OF FOREST-TREES. 161 



of that I make little doubt The Chestnut affords the best stakes for CH. VIII. 

 palisades, and props for vines and hops, as I said before. It is good for '^^'^^ 

 mill-timber or water- works, or where it may lie buried ; but if water 

 touch the roots of the growing trees, it spoils both fruit and timber. — . 

 It is likewise observed, that this tree is so prevalent against cold, that, 

 where they stand, they defend other plantations from the injuries of the 

 severest frosts. I am sure, being planted in hedge-rows, et circa agrorum 

 itinera, or for avenues to our country-houses, they are a magnificent and 

 royal ornament. This timber also does well, if kept dry, for columns, 

 tables, chests, chairs, stools, bedsteads ; for tubs, and casks for wine, 

 which it preserves with the least tincture of the wood of any whatsoever. 

 If the timber be dipped in scalding oil, and well pitched, it becomes 

 extremely durable, but otherwise, I cannot celebrate the tree for its 

 sincerity, it being found that, contrary to the Oak, it will make a fair 

 show outwardly, when it is all decayed and rotten within ; but this is 

 in some sort recompensed, if it be true that the beams made of Chestnut- 

 tree have this property, that, being somewhat brittle, they give warning 

 and premonish the danger by a certain crackling, so as, it is said, to have 



root be nearly level with the ground. The fibres must be spread and lapped in the fine 

 mould, and the turf worked to the bottom. A stake should be placed to keep them safe 

 from the winds, and they must be fenced from the cattle till they are of a sufficient size 

 to defend themselves. The best season for this woi*k is October.— —After the trees are 

 planted, neither knife nor hatchet should come near them ; but they should be left to 

 Nature in the formation of their beautiful parabolic heads. 



The Horse-Chestnut, like most other trees, delights most in good fat-land ; but it will 

 grow exceedingly well on clayey and marly grounds. I have seen large trees, luxuriant, 

 and healthy, in very cold, barren, and hungry earth. In short, it may be planted in most 

 places to the owner's satisfaction. It grows to a large size in a few years. The wood is 

 chiefly used by the turner, and in the north is worth about sixpence a foot. 



Of this genus there is another species titled by Linnaeus, ESCULUS ( pavia J floribus 

 octandris. Sp. PI. 488. The scarlet-flowering horse-chestnut. This is a tree of 

 humble growth, seldom exceeding fifteen feet in height. It grows naturally in Carolina, 

 the Brasils, and in several parts of the East. 



*■ In the sixty-first volume of the Philosophical Transactions, Dr. Ducarel opposes the 

 opinion of the Hon. Daines Barrington, who, in the fifty-ninth volume of the same work, 

 had asserted that " Chestnut-trees were not natives of this kingdom." I do not take upon 

 me to say whether the Chestnut-tree be a native of the southern parts of this island or 

 not ; but I am well-informed that no such tree has ever been discovered in any of the 

 natural woods north of Trent ; and indeed it is most probable that it is not a native. 



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