DOUBLE WHITE-FLOWERED 

 HORSE CHESTNUT. 



[Published in the American Agriculturist, February, 1880.] 



Although the Double-flowered Horse Chestnut was introduced to this 

 country in 1852, this superb variety has not acquired that popularity which 

 its merits warrant. It is surprising that so important an addition to our 

 hardy flowering trees should not have met with greater favor, and I can 

 only account for this lack of appreciation by the fact that its many good 

 qualities have not been understood. It was figured and described the first 

 time in America, in the Genesee Farmer for 1852. Since that time it has 

 been propagated and disseminated in but limited numbers, and, as yet, fine 

 specimen trees are seldom seen. The first imported tree, obtained from the 

 late Mr. Rivers, is now growing on the grounds of Ellwanger & Barry, at 

 Rochester, and is about sixty feet high, its branches covering a circle twenty 

 feet in diameter. It is as hardy as the common Horse Chestnut, of vigor- 

 ous, erect growth, regular, pyramidal outline, with rich, dense foliage and 

 splendid inflorescence. Few trees can lay claim to a greater combination of 

 attractive features, and it possesses several characteristics which render it 

 even more desirable for ornamental planting than the ordinary form. In habit 

 it is more upright and formal, its height being about three times its breadth, 

 and a fully developed specimen is a perfect pyramid of verdure. Its flowers 

 are perfectly double, and in spikes larger than those of the single flowering 

 kind, resembling gigantic hyacinth bouquets. They appear in remarkable 

 profusion at the season of bloom, which is about two weeks later than that 

 of the common kind. On the lawn this tree forms a conspicuous and 

 pleasing object, and although I have never seen it used as a street tree, I 

 think it admirably adapted to the purpose. It produces no fruit, a charac- 

 teristic which many will regard as an important point in its favor, as much 

 litter is avoided. A proper consideration of the merits of this fine tree will 

 induce amateurs and planters to employ it oftener in the ornamentation of 

 public and private grounds. 



