CHESNUT, 89 



Its durability when exposed to the weather is suffi- 

 ciently ascertained from its use for gate-posts at Welling- 

 ton in Somersetshire, of which the following account is 

 extracted from the Transactions of the Society of Arts 

 for 1789. " In or about the year 1763, some gate-posts 

 of oak, and others of chesnut, were to be repaired : they 

 had the appearance of being put in at the same time, but 

 the latter were much more sound, insomuch that some of 

 them were adjudged good enough to remain as gate-posts, 

 and are now to be seen there (1788). Such as were too 

 small were taken up, and set as posts to fix rails to. At 

 the same time some new posts of oak were put in, there 

 not being enough of the old chesnut posts. Though 

 these were old when put in, twenty-five years ago, they 

 are now (1788) more sound than the oak posts which 

 were then new. One side of the chesnut posts was the 

 outside of the tree, but the timber is as sound there as 

 in any other part, which would not have been the case 

 with oak, the sap of which, next the bark, soon decays. 

 The chesnut gate-posts had been put down many years 

 before 1 745 ; they have therefore probably stood the 

 weather above half a century." 



Another account says, that the branch of a chesnut 

 about thirteen inches square, which in the year 1726 

 was put down as a hanging post for a gate, and carried 

 the gate fifty-two years, when taken up appeared perfectly 

 sound, and was put down for a clapping post in another 

 place. 



Its durability when employed in buildings has been 

 shewn in the most ancient houses of our metropolis, while 

 its beauty has been displayed in the doors and balustrades 

 of our modern dwellings. It appears to be noxious to 

 spiders and other insects, which must rather increase 

 than diminish its value in buildings. 



These and similar recommendations liave induced the 



