Horse chestnut

“ The leaves are composed of seven radiating leaflets (long-wedge-shaped) ; when young they are downy and drooping. From the early date of its leafing year by year, a horse-chestnut in the Tuileries is known as the “Marronnier du 20 mars.” The flowers of the horse-chestnut, which are white dashed with red and yellow, appear in May, and sometimes, but quite exceptionally, again in autumn; they form a handsome erect panicle, but comparatively few of them afford mature fruit. ”

“ The well-known Horse Chestnut, in sheltered spots, is very ornamental, as is also the Spanish Chestnut; the latter spreads rapidly. Where immediate effect is required, nothing gives more satisfaction than the White Poplar; it grows in a wet soil better than anything else. ”

“ The Horse-chestnut is extremely well adapted to parks, not only because it grows to a large size and forms a beautiful regular head, thereby becoming a pleasing object at a distance, but also on account of the quantity of nuts it yields, which are excellent food for deer, so that where great numbers of deer are kept, the planting of these trees in abundance is to be recommended. It is also very suitable for avenues, or walks, though it has been objected that its leaves fall early in the autumn. ”

“ The leaves of the Horse-chestnut are large, of a deep green colour, fine, and palmated, and appear very early in the spring; it is naturally uniform in its growth. In the spring it produces long spikes, with beautiful flowers white and variegated, generally in such number as to cover the whole tree, and to give it the appearance of one gigantic bouquet. ”

“ The great avenues of horse-chestnut, five in number, and running parallel with a length of rather more than a mile and an aggregate breadth of nearly two hundred yards, are formal enough in design, but the mass of foliage gives them the effect of a wood. They lead nowhere in particular, and are flanked by glades and copses in which the genuinely rural prevails. ”

“ Dead-horse chestnut it might reasonably be called, because of its heavy, carrion smell, which, under the influences of a July night, is but too perceptible to the dwellers of streets where it abides. The tree at my window was an ailantus, of stately dimensions, and bounteous in a proportionate enormity of smell; yet it had never before affected me so much as on this night, when I lay dozing in the ghastly gloom. ”

“ One novelty we discovered, viz., that on each side along a portion of the newly-cleared ground, young saplings had been planted at regular intervals; these, we were told, were horse-chestnuts, procured from the United States expressly for the purpose of forming a double row of trees here. In the neighbourhood of York the horse-chestnut was then a rarity.
Everywhere throughout the North American continent, as in the numerous newly-opened areas of the British Empire elsewhere on the globe's surface, instances, of course, abound of wonderful progress made in a brief interval of time. ”

“ As an avenue tree, the horse chestnut has few, if any, superiors. Perhaps the finest examples in Scotland of this manner of planting it are to be seen at Gilmerton, in East Lothian, and Drummond Castle, in Perthshire; while in England the splendid double avenue at Bushey Park, Middlesex, has long been famous, "Chestnut Sunday" being a noted festival for Londoners when the trees are in full bloom. ”

“ The long spikes of pretty red flowers are usually produced in great abundance, and as they stand well above the foliage, and are of firm lasting substance, they have a most pleasing and attractive appearance. As there are numerous forms of the red-flowered Horse Chestnut, differing much in the depth of flower colouring, it may be well to warn planters, for some of these have but a faint tinge of pink overlying a dirty yellowish-green groundwork, while the finest and most desirable tree has the flowers of a decided pinky-red. ”

“ Next to the hickory nuts, we must rank the chestnuts. Some may give them first place in the list of American nut trees. In England the chestnut trees one hears about are never praised for their nuts. English boys and girls do not eagerly plan for half-holidays spent in the jolly sport of chestnutting. Their chestnut trees turn out to be very familiar to our eyes. They are the horse chestnuts that we see so often at home. ”

