184 
LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 
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 favourite 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 leaf- 
less, 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, less tame, and possess- 
ing more permanent interest to the picturesque eye, can be 
formed of these two genera of trees when disposed in grand 
masses, than with any other forest trees of temperate cli- 
mates ; porhaps we may say of any climate. 
There is so little difference in the common Sweet chestnut 
( Castanea vesca,) of both hemispheres, that they are gene- 
rally considered the same species. Varieties have been 
produced in Europe, which far surpass our common chest- 
nuts of the woods, in size, though not in delicacy, and rich- 
ness of flavour. Those cultivated for the table in France, 
are known by the name of matrons. These improved 
sorts of the Spanish chestnut, bear fruit nearly as large as 
that of the Horse-chestnut, inferior in sweetness, when raw, 
to our wild species, but delicious when roasted. The Span- 
ish chestnut thrives well, and forms a large tree, south of 
the Highlands of the Hudson, but is rather tender north of 
this neighborhood. A tree in the grounds at Presque Isle, 
the seat of William Denning, Esq., Dutchess Co., is now 
