.334 



CASTANEA. 



variegata ; all, except it may be the Glabra, inferior to 

 the species in beauty, and not worth cultivating, unless 

 in large arboretums for the sake of the deviation from 

 the type. 



In Britain, Chesnut trees of enormous dimensions are 

 recorded, several of which are still in existence. These 

 prove the early period at which the introduction of the 

 species must have taken place ; as an instance, we have 

 the famous Tortworth Chesnut already alluded to, and 

 which some suppose may have been planted in the time 

 of the Romans ; however this may be, it is certain that 

 in the reign of King John it was known as a boundary 

 tree, and in that of Stephen, was so remarkable for its 

 size as to be called the great Chesnut of Tortworth. It 

 is beautifully figured by Mr. Strutt, in his " Sylva Bri- 

 talmica, ,, and in 1820 its circumference, near the ground, 

 was fifty-two feet. Another very ancient Chesnut is that 

 growing in the park at Cobham, in Kent, called The Four 

 Sisters, also figured by Strutt. Greenwich Park and 

 Kensington Gardens also boast of many ancient hollow 

 and pollard-like Chesnuts. Numerous magnificent and 

 thriving trees are also to be found in various parts of 

 England ; amongst others, we may mention one at Nettle- 

 combe, Somersetshire, the seat of Sir John Trevelyan, 

 Bart., which was planted within the recollection of his 

 father, the late Sir J. Trevelyan, who died in 1828. The 

 dimensions of this tree are as follow : — height, sixty feet, 

 circumference of trunk, at four feet from the ground, 

 seventeen feet four inches ; the solid contents, three hundred 

 and seventy-three feet, or nine tons thirteen feet. Another 

 tree at the same place, cut down in 1752, had a stem 

 thirty-four feet in length, and which squared six feet 