“ The Horse Chestnut is a native of the mountain regions of Greece, Persia, and Northern India, and is believed to have been introduced to Britain about 1550. It is not a tree [Pg 140] that will be found in the woodlands, or even by the wayside, except when it is behind a fence; yet it constantly greets the rambler who has left the suburban gardens behind him, and in the public parks—notably the magnificent avenue of Bushey Park—where by contrast it exhibits itself as the grandest of all flowering trees. ”

“ Once upon a time there was a big horse called Chestnut. He was as fierce as a fury, and bit everybody who came near him; his groom always had a broken bone, or a bruise at the least; and, as for the other horses, let Chestnut loose in the herd, and there was a fine to-do: a kick for one, a bite for another; it was hurry, skurry, worry, till they took themselves off and left him alone in the clover.
Now the King wanted to buy some horses, and a dealer had driven down a couple of hundred of them for the King to buy. But the King was a skinflint, and wanted to get them cheap ”

“ The fallen leaves are relished by sheep and deer, and afford a good litter for flocks and herds.
One variety of the horse-chestnut has variegated leaves, and another double flowers. Darwin observed that Ae. Pavia, the red buckeye of North America, shows a special tendency, under unfavourable conditions, to be double-blossomed. The seeds of this species are used to stupefy fish. The scarlet-flowered horse-chestnut, Ae. rubicunda, is a handsome tree, less in height and having a rounder head than the common form; it is a native of North America. ”

“ The growth of the tree is very rapid, and consequently the timber is soft and of no value where durability is required. Still, its even grain and susceptibility to a high polish make it useful for indoor wood, such as cabinet-making and flooring. It is also used for making charcoal for the gunpowder mills. Although Salvator Rosa and other landscape painters have made such good use of the Sweet Chestnut pictorially, they have utterly neglected the Horse Chestnut ”

“ She heard the thud of his horse behind her, and the black spurted again. But the chestnut crept up till it was level with her girths—till the two horses were neck and neck.
"Pull, darling, pull!" With a wild thrill she heard his voice low and tense beside her; regardless of everything, she stole one look at his steady eyes, which flashed a message of confidence back.
"Pull—pull, on that off rein."
She felt the chestnut hard against her legs, boring into her as the man, exerting every ounce of his strength, started to ride her off. ”

“ The dark chestnut 'horse-shoe' on the gray breast is nearly obsolete in most adult females; female invariably distinguished by widest buff bands on black scapulars and adjoining wing coverts, which in cock are light brown with black vermiculations and chestnut blotches. ”

“ Infusion of horse-chestnuts is found to expel worms from soil, and soon to kill them if they are left in it. The nuts furthermore have been applied to the manufacture of an oil for burning, cosmetic preparations and starch, and in Switzerland, France and Ireland, when rasped on ground, to the bleaching of flax, hemp, silk and wool. In Geneva horse-chestnuts are largely consumed by grazing stock, a single sheep receiving 2 ℔ crushed morning and evening. Given to cows in moderate quantity, they have been found to enhance both the yield and flavour of milk. ”

“ Body generally soft, silky brownish-ashy, with a purplish cast, the wing-coverts and scapulars more brownish, becoming more reddish anteriorly and ashy posteriorly; the rump and upper tail-coverts, as well as the secondaries, being nearly pure ash. Anteriorly the color passes gradually into deep vinaceous-chestnut on the forehead to behind the eye and on the cheeks; abdomen yellowish-white. Lower tail-coverts deep chestnut. ”

“ The chestnut about the head in adult males varies in amount with the individual; sometimes (as in 20,633, May, Moose Factory, Hudson’s Bay Territory) there is an oblong spot of chestnut in the middle of the crown, but generally this is absent. Very frequently the chestnut tinges the throat. All variations in these respects appear, however, to be individual, and not dependent at all on locality. West Indian specimens appear to be absolutely identical with those from North America.
Autumnal specimens are browner, the chestnut markings much obscured.
PLATE XII.
1. ”

