82 



chesnuts, &c. of which they make conserves. They 

 frequently supply themselves with wood from the tree 

 which encircles their house, so that it seems likely 

 in a short time to go to ruin through the ingratitude 

 and thoughtlessness of its inhabitants. Besides this, 

 there are abundance of other trees of the same species 

 in the neighbourhood very remarkable for their size, 

 all very beautiful and straight, and almost as smooth 

 as polished marble ; one of them measured thirty- 

 eight feet in circumference, and there were numbers 

 of others nearly of the same size. Among these there 

 were seven standing together, which have received 

 the name of the seven brethren ; another is deno- 

 minated the ship, from the general figure of its top, 

 which has some slight resemblance to a ship. Its 

 diameter is twenty-five feet, so that the circumfer- 

 ence cannot be less than seventy-five feet." 



That the Spanish chesnut will thrive well in all 

 parts of this country there is no doubt, if properly 

 cultivated. There was standing a few years ago at 

 Fortworth, in Gloucestershire, a chesnut tree fifty- 

 two feet round, and it is proved to have stood there 

 ever since the year 1150, and was then so remark- 

 able, that it was called the great chesnut of Fort- 

 worth. It fixes the boundary of the manor, and is 

 probably one thousand years old. 



There are seventeen trees of Spanish chesnut in the 

 lawn called Wintertown, near the Castle of Inverary, 

 the seat of his Grace the Duke of Argyle. The ave- 

 rage solid feet in each tree 155 ; some of them girths 

 upwards of 20 feet a little above the ground. In the 

 old garden wood, near the castle, are forty-five trees 

 averaging nearly 100 feet each ; these trees, before 

 some of them began to fall into decay, were worth 



