THE CHESTNUT. 



21 



to the cultivation of the Chestnut, and the varie- 

 ties are divided into two sections, les chataignes, 

 and les marrons, the latter being held in high 

 esteem as producing nuts of the largest size, finest 

 flavour, and farinaceous qualities. 



The Chestnut-tree retains its leaves until late 

 in the autumn, when they become of a rich golden 

 hue. Owing to the tufted, and consequently 

 weighty, character of the foliage, and the brittle- 

 ness of the timber, the tree is liable to be injured 

 by autumnal storms ; but the leaves are rarely 

 attacked by insects, strongly contrasting in this 

 respect with its rival the Oak. Its leaves are in 

 France used as litter for cattle, and, like those of 

 the Beech, are sometimes employed for stuffing 

 mattresses. 



It is not easy to form a correct estimate of the 

 value of the Chestnut as a timber-tree, there be- 

 ing a great uncertainty whether the beams dis- 

 covered in ancient buildings, and said to be of 

 Chestnut, do in every instance (they certainly do 

 not in most cases) belong to this tree at all. On 

 the whole, its value appears to have been much 

 overrated, for, omitting the uncertain evidence 

 afforded by ancient specimens, recent timber pos- 

 sesses few valuable properties, at least for the 

 purposes for which it was recommended by the 

 earlier writers. They, finding what they believed 

 to be Chestnut-timber occurring in buildings of 

 unquestionable antiquity, naturally concluded that 

 its value for strength and durability recommended 

 it to the earlier builders, and further assumed, 

 that, owing to the estimation in which it was held, 

 it had become rare. Thus Hartlib, who wrote 

 before the middle of the seventeenth century, says : 



