F A G 
timber-tree; fince the wood Is equal in value to tJie beft 
oak, and for many purpofes far exceeding it, particularly 
for ca(ks, for which it is much ufed in Italy; and for 
pipes to convey water under ground. In Italy it is planted 
as coppice-wood, to make Hakes for their vines, which 
will continue feven years. It rand therefore be very 
proper for (lakes in efpaliers and dead hedges, for hop- 
poles, hurdles, &c. It was formerly ufed for all the fame 
purpofes as oak, in building, milLwork, and houfltold 
furniture. And lately forne of it that was finely varie¬ 
gated has been fuccelsfully employed in doors and bal- 
fu(trades of a (hair cafe ; a colour being given them, by 
rubbing them over with alum-water, then laying on with 
a bruflt a decodlion of logwood-chips, and laftly a decoc¬ 
tion of Brazil wood ; they have been frequently taken 
for mahogany. 
Some perfons affert that the timber of cheffnut is brit¬ 
tle, and decays at heart ; whilfl, according to others, it 
will lad longer than oak, is not ftibjedl to cracks or flaws, 
and is never attacked by fpiders or other infedls. Old 
cheftnut is very brittle, and apt to crack, and therefore 
(Itould never (land longer than while it is in a growing 
(late. If cut when it (quares only fix inches, it will be 
as durable as oak of fix times its fize and age, having 
very little fap in proportion to other trees. '1 he durabi¬ 
lity of it, when expofed to the weather, is lufticiently 
afeertained, from its ufe for gate-pods at Wellington, in 
Somerset (hire, of which the following is an account: 
“ In or about the year 1763, fome gate-pods of oak, and 
Olliers of cheftnut, were to be repaired ; they had the ap¬ 
pearance of being put in at the fame time, but the latter 
were much, more found, infomuch that (ome of them were 
adjudged good enough to remain as gate-pods, and are 
now to be feen there, (1788.) Such as were too (mail 
weie taken up, and fet as pods to fix rails to. At the 
fame time fome new pods of oak were-put in, there not 
being enough of the old cheftnut pods. Though thefe 
mere old when put in twenty-five years ago, they are now 
(s788) more found than the oak pods, which were then 
new. One fide of the cheftnut pods was the outlide of 
the tree, but the timber is as found there as in any other 
part; which would nor have been the cafe with oak, the 
fap of which, next the bark, loon decays. The cheftnut 
gate-pods had been put down many years before 1745; 
they have therefore [ robably Hood the weather above 
half a century.” Tranf. Soc. Arts, 1789, p. 10. Another 
account fays, that the branch of a cheftnut about thirteen 
inches fquare, which in the year 1726 was put down as a 
hanging pod for a gate, and carried the gate fifty-two 
years, when taken up appeared perfectly found, and was 
put down for a clapping-pod in another place. In 1743, 
a large barn was built with fome of this timber, and is 
now (1792) found in every part. About the fame time 
feveral pods and rails were put down, which after (land¬ 
ing thirty or forty years, generally appeared fo found, 
as to admit of being fet up in fome other place. In 1772 
a fence was made of pods and rails converted from young 
oaks and chednuts of the fame age and (cantling. In 
1791 this fence was removed, when the cheftnut pods 
were found as found as when they were fird put down; 
but thofe of oak were fo much wafted juft below the fur- 
face of the ground, that they could not be ufed again 
without a (pur. Ibid, for 1792, p. 30. 
The nuts are the ufual, and in fome places almod the 
only, food of the common people in the Apennine moun¬ 
tains of Italv, in Savoy, and fome parts ot the fouth of 
France ; not only boiled and loaded, but alfo in puddings, 
cakes, and bread. They are efteemed to be a very flatu¬ 
lent diet, and hard of digedion ; yet there are indances in 
Italy of men living to ninety or a hundred years of age, 
•who have fed wholly on chednuts. They are brought 
even to fafhionable tables in delerts. Mr. Ray mentions 
that they are eaten in Italy with orange or ietnon juice 
and fugar ; and that they are commonly fold there about 
the (beets, roaded on a portable furnace ; whence we 
U S. 1 ,><) 
may conclude that this luxury was unknown at London 
in the lad century. Thefe nuts are ufed for whitening 
linen cloth, and for making dare'll ; they are reputed ex¬ 
cellent for feeding hogs. The leaves alfo make ufeftil 
litter, and mixed with the dung of the cattle are a good 
manure. 
