3868 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 
and large-leaved varieties. The leaves, he says, are sweet, and used as fodder 
for most kinds of cattle. The tree was highly esteemed by the Romans for 
its shade; and, according to Pliny, for the numerous uses to which its wood 
might be applied. In modern times, the lime tree was one of the first to 
attract the notice of writers on plants; and, accordingly, it occupies a con- 
siderable space in the works of L’Obel, Gerard, Ray, and the various den- 
drological authors previously to the time of Linnzus, who describes only 
two species, 7. europe‘a and 7. americana; but M. Ventenat, in 1798, 
describes three European species and three American ones. De Candolle 
has described ten species. Evelyn, speaking of the lime tree, says, “ It 
is a shameful negligence that we are no better provided with nurseries 
for a tree so choice, and so universally acceptable. We send, commonly, 
for this tree into Flanders and Holland, while our woods do in some 
places spontaneously produce them.” The lime tree has long been a 
favourite tree for avenues and public walks; it is planted in the streets of 
some of the principal towns of France, Holland, and Germany; and it forms 
avenues to country seats, both on the Continent and in Great Britain, ‘“ The 
French,” Du Hamel says, “ growing tired of the horsechestnut for avenues, 
adopted the lime for that purpose, in the time of Louis XIV.; and, accord- 
ingly, the approaches to the residences of the French, as well as English, 
gentry of that date are bordered with lime trees”; and Fénélon, Sir J. E. 
Smith observes, “in conformity to this taste, decorates, with ‘flowery lime 
trees, his enchanted Isle of Calypso.’ The lime trees in St. James’s 
Park are said to have been planted at the suggestion of Evelyn; probably 
with a view to the improvement of the air, and to avert, in part, the 
evils pointed out in his Fumifugium. .The Dutch plant the lime in towns, 
along their widest streets, and by the sides of their canals; and the whole 
country is perfumed by their flowers during the months of July and August. 
In Miller’s time, the tree began to be little esteemed, on account of its coming 
into leaf late in the spring, and beginning to decay early in autumn; more 
especially when planted in a dry soil. Since the modern style of laying out 
grounds has rendered straight avenues unfashionable, the lime tree has not 
been nearly so much planted as formerly ; and its chief use at present, both | 
in Britain and on the Continent, is for planting public walks and promenades. 
Properties and Uses. The woed of the lime tree is of pale yellow or white, 
close-grained, soft, light, and smooth, and not attacked by insects. It is 
used by pianoforte-makers for sounding-boards, and by cabinet-makers for a 
variety of purposes. It is turned into domestic utensils of various kinds; 
carved into toys, and turned into smali boxes for the apothecaries. The most 
elegant use to which it is applied is for carving, for which it is superior to 
every other wood. Many of the fine carvings in Windsor Castle, Trinity Col- 
lege Library at Cambridge, and in the Duke of Devonshire’s mansion at Chats- 
worth, are of this wood. It is supposed by some, that the blocks employed by 
Holbein for wood-engravings were of this tree. The wood is said to make 
excellent charcoal for gunpowder ; even better than alder, and nearly as good 
as hazel. Baskets and cradles were formerly made from the twigs ; and shoe- 
makers and glovers are said to prefer planks of lime tree for cutting the finer 
kinds of leather upon. The leaves of the lime tree, in common with those 
of the elm and the poplar, were used, both in a dried and in a green state, 
for feeding cattle, by the Romans; and they are still collected for the same 
purpose in Sweden, Norway, Carniola, and Switzerland; though in Sweden, 
Linnzus says, they communicate a bad flavour to the milk of cows. One of 
the most important uses of the lime tree, in the north of Europe, is that of 
supplying material for forming ropes and mats; the latter of which enter 
extensively into European commerce. The Russian peasants weave the bark 
of the young shoots for the upper parts of their shoes, the outer bark serves 
for the soles ; and they also make of it, tied together with strips of the inner 
bark, baskets and boxes for domestic purposes. The outer bark of old trees 
supplies them, like that of the birch, with tiles for covering their cottages. 
