1990 ARBORETUM AN1> FRUT1CETUM. PART III. 



wards in oak again. In the woods of oak many young chestnut trees are found 

 intermixed, which, being overpowered, make but small progress. When the 

 former are felled, the latter, enjoying a freer current of air, grow vigorously, 

 choke the young shoots of the oak, and assume their situations: the same has 

 been remarked in other forests." ( See Trans. Soc. Arts., xii. p. 1 13.) At present, 

 the chestnut abounds in France, on the borders of the Rhine, in Dauphine 

 and the Vosges, Limousin, and a great many other places. It is common in 

 the neighbourhood of Paris, especially as coppice-wood ; but the fruit is small, 

 and of little value. The chestnut is cultivated, in the south of Germany, chiefly 

 as undergrowth, for fence-wood, hop-poles, and vine-props. In Spain, the 

 chestnut tree is grown chiefly for its fruit ; which is produced in such abun- 

 dance, as to be not only a common food of the peasantry, but an article of 

 exportation ; the best chestnuts of the London markets being always from 

 Spain; and hence, as before observed, the name of" Spanish chestnut." 

 According to M'Culloch, " chestnuts from Spain and Italy are frequently 

 kilndried, to prevent germination on their passage. During the three years 

 ending in 1831, the entries of foreign chestnuts for home consumption ave- 

 raged 20,948 bushels a year. The duty of 2s. per bushel produced, in 1832, 

 a sum which proved that the consumption in that year must have amounted 

 to 23,216 bushels." 



Poetical Allusions. Virgil frequently mentions the chestnut in his Eclogues, 

 for its fruit ; and in his Georgics, as a tree. In the latter, he calls it the lofty 

 chestnut : " Ut altae castaneas." In the first Eclogue he says, 



" Sunt nobis mitia poma, 



Castaneaj molles, et pressi copia lactis." 



" Ripe apples and soft chestnuts we have there, 

 And curd abundant to supply our fare." 



In the second Eclogue, the chestnut is again mentioned, in a passage which is 

 thus rendered by Dryden : 



Myself will search our planted grounds at home, 

 For downy peaches and the glossy plum ; 

 And thrash the chestnuts in the neighbouring grove, 

 Such as my Amaryllis used to love." 



And Martial says : 



Et, quas flocta Neapolis creavit, 



Lento castaneae vapori tostaj." Lib. v. epig. 79. 



For chestnuts, roasted by a gentle heat, 

 No city can the learned Naples beat." 



The old English poets frequently allude to the chestnut. Herrick says : 



! Remember us in cups full crown'd, 

 And let our city health go round ; 

 Quite through the young maids and the men, 

 To the ninth number, if not ten ; 

 Until the fired chestnuts leap 

 For joy to see the fruits ye reap 

 From the plump chalice and the cup, 

 That tempts till it be tossed up." 



Ben Jonson speaks of the " chestnut whilk hath larded many a swine ;" 

 Shakspeare, in Macbeth, of a " sailor's wife with chestnuts on her lap;" and 

 Milton alludes to the custom of roasting chestnuts : 



While hisses on my hearth the pulpy pear, 



And black r ning chestnuts start and crackle there." 



In Catalonia, Philips tells us, a custom prevails of people going from house to 

 house on All Saints' Eve, believing that by every chestnut that they eat in a 

 different house they will free a soul from purgatory. (Pom. Brit., p. 96.) 



Properties and Uses. In a wild state, the nut of the chestnut affords food 

 to many animals, though its leaves and wood feed but few insects ; nor does 

 it support many parasitic or epiphytic plants. Subjected to man, notwithstand- 

 ing its near alliance to the oak, it is, both in the Old and New World, more 



