SWEET, OR SPANISH CHESNUT. 335 



six inches. Its solid contents, one thousand four hundred 

 and thirty-six feet. In Sussex, at Cowdray, there is a 

 noble avenue of Ohesnut trees, the circumference of whose 

 trunks averages six feet, with a height of forty or fifty 

 feet. At Croft Castle, Herefordshire, many of the Ches- 

 nuts which adorn its grounds have attained a magnificent 

 size ; the largest is upwards of eighty feet high, with a 

 trunk of nearly nine feet in diameter, and a head upwards 

 of one hundred and twelve feet in diameter. 



In the north of England it also attains a large size 

 when planted in a favourable soil. At Belford Hall, in 

 Northumberland, upon a free loam over the Whintrap, 

 at about seventy years old, it is from seventy to eighty 

 feet high, the circumference of the trunk about ten feet. 



In Scotland it also appears to have been introduced 

 at an early period, and as Sir T. D. Lauder remarks, 

 " it is found near all the old aristocratical residences of 

 that country."" At Ricarton, near to Edinburgh, there 

 is an ancient Chesnut, whose trunk measures upwards 

 of twenty-seven feet in circumference. The celebrated 

 Findhaven Chesnut was also of uncommon bulk, and long 

 accounted the largest tree in Scotland. Sang mentions 

 several large Chesnuts, the least of which was eight feet 

 six inches in circumference, and the largest seventeen. 

 At Inverary, we have often admired the large Chesnuts 

 which grow near to the Duke of Argyle's stables, and 

 which are still thriving and in vigorous condition. 



Ireland also is favourable to the growth of the Chesnut, 

 and many fine trees are to be seen in that country. 

 Loudon mentions trees at Bellione which, at the time 

 he wrote, had not been planted more than twenty-seven 

 years, that had trunks of from five to seven feet in cir- 



