CHAP. XXIII. 



^SCULA^CE^. ^'SCULUS. 



465 



&c. Boutcher says, that it is suitable for water-pipes that are to be kept 

 constantly underground; and it is also recommended for this purpose by 

 Du Hamel. The charcoal of the horsechestnut may be used in the manu- 

 facture of gunpowder; and the ashes of every part of the plant, more es- 

 pecially of the fruit, afford potash in considerable quantity. The bark, which 

 is very bitter, is employed for tanning, and also for dyeing yellow ; and it has 

 been used medicinally as a substitute for Jesuits' bark. In Turkey, the nuts 

 are ground, and mixed with horse food, especially when_the horses are broken- 

 winded : and, in their natural state, they are eaten by goats, sheep, and deer. 

 Rutty says the nuts are an excellent food for deer and hogs : they also pos- 

 sess a detergent quality, and serve, in some degree, as a soap. They are used 

 in Ireland to whiten flaxen cloth, and for this purpose are rasped into water, 

 in which they are allowed to macerate for some time, (Nac. Hist, of the County 

 of Dublin, vol. i. p. 107.) The nuts, when ground into flour, and mixed in 

 the proportion of one third with the flour of wheat, are said to add to the 

 strength of bookbinder's paste. {Mech. Mag., vol. viii. p. 22.3.) M. Vergaud 

 has proposed to change the starch which can be extracted from the nut 

 into sugar, and afterwards to employ it in distillation. (Gard. Mag., vol. i. 

 p. 318.) Parmentier, in his Nouveau Dictionnaire d'Histoire Naturelle, after 

 noticing most of the uses to which this tree and its nuts have been appHed, 

 says, it appears, after all, that no use applicable to every-day purposes has 

 3^et been discovered respecting it. (See JBaiidTillart, Traite, Sfc, torn. ii. 

 p. 364.) In Britain, the horsechestnut can only be considered as an orna- 

 mental tree, and, as such, is well known, and needs no eulogiun^. It produces 

 a splendid efl^'ect when in flower, either singly, in avenues, or on the margins 

 of plantations. The finest avenue of these trees in England is that at 

 Bushy Park. Gilpin objects to the horsechestnut, as being lumpish in its 

 form; but in saying this he evidently judged of the tree merely with re- 

 ference to picturesque beauty, to which it has few pretensions till it 

 becomes very old : whereas, in point of floral beauty, it and its several 

 varieties, or races, are unequalled by any tree of equal size which will endure 

 our climate. A very remarkable vegetable principle, called sesculine, which is 

 found in this genus, and which is said to possess alkaline properties, and to act 

 as a febrifuge, is mentioned in Stephenson and Churchill's Medical Botany^ 

 vol. ii. Miss Kent states that the fruit is not only sometimes ground and 

 given to horses, but that deer are very fond of it, and that it is given to sheep, 

 in a raw state, or when made into a paste, after maceration in lime water, to 

 fatten them. Soap and starch have also been procured from these nuts. (Mag. 

 Nat. Hist., iii. p. 135.) 



Poetical \and legendary Allusions. The horsechestnut, where allowed to 

 attain its proper shape on a lawn, is certainly a most magnificent tree. Some 

 authors have compared it to an immense lustre or chandelier, its long racemes 

 of flowers tapering up from its drooping foUage like lights. A horsechestnut 

 tree, in full flower, has been called by Daines Barrington a giant's nosegay; 

 and in the Alag. Nat. Hist., vol. iv. p. 238., an eloquent description of this 

 tree has been given by Mr. Dovaston, who compares its racemes of flowers to 

 those of a gigantic h3'acinth. Miss Kent, in the same work, vol. iii. p. 135., 

 calls it a Brobdignagian lupine. In Paris, the magnificent trees in the garden 

 at the Luxembourg have been celebrated b}- Castel. 



" La de inarroniers les hautes avenues 

 S'arrondissent en voute, et nous cachent les nues." 



The manner in which it scatters its flowers on the grass, and the comparative 

 uselessness of its fruit and timber, make it an excellent emblem of ostentation, 



iS'o/7, Situation, Sfc. The horsechestnut requires a deep, free, loamy soil, 

 and will neither attain an ample size, nor flower freely, except in a situation 

 rather sheltered than exposed. In England, it seldom suffers by the frost in 

 spring; and the severest of our winters do not injure either its young shoots 

 or its buds, which are covered with a resinous gluten. The species is always 



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