1885. J HISTORICAL liOTlCE OF CELEBRATED TREES. 373 



HISTORICAL NOTICE OF SOME CELEBBATED TREES. 



BY THE LATE PROFESSOR WALKER ARNOTT, LL.D. 



Part V.— The Orange, Olive, Sycamore, Mahogany, and Lime. 



The Orange. 



ri^HE orange and the citron are known to attain a great age when 

 JL they are protected from the frost. Tradition asserts (as 

 reLated by Augustin Gallo in 1559) that the great orange tree 

 of the Convent of St. Sabina at Home was planted by St. Dominick 

 in the year 1200 ; and according to Evelyn, that of the Monastery 

 of Fondi, by Thomas Aquinas in 1278. The first of these trees 

 is still, I believe, in existence ; but as Gallesio remarks, it was 

 reported by Ferrari in 1560 to be in extreme old age ; hence it is 

 probable that the present stock is an offset from the original one, 

 which was perhaps killed by the frost in 1709. The great Ver- 

 sailles orange tree, known by tlie name of the Grand Bourbon or 

 Francis I., was retained by the family, when the effects of the 

 Constable de Bourbon were sold in 1523, because of its great 

 beauty ; from which we may conclude that it had attained a great 

 age about three centuries ago. Its traditional age is about 400, 

 and that of St. Dominick about 600 years old. 



The Olive. 



The wood of the olive {Oka Europaxi) is beautifully veined, has 

 an agreeable smell, and takes a fine polish ; it is also very compact 

 and durable, so that it is not surprising that this tree should 

 furnish instances of extraordinary longevity. Of this classical tree, 

 jM. Picconi says that the largest with which he is acquainted 

 grows at Pescio in the State of Genoa; its circumference is 25 

 feet 3 inches, and diameter 8 feet and 5 lines, or 1157 lines 

 English, that is, about 1050 French lines. Now the average 

 increase of the olive is estimated by Moschettini to be the eighth 

 part of a French inch, or 1^ French lines annually, so that the 

 olive tree of Pescio must be about seven centuries old. But this 

 is probably much below the truth, for Moschettini's estimate of the 

 annual growth was taken entirely from young trees. There is fully 

 a larger tree at Beaulieu, near Nice, which is described by Eisso, 

 and recently measured by Berthelot ; this is supposed to be more 

 than 1000 years old. Although in 1828 it was in a state of 



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