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OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



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it measured only forty-four feet four inches round -in the 

 thickest part ; and adds, that there does not seem to be any 

 authority, to shew at what period it became remarkable for 

 its size, except a very vague tradition ; and it could never 

 have been a boundary of a manor, for it stands in the centre 

 of it. There are some fine Chestnut-trees on the banks of 

 the river Taniar in Cornwall, at an old house belonging to 

 the Edgecmube family, and at Beechworth Castle in Surry; 

 there are not fewer than seventy or eighty trees, measuring 

 from twelve to eighteen or twenty feel in girth. At Wimley, 

 near Hitchin Priory, in Hertfordshire, a Chestnut-tree, in 

 1789, girted somewhat more than fourteen yards, at five feet 

 above the ground ; its trunk was hollow, and in part open, 

 but its vegetation was vigorous. In the park adjoining to 

 the garden, at Great Canford, in Dorsetshire, are four large 

 Chestnut-trees, one of them measuring thirty-seven feet 

 round, still bearing fruit plentifully, though much shivered 

 and decayed by age. There was an old decayed tree at 

 Fraiting, in Essex, whose very stump yielded thirty sizeable 

 loads of logs. Another, in Gloucestershire, contained within 

 its bowels a pretty wainscoted room, enlightened with 

 windows, and furnished with seats. Ben Jonson, in his poem 

 on Penshurst, ninkts mention of a Chestnut, planted at the 

 birth of the celebrated Sir Philip Sydney. There have been, 

 and still are, many fine Chestnut-trees in Ireland, as an avenue 

 at Dunganstown : some of these were cut down in 1793, one 

 of the trees measuring fourteen feet three inches, another 

 fifteen feet, and a third sixteen feet six inches round ; the 

 length of one was twenty-four feet, and of another thirty-six. 

 The Chestnut, says Mr. Gilpin, in maturity and perfection, 

 is a noble tree, and grows not unlike the Oak. Its ramifica- 

 tion is more straggling, but it is easy, and its foliage loose. 

 This is the tree which graces the landscapes of Salvator Hosa, 

 who painted in the mountains of Calabria, where it flourishes. 

 This tree deserves our care as much as any of the trees 

 which are propagated in this country, either for use or beautv, 

 being one of the best sorts of timber, and affording a goodly 

 shade. The loaves continue late in the autumn, turning then 

 to a golden colour, and are not so liable to be devoured by 

 insects, as those of the Oak, which renders that tree very 

 unsightly during a great part of the summer. On this account, 

 the Chestnut is more valuable, as an ornament for parks and 

 plantations ; and there can be no better food for deer, and 

 many other animals, than their nuts, which most of them 

 prefer to acorns ; but yet there should not be many of these 

 trees planted too near dwelling-houses, because, when in 

 flower, they emit an odour which is very offensive to most 

 people. The shade of the Chestnut, like that of the Ash, is 

 injurious to other plants; it should, therefore, be planted in 

 thickets, or in detached plantations. Or, if these trees be 

 planted in large wilderness quarters, next the walks, or in 

 woods by the side of the ridings, and left untrimmed, os they 

 ought to be, they will feather to the bottom, and hide the 

 naked and crooked stems of other trees. To recommend the 

 restoration of this noble and useful tree, which has unaccount- 

 ably lost ground among us, we must observe, that it may be 

 cultivated in England so as to afford an equal profit with any 

 other sort of timber-tree; since the wood is equal in value 

 to the best Oak, and for many purposes far exceeding it, 

 particularly for casks, for which it is much used in Italy, and 

 for pipes to convey water under ground. In Italy it is 

 planted as coppice-wood, to make stakes for their vines, 

 which will continue seven yfars. It must therefore be very 

 proper for stakes in espaliers and dead hedges, for hop-poles, 

 hurdles, &c. The timber was formerly used for all the same 

 purposes an Oak, in building, mill- work, and household fur- 

 VOL. i. 46. 



niture ; and lately, some of it that was finely variegated, has 

 been successfully employed for doors, and the balustrades of 

 a staircase : a colour being given to it. by rubbing it over 

 with alum-water, then laying on with a brush a decoction of 

 logwood chips, and lastly a decoction of Brazil-wood, which 

 process has produced a strong resemblance to Mahogany. 

 Some persons assert, that the timber of Chestnut is brittle, 

 and decays at heart; whilst, according to others, it will last 

 longer than Oak, is not subject to cracks or flaws, and is 

 never attacked by spiders or other insects. Old Chestnut is 

 certainly brittle, and liable to crack, and therefore should 

 never stand longer than whilst it is in a growing state. If 

 cut when it squares only six inches, it will be as durable as 

 Oak of six times its size and age, having very little sap in 

 proportion to other trees. The durability of it, when exposed 

 to the weather, has been sufficiently ascertained, from its use 

 for gate-posts at Wellington in Somersetshire, of which the 

 following is an authentic account. In or about the year 

 1763, some gate-posts of Oak, and others of Chestnut, were 

 to be repaired ; they had the appearance of being put in at 

 the same time, but the latter were much more sound, inso- 

 much that some of them were adjudged good enough to 

 remain as gate-posts, and were still to be seen there in 1788. 

 Such as were too small were taken up, and set as posts to fix 

 rails to. At the same time some new posts of Oak were put 

 in, there not being a sufficient quantity of the old Chestnut 

 posts ; which, twenty-five years afterwards, were found to be 

 sounder than the Oaken posts, which were then new. One 

 side of the Chestnut posts was the outside of the tree ; but the 

 timber was as sound there as in any other part, which would 

 not have been the case with Oak, the sap of which, next the 

 bark, soon decays. These Chestnut gate-posts had been put 

 down many years before 1745, and have, therefore, probably 

 resisted the weather for above half a century. Another 

 account says, that a chestnut-branch, about thirteen inches 

 square, which, i.n the year 1726, was put down as a hanging- 

 post for a gate, and carried the gate fifty-two years, when 

 taken up appeared perfectly sound, and was put down for a 

 clapping-post in another place. A large barn, built of 

 Chestnut timber, in 1743, was sound in every part in 1792. 

 At the former period, also, several posts and rails were put 

 down, which, after standing thirty or forty years, appeared to 

 be so sound, as in general to allow of beinsr set up in some 

 other place. In 1772, a fence was made of posts and rails 

 converted from young Oaks and Chestnuts of the same age 

 and scantling. In 1791, this fence was removed, and the 

 Chestnut-posts were found as sound as when first put down ; 

 but the Oaken ones were so much wasted just below the sur- 

 face of the ground, that they could not be used again without 

 a spur. The nuts are the usual, and, in some places, almost 

 the only food of the common people in the Apennine 

 mountains of Italy, and in Savoy, some parts of the south of 

 France, and in Portugal. They are not only boiled and 

 roasted, but made into puddings, cakes, and bread. They^ 

 are reckoned a very flatulent and indigestive diet; although 

 in Italy there are instances of men's living to the age of 

 eighty, and even a hundred years, who have fed wholly 

 upon Chestnuts. They are brought even to fashionable tables 

 in desserts. Mr. Ray observes, that the Italians eat them 

 with orange or lemon juice, and sugar, and that they are 

 there sold commonly about the streets, roasted upon a port- 

 able furnace; by which we may infer, that this luxury was 

 unknown at London in the last century. These nuts are also 

 used for whitening linen-cloth, and for making starch, and 

 are excellent for feeding hogs'. The leaves likewise make 

 useful litter, and, when mixed with the dung of the cattle, 

 7 A 



