AGRICULTURAL BOTANY. 265 



unlike the husk of the cocoanut. This bark is fissured irregularly with numerous indenta- 

 tions, which give it the appearance of great inequality and roughness. A hundred and fifty 

 feet from the ground it is only about two inches thick on a living tree, which is now being 

 stripped of its bark for transportation from the country. 



"The cone of this tree is small and compact, and nearly regularly oval ; and, although 

 the tree itself is the largest of the conifers, its fruit is as small as that of the dwarfish 

 pines of North Carolina and Cape Cod. Its foliage is not, as a general thing, altogether 

 agreeable to the eye, as the head of the tree is small in proportion to the size and height of 

 the trunk. But the boughs, when examined more closely, are bright-green, rather compli- 

 cated and delicate in structure, and pleasing to the mind by contrast with the rough and 

 gigantic stem and branch from which they spring." 



Dr. Torrey, of New York, has recently had an opportuntity of counting the circles in a 

 complete radius of the trunk of the famous Sesquoia exhibited at New York, and he finds 

 that they are one thousand one hundred and twenty in number. From the data furnished by 

 Dr. Torrey, we find that on the radius examined 



Inches. Inches. 



First 100 circles occupy a breadth of. 17i 



Second " " " " 14 



Third " " " " 12* 



Fourth " " " " 13 



Fifth " " " " 16i 



Sixth " " " 8i 



Seventh 100 circles occupy a breadth of. 7 



Eighth " " " " 11 



Xinth " " " " 10 



Tenth " " " " 11 



Eleventh" " " " 11J 



The remaining 20 layers 1 



There are one thousand one hundred and twenty circles in a semidiameter of one hundred 

 and thirty-five inches, or eleven feet and three inches. The facts show that the tree lacks 

 about three centuries of being half as old as it was said to be. Its enormous size is owing 

 rather to its continued rapid growth. 



Grafted Chestnut-trees. 



THE Cincinnati Gazette publishes an interesting letter from Mr. Sheldon I. Kellogg to the 

 Wine-Growers' Association, dated Bordeaux, France, on the cultivation of the chestnut. 

 He says 



" I have been much surprised in seeing the great dependence the poorer classes make upon 

 the large chestnut for their daily food. It is cultivated in this neighborhood in great abun- 

 dance for this purpose. All classes use them more or less ; the rich having them daily brought 

 upon their tables as dessert, either boiled or roasted. It is often made into a soup, which is 

 highly esteemed. They are cooked in a multitude of ways, and I know of nothing of a fari- 

 naceous nature which is so very delicate and nourishing. 



" The marron, or large chestnut, is the produce of the wild chestnut after being engrafted. 

 The wild tree, at three or four years of age, is cut square off, say four or five feet from the 

 ground. The stump is then split twice. These splits intersect at right angles at the centre 

 of the stump. There is then inserted one good-sized branch of the same tree in every section 

 of the splits, making four branches in each stump. Care is always taken to make the bark 

 of the branches and the bark of the stump join each other as closely as possible. The graft 

 is then surrounded with clay and moss, to prevent the outflow of the sap, and it scarcely ever 

 fails of success. The period selected in this climate for this operation is the month of Febru- 

 ary. The produce of this graft is usually a fine, large, beautifully-colored marron, about 

 the size of our buckeyes. They are much more delicate in texture and flavor than our own 

 wild chestnut. They are never eaten without being cooked. The tree is a very beautiful 

 one, being, though not so high as ours, much more dense in foliage, and shading a larger 

 space of ground." 



Durability of, and Season for Cutting, Ship-Timber, 



THE New York Nautical Magazine furnishes the following detail of an interesting series of 

 experiments instituted by James Jarvis, Esq., Inspector of Timber for the United States 



