TIL 



OR, BOf ANICAL DICTIONARY. 



TIL 



675 



form, length of the stamina; stigma blunt, pentagon. Peri- 

 carp: capsule coriaceous, globular, five-celled, five-valved, 

 opening at the base. Seeds : solitary, roundish. Observe. 

 One seed commonly comes to maturity, and drives the other 

 abortive ones to one side ; hence, to a cursory observer, the 

 capsule appears to be one-celled. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. 

 Calix: five-parted. Corolla: five-petalled. Capsule : cori- 

 aceous, globular, five-celled, five-valved, opening at the base. 



The species are, 



1. Tilia Europeea; European Lime Tree. Flowers desti- 

 tute of a nectary; leaves cordate at the branches of the veins, 

 villose underneath. A tall upright tree, with smooth, spread- 

 ing, round branches, green when tender, but afterwards brown. 

 The flowers are delightfully fragrant, especially at night ; 

 petals yellowish, obtuse, concave. It is remarkable, says 

 Gaertner, that the cotyledons of the Lime-tree are subtri- 

 lobate and toothed; and it is peculiar to it, as far as we 

 know, that these are already toothed whilst they^are lying 

 within the coats of the seed. Mr. Miller makes two species 

 of this tree: the Cordata, which is the small-leaved one, 

 wild in England ; and the Eiiroptea, to which he gives Ray's 

 synonym of the Red-twigged Lime-tree. Of the first he 

 observes, there are two or three varieties, which differ in 

 the size and smoothness of the leaves, some having much 

 larger and rougher leaves than others : but they vary from one 

 to the other when raised from seed ; and it is even doubtful 

 whether the second be more than a seminal variety. Scopoli 

 also, following Haller, distinguished the large and small- 

 leaved varieties. The former, he says, not only has the leaves 

 larger, but softer, and somewhat hairy or villose; in the latter 

 they are harder, and nowhere viilose, besides flowering two or 

 three weeks later. The Elm-leaved variety was observed at 

 Whitstable, and near Dorking in Surry ; and the Red-twigged 

 in Stokenchurch wood. In Ray's Synopsis, three varieties 

 are remarked in St. James's Park: 1. The Small .Smooth- 

 leaved. 2. The Large Smooth-leaved. 3. The Softly Hairy- 

 leaved. Two others have been observed, one with striped 

 leaves; and the other on Enfield chase, with wrinkled, but 

 not hairy leaves. This tree was highly esteemed by the 

 Romans for its shade, and for the numerous purposes for 

 which it serves. " Tiliae. ad mille usus petenda;." "The 

 Limes demanded for a thousand uses," is a phrase very indi- 

 cative of the value in which it was held by that renowned 

 and scientific people; and, as Gough remarks, it certainly is 

 a handsome tree, having a smooth taper straight trunk, and 

 the branches forming a beautiful cone ; the foliage also is 

 smooth and elegant. It makes a fine detached object, plant- 

 ed singly in parks and open lawns. The branches are so 

 tough as to be seldom broken by the winds; and when they 

 are injured no tree heals sooner; and to all this, the fra- 

 grancy of the flowers, which are continually haunted by 

 bees, forms an important addition. It will continue growing", 

 and remain sound, for a great number of years, and grows to 

 a considerable bulk in a good loamy soil. One tree that was 

 measured, was nearly ten yards in girth two feet above the 

 ground, and was then in a thriving condition. Another, at 

 Depham in Norfolk, was sixteen yards in compass at half 

 a yard from the ground ; and in the least part of the trunk, 

 almost eight yards and a half: it was thirty yards in height. 

 In Lincolnshire this tree is called Bast, because they make 

 ropes of the bark. This is done by maceration, separating 

 the bark into thin layers, such as are used for making the 

 Russia or Bast mats, so much used by gardeners. This 

 quality in the bark, and the great degree of viscidity in the 

 whole tree, evince its acknowledged affinity to the Mallow 

 tribe. Lime-tree wood is turned into light bowls and dishes 

 VOL. ii. 122. 



and into boxes for the apothecaries. Baskets and cradles 

 are made with the twigs. The bark was formerly used for 

 writing-tablets. Shoemakers make dressers of the plank, 

 whereon to cut their leather. The truncheons make ti 

 far better coal for gunpowder than Alder itself, as well as 

 scriblets for painters' first draughts. The wood is soft, light, 

 and smooth, close-grained, and not subject to the worm. 

 The most elegant use to which it is applied is for carving. 

 Many of Gibbon's beautiful works in Lime-tree are dispersed 

 about the kingdom, in our churches and palaces; as, in the 

 choir of St. Paul's cathedral ; at Chatsworth, a seat of the duke 

 of Devonshire ; and at Trinity College Library, Cambridge. 

 The inspissated sap of this tree yields a quantity of sugar; 

 and Mr. Boutcher observes, that the timber is stronger and 

 lighter than any sort of Willow, and makes a proper sort of 

 lining for rooms, which, when well painted, is very durable. 

 The small-leaved variety is found really wild in many parts 

 of England, in woods, and upon grassy declivities. The Com- 

 mon Broad-leaved and other varieties are more generally seen 

 cultivated in hedges, avenues, parks, and before houses. 

 The Lime will bear the smoke of London itself tolerably well ; 

 and the trees in St. James's Park, which were planted in the 

 reign of Charles II. at the suggestion of the excellent Evelyn, 

 in order to improve the air near the royal residence, afford 

 ample proof of the fact. The Dutch plant vast numbers of 

 this tree by the side of their canals; hence, during the months 

 of July and August, when the stagnant waters would be very 

 disagreeable and unwholesome, the air is purified, and the 

 whole country regaled, by the perfume of their fragrant 

 flowers. Propagation and Culture. This very valuable tree 

 will grow in almost any soil and situation ; but in thin soils 

 the leaves are often infested with insects, and fall early in 

 autumn, especially in dry seasons. It is easily propagated 

 by layers, which in one year will take good root, and may 

 then be taken oft", and planted in a nursery, at four feet 

 distance row from row, and two feet asunder iri the rows. 

 The best time to lay them down, and to remove them, is at 

 Michaelmas, or soon after, when their leaves begin to fall, 

 that they may take root before the frost comes on, though 

 they may be laid and transplanted any time from September 

 to March in open weather; but if the soil be dry, it is much 

 the better way to remove them in autumn, because it will 

 save a great expense in watering them, especially if the spring 

 should prove dry. In this nursery they may remain four or 

 five years, during which the ground should be dug every 

 spring, and constantly kept clean from weeds, and the large 

 side-shoots pruned off, to cause them to advance in height; 

 but the small twigs must not be pruned off from the stems, 

 because they are absolutely necessary to detain the sap for 

 the augmentation of their trunks, which are apt to shoot up 

 too slender when entirely divested of their lateral twigs. If 

 the soil in which these are planted be a fat loam, they will 

 make a prodigious progress in their growth; so that in three 

 years' time they will be fit to transplant out where they are 

 to remain. The Lime-tree may be propagated by cuttings, 

 but as that method is not so certain as by layers, the latter 

 is generally preferred. In order to obtain proper shoots 

 for laying down, a tree is cut down close to the ground, from 

 the roots of which a number of strong shoots are produced 

 in the following year : these will be strong enough to lay 

 down in the succeeding autumn, especially if the smallest of 

 them be cut off close early in the summer ; for when too 

 many shoots are suffered to grow all the summer, they 

 will be much weaker than if only a sufficient quantity were 

 left. There are some persons who raise these trees from 

 seeds, which, though a slower way, is the best method when 

 8 I 



