1984 AllBOKETUM AND FRUTICETUM. 1'AliT 111. 



Varieties. These may be arranged in two classes; those which are considered 

 botanical varieties, and those which are cultivated on account of their fruit. 

 A. Botanical Varieties. 



C. v. 2 asplentfi/ia Lodd. Cat., 1836 ; C. heterophylla Hort. ; C. laciniata 

 Hurt. ; C, i-alicifolia Hart., has the leaves cut into shreds, regularly, 

 or irregularly, and sometimes so as to appear like linear-lanceolate 

 leaves ; and hence the epithet of salicifolia. 



3 C. v. 3 cochledta Lodd. Cat., 1836, has the leaves cuculate, or hooded, 

 with a diseased stunted appearance. 



If C. v. gldbra Lodd. Cat., 1836 ; C. v. foliis lucidus Hurt.; has the leaves 

 rather thin, and more shining than those of the species. 



C. v. 5 glauca, C. glauca Hart., has the leaves somewhat glaucous. 



IE C. v. 6 vanegdta; C. v. foliis aureis Ludd. Cat., 1836; has the leaves vari- 

 egated with yellow, with some streaks of white; and the tree, when 

 of a larger size, makes a splendid appearance in spring, and is admi- 

 rably adapted for planting among evergreen shrubs, along with the 

 balsam poplar ; the colour of which, when the leaves first expand, 

 has all the rich yellow of this variety, with the advantage of being 

 associated in the mind with ideas of health ; whereas variegation is 

 known to be generally the effect of disease. 



3? C. v. 7 amcricdna; C. vesca Michx. N. Anier. Syl., iii. p. 9. This variety 

 has broader leaves than the European chestnut. 



B. Fruit-bearing Varieties. 



In the French catalogues these are very numerous ; and in De ChabroVs 

 Slatistiques dc Savonc, &c., it is stated that between 40 and 50 varieties are 

 cultivated in the province of Mondovi, in Piedmont. (See Gard. Mag., vol. i. 

 p. 322.) There are upwards of 20 sorts cultivated in the London Horti- 

 cultural Society's Garden, of which Mr. Thompson considers the four fol- 

 lowing as deserving the preference for ornamental cultivation : Cha- 

 taignier prime, C. Rallue, the Downton Chestnut, and Prolific Chestnut. 



Besides these there are the following English sorts : Devonshire, Lewis's, 

 Lisbon, Masters's, Canterbury, Knight's Prolific, and the New Prolific. 

 The nurserymen in the south of Devonshire, and in Jersey, generally pay 

 more attention to the sweet chestnut, as a fruit tree, than the nurserymen in 

 the neighbourhood of London. There is said to be a tree of a very superior 

 variety in a garden in St. Peter's parish, Jersey, from which, it is believed, 

 plants are propagated in Saunders's Nursery, in that island. (See Gard. 

 Mag., vol. vii. p. 101.) 



The varieties cultivated in France for the table are divided into two kinds, 

 viz., Ics chdtaignes and les marrons ; the former being to the latter what the 

 crab is to the apple. The latter are, of course, much preferred, being larger, 

 more farinaceous, and sweeter. When roasted, they have also a rich creamy 

 flavour, and an aromatic odour, in which the common chestnuts are quite 

 deficient. The best marrons sold in Paris are the marrons de Lyons ; and 

 the best kinds of the common chestnut are : La chataigne de Bois, the 

 fruit of which is small, will not keep, and is of little flavour; and the tree 

 forms the principal coppice-wood in the neighbourhood of Paris : la Cha- 

 taigne ordinaire, of which the fruit is rather better, and the tree more 

 vigorous, and a greater bearer : la Chataigne pourtalonne, the fruit of which 

 is very fine, and produced in great abundance : la Chataigne printaniere, 

 the fruit of which has no other merit than that of being produced very early 

 in the season : la Chataigne verte du Limousin, which produces very large 

 excellent fruit, which will keep a long time, and the tree of which preserves 

 its leaves green much longer than'any of the other varieties : and la Cha- 

 taigne exalade, the fruit of which is the best of all the common chestnuts 

 for the table; but the tree, which is low, with spreading branches, is such 

 an abundant bearer, that it soon exhausts itself. (Le Bon Jard. 1837.) 

 Description, $c. The chestnut, under favourable circumstances, is a mag- 

 nificent tree, though it never attains a height, or diameter of head, equal to 



