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large horse chestnut tree on the lawn at Hinton Admiral, the 

 residence of Sir George Meyrick. This is abDut 6oft. high, with 

 a girth of 7ft. 8in. One of its larger branches, about 27ft. from, 

 the bole and resting on the ground, has taken root and sent up a 

 separate stem about 20ft. high. There are six handsome horse 

 chestnuts to be seen in the Avenues at Dorchester, varying in girth 

 from 12ft. 9in. to 10ft. 6in. These were planted in 1740. The 

 Indian Horse Chestnut [AL. Indica) is described as " one of the 

 most magnificent of all temperate trees." It is perfectly hardy, 

 and flowers about a month later than the common tree — a great 

 point in its favour. 



Sweet or Spanish Chestnut. 



This is not a native of the British Isles, but of South Europe, 

 North Africa, and xAsia Minor. It is supposed to have been intro- 

 duced by the Romans, and it certainly existed here before the 

 Norman Conquest. Except possibly the sycamore, no foreign tree 

 has more fullv adapted itself to our conditions. Shakespeare was 

 quite familiar with the tree and its fruit. The latter has been long 

 enough established in England to have its name borrowed to de- 

 note a rich shade of russet. The stem of the chestnut tree often 

 shows a characteristic twisting unlike any other tree. The timber 

 of the chestnut, when fully ripe, is declared by Sir Herbert Max- 

 well to be fully equal to that of the oak, but it has one defect, viz., 

 its liability to split along the annual rings. As a coppice tree, the 

 chestnut has no equal, and amongst other uses it supplies material 

 for an admirable fence for palings bound with wire. 



Perhaps the oldest chestnut tree in the country is the cele- 

 brated Tortworth Chestnut. It is now a ruin, but a magnificent, 

 and by no means a lifeless, one. According to Mr. Bean, it 

 measures about 50ft. in the narrowest girth, equal to about 5^ 

 yards in average diameter. According to legend, King John held 

 council under it, and even in King Stephen's reign Evelyn says it 

 was known as the Great Chestnut of Tortworth. 



In our immediate neighbourhood there is quite a remarkable 

 chestnut tree. In an account of Great Canford, the seat of the 

 Earl of Wimborne, Hutchins, in his History of Dorset (written 

 about the beginning of the nineteenth century), says: " In the 

 park adjoining the garden in about 1805 were five large sweet 

 chestnut trees, one of them measuring 37ft. round, still, bearing 

 fruit plentifully, though much shivered and decayed by age. The 

 largest, completely hollowed by age, was blown down some years 

 ago by boys and men destroying wasps' nests, but its immense 

 trunk is still lying in the park. There are, however, two very 

 fine old ruinous trees of this sort left ; one of them quite hollow 

 and of great size still carries a large green head, and every year 

 produces nuts abundantly." I have recently seen what I suppose 

 is this latter tree. It measures 37ft. 8in. in girth, and stands 

 near Nineveh Court. It is certainly a striking and most interest- 

 ing relic. The beautiful specimen of tithe barn that used to be- 



