130 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



with red and yellow. It is a native of Middle Asia, but 

 flourishes well in the temperate climates of both hemispheres. 

 It was introduced into England, probably from Turkey, 

 about the year 1575 : in that country the nuts are often 

 ground into a coarse flour, which is mixed with other food 

 and given to horses that are broken-winded ; and from this 

 use the English name of the tree was derived, 



A starch has been extracted in considerable quantity from 

 the nuts. The wood is considered valueless in the United 

 States. 



The Horse-chestnut is by no means a picturesque tree, be- 

 ing too regularly rounded in its outlines, and too compact 

 and close in its surface, to produce an agreeable effect in 

 light and shade. But it is nevertheless one of the most heau- 

 tifiil exotic trees which will bear the open air in this climate. 

 The leaves, each made of clusters of six or seven leaflets, 

 are of a fine dark green colour; the whole head of foliage 

 has much grandeur and richness in its depth of hue, and 

 massiness of outline ; and the regular rounded pyramidal 

 shape, is something so different from that of most of our in- 

 digenous trees, as to strike the spectator with an air of nov- 

 elty and distinctness. The great beauty of the Horse-chest- 

 nut is the splendour of its inflorescence, surpassing that of 

 almost all our native forest trees: the huge clusters of gay 

 blossoms which every spring are distributed with such luxu- 

 riance and profusion over the surface of the fohage, and at the 

 extremity of the branches, give the whole tree the aspect ra- 

 ther of some monstrous flowering shrub, than of an ordinary 

 tree of the largest size. At that season, there can be no more 

 beautiful object to stand singly upon the lawn, particularly 

 if its branches are permitted to grow low down the trunk, 

 and (as they naturally will, as the tree advances.) sweep the 



