206 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



it, with an oven, in which, according to the custom of I he 

 country, they dried chestnuts, filberts, and other fruits, 

 which they wished to preserve for winter use ; using as 

 fuel, when they could find no other, pieces cut with a 

 hatchet from the intei'ior of the tree. In Brydone's time, 

 in 1770, this tree measured two hundred and four feet in 

 circumference. He says it had the appearance of five 

 distinct trees ; but he was assured that the space was once 

 filled with solid timber, and there was no bark on the 

 inside. This circumstance of an old trunk, hollow in the 

 interior, becoming separated so as to have the appearance 

 of being the remains of several distinct trees, is frequently 

 met with in the case of very old mulberry trees in Great 

 Britain, and olive trees in Italy. Kircher, about a century 

 before Brydone, affirms that an entire flock of sheep might 

 be inclosed within the Etna chestnut, as in a fold.* (Ar- 

 horetum Brit. p. 1988.) 



In considering the chestnut as highly adapted to 

 ornament the grounds of extensive country residences, 

 much that we have already said of the oak will apply to 

 this tree. When young, its smooth stem, clear and bright 

 foliage, and lively aspect, when adorned with the numerous 

 light greenish yellow blossoms, which project beyond the 

 mass of leaves, render it a graceful and beautiful tree. 



* One of the most celebrated Chestnut trees on record, is tliat called the 

 Tortworth Chestnut, in England. In 1772, Lord Ducie, the owner, had a 

 portrait of it taken, which was accompanied by the following description : 

 " The east view of the ancient Chestnut tree at Tortworth, in. the county ol 

 Gloucester, which measures nineteen yards in circxmiference, and is mentioned 

 by Sir Robert Aikins in his history of that county, as a famous tree in King 

 John's reign : and by Mr. Evelyn in his Sylva, to have been so remarkable in 

 the reign of King Stephen, 1135, as then to be called the great Chestnut of 

 Tortworth ; from which it may reasonably be presumed to have been standing 

 before the Conquest, 1066." This tree is still standing. 





