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LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 
looser grained, and more liable to decay ; and the American 
wood is more open to this objection than that produced on 
the opposite side of the Atlantic. It is, however, in general 
use among us, for posts and rails in fencing ; and when the 
former are charred, they are found to be quite durable. 
The finest natural situations for this tree, appear to be the 
mountainous slopes of mild climates, where it attains the 
greatest possible perfection. Michaux informs us, that the 
most superb and lofty chestnuts in America are to be found 
in such situations, in the forests of the Carolinas. Abroad, 
every one will call to mind the far-famed chestnuts of Mount 
Etna, of wonderful age and extraordinary size. The great 
chestnut there, has excited the surprise of numerous travellers ; 
at present, however, it appears to be scarcely more than 
a mere shell, the wreck of former greatness. When visited 
by M. Houel, ( Arboretum Brit.) it was in a state of decay, 
having lost the greater part of its branches, and its trunk was 
quite hollow. A house was erected in the interior, and 
some country people resided in it, with an oven, in which, ac- 
cording to the custom of the country, they dried chestnuts, 
filberts, and other fruits, which they wished to preserve for 
winter use ; using as fuel, when they could find no other, 
pieces cut with a hatchet from the interior of the tree. In 
Brydone’s time, in 1770 this tree measured two hundred 
and four feet in circumference. He says it had the appear- 
ance of five distinct trees ; but he was assured that the space 
was once filled with solid timber, and there was no bark 
on the inside. This circumstance of an old trunk, hollow in 
the interior, becoming separated so as to have the appearance 
of being the remains of several distinct trees, is frequently 
met with in the case of very old mulberry trees in Great 
Britain, and olive trees in Italy. Kircher, about a century 
