334 



FOREIGN NOTICES. 



for those arc all, oT coiirso, prowii on standard 

 trees. We wish that \vc couhl aiUl that they arc 

 a// of tlie finest kinils, and carefully grown. Hut 

 we cannot. There is yet preat want of jiidpmcnt 

 in this resjiect. Quiinlitij is all that is cared for 

 by many (growers. — Ed. Hort. 



Clianthus Puniceus as a Creeper. — Those 

 wlio iiave not seen this trained as a creeper can 

 form no correct idea of the siilentior of this truly 

 beautiful plant. The Clianthus in the conservato- 

 ry here extends about 35 feet; on the next rafter 

 is Glycine (or AVistaria) sinensis, and at the toj) of 

 the house both creepers are turned to meet and in- 

 termingle their tlowers in festoons, the effect of 

 which is very good. Both plants flower twice in 

 the season. I>y being forced, or rather forwarded 

 in February and JNlarch, I hey bloom the latter 

 end of March and April, and again in September. — 

 /. L- Snow, Gardeners' Chronicle- 



Silk -Worms, &c At p. 709 you allude to the 



introduction of silk- worms, by Mrs. Whitby, of 

 Newlauds. The writer of this being in Paris in 

 the year 1S37 or 1838, heard the late M. Audouin, 

 professor at the Jardin des Plantes, state that after 

 repeated attempts, he had at last succeeded in pro- 

 curing from the southern parts of the United States, 

 a gigantic species of silk-worm (averaging six or 

 seven inches F'rcnch in length,) at that time un- 

 kno%vn in Europe, much hardier than the common 

 silk-worm, — particularly as to its food. Could 

 you inform me if anj' attempt has ever been made 

 to introtluce it into this countr)'? Might I also 

 ask if any attempt has been made to introduce the 

 Vicugna/ for the writer of this recollects well 

 hearing INI. St. Hilaire express himself strongly on 

 the great superiority of its wool to that of the Al- 

 paca, and his entertaining no doubt of the possibil- 

 ity of introducing it to Europe. Lastly, — you 

 stated some time since, that Mr. Barker has sent 

 to this country from Suaedia (I believe at the 

 mouth of the Orontes,) a kind of Peach (Nec- 

 tarine) entirely unknown in this country, the 

 peculiarity of which appeared to be a total ab- 

 sence of hydrocyanic acid in the pulp or seed. 

 Is it possible that our common Peach might have 

 originated in the bitter Almond, and this Peach in 

 the sweet? — Karpophilis, Nov. 3. [We must trust 

 to our kind correspondents for answers to these 

 inquiries.] — Gardeners' Chronicle. 



Remarkable Linden Trees. — ^In the middle 

 ages, during the struggles of the Swiss and Flem- 

 ish people to recover their liberty, it was their 

 custom to plant a lime tree on the field of every 

 battle that they gained over their oppressors; and 

 many of these trees, particularly those planted by 

 the Swiss in commemoration of their victories 

 over Charles the Bold, are still remaining (see p. 

 162,) and have been the theme of many ballads. 



" Evelyn, in his Sylva, mentions some large 

 lime trees ' at Basil, and that at Augsburg, under 

 whose prodigious shade they so often feast and 

 celebrate their weddings; because they are all of 

 them noted for their reverend anliquitj'; that of 

 Basil branching out one hundred paces in diam- 

 eter from a stem of about 20 feet in circle, under 



which the German emjierors liave sometimes 

 eaten; and to such trees, it seems, they jiaid di- 

 vine honors, as the nearest emhiems of eternity.' 

 (Hunt. Eve!., ii. p. 1^0.) At Neustadt, in Wir- 

 tcmburg, there is a jirodigious lime? tree, wliich 

 ni\fs its name to the town, that being called Neu- 

 stadt an der Linden. The tree is said by Evelyn 

 to have had, in his time, a trunk above 27 feet in 

 circumference, and the iliameter of the space cov- 

 ered by its branches to have been 403 feet. It 

 was ' set about with divers columns and monu- 

 ments of stone ("^2 in nunil)er, and ftjrniiTly above 

 100 more,) which several princes and n(}ble per- 

 sons have adorned, and which, as so many i)illars, 

 serve likewise to sujjport the umbrageous and ven- 

 erable boughs; and that even the tree had been 

 much ampler, the ruins and distances of the col- 

 umns declare, which the rude soldiers have great- 

 ly impaired.' (Ibid., p. 187.) Evelyn adds cop- 

 ies of many of the inscrijitions on the columns, 

 the oldest of which is ilated 1550; and the column 

 on which it is inscribed supports one of the largest 

 limbs, at a considerable distance from the tree, 

 wliich must thus have been of enormous size near- 

 ly three hundred years ago. In the wars which 

 afterwards desolated the country, this lime tree 

 suffered severely; and Gilpin tells us that its limbs 

 were mangled in wantonness by the troops beseig- 

 ing Neustadt. This tree is still (1838) in exist- 

 ence; and, by a drawing of it made for us in 1S37, 

 by M. Abresch, a young German artist, we find 

 that its trunk is now 18 feet in diameter, and is 

 surrounded by a balustrade of wood raised on a 

 low wall coped with stone; and that its limbs are 

 supported on lOS columns. The people of Neu- 

 stadt are in the habit of sitting in this tree to eat 

 fruit, &c.; and several gooseberry bushes have 

 sprung up in the crevices and hollows of the bark, 

 the fruit of w^hich is sold to visitors. 



" Evelyn mentions another remarkable lime at 

 Cleves, cut in eight sides, supported on pillars, and* 

 havin'j a room in the middle of the tree; and an- 

 other at Tillburg, near Buda, in Hungary, grow- 

 ing in the middle of the street, and having its 

 branches supported by 28 columns. Besides these 

 trees, he notices ' the famous tilia of Zurich;' and 

 ' the linilen of Schalouse, in Swisse, under which 

 is a bower, composed of its branches, capable of 

 containing 300 persons sitting at ease: it has a 

 fountain set about with many tables, formed only 

 of the boughs, to which they ascend by steps, all 

 kept so accurately, and so very thick, that the sun 

 never looks into it.' (Ibid.) In Evelyn's Diary, 

 he tells us, that, in the year 1641, in the cloister 

 garden of the Convent of St. Clara, at Bois le Due, 

 there was an overgrown lime tree, out of the stem 

 of which, near the root, ' issued five upright ex- 

 ceedingly tall suckers, or boles, the like whereof, 

 for evenness and height, were never observed.' 

 (Diary, &c., 8vo edit., i. p. 38.) ' An extraordi- 

 nary and stately tilia, linden, or lime tree, there 

 groweth at Depeham, in Norfolk, ten miles from 

 Norwich, whose measure is this: — The compass, 

 in the least part of the trunk or body, at about 6 

 feet from the ground, is 26 feet; near the ground, 

 46 feet; and at 3 feet, 36 feet. The height is about 

 90 feet.' (Ibid.) 



