1885. J HISTORICAL NOTICE OF CELEBRATED TREES. 375 



the largest logs exported were 17 feet long, 57 inches in breadth, 

 and 46 in thickness ; but these facts are insufficient. Browne, in 

 his history of Jamaica, says that in that country it reaches from, 

 6 to 7 feet in diameter, and if we suppose that it grows as fast as 

 the oak in Europe, or, on an average, 2 lines every year, the age of 

 the largest of these would be 500 years. Lunan says that about 

 the beginning of this century a tree was cut at Elizabeth's in 

 Jamaica, which measured 12 feet in diameter, or 1728 lines ; con- 

 sequently at the rate of 2 lines a year, it must have been upwards 

 of 850 years old ; but it is by no means so probable that so 

 compact a wood should grow as fast as this hypothesis requires, so 

 that these presumed ages must be far short of the truth. 



The Lime. 



The last exogenous tree I shall notice is the lime or linden tree 

 (Tilia), and this is susceptible of attaining a very great diameter, 

 although from the wood not being compact, and the branches spread- 

 ing much, it is easily destroyed by storms. The largest of which 

 the date is known with precision is that which was planted at 

 Eribourg, in Switzerland, in order to commemorate the bloody battle 

 of Morat in 1476. Though now beginning to decay, it has already 

 proved a more durable memorial than the famous ossuary on the 

 battle-field, — 



" When Burgundy bequeathed his tombless host, 

 A bony heap through ages to remain 

 Themselves their monument," — 



and may even outlast the obelisk recently erected on its site. 



The age of this tree and the girth of its trunk being well known, 

 it has been employed as a standard of comparison in computing the 

 ages of other large trees of the same species. Now in 1831, when 

 this tree was 355 years old, its circumference was 14 ft. 8 in. 

 English, or 55-^ in. in diameter. This of course would give a 

 mean annual increase of 1*885 lines, or 1| Lines nearly, English 

 measure, for very old limes, but for younger ones this may be taken 

 at 2-|- lines annually. Now there exists not far from Eribourg, but 

 nearer Morat, at the village of Villaro-en-Moing, a still older and 

 larger lime than that of Eribourg, but whose history refers to the 

 same epoch. In 1831 this tree was 74 ft. in height, and 38 ft. 

 4 in. in circumference at 4 ft, from the ground. According to 

 tradition, it was celebrated for its antiquity and size even in 1476 ; 

 and the tanners, profiting by the confusion arising from the 

 approaching battle of Morat, mutilated it for the sake of the bark, 

 after which it threw out two immense branches 6 ft. from the root. 



