SWEET, OR SPANISH CHESNUT. 329 



ceed thirty-five or forty years, as soon after that time 

 dialing at the centre may be expected to commence. 

 In all suitable soils, therefore, we recommend it to be 

 planted with the oak as a secondary tree, having done 

 so ourselves with great success, and convinced that 

 it will repay for its occupancy as well as any other 

 tree we could have planted. Upon the Continent the 

 same objection applies to it as in our own climate, as 

 it is found that decay at heart takes place at a period 

 of its age equally early. As a timber tree, therefore, it 

 is in no repute, and the principal use to which the wood 

 is applied, when young and sound, is for wine casks and 

 hoops. It furnishes a strong and good charcoal, though 

 scarcely equal to that of the oak for domestic purposes, 

 but considered superior to that of any other for forges, 

 for which purpose it is much used in Spain and also in 

 Switzerland. As a fruit tree, however, it is viewed in 

 a very different light, and as such held in higher esti- 

 mation than with us, who make but little use of the nuts 

 as food, and seldom eat them except at dessert. In many 

 continental parts, such as the south of France, north of 

 Italy, Spain, &c, Chesnuts form an important article of 

 food, and serve in a great measure as a substitute for 

 bread, or, as compared with our diet, for the potatoe. 

 They are prepared and eaten in various forms, sometimes 

 plain boiled or roasted, or they are reduced to flour, which, 

 properly secured and taken care of, will keep good for 

 several years. 



Of this flour, la Galette, a thickish kind of girdle cake, 

 mixed up with a little milk and salt, and sometimes with 

 the addition of eggs and butter, is made ; la polenta is 

 also another preparation made by boiling the chesnut flour 



