154 A DISCOURSE 



BOOK I. raising timber. They are produced best by sowing and setting ; previous 

 "^^^^^ to which, let the nuts be first spread to sweat, then cover them in sand : 

 a month being past, plunge them in water and reject the swimmers : 

 being dried for thirty days more, sand them again, and to the water- 

 ordeal as before. Being thus treated till the beginning of spring, 

 or in November, set them as you would do beans ; and, as some practise 



longer than of any other ; and stakes of the underwood will last nearly twice as long as those 

 of any other sort. Of the Chestnut there are several varieties which have accidentally arisen 

 from seed, of which some have been supposed distinct species, but the difference lies only 

 in the size of the fruit and leaves, which have been altered and improved by culture ; so that 

 the wild and manured Chestnut are undoubtedly the same. In many countries, where 

 Chestnut-trees are cultivated, the people graft the largest and fairest fruit upon stocks raised 

 from the nut. And these grafted trees are by the French called Maronnier ; but they are 

 unfit for timber. 



2. CASTANEA C pumila ) foliis lanceolato-ovatis acute serratis, subtus tomentosis, 

 amentis filiformibus nodosis. Gron. Virg. 150. Chestnut with oval, spear-shaped leaves, 

 shai-ply sawed, rvhich are woolly on their under side, and a slender knotted Catkin. Castanea 

 pumila, Virginiana, racemose fructu parvo in singulis capsulis echinatis unico. Pluk. Aim. 

 90. — The chinquapin. 



The Chinquapin, or Dwarf Virginian Chestnut, is at present very rare in England: it is very 

 common in the woods of America, where it seldom grows above twelve or fourteen feet high, 

 and produces great plenty of nuts, which are, for the most part, single in each outer coat 

 or capsule. This tree is very hardy, and will resist the severest of our winters in the open 



ground, but is very apt to decay in summer, especially if it be planted in very dry ground. 



The nuts of these trees, if brought from America, should be put up in sand as soon as tfiey 

 are ripe, and sent to England immediately, otherwise they lose their growing quality, which 

 is the reason this tree is at present so scarce with us ; for not one seed in five hundred sent over 

 ever grows, owing to the neglect of putting them up in this manner. When the nuts arrive, 

 they should be put into the ground as soon as possible; and if the winter should prove severe, 

 it will be proper to cover the ground with leaves, tan, or pease-haulm, to prevent the frost 

 from penetrating the ground, so as to destroy the nuts. This sort of Chestnut delights in 

 a moist soil ; but if the wet continues long upon the ground in winter, it is apt to kill the 

 trees. This will take by inarching it upon the common sort, but the trees so raised 

 seldom succeed well. 



In the system of Linnaeus the Chestnut is ranked in the class and order Monoecia 

 Polyandria. The male flowers are collected in long catkins, and begin to open about the 

 ninth of May. The buds usually appear about the fourteenth of April, and in six or seven 

 days, the leaves will be quite out ; they remain green till about the twelfth of October, 

 when they assume a yellow colour. 



The culture of this tree is as follows : Having provided a sufficient quantity of nuts, 

 throw them into water, to know whether they are sound and good ; the sound ones will 

 sink to the bottom, whilst the others will show themselves to be faulty by swimming. 



