520 CELTIS OCCIDENTALIS. 



cool, shady situation, and a deep, fertile soil, as along the borders of rivers, 

 among other trees. It was introduced into Britain, by Mr. John Tradescant, in 

 1656, where it has proved to be a very hardy and ornamental tree, and has since 

 been cultivated in many of the European gardens. 



The largest recorded tree of this species, in Britain, is at Syon, which has 

 attained the height of fifty-four feet, with a trunk nearly two feet and a half in 

 diameter, and an ambitus or spread of branches of thirty feet. 



The largest Celtis occidentalis, in France, is in the Jardin des Plantes, at Paris, 

 which has been planted about one hundred and forty years, and has attained a 

 height of nearly seventy feet, with a trunk about two feet in diameter, and an 

 ambitus of forty feet. 



At Briick, on the Leytha, in Austria, there is a tree of this species, which, in 

 forty-five years after planting, had attained the height of sixty feet, with a trunk 

 two feet and a half in diameter, and an ambitus of forty feet. 



In Germany, in the botanic garden at Gottingen, there is an American nettle- 

 tree, which, in thirty years after planting, had attained the height of thirty feet, 

 with a trunk a foot in diameter. 



In the United States, at Springfield, in Massachusetts, there is a Celtis occiden- 

 talis fourteen feet in circumference. 



Propagation, fyc. The Celtis occidentalis is readily propagated by layers or 

 from seeds, and will best succeed in a rich, fertile soil, which is rather cool and 

 moist. The only insect of note that is found upon this tree, in the United States, 

 is the larva of the hack-berry moth, {Sphinx drupiferarum, of Abbott,) which is 

 nearly three inches long, half of an inch thick, of a green colour, beautifully 

 marked and shaded with pink, and a brilliant white. 



Properties and Uses. The wood of the Celtis occidentalis, when perfectly 

 seasoned, is of a dark-brown colour, hard, compact, supple and tenacious, which 

 renders it appropriate for many purposes ; but, from its comparative scarcity, and 

 growing among an abundance of more valuable trees, it never has been applied 

 to many uses in the arts. It has sometimes been employed by the wheelwright 

 for shafts, by coopers for hoops, and it has been wrought into whip-stocks, axe- 

 helves, and various other articles of use. 



In Europe, it is cultivated solely as an ornamental tree ; and as it possesses 

 the property of keeping on its leaves very late, which die off of a bright yellow, 

 it well deserves a place in every collection. 



