THE HORSE CHESTNUT. 



43 



flavour to the meat. The Geneva mutton is 

 noteU for being as highly flavoured as any in 

 England or Wales." 



They are sometimes boiled and given to poul- 

 try. Like the fruit of many other trees belonging . 

 to the same Natural Order, they contain a sapona- 

 ceous principle, and when decayed they turn to a 

 jelly, which has been found to answer the purpose 

 of soap. Reduced to a powder and mixed with a 

 third of flour, they are found to make better paste 

 than that composed of flour alone. In Ireland 

 they are used to whiten flaxen cloth, and for this 

 purpose are rasped into water, in which they are 

 allowed to macerate for some time. During the 

 scarcity of 1847, it was suggested that a great 

 saving of flour might be effected by using the 

 starch which may be prepared from these nuts, as 

 a substitute for wheaten starch in the process of 

 glazing calico ; but I am not aware whether or 

 not the suggestion w^as acted on. M. Vergnaud 

 has published a pamphlet, in which he proposes 

 to convert the extracted starch into sugar, and 

 employ it in distillation. 



The Horse Chestnut will grow in most situa- 

 tions, but prefers a rich loamy soil. Here it 

 grows with great rapidity ; Martyn mentions some 

 raised from the nut, that, at twelve or fourteen 

 years of age, were covered with flowers, and were 

 big enough to shade several chairs with their 

 branches. A peculiarity of their growth, noticed 

 by Hunter, is, that as soon as the leading shoot is 

 come out of the bud, it continues to grow so fast 

 as to be able to form its whole summer's shoot in 

 about three weeks or a month's time. After this, 

 it grows little more in length, but thickens and 