The principal plantations which have been made of 
late years in Great-Britain are in the northern parts of 
the illand. The earl of Life has planted above lixty 
theufand trees in the county or' Murray. George Reds, 
efq. four thouland in Cromarty, In England, Mr. 
Windham’s plantations at Felbri'gg in Norfolk, made in 
1676, are well known. Mr. Jofeph Mace has planted 
fix acres, feventcen perches, with above three thouland 
trees, at Adiford in Biddenden, Rent. John Sneyd, efq. 
eight thouland at Belmont in Staffordshire, front 17S4 ro 
1786. Mr. Jofeph Covvlilhaw fix acres in Carlton fore ft, 
with above eighteen hundred of thefe trees, mixed with 
larch, a fit, &c. &c. 
There are feveral varieties of the cheftnut, which have 
accidentally at ifen from feeds ; but the difference is chiefly 
in the fize of the fruit and leaves. There is, however, 
one with variegated leaves, which is propagated in the 
nurferies as a curiofity. The ftriped cheftnut is among 
the rnoft beautiful of the variegated trees, the blotches 
being of a rich (hitting gold colour, ftrongly marked. 
The dwarf branching cheftnut is no more titan a variety 
of the common fort. 
2. Kagus pumila, or dwarf cheftnut-tree, or chinqua- 
pine : leaves lanceolate-ovate, acutely ferrate, tomentofe 
underneath, aments filiform, knotty. The chinquapine, 
or dwarf Virginian cheftnut, feldom grows above twelve 
or fourteen feet high, but produces great plenty of nuts, 
which are, for the molt part, (ingle in each capfule 
This tree is very hardy, and will refill the fevered of cur 
winters in the open ground, but is very apt to decay in 
dimmer, efpecially in a dry foil. But although it de¬ 
lights in moifture, yet, if the wet continues long upon 
the ground in winter, it frequently deftroys the trees. It 
is very common in the woods of America, but is rare in 
England, though it was cultivated fo long lince as 1699, 
by the duchefs of Beaufort. 
3. Fagus lylvatica, or common beech-tree : leaves 
ovate, obfcurely ferrate. The beech hid its Latin name 
Jagus, from the Greek ipayoc, which in the Doric dialed 
is put for tp'/iyo;, from (p-nyu, to eat, either becatife man¬ 
kind lived on beech-mall before the ufe of corn, or be- 
caufe it was the food of the common people. We are 
not to fuppofe that the fagus of the Romans is the fame 
with the (pr,yo 5 of the Greeks, which is a fpecies of oak. 
It is, however, imagined by fome that t lie fagus of Csefar, 
Virgil, and Vitruvius, is a fpecies of oak, and not the 
beech. Our beech is the.olvapf the Greeks, and Belon 
informs us that it is (till called by that name on mount 
Athos. 
This tree will grow to a very large fize, lofty, and 
fpreading, the trunk ftraighf, and covered with a whitilh 
bark. T he leaves are fmooth and gloffy, waved on the 
edges rather than ferrate, or (lightly linttaie-toothed, three 
inches and mot e in length, and two or upwards in breadth: 
the petioles reddifit, (lightly grooved above, four or five 
lines in length, pubefeent, as is alfo the midrib of the 
leaf. It retains the old leaves through the winter. The 
male catkins conte out in bunches irom the ends of the 
(mail branches ; they are roundilh, obtufe, half an inch 
long, and almoft as broad ; on peduncles from half an 
inch to fourteen lines in length, pendulous, round, and 
pubefeent. Calyx cut half way into fix (harp, villofe, 
yellowilh legments. Stamens uncertain, (4, 6, S, 9, n, 
or 12,) front tlie bottom of the calyx. The female 
aments come out from the fame place, a little above the 
others ; they are ere6t, and on round, whitilh, villole, 
peduncles, four lines or upwards in length : the common 
involucre has two flowers, is four-cleft, and covered with 
foft fpiiies; calyx fuperior, lix-leaved, tomentofe; germ 
three- 
