THE HORSE-CHESTNUT 15 



thougji.it njay not, be tidy in the eye's of the gardener, 

 is in those of the student of beauty a fresh debt that 

 he "owes, to the Horse-chestnut. 



. Of the six ovules, we seldom find that more thaji 

 three have, reached the maturity of seedhood, and of 

 these. thriee — ^and there are sometimes not three— no 

 two. wiU be alike in size or marking. It is perhaps 

 hardly necessary to .allude by, way of caution to the 

 merely superficial resemblance, between the seeds of 

 the Horse-chestnut a,nd the; fruits of the Spanish 

 Chestnut, "their internal structure, being, of 'course,, 

 wholly dissimilar. There is, at all events, but little 

 fear that anyone will confuse the taste of the bitter 

 kernel of the former with the favourite nut of. the 

 south. It is probably in opprobrium that it is termed 

 the Horse-chestnut, as we have Horse-mint, Horse- 

 daisy, Dog-violet, or Dog-rose. ' 



The so-caUed uses of the Horse-chestnut are few; 

 but we must not demand too much mere common- 

 place utility from a plant that gives us so much that 

 is more valuable to our souls. Its wood is soft, and 

 though suitable for gunpowder-charcoal, of but little 

 'Use as timber. Deer are fond of eating the fallen 

 leaves and nuts ; and, when crushed, they have been 

 added to the food of sheep, cows, and poultry, and 

 have been used in bleaching and in the manufacture 

 of stajch. The name has been said to be derived 

 from the use of the seeds for the relief of cough 

 in horses, and more fancifully from the large horse- 

 shoe-like scar left by the falling leaves, the ends 

 of the " fibro-vascular bundles," or chief veins, being 

 marked by seven naU-like imprints. 



