LAYING DOWN THE LIME TREE. 35 



removing the plants yearly. As this is a great strain 

 upon the stool, it is desirable to furnish manure to it, 

 and give a few inches of rich compost or vegetable 

 mould, and when the soil is destitute of silex it will be 

 found advisable to mix some sharp sand with it. 

 After three years, one healthy stool will furnish about 

 sixty plants annually, which when removed are 

 generally about two feet high. They should then be 

 transplanted into nursery lines, about two and a half 

 feet asunder, the plants standing about fifteen inches 

 apart in the rows. They will usually attain a height 

 of six feet in two years, and are then ready for being 

 finally planted out. They may, however, be kept in 

 the nursery and grown to a much larger size, and 

 afterwards be transplanted with safety, provided they 

 are removed every second year. This removal causes 

 the roots to assume a fibrous or bushy form, which 

 catch hold of the soil and adapt themselves to a new 

 situation, which a top root will not do. This is one 

 of the chief advantages of dealing with a respectable 

 nurseryman, from whom the true history, so to speak, 

 of each plant may be obtained. 



The ordinary progress of the . growth of the lime 

 tree in rich soil, in a sheltered situation, is about two 

 feet per annum in height, for the first fifteen or 

 twenty years ; after which time its progress is more 

 manifest in making addition to the bulk of the trunk, 

 and expanse to its lateral branches; its height in 

 Britain attaining to sixty feet, with broad spreading 

 branches, although there are individual instances 

 where the tree has been known to reach a height of 

 ninety-five feet. 



The timber of the lime tree is very soft and white, 



D i 



