234 THE KITCHEN-GARDEN, [chap. vii. 
well in either a calcareous soil, or a stiff 
There are several celebrated chestnut-trees 
of enormous size and great age; the most 
remarkable of which are the Castagna di 
Cento Cavalli on Mount Etna, and the Tort- 
worth chestnut in England. Till within the 
last eight or ten years it was believed that 
the wood of the chestnut was good timber; 
but it has lately been discovered that it is 
absolutely worthless, except while quite 
young: the wood that was supposed to be 
chestnut, having been proved to be that of 
the English chestnut Oak (Quercus sessili- 
fiora). The wood of the chestnut, when the 
tree attains a large size, becomes what the 
English timber-merchants call shaky, and 
what the French call dialled; that is, instead 
of forming a solid log of timber, the trunk 
when cut down is found to fly off in splinters, 
or to divide into a number of angular pieces, 
as if shivered by a blow from the centre. 
The filbert is only a variety of the common 
hazel; and it is supposed to derive its name 
from the words “ full beard,” in allusion to 
the length of its husk. The varieties of the 
