334

CASTANEA.

variegata; all, except it may be the Glabra, inferior tothe species in beauty, and not worth cultivating, unlessin large arboretums for the sake of the deviation fromthe type.

In Britain , Chesnut trees of enormous dimensions arerecorded, several of which are still in existence. Theseprove the early period at which the introduction of thespecies must have taken place ; as an instance, we havethe famous Tortworth Chesnut already alluded to, andwhich some suppose may have been planted in the timeof the Romans; however this may be, it is certain thatin the reign of King John it was known as a boundarytree, and in that of Stephen, was so remarkable for itssize as to be called the great Chesnut of Tortworth. Itis beautifully figured by Mr. Strutt, in his “ Sylva Bri-tannica,” and in 1820 its circumference, near the ground,was fifty-two feet. Another very ancient Chesnut is thatgrowing in the park at Cobham, in Kent , called The FourSisters, also figured by Strutt. Greenwich Park andKensington Gardens also boast of many ancient hollowand pollard-like Chesnuts. Numerous magnificent andthriving trees are also to be found in various parts ofEngland; amongst others, we may mention one at Nettle-combe, Somersetshire , the seat of Sir John Trevelyan,Bart., which was planted within the recollection of hisfather, the late Sir J. Trevelyan, who died in 1828. Thedimensions of this tree are as follow:—height, sixty feet,circumference of trunk, at four feet from the ground,seventeen feet four inches ; the solid contents, three hundredand seventy-three feet, or nine tons thirteen feet. Anothertree at the same place, cut down in 1752, had a stemthirty-four feet in length, and which squared six feet