THE LIISTDEN-TREE. 



THE Lime or Linden tree is generally known among 

 our countrymen as the Bass, and was not, before the 

 present century, employed as a wayside tree. The old 

 standards seen in our ancient villages are European 

 Limes. During the past thirty years the American tree 

 has been very generally planted by roadsides, in avenues 

 and pleasure-grounds, and few trees are more highly 

 valued in these situations. But the American has less 

 beauty than the European tree, which is clothed with 

 softer foliage, has a smaller leaf, and a neater and more 

 elegant spray. Our native Lime bears larger and more 

 conspicuous flowers, in heavier clusters, but of inferior 

 sweetness. Both species are remarkable for their size 

 and longevity. The Lime in Great Britain is a tree of 

 first magnitude, frequently rising to the height of eighty 

 or ninety feet, with a trunk of proportional diameter. 

 The American species is not inferior to it in size or alti- 

 tude. Some of the largest trees in Western New York 

 are Limes. 



The Lime has in all ages been celebrated for the fra- 

 grance of its flowers and the excellence of the honey made 

 from them. The famous Mount Hybla was covered 

 with Lime-trees. The aroma from its flowers is like that 

 of mignonette ; it perfumes the whole atmosphere, though 

 never disagreeable from excess, and is perceptible to the 

 inhabitants of all the beehives within the circuit of a 

 mile. The Lime is also remarkable for a general beauty 

 of proportion, a bright verdure contrasting finely with 



