THE WELL-NAMED HORSE- 

 CHESTNUT 



January i2th 



NDER our popular vocabulary of plants we 

 \\ find many inappropriate names. We have, 

 for instance, a herd of " horse " growths 

 horse-gentian, horse-balm, horse-radish, horse- 

 mint without so much as a trace of signifi- 

 cance to recommend their christening. But 

 the horse-chestnut need no longer be in- 

 cluded among the common herd. 



A few years ago a friend called my attention to cer- 

 tain scars upon the twigs of this tree, which he claimed 

 were the reason of its christening. I had noticed the 

 scars repeatedly without seeing any suggestion of the 

 " horseshoe " which he discerned there ; and the scars 

 themselves were not very different from those on the 

 hickory and ailantus, and various other compound- 

 leaved trees, which leave similar sunken marks upon the 

 twigs after the leaf-stalk has fallen. But one winter's 

 day, while carefully examining the branches of the 

 horse-chestnut, mainly with a view to its interesting 



