DECIDUOUS ORNAMENTAL TREES. 207 



It has long been a favorite with the poets for its grateful 

 shade ; and as the roots run deep, the soil beneath it is 

 sufficiently rich and sheltered to afford an asylum for the 

 minutest beauties of the woods. Tennyson sweetly 

 says : — 



" That slope beneath the chestnut tall 

 Is wooed with choicest breaths of air, 

 Methinks that I could tell you all 

 The cowslips and the king cups there." 



When old, its huge trunk, wide-spread branches, lofty head, 

 and irregular outline, all contribute to render it a 

 picturesque tree of the very first class. In that state, 

 when standing alone, with free room to develope itself on 

 every side, like the oak, it gives a character of dignity, 

 majesty, and grandeur, to the scene, beyond the power of 

 most trees to confer. It is well known that the favorite 

 tree of Salvator Rosa, and one which was most frequently 

 introduced with a singularly happy effect into his wild and 

 picturesque compositions, was the chestnut ; sometimes 

 a massy and bold group of its verdure, but oftener an old 

 and storm-rifted giant, half leafless, or a barren trunk 

 coated with a rich verdure of mosses and lichens. 



The chestnut in maturity, like the oak, has a great 

 variety of outline ; and no trees are better fitted than 

 these for the formation of grand groups, heavy masses, 

 or wide outlines of foliage. A higher kind of beauty, with 

 more dignity and variety, can be formed of these two 

 genera of trees when disposed in grand masses, than with 

 any other forest trees of temperate climates ; perhaps we 

 may say of any climate. 



There is so little difference in the common Sweet 

 chestnut {Castanea vesca) of both hemispheres, that they 



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