550 



FAG 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



FAG 



form a good manure. It is hoped that the above interesting 

 account will have some tendency to encourage the growth of 

 this noble, though neglected tree. Mr. Peter Collinsou, who 

 thought it a native of this country, assigned the great profit 

 arising from Chestnuts.when cut for hop-poles, as the reason 

 why large trees are so rarely met with in our woods. Let us 

 hope, however, that it will once more be suffered to rear its 

 head as a timber-tree amongst us. An arret of the council 

 of Paris was published in May, 1720, ordering that all the 

 great roads in France should be planted with Chestnut, or 

 other such fruit or f orest trees as are suitable to the nature 

 of the ground, at thirty feet distance from each other, and 

 within six feet of the top of the ditch. The principal plan- 

 tations which have been made of late years in Great Britain, 

 are in the northern parts of the island. The Earl of Fife has 

 planted above 60,000 trees in the county of Murray ; George 

 Ross, Esq. 4000 in Cromarty. In England, Mr. Wiudham's 

 plantations, at Felbrigg in Norfolk, made iu 1676, are well 

 known. Mr. Joseph Mace has planted six acres, seventeen 

 perches, with above 3000 trees, at Ashford in Biddenden, 

 Kent. John Sneyd, Esq. 8000, at Belmont in Staffordshire, 

 from 1784 to 176; and Mr. Joseph Cowlishaw, six acres 

 in Carllon forest, with above 1800 of these trees, mixed with 

 Larch, Ash, &c. There are several varieties of the Chestnut 

 which have accidentally arisen from seeds ; but the difference 

 is chiefly in the size of the fruit and leaves. One sort, how- 

 ever, which has variegated leaves, is admitted into the nur- 

 series as a curiosity. The Striped Chestnut is among the 

 most beautiful of the variegated trees, the blotches being of 

 a rich shining gold colour, strongly marked. The Dwarf 

 Branching Chestnut is no more than a variety of the common 



sort. The Chestnut-tree is propagated by planting the 



nuts in February, in beds of fresh undunged earth. The best 

 nuts for sowing, are such as are brought from Portugal and 

 Spain, and are commonly sold in the winter for eating, pro- 

 vided they are not kiln-dried, which is generally the case with 

 most of those brought from abroad, which is clone to prevent 

 their sprouting or shooting in the passage ; therefore, if they 

 cannot be procured fresh from the tree, it will be much better 

 to use those of English growth, which are full as valuable, 

 either for timber or ornament, as any of the foreign nuts, 

 notwithstanding their fruit is much smaller ; these should be 

 preserved until the season for sowing, which is the beginning 

 of March, in sand, where mice or other vermin cannot come 

 fit them, for they will soon destroy them. Before you plant 

 them, it will be proper to put them into water to try their 

 goodness, which is known by their weight; those that swim 

 upon the surface of the water should be rejected as good for 

 nothing ; but such as sink to the bottom ynu may be sure 

 are good. In setting these seeds or nuts, the best method is 

 to form a drill with a hoe, as is commonly practised in 

 setting kidney-beans, about four inches deep, in which you 

 nhould place the nuts at about four or six inches' distance, 

 with their eye uppermost ; then draw the earth over them 

 with a rake, and make a second drill at about a foot distance 

 from the former, proceeding as before, allowing three or four 

 rows in a bed, with an alley between, three feet broad, for the 

 conveniency of clearing the beds. When you have finished 

 your plantation, set traps to destroy the mice and other 

 marauders, or else they will infallibly destroy your work. In 

 April these nuts will appear above ground ; observe therefore 

 11 keep them clear from weeds, especially while young ; in 

 these beds they may remain for two years, when you should 

 remove them into a nursery, at a wider distance. The best 

 teason for transplanting these trees, is either in October, or 

 at the end of February, but October is the best season : the 



distance these should have in the nursery, is three feet row 

 from row, and one footer eighteen inches in the rows; be 

 careful, when about to transplant them, to take them up 

 without injuring the roots, nor should they remain long out 

 of the ground ; but if they have a downright tap-root, it 

 should be cut off, especially if they are designed to be again 

 removed : this will cause them to put out lateral roots, and 

 render them less subject to miscarry, when they are removed 

 for good. The time generally allowed for them to remain iu 

 this nursery, is three or four years, according to their growth ; 

 but the younger they are transplanted, if designed for timber, 

 the better they will succeed ; during this time be careful to 

 keep them clear from weeds, and to prune off lateral 

 branches, which would retard their upright growth ; where 

 you find any that are disposed to grow crooked, eilher by 

 their upper bud being hurt, or from any other accident, you 

 may, the year after planting, in March, cut them down to 

 the lowermost eye next the surface of the ground, which will 

 cause them to make one strong upright shoot, and they may 

 be afterwards trained into good straight trees : but this should 

 not be done, unless the plants have absolutely lost their 

 leading shoot ; for although the stems of the trees should be 

 very crooked, as is generally the case with them when young, 

 yet when they are transplanted out, and have room to grow, 

 as they increase in bulk they will grow more upright, and 

 their stems will become straight, as has been frequently ob- 

 served where there have been great plantations made of them. 

 But in doing this, care must be taken not to disturb or break 

 their roots, which might probably destroy them. They 

 require no other manure than their own leaves, which should 

 be suffered to rot upon the ground ; and, in the spring of the 

 year, the ground should have a slight digging, when these 

 should be buried between the roots, yet not too close to the 

 trees, which might be injurious to their young fibres. After 

 remaining three or four years in the nursery, they will be n't 

 for transplanting, either in rows to grow for timber, or in 

 quarters for wilderness plantations, avenues, clumps, or the 

 orchard ; but if you intend them for timber, it is by far the 

 best method to sow them in furrows, as is practised for Oaks, 

 and let them remain unremoved ; for these trees are apt to 

 have a downright tap-root, which being hurt by transplant- 

 ing, is often a check to their upright growth, and causes 

 them to shootout into lateral branches, like the Oak, Walnut, 

 &c. Let it be observed, however, that where the fruit is 

 more sought after, then it is certainly the belter way to trans- 

 plant them : for, as transplanting is a check to the luxuriant 

 growth of trees, so it is a promoter of their fructification, as 

 may be proved by observing low Shrubby Oaks, Walnuts, &c. 

 which generally have a greater plenty of fruit than any of the 

 larger and more vigorous trees ; and the fruit of such trees ia 

 much superior in taste, though the seeds of vigorous trees 

 are vastly preferable for plantations of timber ; for it is a 

 constant observation, that, by saving seeds from dwarf trees 

 or plants, from time to time, they may be rendered much 

 lower in their growth than in their natural size : but where 

 the fruit is most desired, then they should be taken from 

 such trees as produce the largest and sweetest nuts, which 

 arc commonly found upon such trees as spread the most, 

 and have horizontal roots ; for the weaker trees being less 

 capable of furnishing a supply of nourishment, and having a 

 greater quantity of fruit upon them, to which this must be 

 distributed, together with their roots near the surface of the 

 ground, by which means the juices are better prepared by 

 sun, air, &c. before it enters their vessels, k is certain that 

 their juices are better digested, and their fruit better matu- 

 rated, than those can possibly be which grow upon strong 



