106 FAMILIAR TREES AND THEIR LEAVES. 



een years ago are bringing in their owners better 

 returns than the same acreage in farm products. 



The chestnut has a very 

 dark green leaf of a decid- 

 edly rugged character ; its 

 teeth are like those of a 

 circular saw, and its ribs 

 give it a somewhat corru- 

 gated surface, which I have 

 tried to portray in my sketch. 

 The tree grows from 50 to 80 

 feet high, has very coarse 

 grayish bark, and its luxuriant 

 deep-green foliage, crowned with 

 the light rusty tinge of innumera- 

 ble developing burs in the month 

 of August, forms a color effect so 

 soft and beautiful that it com- 

 mands the admiration of the most 

 casual observer. In North Caro- 

 lina there are many specimens 

 whose trunks measure sixteen feet in cir- 

 cumference, so it is not always a fine leaf 

 which makes a beautiful tree. The wood 

 is useful and durable, rather soft, yellow- 

 h, and has a coarse but handsome grain, which is at 



Chinquapin. 



lSll 



once apparent in the gilding of many a picture frame. 



