THE CHESTNUT. 117 



compilation of historic instances of ^ts usefulness are 

 required here. For almost two thousand years it has 

 been an important article of food throughout southern 

 Europe, and in some of the mountainous districts it is 

 almost the "staff of life" among the poorer people, who 

 not only use these nuts in their raw state, but roasted, 

 boiled, stewed, and even dried and ground into flour, 

 from which a coarse but nutritious kind of cake or bread 

 is made. These nuts are also used in the same way by 

 the poorer classes of China and Japan, and probably in 

 other oriental countries. In Prance, Italy, Spain and 

 Portugal, the chestnut crop is of immense importance, 

 not only for domestic use, but commercially, because all 

 surplus is wanted by other nations, who are ever ready 

 to take a share, and pay a good round price for the same. 



In this country chestnuts are mainly used as a lux- 

 ury or a kind of pocket lunch for the children, as they 

 are rarely brought to the table, and it is very doubtful 

 if the American housewife, or our cooks, — unless foreign 

 bom and bred, — know anything about preparing these 

 delicious nuts for comestible purposes. Cereals, meats, 

 fruits and vegetables have always been so abundant and 

 cheap in this country, that the poorest of the poor could 

 indulge in them without stint or limit ; but all this will 

 change sooner or later, and when our poptilation has 

 doubled or trebled, the edible nuts must become of much 

 more importance than now, and a roast turkey stuffed 

 with chestnuts may figure as the ideal of gastronomic 

 art. 



As our native chestnuts are now annually consumed 

 by the thousands of bushels, and the imported varieties 

 by millions of pounds, and all as a mere luxury, — not a 

 necessity nor an article which we could not dispense 

 with without any serious inconvenience, — we may well 

 consider what the future demand must be, and make 

 haste to meet it with an abundant supply. 



