1990

ARBORETUM AND FRUT1CETUM.

PART III.

wards in oak again. In the woods of oak many young chestnut trees are foundintermixed, which, being overpowered, make but small progress. When theformer are felled, the latter, enjoying a freer current of air, grow vigorously,choke the young shoots of the oak, and assume their situations: the same hasbeen remarked in other forests.” ( See Trans. Soc. Arts., xii. p. 113.) At present,the chestnut abounds in France, on the borders of the Rhine , in Dauphineand the Vosges, Limousin, and a great many other places. It is common inthe neighbourhood of Paris , especially as coppice-wood; but the fruit is small,and of little value. The chestnut is cultivated, in the south of Germany , chieflyas undergrowth, for fence-wood, hop-poles, and vine-props. In Spain , thechestnut tree is grown chiefly for its fruit; which is produced in such abun-dance, as to be not only a common food of the peasantry, but an article ofexportation; the best chestnuts of the London markets being always fromSpain ; and hence, as before observed, the name of “ Spanish chestnut.”According to M'Culloch, “ chestnuts from Spain and Italy are frequentlykilndried, to prevent germination on their passage. During the three yearsending in 1831, the entries of foreign chestnuts for home consumption ave-raged 20,948 bushels a year. The duty of 2s. per bushel produced, in 1832,a sum which proved that the consumption in that year must have amountedto 23,216 bushels.”

Poetical Allusions. Virgil frequently mentions the chestnut in his Eclogues ,for its fruit; and in his Georgies, as a tree. In the latter, he calls it the loftychestnut: “ Ut alt® castaneae.” In the first Eclogue he says,—

■ — ' — " Sunt nobis mitia poma,

Castane ® molles, et pressi copia lactis.”

** Ripe apples and soft chestnuts we have there,

And curd abundant to supply our fare.”

In the second Eclogue, the chestnut is again mentioned, in a passage which isthus rendered by Dryden: —

“ Myself will search our planted grounds at home,

For downy peaches and the glossy plum;

And thrash the chestnuts in the neighbouring grove.

Such as my Amaryllis used to love.”

And Martial says : —

" Et, quas docta Neapolis creavit,

Lento castane® vapori tost®.” Lib. v. epig. 79 1 .

“ For chestnuts, roasted by a gentle heat,

No city can the learned Naples beat.”

The old English poets frequently allude to the chestnut. Herrick says:—

“ Remember us in cups full crown’d,

And let our city health go round ;uite through the young maids and the men,o the ninth number, if not ten ;

Until the fired chestnuts leapFor joy to see the fruits ye reapFrom the plump chalice and the cup,

That tempts till it be tossed up.”

Ben Jonson speaks of the “ chestnut whilk hath larded manyShakspeare, in Macbeth, of a “ sailor’s wife with chestnuts on herMilton alludes to the custom of roasting chestnuts : —

" While hisses on my hearth the pulpy pear,

And blackening chestnuts start and crackle there.”

In Catalonia , Philips tells us, a custom prevails of people going from house tohouse on All Saints’ Eve , believing that by every chestnut that they eat in adifferent house they will free a soul from purgatory. (Pom. Brit., p. 96.)

Properties and Uses. In a wild state, the nut of the chestnut affords foodto many animals, though its leaves and wood feed but few insects; nor does,it support many parasitic or epiphytic plants. Subjected to man, notwithstand-ing its near alliance to the oak, it is, both in the Old and New World, mors

a swinelap;” and