THE HORSE CHESTNUT. 193 



the animals from which the tree takes its name, requires 

 confirmation ; yet they are excellent foo.d for deer, so that, 

 where these animals are kept, Horse Chestnuts might be 

 planted in numbers with great advantage. A writer in 

 the Gardener's Chronicle for 1843, states that they form 

 a very nourishing food for sheep. " Whilst," he says, "I 

 was at Geneva, in the autumn of 1837, I observed every 

 one collectin ,' carefully the fruit of the Horse Chestnut, 

 and on inquiry I learnt that the butchers and holders of 

 grazing stock bought it readily at a certain price per 

 bushel. I inquired of my butcher, who himself kept a 

 very extensive grazing farm, and he told me it was given 

 to those sheep in particular that were fattening. The 

 Horse Chestnuts were well crushed, something in the way, 

 so I understood, that apples are previously to cider being 

 made. In Switzerland they are crushed or cut up in a 

 machine, kept solely for that purpose : then about two 

 pounds' weight is given morning and evening to each 

 sheep, who eat the food greedily ; it must be portioned out 

 to them, as too much would disagree with them, it being 

 of a very heating nature. The butcher told me it gave an 

 excellent rich flavour to the meat. The Geneva mutton 

 is noted for being as highly flavoured as any in England 

 or Wales." 



They are sometimes boiled and given to' poultry. Like 

 the fruit of many other trees belonging to the same 

 Natural Order, they contain a saponaceous principle, and 

 when decayed they turn to a jelly, which has been found 

 to answer the purpose of soap. Reduced to a powder and 

 mixed with a third of flour, they are found to make better 

 paste than that composed of flour alone. In Ireland they 

 are used to whiten flaxen cloth, and for this purpose are 

 rasped into water, in which they are allowed to macerate 

 for some time. During the scarcity of 1847 it was 

 suggested that a great saving of flour might be effected by 

 using the starch, which may be prepared from these nuts, 

 as a substitute for wheaten starch in the process of glazing 

 O 



