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CHAPTER XX. 



OF CHESNUTS. 



Different Sorts cultivated in England.*. ,„Chesnut'Trees are 



excellent Timber Hoxv to Propagate ^ Plant ^ and Head 



theirc^. 



The Chesnut, Castanea, is a native of the South of Europe, 

 and is said to take its name from Castana, a city of Thessaly^ 

 were antiently it grew in great plenty. It belongs to Linnaeus's 

 twenty-first class, Monacia Polyandria. 



The sorts mostly cultivated in England are those com-* 

 monly called Spanish Chesnuts, which run into great varieties 

 when raised from seed ; and a sort called, in America, Chin- 

 quapin, or Dwarf Virginian Chesnut ; but this is only raised 

 for the sake of variety. 



The former are very fine trees, and well worth cultivat- 

 ing both for use and ornament. The timber is reckoned equal 

 to oak, and, for making casks, even superior to it ; as, when 

 seasoned, it is not so liable to shrink or swell as oak. These 

 trees have also a very noble appearance, and are therefore very 

 fit to plant in parks, &c. 



Gerard says, that in his time there were several woods of 

 chesnuts in England, particularly one near Feversham in Kent ; 

 and Fitz-Stephens, in a description of London written by him 

 in Henry the Second's time, speaks of a very noble forest 

 which grew on the North part of it. This tree grows some- 

 times to an amazing size. Not to mention those abroad, there 

 is one at Lord Ducie's at Tortworth, in the county of Glou- 

 cester, which measures nineteen yards in circumference, and 

 is mentioned by Sir Robert Atkyns, in his History of that 

 county, as a famous tree in King John's time ; and by Mr. 

 Evelyn, in his Sylva, book 3d, chap. 7, p. 233, fourth edition, 

 to have been so remarkable for its magnitude in the reign of 



* 1 particularly request the American reader to pay attention to what is 

 hereafter said about the preservation of the fruit of the chesnut. 



