsteads ; and, for tubs and wine-casks, " which it |)re- 

 serves with the least possible tincture of the wood of any whatsoever. If the 

 timber be dipped in scalding oil, and well pitched, it becomes extremely dur- 

 able ; but, otherwise, I cannot celebrate the tree for its sincerity, it being 

 founil that, contrary to the oak, it will make a fair show outwardly, when it 

 is all decayed and rotten within : but this is in some sort recompensed, if it be 

 true that the beams made of chestnut tree have this property ; that, being 

 somewhat brittle, they give warning, and premonish the danger by a certain 

 crackling ; so as, it is said, to have frighted those out of the baths at An- 

 tandro, whose roof was laid with this material, but which, Pliny says, was of 

 hazel, very unlike it. Formerly, they made consultary staves of "this tree ; 

 and the variegated rods which Jacob peeled to lay in the troughs, to impress 

 a fancy in his father-in-law's conceiving ewes, are said to have been of this 

 material. The coals are excellent for the smith, being soon kindletl, and as 

 soon extinguished ; but the ashes of chestnut wood are not convenient to 

 make a lee with, because it is observed to stain the linen." {Hunt. F.vcl. Si//., i. 

 p. 1G2.) Cook, who may be considered as Evelyn's contemjjorary, recom- 

 mends the chestnut for cojipice-wood, and says the timber is very useful. 

 Miller falls into the error of his time, in considering the old roofs of oak as 

 being formed of chestnut ; and hence he reconunends the latter, as being a 

 very valuable kind of timber; though, in the edition by Martyn, this author 

 states that he thinks the timber sujiposed by Miller and other writers to be 

 chestnut, in our old buildings, is only oak of a diti'erenl grain, and of an inferior 

 tpiality. Marshall says, "The uses of the chestnut have been highly extolled, 

 and it may deserve a considerable share of the praise which has been given to 

 it. As a substitute for the oak, it is preferable to the elm ; but it is liable to 

 to be shaky; and there is a deceitful brittleness in it." This property is also 

 mentioned in White's Sclborne ; and with the addition, that " towards the heart 

 the wood is cup-shaky; that is to say, apt to separate into small pieces like 

 cups, so that the inward parts are of no use. They are bought for the pur- 

 poses of cooperage, but nnist make but ordinary barrels, buckets, &c. Chest- 

 nut sells for half the price of oak; but has sometimes been sent into the king's 

 dock, and passed off instead of oak." In another place, he observes that " the 

 timber and bark" of oUl chestnut trees "are so very like oak, as might easily 

 deceive an indilfcrent observer." Pontey says that the wood and bark of the 

 chestnut are known to possess the same valuable properties as those of the oak. 

 Mitchell says that the wooil of the chestnut is preferable to that of the oak, 

 either in buildings or fences, and particularly for park poles. Mathcw seems 

 to confound the wood ol the chestnut with that of the oak, observing that, in 

 England, " many of the largest of our ancient piles are wooded of it." Its 



