122 



VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



lars, and other soft, fast-srrowing trees that have been 

 substituted for it, are a chano'e for the better. Tlie 

 hme is not a tree for bleak and cold lands. It thrives 

 best in rich loam, and in warm and rather moist situa- 

 tions ; and thoui^h the average age to which it will 

 grow has not been accurately determined, yet, from 

 the healthy nature of the tree, and the great size that 

 it has arrived at, it must be considerable — upwards 

 of a hundred years. 



Horse Chesnut. 



Horse Chesnut — JEsculus hippocastanum. 



The Common Horse Chesnut (^JEsculus hippocasta- 

 mim) is a native of the northern or central parts of 

 Asia, from which it was introduced into Europe about 

 the middle of the sixteenth centui-y. Its progress can 

 be traced from parts of Northern Asia to Constan- 

 tinople, thence to Vienna, and thence to Paris, where 

 the first tree was planted in 1615. It is very beautiful 

 in the arrangement of its branches, which give it the 

 form of a paraboloid ; in the shape of its leaves ; and in 



