582 DODECANDRIA. TRIGYNIA. Castanea, 
A cultivated variety with larger and more glossy leaves-, and six to nine 
pistils to each seed-vessel, is said to bear fruit earlier and of a larger 
size. Stackh. 
the Chesnut may be obtained at the nurseries. No kind of forest tree contributes more 
gorgeously to the splendid array of autumn than does this truly noble vegetable, when 
- <e Fall’n into the sear and golden leaf.” 
For delineations of this species of tree we again refer to Strutt’s ‘ Sylva Britannica,’ 
where, among others, is given a fine representation of one growing in Cobham park, which 
measures 33 feet at 12 feet from the ground, and 40 feet where the trunk divides. 
Every such individual is in itself a grove, which should be held sacred, if not as the abode 
of a sylvan deity, for more rational considerations. 
“ Hail, old patrician trees, so great and good I 
Hail, ye plebeian underwood. 
Where the poetic birds rejoice. 
And for their quiet nests and plenteous food 
Pay with their grateful voice.” Cowley. E.) 
Nothing will thrive under its shade. The wood is applicable to the same uses as that of 
Oak, (but less valuable, as it is apt to be shaky and given to separate.- Notwithstanding it 
is bought for the purposes of cooperage and water pipes, not being liable to shrink after it is 
once seasoned: 
-- fe Staves that nor shrink nor swell 
The cooper’s close-wrought cask to Chesnut owes.” Dodsley. 
Nor to change the colour of the liquor it contains. Dr. Hunter affirms that posts made of 
this tree are more durable than oak. £.) If the bark be not taken off, it makes poles for 
espaliers, dead fences, and hop yards, and pipes to convey water under ground, which will 
last longer than those of Elm or Oak. (The bark being powerfully astringent is excellent 
for tanning. E.) At Tortworth, in Gloucestershire, is a tree 52 feet round. It is proved 
to have stood there ever since the year 1150, and was then so remarkable as to be called the 
Great Chesnut of Tortworth. It fixes the boundary of the manor, and is probably near 
1000 years old. Vid. Gent. Mag. 1766, p. 321, where there is a drawing of it, also etchings 
in the works of Martyn and Lysons. Mr. Marsham measured this tree in the year 1759, at 
the height of six feet from the ground, where its girth was 46 feet 6 inches. He calculates 
that it cannot be less, probably much more, than 1100 years old, and that it was 540 
years old when John came to the throne, and w r ould then measure 11 yards in circum¬ 
ference. Tr. Bath Soc. vol. 1. (The Editor visited the venerable ruin in 1792, when its 
decaying trunk was still surmounted by a few verdant branches, which on a second 
view, after an interval of a quarter of a century, had rather increased in vigour than 
otherwise. Mr. Collinson makes no doubt of the Chesnut being a native of En¬ 
gland, and assigns the great profit that arises from them when cut for hop-poles, as the 
reason why it is so rare to see large trees in the woods. Many of the old buildings in 
London prove it to have been in use at an early period, yet not so remote as to refute the 
idea of its having been either introduced and subsequently matured in this country, or 
imported for these special purposes ; and, according to Fitz-Steplien, (temp. Hen. II.) a 
forest of Chesnuts extended around the north side of the metropolis. The beautiful roof of 
Westminster Abbey, and that of the Parliament House, Edinburgh, are constructed of this 
material. E.) 
The nuts are used for whitening linen cloth, and for making starch. They are roasted 
on small stoves in the streets by fruit women in the south of Europe, and there constitute 
a great proportion of The food of the common people. In winter they form a very agree¬ 
able addition to our desserts. (Virgil describes them as acceptable fare with milk and 
cheese. 
-- t( Sunt nobis -— - , 
Castaneee molles, et pressi copia lactis.” Eel. i. 
And, in his second Eclogue, represents them among the delicacies proffered to 'win the 
regard of fair Alexis, 
ic Castaneasque nuces, mea quas Amaryllis aniabnt.” 
“Thee, with the downy quince, and Chesnuts sweet. 
Which once my Amaryllis lov’d, I’ll greet.” 
