100 SYLVAN SKETCHES. 



" Our swine do not perhaps often feed on Chestnuts 

 now, though those of British growth are still at their mercy 

 sometimes ; but more frequently of deer. Ben Jonson 

 speaks of 



' A chestnut, whilk hath larded many a swine.' 



" The best tables in France and Italy make them a 

 service, eating them with salt, in wine or juice of lemon 

 and sugar, being first roasted in the embers ; and doubt- 

 less we might propagate their use among our common 

 people, being a food so cheap and so lasting. In Italy 

 they boil them in wine, and then smoke them a little; 

 these they call anseri or geese, I know not why : those 

 of Piedmont add fennel and nutmeg to their wine, but 

 first they peel them. Others macerate them in rose- 

 water. Bread of the flour is exceedingly 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 parmigiano, and so fry them in 

 fresh butter for a delicate. How we here use Chestnuts, 

 in stewed meats and beatille pies, our French cooks 

 teach us; and this is in truth their very best use, and 

 very commendable. 1 " 



Thunberg tells us, that at the Cape of Good Hope 

 they are eaten by way of dessert, roasted with butter*. 



Eaten raw, or in bread, they are not considered very 

 easy of digestion. The best way to preserve them is in 

 earthen vessels, in a cold place, or in dry sand. 



The leaves are a good litter for cattle, and make good 

 mattresses to lie on ; but they make a crackling noise when 

 a person turns upon them, whence they are called in 



* Thunberg's Travels, vol. ii. p. 131. 



