176 CONVERSATIONS ON THE 



it is shut up, and so makes the snapping and 

 cracking you hear. Do you understand this ? 



" Yes, I believe so, Uncle Philip ; but I 

 should like to try that about the bladder." 



" Well, do ; it is very easy : and in the- 

 mean time I will tell you about a very pretty 

 variety of the chestnut. 



" Do you remember that in our first con- 

 versation, I mentioned a nut that grows in 

 the Southern States, called the chincapin ? 

 If you do, you will no doubt remember, too, 

 that I told you it was a species of chestnut, 

 and that the nuts were exceedingly good." 



" Oh, yes, Uncle Philip, we remember." 



" In appearance, the chincapin is almost 

 exactly a chestnut in miniature. In Dela- 

 ware and Maryland, it seldom grows more 

 than seven or eight feet high ; and farther 

 south, where it is largest, it never exceeds 

 twenty or thirty : the leaves are exactly like 

 the leaves of the chestnut, only that they are 

 not more than half as large, and are whitish 

 on the under side ; the flowers, too, are just 

 the same, and so are the nuts, except that 

 they are convex, or rounded on both sides, 

 whereas, the chestnut, you know, is flat on 

 one side, and convex on the other : they are 



