HOW TO GROW GOOD TIMBER. 293 



framed of this timber;* but to quote from Selby's 

 admirable " History of British Forest Trees " : — 



The fact is, as Buffon first observed, the wood of the oak, more 

 particularly that of the sessile-fruited variety, assumes, in course of 

 time, a near resemblance in colour to that of the chestnut in its best 

 conditiou, or when young and untainted at heart ; and as few 

 chestnuts could have acquired the scantling frequently observed in 

 the timbers of these ancient buildings at the age dialling or decay 

 almost invariably commences, this in itself furnishes a strong argu- 

 ment against the use of chestnut timbers and beams by our ancestors, 

 inasmuch as the trees must become unfit for the purpose long before 

 they had attained the necessary dimensions. — P. 32 G. 



But although we may safely dismiss the notion 

 that chestnut is of the value formerly supposed, 

 yet its timber is not without its uses ; it is employed 

 for smaller beams, gate-posts, piles, and other pur- 

 poses where large timber is not required. Its best 

 use is for poles, for which purpose chestnut may be 

 employed as nurses to oak, thinning out the former 

 as growth advances. 



Dismissing, however, the subject of the economic 

 value of the chestnut, whether for timber or fruit, 

 as an ornamental tree it has few equals. There 

 are many fine chestnut-trees in our country, but 

 perhaps the finest, as it is supposed to be the 

 oldest, sylvan veteran in England is the one at Tort- 

 worth, in Gloucestershire, of which Strutt says : — 



In the reign of Stephen, who ascended the throne in 113-5, it was 

 deemed so remarkable for its size, that, as appears upon record, it 



* Many of the most ancient houses in London were built of its 

 (chestnut) wood, as is the roof of Westminster Hall, built by 

 William Rufus, in the year 1099, still free from any appearance of 

 decay. — Sylva Britannica, p. 81. 



