Book III. 



HARD-WOODED NON-RESINOUS TREES. 



991 



when in fruit, and in autumn when its leaves 

 change to a beautiful red and yellow. Its timber 

 is chiefly used by the cabinet-maker and chair- 

 maker. 



7113. The tree-laburnum. — Cytisus alpinus, W. 

 en. (Bot. Mag. 176.) Diaddph. Decan. L. and 

 Leguminosce, J. It is a low tree, a native of 

 Switzerland, cultivated chiefly for ornament, but 

 affording also a valuable timber. For this pur- 

 pose the variety or species (C. alpinus), with broad 

 leaves and long racemes, is decidedly to be pre- 

 ferred, as being much more of a tree than the 

 other. Sang says, it has a full claim to the cha- 

 racters of useful and ornamental ; is beautiful 

 when in flower, and may, in a grove, be trained 

 to a fine stem of very considerable size. 



7114. Use. The timber (the false ebony of the French) 

 is much prized by cabinet-makers and turners, for its 

 hardness, beauty of grain, and durability. The tree is frequently sown in plantations infested with 

 hares and rabbits, who will touch no other tree as long as a twig of laburnum remains. " Though eaten 

 to the ground in winter," as Boutcher observes, " it will spring again next season, and thus afibrd a con- 

 stant supply for these animals, so as to save the other trees till of a size to resist their attacks. The timber 

 lias been sold for upwards of half a sovereign per foot." It becomes most valuable in light loams and 

 sandy soils. 



7115. The holly is the Ilex aquifolium, L. (Eng. Bot. 496.) Pent. Monog. L. and 

 Rhamni, J. Houx, Fr. ; Stechbaum, Ger. ; Agrifoglio, Ital. It is an elegant, shining, 

 evergreen tree, rising from twenty to thirty feet high, affording a timber of considerable 

 value, and much in use as an ornamental hedge plant. It is a native of Britain, of 

 great longevity, and found growing in woods and forests, as an undergrowth to the 

 oak, beech, ash, and fir. It thrives best in a free deep loam, rather light, as in Need- 

 wood Forest, in Staffordshire, and the fir-forest of Blackhall, near Aberdeen. It is a 

 cheerful-looking tree from its shining leaves and coral berries, and peculiarly fit for 

 ornament. 



7116. Use. The timber, which is as white as ivory, is chiefly used in inlaying and veneering, and by 

 turners and mathematical-instrument-makers. The straight shoots, of five and six feet in length, make 

 excellent coachmen's whips. Birdlime is made from the bark by washing and separation of the woody 

 fibre. Sheep and deer eat the croppings. It is the best of all hedge plants. It thrives best in cold loamy 

 soils, and rather sheltered situations. 



7117. The hazel (Corylus avelana), already treated of as a fruit-shrub (4752.), forms a 

 hardy useful undergrowth in most situations, supplying hoops, crate-ware, basket-stuff, 

 walking-sticks, rods, poles, withies, fence-wood, fuel, &c. ; besides the fruit, where the 

 soil is tolerable, is worth something, and an excellent charcoal is made from the 

 stack-wood. 



7118. The box-tree (Buxus sempervirens, L. [Eng. Bot. 1341.) Moncec. Tetran. L. 

 and EuphorbiacetE, J. Buis, Fr. ; Buchsbaum, Ger. ; and Bosobo, Ital.) has some 

 claims to attention as a valuable timber, being in considerable demand for inlaying, 

 turnery, mathematical instruments, and wood-engravers' blocks. It thrives in any light 

 soil and under the drip of trees. Raised from the seed it will attain the height of twenty 

 or twenty-five feet, and be fit to cut down in thirty years. (Miller's Diet, in loco.) As 

 an ornamental undergrowth and edging plant, it is of the greatest value. 



7119. The elder-tree (Sambucus nigra), already treated of as a fruit-tree (4627.), forms 

 an excellent nurse-plant in exposed situations, and a rapid hedge in most places. The 

 wood is very hard, and used by the toy-makers and turners. When grown as a nurse, 

 or for timber, it should always be raised from the seed. 



7120. The haivthorn. — Mespilus oxyacantha, E.B. (Eng. Bot. c. ic.) Icos. Di-Pentag.\j. 

 and Rosacece, J. Aubepine, Fr. ; Hagedorn, Ger. ; Branca spino, Ital. It is a native 

 shrub, of great importance as a hedge plant, and is also frequently introduced into nar- 

 row plantations as an undergrowth. It will not grow, however, under the drip of trees, 

 and therefore, in a profitable point of view, is only to be considered as affording the 

 impermeable, close, durable, and easily raised fences, called quickset-hedges. The 

 timber of such plants as grow singly, and attain a tolerable size, is valued by the mill- 

 wright and turner, and the roots by the cabinet-maker. It is often spoiled, Sang ob- 

 serves, through inattention after cutting ; if it be allowed to lie in entire logs or trunks, 

 it soon heats, and becomes quite brittle and worthless ; it therefore ought to be in- 

 stantly cut up into planks, and laid to dry. The haws and foliage afford excellent food 

 for deer. 



7121. Soil and site. It will not thrive in a wet soil, nor one very dry and poor, much elevated or much 

 shaded ; a free deep loam in an airy situation suits it best. For hedges it may be raised from cuttings of 

 the roots, planted where they are finally to remain. Such cuttings are only to be procured in quantities 



