THE CHESTNUT, 



227 



to be good) is rent Chestnut made from 

 underwood growth. The idea that the 

 roofs of old buildings in England and 

 France were made from Chestnut is in- 

 correct, as they have been proved to be 

 of Oak. Chestnut wood is best when 

 cut in the young and growing state, as 

 old trees are apt to become shaky. 



Fine as the tree is in parts of our own 

 country, it does not attain its greatest 



still increasing in size and beauty to- 

 wards southern Italy and Sicily. There, 

 in the lower girdle of woods, Cork trees 

 and Evergreen Oaks prevail, often grow- 

 ing out of the lava ; but in a higher zone 

 of this woody girdle, at an elevation 

 of between 3,000 and 4,000 feet, the 

 Chestnut is the great tree. The eleva- 

 tion and the soil (consisting chiefly or 

 ashes in an impalpable powder) suit it 



GROUP OF CHESTNUTS AT BICTON, DEVON. 

 (Engraved for " Flora.") 



size on the northern side of the Alps ; 

 not till we have passed the mountain 

 chain which separates Italy and Greece 

 from central Europe do we see it in all 

 its strength. On the southern slopes of 

 this mountain chain, much finer trees 

 than any in England or France begin to 

 appear, and as the traveller wends his 

 way southward he finds the Chestnut 



well, trees in that region being of gigan- 

 tic growth, numbers of them far above 

 the average size of the forest trees of 

 Europe. Amongst these giants the Cas- 

 tagno di cento Cava Hi is celebrated. Its 

 aspect on a first approach is disappoint- 

 ing ; the trunk is hollow, the weight of 

 the branches having rent it asunder, so 

 that the tree in its severed state looks 



R 3 



