Tree Study 



757 



Photo by Verne Morton. 

 Chestnut blossoms. 

 Note the two pistillate flowers above the staminate catkins. 



THE CHESTNUT 

 Teacher's Story 

 HIS splendid tree, sometimes reaching the height 

 of one hundred feet, seldom receives the admira- 

 tion due to it, simply because humanity is so 

 much more interested in food than in beauty. 

 The fact that the chestnuts are sought so eagerly 

 has taken away from interest in the appearance 

 of the tree. The chestnut has a great round 

 head set firmly on a handsome bole, which is 

 covered with grayish brown bark divided into 

 rather broad, flat, irregular ridges. The foliage 

 is superb; the long, slender, graceful leaves, 

 tapering at both ends, are glossy, briUiant green above and paler below; 

 and they are placed near the ends of the twigs, those of the fruiting 

 twigs seeming to be arranged in rosettes to make a background 

 for blossom or fruit. The leaves are placed alternately and have 

 deeply notched edges, the veins extending straight and unbroken from 

 midrib to margin ; the petiole is short. The leaf is like that of the beech, 



