EUROPEAN LIME-TREE. 45 
T him. The two beautiful rows of European lindens, in front of the state 
>use, in Philadelphia, have likewise been perforated by them, and in a year or 
to more, they will probably fall from their prey. The same insect also is said 
attack the mountain ash. Various experiments have been tried to arrest 
eir course, but most of them have proved fruitless, except by crushing the in- 
cts to death, or by destroying their eggs. 
Properties and Uses. The wood of the lime-tree, as compared with that ol 
e oak, the ash, and other timber trees, holds but an inferior rank, and is only 
>ed in such works as are not to be exposed to the alternations of moisture and 
yness. It is of a pale yellow, or white, close-grained, soft, light, and smooth ; 
id, when seasoned, it is not liable to be attacked by insects. It is used by 
anoforte-makers, for sounding-boards, and by cabinet-makers for a variety of 
irposes, as it does not warp under atmospheric changes. It is turned into 
miestic utensils of various kinds, carved into toys, and turned into small boxes 
r apothecaries. The most elegant use to which it is applied, is for carving, foi 
hich it is superior to every other wood. Many of the fine carvings in Windsor 
istle, Trinity College Library, at Cambridge, and in the Duke of Devonshire' s 
ansion, at Chatsworth, are of this wood. It is said to make excellent charcoal 
r gunpowder, even better than alder, and nearly as good as hazel, or willow, 
askets and cradles were formerly made from the twigs ; and shoe-makers and 
overs are said to prefer planks of lime-tree for cutting the finer kinds of leather 
)on. The leaves of this tree are collected in Sweden, Norway, Carniola, and 
vitzerland, for feeding cattle ; though in Sweden, Linnaeus says, they commu- 
cate a bad flavour to the milk of cows. One of the most important uses of the 
ne-tree, in the north of Europe, is that of supplying material for making ropes 
id mats ; the latter of which enter extensively into European commerce. The 
ussian peasants weave the bark of the young shoots for the upper parts of their 
loes, the bark of the trunks or large branches serving for the soles ; and they 
so make of it, tied together with strips of the inner bark, baskets and boxes for 
)mestic purposes. The outer bark of old trees also supplies them, like that 
' the birch, with tiles for covering their cottages. Ropes are still made of the 
irk of this tree in Cornwall, and in some parts of Devonshire. The manufac- 
ire of mats from the inner bark, however, is now chiefly confined to Russia, 
id to some parts of Sweden. Trees from six to twelve inches in diameter are 
lected at the beginning of summer, when, from the expansion produced by the 
;cending sap, the bark parts freely from the wood. The bark is then stripped 
om them in lengths of six to eight feet, and is afterwards steeped in water till it 
iparates freely in layers. It is then taken out, and divided into ribands or 
rands, and hung up in the shade, generally in the forest were it grows, and, in 
le course of the summer, is manufactured into mats, so much in use by garden- 
's and upholsterers, and for covering packages generally. The fishermen of 
weden make nets for catching fish, of the fibres of the inner bark, separated by 
Laceration, so as to form a kind of flax or hemp ; and the shepherds of Carniola 
eave a coarse cloth of it, which serves for their ordinary clothing. The sap of 
le lime-tree, drawn off in spring, and evaporated, affords a considerable quan- 
ty of sugar. The honey produced from the flowers is considered superior to 
1 other kinds for its delicacy, selling for three or four times the price of common 
Dney ; and it is used in the preparation of medicine, and for making particular 
yueurs, more especially rosoglia. This lime-tree honey is only procured at 
le little town of Kowno, on the river Niemen, in Lithuania, which is surrounded 
y an extensive forest of lime-trees, and where the management of the honey-bee 
jcupies the principal attention of the inhabitants. The Jews of Poland produce 
close imitation of this honey, by bleaching the common kind in the open air, 
uring frosty weather. - The fruit of the lime-tree had long been thought of little 
