112 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1771. 



common chestnut being the same. He then alleges, " that the very name of 

 Spanish, seems strongly to indicate the country from which it was originally 

 introduced here." This is surely a striking instance of an inaccuracy of lan- 

 guage; the whole controversy between us turns only on that which is commonly 

 called the chestnut tree, and which is therefore denominated Castanea Vulgaris, 

 by all the ancient botanists. It is so called by Dr. Johnson in his Mercurius 

 Botanicus. by the same author, in his Iter Cantianum; and by Blackstone, in 

 his Specimen Botanicum; and in this true view of the controversy, let us 

 examine the principal parts of it. 



I have. Sir, in the above-mentioned quotation, particularly noticed a large 

 tract of chestnut woods, to continue to this day near Sittingborne in Kent; in 

 opposition to this, Mr. Barrington says, that he has taken a very minute inspec- 

 tion of these woods; and that, " finding them planted in rows, and without any 

 scattering trees to introduce them, he is convinced that they are not natives." 

 Such is the argument by which my assertion is endeavoured to be set aside. 



I shall not here enter into an examination of the 4 general rules laid down 

 by Mr. Barrington, " from which it may be decided, whether a tree is indige- 

 nous or not in any country. That I leave to the consideration of two of my 

 particular friends, who have entered into the botanical reasons produced by 

 Mr. Barrington, and whose letters to me on this subject are hereunto annexed. 

 I confine myself to the fact. " Remember, says Dr. Plot, in his ms. Collectanea 

 of Kent (in the library of Edward Jacob, Esq. of Faversham) the iron oar 

 smelted in Chestnut wood, in the confines of Borden and Newington." 

 Dr. Johnson, in his Iter Cantianum, l632, speaks of the Castanea Vulgaris 

 inter Sittingbourne et Rochester. And this chestnut wood is equally mentioned 

 as early as the 22d of Elizabeth, under the title of Quaedam Sylva, vocata 

 Chestenwode, in a conveyance. This wood then is not very modern ; and if 

 ever it was planted by any human hand, must have been planted 2 or 3 ages ago; 

 but it was never planted by any human hand ; the whole wood covers more than 

 300 acres of land. In one part of Chestnut wood, on the hanging banks of 

 Chestnut-street, and in the way from Kay-street to Stockbury, are now the 

 remains of large chestnut trees and pollards, which were plainly planted by the 

 bold irregular hand of nature. 



I had also mentioned a grant, or rather a confirmation of a grant, made to the 

 Abbey of Flexeley^ which was the tithe of chestnuts in the forest of Dean -, "■ totam 

 Decimam Castanearum de Dend." But Mr. Barrington objects to the supposi- 

 tion " of Dena, in the record, meaning the forest of Dean, as there are so 

 many places of the name of Dean in the kingdom." This however is surely an 

 objection of no weight. The Cistertian Abbey of Flexeley, or Dene, was 

 actually situated in the forest of Dean, and was anciently called Flaxlyn Abbey 



