CHAP. CV. COKYLA^CEJE. C'ASTa'nKA. 1985 



the British oak ; and it differs essentially from that tree, in its timber not in- 

 creasing in value as it increases in age. The trunk, in deep free soils, and in 

 situations sheltered rather than exposed, rises erect, and forms a massive 

 column of wood ; but, in unsuitable soils, and in elevated exposed situations, 

 and in cold climates, it ramifies at the height of 10 ft. or 12 ft., and the tree 

 assumes the character of a large pollard. In all cases, the diameter of the 

 trunk is very large, in proportion to the diameter of the head, or the height of 

 the tree. The branches form nearly the same angle with the trunk as those 

 of the oak ; though in thriving trees the angle is somewhat more acute. They 

 spread widely, and are round, and smooth when young. The bark is remarkable 

 for its deep wide clefts, which, Sir J. E. Smith says, " seem to have furnished 

 ideas for some ornaments in Gothic architecture ;" alluding, we suppose, to 

 some kinds of tracery in the upper parts of windows in the florid Gothic style. 

 The leaves on old trees are from 4 in. to 6 in. long; but on young and vigo- 

 rous shoots they are often nearly 1 ft. in length, and from 3 in. to 4 in. in 

 breadth. In France, the leaves of the chataigniers are narrower than those 

 of the marroniers, and those of both are narrower than the leaves of wild 

 and cultivated chestnuts in England ; which difference may be observed in 

 the two climates to be the case more or less with all broad-leaved trees. 

 The leaves are elliptic-lanceolate, acute, smooth, with many transverse veins, 

 terminating in sharp serratures ; often, but not always, terminating in 

 mucros. They are of a rich shining green above; and paler, and some- 

 times rather glaucous, beneath. The barren catkins are numerous, axillary, 

 solitary, yellow, and pendulous ; almost as long as the leaves, and decidu- 

 ous. The flowers are produced on the wood of the current year, and are 

 ranged along the common stalk, in lateral sessile tufts. The stamens are 

 numerous and spreading. The fertile flowers are much fewer than the barren 

 ones : they are placed on terminal stalks, which are lengthened out as the 

 fruit advances. The styles are about 6, with long, smooth, upright stigmas. 

 Gaertner detected about 12 scarlet rudiments of stamens among the wool at 

 the base of the styles. Nuts large, broadly ovate, generally 2 ; flat on the 

 inner side, and each attached by a broad scar to the bottom of the greatly 

 enlarged outer calyx, the outside of which is copiously armed with complicated 

 clusters of sharp prickles. (Smith.) The root descends perpendicularly, like 

 that of the oak, but not, as it is alleged, to quite so great a depth. The rate 

 of growth of young trees, in the neighbourhood of London, averages from 2 ft. 

 to 3 ft. a year for the first 10 or 12 years. The tree will attain the height of 

 from 60 ft. to 80 ft. in from 50 to GO years ; before which period its timber is 

 generally in the highest degree of perfection ; but the tree will live for several 

 centuries afterwards, and produce abundance of fruit ; its timber, in the mean 

 while, beginning to decay at the heart, or become brittle, and fit only for fuel. 

 In Germany, according to Willdenow, the height is from 20 ft. to 30 ft., and 

 the duration of the tree from 50 to 100 years. In America, according to 

 Michaux, the chestnut, in favourable situations, commonly attains the height 

 of 70 ft. or 80 ft., with a circumference of 15 ft. or 16 ft. The oldest chestnut 

 in England is that at Tortworth, supposed to have been planted before the 

 Conquest; and the largest which we have ever heard of is a tree in Studley 

 Park, of which Jig. ] 923. is a portrait, to the scale of 1 in. to 30 ft. ; and 

 which is 112 ft. high ; the diameter of the trunk, at 1 ft. from the ground, 7 ft. 

 4i in., and of the head 91 ft. 6 in. By far the handsomest tree of this species 

 in the neighbourhood of London, is that at Muswell Hill, figured in our last 

 Volume, which is 66 ft. high, with a trunk 6 ft. in diameter at a foot from the 

 ground, and the diameter of the head nearly 70 ft. This tree has been planted 

 between 70 and 80 years. No tree stoles more freely than the sweet chest- 

 nut, at whatever age it may be cut over. 



Geography. The sweet chestnut is found in the east and west of Asia, 

 in the north of Africa, and in North America. In the Old World its coun- 

 tries are more particularly Asia Minor, Armenia, and Caucasus ; but it is 

 also found in the Canaries, and in Teneriffe. It does not grow sponta- 

 neously to the north of Tereck, in the Russian empire; and it docs not ripen 



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