281 

 CHESTNUT. 



CHATAIONER. Castanea. 



THE Chestnut is well known as a large tree, spreading 

 its branches finely where it has room, but planted closely, 

 will shoot up straight to a great height. It is supposed to 

 have been originally from Sardis. It is so common as to 

 be considered a native of France and Italy, and some 

 consider it as naturalized in England; it is also indigenous 

 in America. The London catalogue contains the names 

 of thirty-two sorts under cultivation. The Chestnut is like 

 the Walnut, both a timber and fruit tree ; some of the oldest 

 trees in the world are of this species.* The American 

 Chestnut differs so little from the European, that no specific 

 distinction can be drawn. It is one of the largest trees of 

 the forest, the wood being extremely durable, and in high 

 esteem for posts and rails to construct fences ; and the nuts 

 are very delicious. The Castanea pumita, or Chinquapin 

 nut, is a small tree, or rather shrub, growing to the height 

 of thirty feet in the Southern States, but seldom exceeding 

 ten in cold latitudes ; the fruit is very sweet and agreeable 



to eat. 



There is a variety with striped leaves, which is very 

 ornamental. The most esteemed of the French kinds are 

 called Marron. Some excellent fruit-bearing varieties are 

 cultivated in England, France, Italy and Spain, as also in 

 other parts of Europe ; th'ese are increased by grafting or 

 budding in the usual methods, but the plants for coppice 

 wood, or timber, are best raised from nuts. Some varieties 

 ripen their fruit a few days earlier than others, but none of 

 these have been fixed on, or perpetuated by nurserymen, so 

 as to render them available by purchasers. The fruit is a 

 desirable nut for Autumn and Winter, and is eaten roasted, 



* At Fortworth, in Gloucestershire, England, is a large tree, fifty-two 

 feet round; which in 1150 was called the"great Chestnut of Fortworth." 

 Marsham slates that this tree is 1100 years old, and that the timber is 

 almost incorruptible, and more durable than oak. Its durability is 

 commensurate with the long life of the tree. 



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