THE CHESTNUT. 195 



the perfected wood. When the tree is viewed from a 

 moderate distance, the whole mass seems to consist of 

 tufts, each containing several long pointed leaves, droop- 

 ing divergently from a common centre. From tnis centre 

 the aments of the male flowers come out in a similar 

 way ; and their bright silvery green, glistening upon a 

 mass of darker foliage, always attracts attention at the 

 time of flowering. 



The Chestnut is ranked among the largest of our forest 

 trees, sometimes in favorable situations attaining a height 

 of nearly eighty feet. When growing isolated on a plain, 

 its diameter is sometimes equal to its height. The Chest- 

 nut has a rather loose ramification, being in this respect 

 inferior to the red oak, which it resembles. Its larger 

 branches are numerous, but the spray is coarse, the ter- 

 minal branches being fewer and more straggling than 

 those of the oak. This tree is therefore not comparable 

 in beauty with the oak when divested of its leaves. 

 The Chestnut is a classical tree, being mentioned very 

 frequently in the works of the Greek and Eoman poets, 

 who were familiar with it. 



