50 



SUVA OF NORTH AMERICA. 



TILIACEJE. 



to withstand decay when exposed to the elements, but esteemed and largely used for the interior finish 

 of buildings, for cabinet-maldng, for the sounding boards of pianos, for wood carving, and for all kinds 

 of wooden ware, and in the United States for the manufacture of paper, and the shavino-s used in stuf- 

 fing furniture. The principal economic value of Tilia is in the tough inner bark or bast. This was 

 used by the ancients for paper and for mats and in tying garlands,^ and is now largely manufactured 

 into mats, cords, fish-nets, coarse cloth, and shoes, especially in some parts of Russia and in Sweden 

 where forests of TiHa abound.^ The leaves of the different Tilias are gathered in some European coun- 

 tries and fed, either fresh or dried, to cattle,^ and the young branches of Tilia hetaropliylla are cut in 

 winter in the mountain regions of the southern United States for the same purpose. Lime-flower oil or 

 Linden oil,* obtained by distilling the flowers of the European Tilias, has a pleasant odor and is used in 

 perfumery. An infusion of the flowers is a popular domestic remedy in some European countries in the 

 treatment of indigestion, nervousness, and hysteria.^ The flowers yield large quantities of nectar and 

 honey made near forests of Tiha is unsurpassed in flavor and delicacy. 



Tihas, especially the species of western Europe,'' have for centuries been favorite shade and 

 ornamental trees, particularly in Europe at the period when the formal style of gardenino-, under the 

 inspiration of Le Notre, prevailed j and avenues of Lime-trees were long considered an essential feature 

 in every park and town of central and northern Europe. The ability of the Lindens to thrive with 

 severe pruning renewed year after year fit them for the decoration of formal gardens, and their free 

 habit when allowed to grow naturally makes them desirable park and roadside trees. The Tilias of 

 eastern Europe,^ less known in cultivation, are all beautiful hardy trees.^ Numerous varieties of the 

 European Tilia have appeared in gardens, especially among seedlings of Tilia platyphyllos, and are 

 cultivated for their abnormal habit or curious foliao-e. 



Tilias grow freely and rapidly in cultivation, flourishing in strong rich soil ; they may be propa- 

 gated by grafting or by layers as well as from seed. They are subject, however, to the attacks of many 

 msects which sometimes destroy the trees by boring mto the trunk, or disfigure them by devouring the 

 foliage.'* 



feet from the ground in 1830, and was estimated to have lived 864 

 years. More famous still is the Linden of Neustadt on the Kocher 

 in Wiirtemberg, which was large enough in 1550 to require stone 

 columns to support its enormous branches. This tree had, in 1664, 

 a trunk thirty-seven feet four inches in circumference, and was com- 

 puted to be from 800 to 1,000 years old. (^Notice sur la Longevitd 

 des Arbres, A. P. de CandoUe, Bib. Univ. xlvli. 61. — Sdentijic Pa- 

 pers, Asa Gray, ii. 89.) 



1 Horace, Odes, i. 38, 2. — Ovid, Fasti, v. 337. — Pliny, xvi. 14, 

 25 ; xxiv. 8, 33. 



2 Trees twelve to twenty years old are usually cut In Russia for 

 bast, generally in May or June when the sap Is flowing freely and 

 the bark can be most easily removed. It is divided into longitudi- 

 nal strips four to six feet long, loosened with a sharp knife, and 

 then torn ofe by hand and spread on the ground to dry. The bark 

 is then soaked in water, when the liber is easily separated from the 

 coarse cortical layers. 



Linden-bast is exported from Russia principally in the form of 

 mats sis feet long and three and a half feet wide. They are used 

 in packing machinery, furniture, and other large objects, and by 

 gardeners for tying their plants. The Russian product of bast mats 

 IS estmiated at 14,000,000 pieces, a large part being exported. The 

 principal domestic use of bast in Russia is in shoemaking, several 

 mniion pair of bast shoes being made in the governments of Nijnii- 

 Novgorod, Wiatka, Kostroma, and Minsk. (Spone, Encyclopmdm 

 of Industrial Arts, Manufactures,and Commercial Products, 999.) 



' Linnaeus, Iter. Scand. 256. - Ventenat, Mem. Acad. Sci. iv. 18. 



LinniEus observed that the milk of cows fed on the leaves of Tilia 

 was of poor quality and bad a disagreeable flavor. 



* Henry "Watts, Diet. Chemistry, in. 696. — Spone, EnajclopcEdia 

 of Industrial Arts, Manufactures, and Commercial Products, 1424. 



^ Stilld & Maisch, Nat. Dispens. ed. 2, 1430. 



^ Tilia platyphyllos, Scopoli, Ft. Cam. i. 373. — Garden and For- 

 est, ii. 256, f. 109 (T. paucifolia, Hayno, Abbild. Holz. 145, t. 108). 

 Tilia ulmifoUa, Scopoli, Fl. Cam. i. 374. — Garden and Forest, ii. 

 257, f. Ill (T. parvifolia, Hayne, Abbild. Holz. 141, t. 106). Tilia 

 vulgaris, Hayne, Abbild. Holz. i. 144, t. 107.— Garden and Forest, 

 ii. 256, f. 110. 



+ 



^ Tilia argentea, De Candollej Cat, PL HorL Monsp. 150 (T,alba, 

 WaMstein & KItaibel, PL Rar. Hung, i. 2, t. 3. — Reiclienbach, FL 

 Ger, Ti. 60, t. 324)- Tilia petiolaris, De Candollo, Prodr, i, 514, — 

 BoL Mag. t. 6737. Tilia dasysUjla, Loudon, Arh. Brit L 366.— 

 Bayer, VerhandL BoL Verein, Wien, xii. 39, t, 9, f- 2 (T. euchlora, 

 C. Koch, Deridni. 473). 



® Two or three j\siatic species of Tilia have been introduced into 

 the United States and Europe, Tlieir introduction, however, is 

 so recent that it is impossible to speak of their hardiness or of their 

 value as ornamental trees. 



* The different species appear to be attacked by the same insects. 

 All the American and European species are liable in America to 

 Injury by a borer, Saperda vestita. (Harris, Injurious Insects, 109.) 

 The larvfe of two species of moth, Cossxis Ugniperda and Zeuzera 

 CEsculi, bore into the wood of Lindens and other trees- The Zeuzera 

 has become naturalized in the United States, and has been found 



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