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OF FOREST-TREES.

of that I make little doubt*. The Chesnut affords the best stakes for ^chpalisades, and props for vines and hops, as I said before. It is good formill-timber or water-works, or where it may lie buried; but if watertouch the roots of the growing trees, it spoils both fruit and timber.

It is likewise observed, that this tree is so prevalent against cold, that,"where they stand, they defend other plantations from the injuries of theseverest frosts. I am sure, being planted in hedge-rows, et circa agrorumitinera, or for avenues to our country-houses, they are a magnificent androyal ornament. This timber also does well, if kept dry, for columns,tables, chests, chairs, stools, bedsteads ; for tubs, and casks for wine,which it preserves with the least tincture of the wood of any whatsoever.

If the timber be dipped in scalding oil, and well pitched, it becomesextremely durable, but otherwise, I cannot celebrate the tree for itssincerity, it being found that, contrary to the Oak, it will make a fairshow outwardly when it is all decayed and rotten within; but this isin some sort recompensed, if it be true that the beams made of Chesnut-tree have this property, that, being somewhat brittle, they give warningand premonish the danger by a certain crackling, so as, it is said, to have

root he nearly level with the ground. The fibres must be spread and lapped in the finemould, and the turf worked to the bottom. A stake should be placed to keep them safefrom the winds, and they must be fenced from the cattle till they are of a sufficient size

to defend themselves. The best season for this work is October._After the trees are

planted, neither knife nor hatchet should come near them; but they should be left toNature in the formation of their beautiful parabolic heads.

The Horse-Chesnut, like most other trees, delights most in good fat-land ; but it willgrow exceedingly well on clayey and marly grounds. I have seen large trees, luxuriant,and healthy, in very cold, barren, and hungry earth. In short, it may be planted in mostplaces to the owner’s satisfaction. It grows to a large size in a few years. The woodis chiefly used by the turner, and in the north is worth about sixpence a foot.

Of this genus there is another species titled by Linnaeus ESCULUS (pavia) floribusoctandris. Sp. PI. 48S. Tuf. scarlet-flowering horse-ciiesnut. This is a tree ofhumble-growth, seldom exceeding fifteen feet in height. It grows naturally in Carolina,the Brasils, and in several partsof the East.

d In the sixty-first volume of the Philosophical Transactions , Dr. Ducarel opposes theopinion of the Hon. Daines Barrington , who, in the fifty-ninth volume of the same work,bad afserted that “ Chesnut-trees were not natives of this kingdom.” I do not take uponme to say whether the Chesnut-tree be a native of the Southern parts of this island■or not; but I am well informed that no such tree has ever been discovered in any of thenatural woods north of Trent; and indeed it is most probable that it is not a native.

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