THE TECHNOLOGIST. [August 1, 1864. 



36 USES OF THE HORSE-CHESTNUT. 



operations conducted on a large scale. And therefore in its starch 

 produce the horse-chestnut may be taken to be equivalent to the potato, 

 which root contains about 25 per cent, in the solid state, but after 

 deducting the pulp rarely yields more than 18 per cent, of starch. 



M. Mercandier, in the 'Journal Economique ' for December, 1757, 

 stated that horse-chestnuts furnish a soapy water, proper for bleaching 

 linen. The same observer remarks that the pulp or residue of the 

 starch furnishes an excellent food for the poultry of the farm-yard, and 

 which can be employed as a fuel. 



' In 1780 M. Bon, President of the Royal Society of Montpellier, pub- 

 lished a process founded on the use of alkaline leys " for softening 

 horse-chestnuts and rendering them fit for fattening cattle in countries 

 where acorns and pulse are not used for that purpose." About the 

 same period an abbot of Anchin, in French Flanders, discovered a means 

 of extracting from horse-chestnuts a good oil for burning, and obtained 

 from their flour a weaver's starch, which was used subsequently by the 

 weavers of Geneva. 



In 1783 the ' Bibliotheque Physico-Economicpue ' (p. 412) mentioned 

 a means of thoroughly depriving the fruit of the horse-chestnut, by 

 grafting and transplanting, of their natural bitterness, and thus obtaining 

 from this tree chestnuts as sweet and palatable as those of Lyons. 



At the same time the ' Decade Philosophique,' t. viii., p. 454, made 

 known a process for removing, by simple washing in water, the bitter- 

 ness and acidity of the flour of the horse-chestnut. 



We find also in the ( Dictionary of Agriculture of Abbe Rogier,' 

 t. vi. p. 442 (1785), that a M. du Francheville obtained from the horse- 

 chestnut the farinaceous and nutritive part which the fruit contains, by 

 applying the process used by the South Americans for making manioc 

 or cassava. 



" In August, 1794," observes M. Chevallier, " the Lyceum of Arts in- 

 formed the National Convention that among the means of supplying 

 the place of flour for the manufacture of paste, the Lyceum had found 

 in the horse-chestnut materials admirably fitted for making the best 

 pasteboard." 



In another memoir the same Institution demonstrated that in burn- 

 ing the horse-chestnut potash could be obtained, and that 12^ ounces of 

 ashes yielded 9 ounces of fixed alkali (potash) of the first quality. 



In a publication issued in Silesia, ' Biblioth. Physico-Econom.,' 

 1S06, p. 150, it was shown that it is possible to obtain from the fruit of 

 the horse-chestnut oil, flour or meal for paste, and a black colour result- 

 ing from the carbonisation of the husk or envelope. These numerous 

 citations are sufficient to prove that the idea of utilizing these fruits is 

 by no means new. 



It is stated by those well-informed, that a horse-chestnut tree of 

 twenty years old will yield an hectolitre of fruit, and an adult tree 

 three hectolitres. But this estimate is necessarily subject to variations 



