214 On the value of the Horse-Chesnut as a Timber-Tree. 



only the limited demand which it would find, when felled, 

 unless in more populous districts than those of which he 

 and I were thinking. Moreover, it is only along the outer 

 margins of woodlands that this tree is over-productive of 

 side-spray. In their interior it shoots up, like the lime or 

 sycamore, with only a just proportion of such ramification. 



Since that short passage was written by the experienced 

 naturalist and arboriculturist — of whom our Club and all 

 Northumbrians are, and will ever be, so justly proud — the 

 distinction between agricultural and mining, manufacturing, 

 or urban markets for timber, has been almost annihilated ; 

 and whatsoever could be sold advantageously upon the busy 

 shores of the Tyne, Wear, or Tees, may now be profitably 

 cultivated on the Upper Coquet, the Aln, or the Breamish. 

 Furthermore, the wood of the Horse-Chestnut, at thirty or 

 forty years' growth, is now much better known than it 

 was at the time of my conversation with Selby ; and I, too, 

 have learnt to know better. The truth is that clean-grown 

 planks of this wood, sawn from trees of thirty, forty, or 

 fifty years' growth, are much esteemed by carpenters, not 

 only for interior purposes in house-fitting and joinery, but 

 for others in which strength and elasticity are needed ; nay, 

 it often possesses far more of firmness and " reed:ness " 

 under the saw and plane, than has been associated with it 

 heretofore. Nothing is more certain than that the value of 

 native timber, which can be easily and freely worked, for 

 such purposes as common tables, stair-steps, door-panels, 

 shelves, cupboards, &c, will steadily increase as the supply 

 of deal from the resinous forests of Scandinavia and the 

 Baltic becomes more scanty and more costly. In all my own 

 recent plantings and replantings, after a fall of ash or elm, 

 I have introduced the Horse-Chestnut freely, as well as the 

 sycamore. The lime, also, is a valuable tree for the same 

 reason, that it can be now easily transported by rail to the 

 towns, where such material is eagerly sought for. 



The Horse-Chesnut, like the lime, is an erect, well- 

 balanced, and orderly tree. They are, neither of them, bad 

 or aggressive neighbours to the oak. Both are of great 

 beauty throughout the spring, summer, and autumn ; and 

 nothing is more desirable than to extend the number of 

 hardy trees that can be commonly planted on land of 

 ordinary quality and at elevations within the range of our 

 cornlands; and where they can add new amenity to villages 