“ It is a really beautiful creature, rich red chestnut in colour on the upper surface, jet black as to the lower surface, the limbs also black, the snout and the inside of the ears white, the tail bushy, reddish-brown in colour, and indistinctly ringed. The fact of the under surface being black while the upper is bright reddish-yellow is remarkable; with most animals, when there is any difference in colour, it is the under surface which is lighter. The body and head are about half a yard long, the tail about a foot. ”

“ The largest known chestnut tree is the famous Castagno di cento cavalli, or the chestnut of a hundred horses, on the slopes of Mount Etna, a tree which, when measured about 1780 by Count Borch, was found to have a circumference of 190 ft. The timber bears a striking resemblance to that of the oak, which has been mistaken for chestnut; but it may be distinguished by the numerous fine medullary rays. Unlike oak, the wood is more valuable while young than old. When not more than fifty years old it forms durable posts for fences and gates ”

“ Chestnuts, though a very common dessert fruit in France, are comparatively little used in England, though there is no reason why they should not be much cultivated, as they grow well in a cold, and even in a mountainous country. In Perigord they count eight different species of chestnuts, and there, as well as in Brittany, the chestnut forms a staple article of food for the peasantry. ”

“ Zan remembered.
"Anybody else wish to contribute?" asked Miss Miller.
"Every one wants to but can't afford it this time," laughed Jane eagerly.
"Well then, the chestnut is a deciduous tree that grows to a considerable height and size. Its timber is light weight, cross-grained and very durable; that is why it has been preferred in the past for posts. Its leaves are long and shiny and has sharp pointed edges. The nuts are sweet and of a starchy nature, also highly nutritious. ”

“ DESCRIPTION.—"Light chestnut or olive-brown, with an eye-spot; the margin of the lips, the tail beneath, limbs within, and abdomen, white—in summer many assume a paler and more yellow tint, and get a few white spots, and the old buck assumes a dark slaty colour; the horns resemble those of a young spotted deer, with both the basal and upper tines very small, the former pointing directly upwards at a very acute angle, and the latter directed backwards and inwards, nearly at a right angle, occasionally pointing downwards" (Jerdon) . ”

“ Bright chestnut is the prevailing colour among the wild horses. The lambs which are not from merinos, but the tana basta and burda of the Spaniards, at first are covered with wool, and when this is timely shorn, it grows again; if the proper time is allowed to elapse, the wool falls off, and is succeeded by short, shining, close hair, like that of the goat in the same climate. Every animal, it would appear, like man, requires time to accustom itself to climate. ”

“ When the chestnut color is first assumed, it is of a dull tint, and is obscured by dusky margins to the feathers; the chin is white, and the throat and fore neck uniform brown, with which the chestnut feathers are often mingled. ”

“ A few of these tenacious individuals are still sending up sprouts that may reach considerable size before they are again struck down.
I have had no serious trouble with blight in any of the named chestnut varieties, either Chinese or Japanese. I have lost some trees by its entrance into the seedling stock, but not many. My greatest headache has been sun-scald and winter killing, or to be more exact, "early spring" killing.
One of the juvenile characteristics of oriental chestnuts is the retention of their leaves all winter. They also grow in a rather sprangling way. ”

“ The chestnut in England has in modern times been treated with less courtesy than it deserves. It is a better tree in many ways than the elm, which is usually placed only a step or two below the oak. It may not be so graceful, but it is beautiful notwithstanding, and far less treacherous. In such esteem, indeed, was it held by our ancestors that many of their beautiful half-timbered houses, which a careless posterity supposes to have been invariably built of oak, were largely constructed of chestnut, while many an old house is full of admirably carved and polished chestnut furniture. ”

“ Back and rump pale sandy-brown or brownish-ochraceous, the back with sharply defined black streaks which, excepting on the scapulars, have no chestnut bordering; crown invaded centrally, from the nape, by a broad space of pale ash which tinges most of the feathers to their bases and confines the usual chestnut to a small area on the forehead and two narrow, lateral stripes; lores and sides of head pale fulvous; entire under parts washed with warm ochraceous, deepest on the sides and abdomen, palest on the throat where it only partially conceals the ashy beneath. ”