464? ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



may be tried by any one, as the flowers may be perceived with a common mag- 

 nifying glass ; but, as detaching the scales requires care, it would be advisable 

 for an unpractised student to gather the bud in early spring, when the sun is 

 just beginning to melt away the gum with which the scales are sealed together. 

 (Mag. Xat. Hist., vol. iii. p. 135.) 



Geography. " The native country of the common horsechestnut," Mr. Royle 

 observes, " is yet unknown, though stated, in some works, to be the north of 

 India." He adds that he has " never met with it, though often visiting the 

 lofty mountains of Northern India, where, if anywhere, it was likely to be 

 found, and where the nearly allied Indian pavia is so abundant." (Must., 

 p. 135.) As the genus Pavia is a native both of India and America, and 

 as ^E'sculus ohioensis, which is nothing but a variety of the common horse- 

 chestnut, is a native of North America, it seems to us highly probable that 

 the genus ./jE'scuIus will ultimately be found to belong to both continents. 



History. The horsechestnut passed from Asia to Europe about the middle 

 of the sixteenth century. The tree was first described by Matthiolus, and after- 

 wards by Clusius in his Bariorum Plantarum Historia, §c. He there says, 

 that, in 1581, it was still considered as a botanical rarity; but that in 1588 

 there was a plant of the species at Vienna, that had been brought there twelve 

 years before, but which had not then flowered. In France, it was first raised 

 from seed procured from the Levant, in the year 1615, by one Bachelier 

 whose flower-gardens at Paris were then celebrated. The largest tree of the 

 kind in France, and which was considered as the parent stock from which all 

 the others have been propagated, formerly existed in the gardens of the 

 Temple. (Becfanann's Hist., vol.i. p. 317.) A tree of this species was planted 

 in the Jardin des Plantes, in 1650, which was the second plant introduced 

 into France: it died in 1767; and a section of its trunk is still preserved in 

 the Museum of Natural History. According to M. Jaume Sainte-Hilaire 

 (see p. 147.), and his account appears to us the most probable, the horse- 

 chestnut passed from the mountains of Thibet to England in 1550, and 

 was afterwards taken to Vienna by Clusius, and thence to Paris by Bachelier. 

 The earliest notice which we have of the horsechestnut being in England is 

 in Gerard's Herbal, where, in 1579, he speaks of it as a rare foreign tree. In 

 Johnson's edition of the same work, in 1633, the horsechestnut is said to be 

 growing in Mr. Tradescant's garden at South Lambeth. Parkinson, in 1629, 

 says, " Our Christian world had first a knowledge of it from Constantinople." 

 The same author placed the horsechestnut in his orchard, as a fruit tree, be- 

 tween the walnut and the mulberries. How little it was then known may be 

 inferred from his saying, not only that it is of a greater and more pleasant 

 aspect for the fair leaves, but also of as good use for the fruit, which is of a 

 sweet taste, roasted and eaten, as the ordinary sort. Houghton (1700) men- 

 tions some horsechestnut trees at Sir William Ashhurst's at Highgate, and 

 especially in the Bishop of London's garden at Fulham. Those now standing 

 at Chelsea College were then very young. There was also a very fine one in 

 the Post-house Garden, in Old Street, and another not far from the Ice-house, 

 under the shadow of the Observatory in Greenwich Park. (Mart. Mill.) In 

 Germany, as we have seen in p. 147., the horsechestnut, after having been 

 planted at Vienna, soon found its way to Baden, where it was planted about 

 the end of the sixteenth century, and where some of the trees are still in ex- 

 istence. The tree is now generally cultivated in the middle states of Europe, 

 and also in North America. 



Properties and Uses. The wood weighs, when newly cut, 60 lb. 4oz. per 

 cubic foot ; and, when dry, 35 lb. 7 oz. ; losing, by drying, a sixteenth part of 

 its bulk. According to other experiments, the wood, green, weighs 62 lb. 

 3 oz. ; half dry, 461b. 2 oz. ; and quite dry, 37 lb. 3oz. It is soft, and unfit 

 for use where great strength, and durability in the open air, are required ; 

 nevertheless, there are many purposes for which it is applicable when sawn 

 up into boards ; such as for flooring, linings to carts, packing-cases, &c. In 

 France, sabots are made from it; and it is said to be used by carvers, turners, 



