CITAP. XVIII. TILIA CEA. TILIA. S69 
Ropes are still made from the bark of the tree in Cornwall, and in some 
parts of Devonshire; as appears by the Agricultural Reports of those coun- 
ties; and this, according to Ray, was formerly the case in Lincolnshire. 
The manufacture of mats from the inner bark of the lime tree, however, 
is now chiefly confined to Russia, and some parts of Sweden. Trees of 
from 6 in. to 1 ft. in diameter are selected in the woods; and in the beginning 
of summer, when, from the expansion produced by the ascending sap, the 
bark parts freely from the wood, it is stripped from the trees in lengths of 
from 6 ft. to 8 ft. These are afterwards steeped in water, till the bark se- 
parates freely into layers; it is then taken out and separated into ribands 
or strands, which are hung up in the shade, generally in the wood where the 
tree grew from which they were taken; and, in the course of the summer, 
they are manufactured into the mats so much in use by gardeners and up- 
holsterers, and for covering packages generally. The fishermen of Sweden 
make nets for catching fish of the fibres of the inner bark, separated, by 
maceration, so as to form a kind of flax; and the shepherds of Carniola 
weave a coarse cloth of it, which serves them for their ordinary clothing. 
The trees from which the bark is taken are cut down during the same summer, 
collected into open places in the woods, cut into short lengths, and burned 
in heaps, so as to form charcoal. The sap of the lime tree, drawn off in 
spring, and evaporated, affords a considerable quantity of sugar; and Adan- 
son suggested the idea of employing it for this purpose in France, along with 
the sap of the birch and the maple. The honey produced by the flowers is 
considered superior to all other kinds for its delicacy, selling at three or four 
times the price of common honey; and it is used exclusively in medicine, 
and for making some particular hare of liqueurs, more especially Rosoglia. 
This lime tree honey is only to be procured at the little town of Kowno, 
on the river Niemen, in Lithuania, which is surrounded by an extensive forest 
of limes. An account of this forest, of the mode of managing the bees in 
it, and of disposing of the honey, &c., was given to Sir John Sinclair by 
the botanist Hove, and will be found printed as an appendix to the Hus- 
bandry of Scotland. The Jews of Poland produce a close imitation of this 
honey, by bleaching the common sort in the open air during frosty weather. 
(See Bright’s Travels in Hungary.) The fruit of the lime tree had long 
been thought of little use, till Missa, a physician of the faculty of Paris, by 
triturating it, mixed with some of its fowers, succeeded in procuring a butter, 
perfectly resembling chocolate; having the same taste, and giving the same 
paste, as the cocoa. This was in the time of Frederick the Great; who, 
feeling a greater interest in the discovery than the French, who were in pos- 
session of plantations of the cocoa in their colonies, engaged the chemist 
Marcgraf to prove the observations of Missa, which he did entirely to the 
satisfaction of Frederick; but, unfortunately, it was found that the lime 
tree chocolate did not keep. On this Ventenat remarks, that, if the subject 
had been pursued a little further, and the fruits of some of the American 
species of limes taken, the success would probably have been complete. In 
landscape-gardening the principal use of the lime is as a detached tree on a 
lawn, or in scenery which is decidedly gardenesque; because, from the sym- 
metrical and regular form of the tree, it is unfitted for grouping with other 
trees in the picturesque manner. London and Wise recommended the lime 
tree, as preferable to the elm, for sheltering gardens or orchards; because the 
roots do not, like those of the elm, spread out and impoverish all around 
them. In the Retired Gardener, the chief use of the tree is said to be for 
bowers, or covered ways 18 ft. or 20 ft. high: the lime being trained to a 
‘shelter roof. Evelyn commends the lime for its “ unparalleled beauty ” 
for walks; “because” he says, “ it will grow in almost all grounds, lasts 
long, soon heals its wounds when pruned, affects uprightness, stoutly resists 
-a storm, and seldom becomes hollow.” Scattered trees of it harmonise 
well with immense masses of Grecian or Roman architecture; but it is less 
suitable for the narrow perpendicular forms of the Gothic. For architectural 
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