290 THE CHESTNUT TREE. ' 
in circumference. The tree at that time ramified, at the 
height of ten feet, into three limbs ; one of which, at the dis- 
tance of forty feet from the main trunk, at the period already 
mentioned, was stated to be twenty-eight feet in girth. The 
largest chestnut tree that we know in Scotland stands on the 
lawn at Castle-Leod, in the Vale of Strathpeffer, Ross-shire. 
When we last saw it, at the height of three feet from the sur- 
face, it measured twenty feet in circumference. It was sixty 
feet high. The soil is rich and loamy, elevated about fifty feet 
above the level of the sea, and the tree is surrounded with 
high mountains. The timber of chestnut is less valuable than 
that of oak, but it bears so striking a resemblance to the 
timber of some species of that tree, that frequently the oak 
in old buildings throughout the country has been mistaken 
for chestnut. After the tree attains the age of fifty or sixty 
years, the timber generally begins to deteriorate, and the wood 
has the remarkable property of being more valuable when it 
is young than when it is old. The sap, or outer wood, soon 
changes into heart-wood ; hence the great value of the tree for 
posts, fences, and all purposes where timber comes in contact 
with the ground, or is alternately wet and dry. The timber 
usually sells from Is. to 2s. per cubical foot, according to cir- 
cumstances ; but it is for coppice-wood that the tree is chiefly 
esteemed, being possessed of the properties of growing as 
underwood, and of springing freely when lopped over. Its 
bark is only half the value of that of oak. Full-grown chest- 
nut timber is generally brittle, and apt to become shaky ; that 
is, the annual layers divide from one another, and fall into 
laths ; but when sound it is much esteemed in the manufacture 
of liquor casks, and for this purpose it should be felled before 
the trunk exceeds a foot in diameter. 
As a fruit tree, in Britain the chestnut has not a high 
reputation ; but from its rapid growth and close foliage it is 
well adapted for a screen or shelter to the orchard. In 
Devonshire and some of the counties possessed of the best 
climates, the fruit is yielded in great maturity. In Spain it 
is grown chiefly for its fruit, which has become not only a 
