Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1878-02-28
The Great Chestnut Tree Of Mount
Etna.

The large trees Of California have,
for few years been considered won
derful productions of nature, and they
are well worth seeing; but the great
chestnut-tree of Mount Etna is much
larger than any that have been dis
covered in California, and is one of
the most celebrated trees in the world.
II is known by the name of the cas-
tdgno de- cento cavaM (the chestnut
tree of hundred horses There is a
tradition that Jane, Queen of ARA
gon,on her voyage from Spain to Ma
Piles. landed in Sicily for the purpose
of visiting Mount Etna, and being
overtaken by storm, she and her
hundred attendants on horseback.
found shelter within the trunk of this
celebrated tree. 1t appears to con-
sist of five large and two smaller
trees, which from the appearance of
the barks and boughs, being all on
the outside, indicates that it was one
trunk originally. The largest trunk
is thirty.eight feet in circumference !;
and the whole FIVE measured Just
above the ground, are one hundred
and sixty-three feet 1t still bears
rich foliage, and an abundance of
small fruit, though the heart of the
trunk is decayed, and public road
leads through it wide enough for two
coaches to drive abreast In the
cavity is hut built for the accomo-
dation of those who collect and pre-
serve The cbestnuts.
1t is said by the natives to be the
oldest of trees" From the state of
decay it is impossible to have re-
source to the usual mode of es,imat.
ing the age of trees by counting the
concentric rings of annual growth I;
and therefore no exact numerical ex-
preston can be assigned to this tree.
That it may be some thousand years
old is by no means improbable.
Adanson examined in this manner
a Baobab tree in Senegal, and inferr-
ed that it had attained the age of five
thousand one hundred and fifty years;
and De Candolle considers it not i'm
probable that the celebrated Taxodi-
UNI of Chapultepec in Mexico, which
is one hundred and seventeen feet in
circumference may be still more aged.
1t is evident that if the great chest.
nut tree were in reality collection
OF trees, as it first appears to be the
wonder of its size would be at an end.
Bydrone, who visited this tree one
hundred years ago says, 81 own that
at first, / was by no means struck
with its appearance, as it did not
seem to be one tree but bush of five
trees, all large, and growing very
near together. We complained to
our guides of the imposition, when
they unanimously assured us that by
the universal tradition ahd even by
the testimony of the country, all these
were once united in one stem; that
their grandfathers remembered when
this was beautiful tree and was
looked upon as the glory of the forest,
and when il was visited from all quar-.
tiers, but that for many years 1t had
been reduced to venerable ruin. We
then began to examine it with more
attention, were indeed satisfied at
last that it was formerly but one
tree.
The opening in the middle is at
present very large but there is no ap-
pearance of bark on the inside of any
Of the stumps. And, more recently,
Canonico Recupero, an ingenius ecs
clesiastic, made an examination of the
place, and was at the expense of tax.
ing up number of peasants with
tools TO dig around the cdstaqno de-
ce,ato caUalh, and he ascertained that
all the stems united below the ground
in one root and that it was the re-
mains of but one enormous tree.
Delafeld, Wis.