CHAP, vn.] THE SWEET CHESTNUT. 197 



of which Washington is said to have been so 

 fond that he used to be continually eating them 

 durino- his campaigns, being rarely without 

 some in his pocket. The white hickory 

 (Carva sulcata), the outer rind of which is 

 very thick and fleshy, is also good to eat. 



The sweet Chestnut is frequently called the 

 Spanish chestnut, because the best sweet chest- 

 nuts were formerly brought to the London 

 markets from Spain. The tree can, indeed, 

 scarcely be considered as an English fruit tree, 

 as very few of the chestnuts sold for the table 

 are grown in England. In France, chestnut 

 trees are more common ; and they are divided 

 there into the chataio-niers and the marroniers ; 

 the former bearing about the same relation to 

 the latter as the crab does to the apple. The 

 best chestnuts in France are those called les 

 marrons de Lyons. The sweet chestnut is a 

 native of Asia ; but it has also been found in 

 the North of Africa and in North America. It 

 is always propagated by seeds, and thrives best 

 in a deep sandy loam ; it will grow in even the 

 poorest gravel, but it never does well in either 

 a calcareous soil, or in a stiff clay. 



There are several celebrated chestnut trees of 

 enormous size and great age ; the most remark- 

 able of which are the Castagna di Cento 

 Cavalli on Mount Etna, and the Tortworth 

 chestnut in England. Till within the last eight 

 or ten years it was believed that the wood of 

 the chestnut was good timber ; but it has 

 lately been discovered that it is absolutely worth- 

 less, except while quite young : the wood that 

 was supposed to be chestnut having been proved 



