1992

ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART III.

p. 163.) Such are the uses of the'chestnut tree on the Continent; from which,we think, it will not be wondered that Emmerich (Culture of Forests, & c.), andGerman authors generally, should consider the chestnut as not ranking as aforest tree.

We shall now take a short view of the uses of the chestnut tree in Englandfrom the time of Evelyn. This author commences by saying, that “ the chest-nut is, next the oak, one of the most sought after by the carpenter and joiner.It hath formerly built a good part of our ancient houses in the city of London ,as does yet appear. I had once a very large barn near the city, framed entirelyof this timber; and, certainly, the trees grew not far off, probably in some woodsnear the town; for, in that description of London written by Fitz Stephens,in the reign of Henry II. , he speaks of a very noble and large forest, whichgrew on the boreal part of it, and which was well stored with all sorts of goodtimber.” (Hunt. Evel., i. p. 161.) It is evident that Evelyn here falls intothe common error, already noticed, of confounding the chestnut with the oak.He goes on to say that the chestnut affords the best stakes for palisades, propsfor vines and hops, and is good for mill timber and water-works, or where it maylie buried; “ but if water touch the roots of the growing tree, it spoils both fruitand timber.” It does well, he says, if kept dry, for columns, tables, chests,chairs, stools, and bedsteads; and, for tubs and wine-casks, “ which it pre-serves with the least possible tincture of the wood of any whatsoever. If thetimber be dipped in scalding oil, and well pitched, it becomes extremely dur-able ; but, otherwise, I cannot celebrate the tree for its sincerity, it beingfound that, contrary to the oak, it will make a fair show outwardly, when itis all decayed and rotten within : but this is in some sort recompensed, if it betrue that the beams made of chestnut tree have this property; that, beingsomewhat brittle, they give warning, and premonish the danger by a certaincrackling; so as, it is said, to have frighted those out of the baths at An-tandro, whose roof was laid with this material, but which, Pliny says, was ofhazel, very unlike it. Formerly, they made consultary staves of this tree;and the variegated rods which Jacob peeled to lay in the troughs, to impressa fancy in his father-in-law’s conceiving ewes, are said to have been of thismaterial. The coals are excellent for the smith, being soon kindled, and assoon extinguished; but the ashes of chestnut wood are not convenient tomake a lee with, because it is observed to stain the linen.” (Hunt. Evel. Syl., i.p. 162.) Cook, who may be considered as Evelyn’s contemporary, recom-mends the chestnut for coppice-wood, and says the timber is very useful.Miller falls into the error of his time, in considering the old roofs of oak asbeing formed of chestnut; and hence he recommends the latter, as being avery valuable kind of timber; though, in the edition by Martyn, this authorstates that he thinks the timber supposed by Miller and other writers to bechestnut, in our old buildings, is only oak of a different grain, and of an inferiorquality. Marshall says, “ The uses of the chestnut have been highly extolled,and it may deserve a considerable share of the praise which has been given toit. As a substitute for the oak, it is preferable to the elm; but it is liable toto be shaky; and there is a deceitful brittleness in it.” This property is alsomentioned in White’s Selborne; and with the addition, that “towards the heartthe wood is cup-shaky; that is to say, apt to separate into small pieces likecups, so that the inward parts are of no use. They are bought for the pur-poses of cooperage, but must make but ordinary barrels, buckets, &c. Chest-nut sells for half the price of oak; but has sometimes been sent into the king’sdock, and passed off instead of oak.” In another place, he observes that “ thetimber and bark” of old chestnut trees “ are so very like oak, as might easilydeceive an indifferent observer.” Pontey says that the wood and bark of thechestnut are known to possess the same valuable properties as those of the oak.Mitchell says that the wood of the chestnut is preferable to that of the oak,either in buildings or fences, and particularly for park poles.- Mathew seemsto confound the wood of the chestnut with that of the oak, observing that, inEngland, “ many of the largest of our ancient piles are wooded of it.” Its