142 TILIACE^— LIME TEIBE 



"There weren Elmis grete and strong, What should I tell you more of it ? 



Maplis, Ashe, Oke, Aspe, Planis long ; There werein so many trees yet, 



Fine Ewe, Popler, and Lindis faire. That I should all encombred be, 



And other trees full many a paire, Er I had rekenid tre." 



The timber of the Lime is light, smooth, close-grained, and not liable to 

 be worm-eaten. Various boxes, screens, and other articles on which ladies 

 paint flowers, are made of the Avood, and it is valued by carvers for orna- 

 mental work. Many of the screens in palaces and cathedrals are formed of 

 this material ; and those airy wreaths of flowers carved by the skilful hand of 

 Grinling Gibl^ons, Avhich no artist since has rivalled in grace and beauty, are 

 made of Lime-wood. In the choir of St. Paul's Cathedral are some exquisite 

 specimens of this work, and some very delicate and elegant wreaths adorn 

 Trinity College, Cambridge. Artists have the scribblets for their first 

 draughts made of Lime-wood; and when burnt it forms one of the best 

 charcoals for the maker of gunpowder. Turners, toy-makers, and various 

 artisans use it in their work ; and ropes are made of the fibres of the bark 

 in Lincolnshire, the Forest of Dean, and in Wales. This, peeled off in thin 

 layers, is used for making the mats which gardeners wrap about tender trees. 

 It is called bass or bast, and forms a considerable part of the exports from 

 Russia. 



So many materials are now used for making paper, and that article is so 

 cheap, and so easily procured, that we no longer need, even in the most 

 remote villages, the bark of trees as a material on which to write. In former 

 days, however, the bark of the lime was commonly used for this purpose, 

 and strips of it were also separated for forming ornamental head-dresses. 

 Evelyn mentions a book written on the inner bark of the Lime, which was 

 brought to the Count of St. Amant, Grovernor of Arras, 1662, for which the 

 Emperor gave 8,000 ducats. It contained "a Avork of Cicero, De ordinanda 

 Republica, et de inveniendis Orationum Exordiis ; a piece inestimable, but 

 never published, and now in the library at Vienna, after it had formerly been 

 the greatest rarity in that of the late Cardinal Mazainn." 



The nuts of the Lime-tree are said to have, when roasted, the flavour of 

 chocolate, and might be used as a substitute ; a good sugar has been obtained 

 from the saccharine substance Avith Avhich the sap abounds, and a pleasant 

 wine made by fermenting it. The floAvers and bracts, Avhen di-ied, are sold 

 in the shops of Paris for coughs, and their demulcent nature is very apparent 

 to us, if we only eat a leaf, or one of the young buds in spring, which are 

 full of mucilage. This species of Lime is chiefly distinguished from the last 

 by its coriaceous fruit. 



3. Broad-leaved, Downy Lime-tree (T. jilafi/phyllos). — Nectaries 

 none; leaves downy, especially beneath, Avith solitary hairs ; origin of the 

 veins woolly; young branches and leaf-stalks hairy; fruit woody. Plant 

 perennial. This tree has stronger claims than either of the other species to 

 be considered as a native. It groAvs in several woods in Hereford, Radnor 

 and West Yorkshire, floAvering in June and July. 



