150 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



it attains an enormous size, and its longevity in some cases 

 is almost equally remarkable. Its fine massy foliage, and 

 sweet nuts, have rendered it a favourite tree since a very re- 

 mote period. Among the ancients, the latter were a com- 

 mon article of food. 



" Sunt nobis mitia poma 



Castanea moUes, et pressi copia lactis.'' 



ViRG. ECL. 1. 



They appear to have been in general use, both in a raw and 

 cooked state. In times of scarcity, they probably supplied 

 in some measure the place of bread-stuffs, and were thence 

 highly valued : 



" As for the thrice three angled beech-nut shell, 

 Or chestnut's armed huske and hid kernell, 

 No squire durst touch, the law would not afford. 

 Kept for the court, and for the king's own board." 



Bp. Hall, Sat. B. III. 1. 



Even to this day, in those parts of France and Italy near- 

 est the great chestnut forests of the Appenines, these nuts 

 form a large portion of the food which sustains the peasantry, 

 where grain is but little cultivated, and potatoes almost un- 

 known. There a sweet and highly nutritious flour is pre- 

 pared from them, which makes a delicious bread. Large 

 quantities of the fruit are therefore annually collected in those 

 countries, and dried and stored away for the winter's con- 

 sumption. Old Evelyn says, " the bread of the flour is ex- 

 ceedingly nutritive : it is a robust food, and makes women 

 well complexioned, as I have read in a good author. They 

 also make fritters of chestnut flour, which they wet with 

 rose-water, and sprinkle with grated parmigans, and so fry 

 them in fresh butter for a delicate." The fruit of the chest- 

 nut abounds in saccharine matter ; and we learn from a 



