The Chestnut and Walnut are here brought together, not only as producing two useful kinds of hard-wooded timber, but from the fact of both being bearers of esteemed kinds of fruit. They are neither grown to the same extent in England as on the Continent, and probably neither of them is indigenous to this country, although it is stated by Sir W. Hooker to grow in woods apparently wild, in the south and south-west of England. As regards the fruit of the former, it may be said that in parts of Spain “Spanish Chestnuts” are a staple article of food. In England they are sometimes brought to table as a stuffing for turkeys, or roasted for dessert; but their greatest consumption among us is with the poor, who, in winter, with a halfpenny-worth of roasted chestnuts enjoy the double luxury of warm fingers and a sweet nutritious diet. Walnuts, as a fruit, are highly esteemed by all classes: as much by those who crack and peel them in a second or third class railway carriage, as by the squire who takes them as a concomitant with his glass of port. With us they are only cared for while they can be peeled, but abroad they are carefully dried, in which state they form an important article of commerce. In the Portuguese court of the International Exhibition of 1861, in our capacity of juryman, we had brought before us specimens of dried walnuts from as many as fifty exhibitors. The Spanish chestnut (_Castanea vulgaris_) has no relationship with the so-called horse-chestnut, which latter, we might just mention, is solely employed as an ornamental tree, if we except its occasional use in cabinet-work. Evelyn, sixty years ago, speaks of it as being “all the mode for the avenues to their country palaces in France.” It has been much used for this purpose with us, and its magnificent flowers and fine foliage will ever recommend it as an ornament about country residences. But to return to the Spanish chestnut. This tree is planted with us both for the growth of timber or as underwood for poles; for the latter purpose it answers well, as it soon grows up again after cutting, and in its young state it goes so soon to heart-wood that the poles are remarkably strong and tough. As a timber tree, the chestnut has been very extensively extolled both in this country and on the Continent; it may, however, be concluded that although its wood is exceedingly useful, it has never been put to the important uses which have been claimed for it. Evelyn, speaking of chestnut-wood, says:—“I had once a very large barn near the city, framed entirely of this timber.” Sir T. D. Lauder tells us that the roof of the Parliament House in Edinburgh is constructed of chestnut, and we have often seen it stated that the magnificent roof of Westminster Hall has been framed of this timber;[28] but to quote from Selby’s admirable “History of British Forest Trees”:—