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the trunk not uncommonly assumes a twisted 

 appearance, with deep and wide clefts. Though 

 it seldom arrives at the size of the oak, the 

 chesnut is one of the most ornamental of our 

 large-growing trees. 



The fruit of the chesnut is not used in this 

 country except in the form of being roasted or 

 as a stuffing for turkeys. 



" While hisses on rug-hearth the pulpy pear, 

 And black'ning chesnuts start and crackle there." 



Milton. 



In Italy and the south of France, it is said to 

 serve for potatoes and flour. 



The chesnut prefers an open, dry subsoil. 

 After the tree reaches an age of sixty or seventy 

 years, the heart wood deteriorates, as a rule, 

 but the tree will continue to live and grow for 

 centuries. As coppice wood it grows fine poles 

 for making hurdles, and chesnut hurdles look well; 

 but our experience is that the hurdles of ash or 

 willow are much more durable. 



The timber of the chesnut very much resembles 

 oak. It is often stated that the woodwork in 

 many of our ancient buildings is chesnut, and 

 hence it has been argued that the tree must be 

 a native of this countr}-. Much of the wood 

 once supposed to be chesnut, however, has proved 

 to be oak, generally of the sessile kind ; and 

 there is evidence to show that the chesnut could 



