CHESTNUT USEFUL AS COPPICE. 6r 



since, deservedly high as an authority as he has 

 always been ranked. It has been pointed out that 

 the chestnut has male flowers on very long catkins, 

 with farinaceous 'seed, while the beech, on the con- 

 trary, has male flowers in globular catkins, with oily 

 seeds, which marks the distinctive characters of the 

 true genera. 



Only in the warmest counties of England, such as 

 Devonshire, as well as some of the south-western coun- 

 ties, does the fruit ripen, and 'is therefore not held 

 in much estimation as a fruit tree in England, but is- 

 chiefly held in value on account of its rapid growth 

 and dense foliage, which well adapts it for a screen or 

 shelter, and is valuable as coppice. Full-grown 

 chestnut timber is generally brittle, and only ranks 

 about half in value with that of oak ; a singular 

 characteristic of the tree being that the wood is more 

 valuable when young than when it becomes old. 

 Full-grown chestnut timber is apt to be shaky and 

 brittle, the annual layers, or rings which mark- the 

 yearly growth of trees, having a tendency to divide 

 from one another, and fall into laths ; but this is only 

 the case at times, and when the timber has attained 

 perhaps the age of fifty or sixty years. 



Young chestnut wood, on the other hand, soon 

 changes its sap, or outer wood, into heart wood ; and 

 hence its great value when young for posts, fences, 

 and any similar purposes where timber comes into 

 contact with the ground, where it may be alternately 

 exposed to wet or dry. As coppice-wood, it is 

 extremely valuable, as it springs freely when lopped 

 over, and forms capital underwood. 



The name of the Sweet, or Spanish, chestnut is said: 



