February 1, 1896.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



43 



Biderably outside the orbit of Mars. Such a removal from 

 the sun has, of course, robbed the comet of much of its 

 brilliancy — never very great ; and this, accompanied with 

 the uncertainty in its actual position, explains the reason 

 of its invisibility, and makes us despair of seeing it again. 



Concerning Biela, like Encke, it is unnecessary to say 

 anything. It has a history so interesting and special that 

 it is everywhere known. Of its division into two parts, of 

 its subsequent disappearance and re-observation as a shower 

 of meteors, it is unnecessary to speak, as these facts are 

 impressed on the memory of all. 



THE SPANISH 

 CHESTNUT. 



By George Paxton. 



" Than a tree a grauder child 

 earth bears not." 



TAKING the word 

 in its widest 

 meaning, what 

 is more useful 

 to man than a 

 tree '? or what more 

 ornamental to old 

 mother Earth ? A 

 country without trees 

 we cannot imagine to 

 be anything but a desert. 

 Yet our commoner trees 

 are very imperfectly 

 known. A few short 

 papers, treating them 

 in a popular manner, 

 avoiding all botanical 

 names and technical 

 terms whenever pos- 

 sible, will, we think, 

 prove interesting, as 

 well as instructive, to 

 our readers. 



If a " tree is known 

 by its fruit," the chestnut 

 ought to be one of our 

 best known trees. Few 

 there are unacquainted 

 with the chestnut 

 barrow of the London 

 streets and its hot con- 

 tents, or who have not 

 burned their fingers 

 roasting chestnuts at 

 the hearth on a cold 

 winter's evening. We 

 purpose, therefore, to 

 confine our remarks 

 in this number to a few facts about the sweet chestnut. 



This tree is commonly called the Spanish chestnut, to 

 distinguish it from the horse chestnut ; botanists call it 

 Castnjue vesca. It is very well known and largely grown 

 in this country, coming next to the oak in point of size 

 and the durability of its timber. Some authors consider it 

 indi.Ljenous to Britain, but it appears more probable that, 

 notwithstanding the great age of some of "our chestnuts, 

 this is not the case. However, it has a verv wide distribu- 

 tion, being found in lairope, Asia, North" Africa, North 

 America, and all the sub-tropical islands of the Atlantic. 



Fio.2. — Leaves and Fruit of Spanish Chestnut. (About one-fourth natural size.) 



The tree grows to a height of from sixty to one hundred 

 feet, and sometimes attains an immense girth ; the leaves 

 are large, oblong, shining, and serrated (Fig. 2), of a 

 beautiful light green colour. Foliation takes place about 

 the middle of May, and the leaves are retained till late 

 in the autumn, sometimes till midwinter. The fruit, 

 mifortunately, does not come to perfection in large 

 quantities in this country, most of the chestnuts we con- 

 sume being foreign. In France, Spain, and Italy these 

 nuts form an important article of food, where they serve 

 in a great measure as a substitute for bread and potatoes. 

 From these countries we import annually upwards of fifty 



thousand bushels of 

 chestnuts. 



The wood of this tree, 

 when it is cut com- 

 paratively young, is 

 excellent for building 

 purposes, and also for 

 furniture, its close grain 

 enabling it to take a 

 good polish. It is also 

 largely used for making 

 wine casks ; the wine is 

 said to ferment more 

 slowly in them than in 

 casks made of any other 

 wood. 



The most celebrated 

 chestnuts in the world 

 are those growing on 

 the slopes of Mount 

 Etna ; the largest, 

 which is said to be over 

 two thousand years old, 

 is called " Castaiw di 

 Ct'iitii CnralU " — the 

 chestnut of a hundred 

 horses. Its girth was 

 over two hundred feet 

 a hundred years ;igo. 

 The trunk is hollow, 

 and a family reside in 

 it ; while a whole Hock 

 of sheep is likewise 

 folded La the enclosure ! 

 Another tree on the 

 same mountain is seven- 

 ty feet in girth, and a 

 third sixty-four feet 

 the stems of these trees 

 attain no great height, 

 but branch otf near the 

 ground, and their great 

 girths are probably the 

 result of rooting of 

 many of the branches, 

 thus forming immense 

 The famous Torth worth 

 in England (if still 

 The largest tree 



bushes rather than single trees 



Court chestnut is the largest tree 



standing), its girth being fifty-two feet 



in Scotland for many years was the Finhaven chestnut in 



Forfarshire ; its girth was forty-two feet eight-and-a-half 



inches, but it was cut down about twenty-five years ago. 



In the beautiful landscapes of Salvator Rosa this is the 

 favourite tree. In the mountains of Calabria, where 

 Salvator lived, the chestnut llourished ; there he studied 

 it in all its forms, breaking and disposing it into beautiful 

 shapes as bis composition required. 



