12 



THE CHESTNUT. 



leaves, he says, which are never attacked by in- 

 sects, and vs^hich hang on the trees till very late 

 in autumn, mass better than those of the Oak and 

 give more shade. An old Chestnut, standing alone, 

 produces a superb effect. A group of young 

 Chestnuts forms an excellent back ground to 

 other trees ; but a Chestnut-coppice is insupport- 

 ably monotonous. 



But it is in Italy that it is to be seen in all 

 its grandeur. Sir T. D. Lauder speaks of having 



roamed for miles through the high-roofed leafy 

 shades of the endless Chestnut- forests, which hung 

 everywhere on the sides and roots of the Apen- 

 nines, where the impervious canopy was supported 

 by the columnar trunks of the enormous trees ; 

 and there, and in many parts of the Alps, the 

 peasants depend greatly on the Chestnuts ; for 

 the bread they live on is very much, if not alto- 

 gether, composed of the farina obtained from the 

 nuts. We remember participating in one of the 

 most interesting scenes we ever beheld, whilst pe- 

 netrating that extensive Chestnut-forest which 

 covers the body of the Valombrosan Apennine, 

 for nearly five miles upwards. It was a holiday, 

 and a group of peasants, of both sexes, dressed in 

 the gay and picturesque attire of the neighbour- 

 hood of the Arno, were sporting and dancing on a 

 piece of naturally level and well cropped turf, 

 which spread itself beneath these gigantic trees, 

 whilst the inmost recesses of the forest were, ever 

 and anon, made to resound to their mirth and 

 their music. Some were beating down the Chest- 

 nuts with sticks ; others, for their own refresh- 

 ment, were picking out the contents from the 

 pallisadoed castles in which the kernels lie in- 



