1 668 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



which, so far as I can learn, seldom appear on wild trees, or on any species but 

 T. vulgaris. It is scarcely due to soil, since in some of the finest old lime avenues, 

 as those at Cassiobury Park, Waldershare Park, and Newhouse Park, these growths 

 appear in some trees only. They extend to a considerable height up some of the 

 trees, which are much stunted, as it seems, from this cause. This may arise from the 

 affected trees having been propagated by layers from inferior shoots, or having been 

 planted later to fill gaps, and thus having to contend with trees already established. 



It is, however, a point which deserves careful attention on the part of nursery- 

 men ; as, though these growths may be pruned off annually, they constantly reappear 

 at the same spot, and not only take a great deal of trouble and time to remove, but 

 eventually disfigure the trees ; and limes which produce them rarely attain the same 

 height or beauty as those which are free from them. The trees now sold by nursery- 

 men, which are always propagated from layers, seem to be more subject to these 

 growths than the limes planted two centuries ago ; and I believe that limes raised 

 from seed are rarely if ever affected. 



The longest avenue of limes which I have seen is comparatively modern, and 

 as I am informed by Mr. A. H. Elliott, agent for the Clumber estate, was planted 

 by Henry, fourth Duke of Newcastle, about the year 1840. It is 1 mile and 1590 

 yards long, and consists of 13 15 trees planted in a double row on each side of the 

 drive at Clumber. The trees are 31 ft. apart each way, and the total width is 143 ft. 

 The trees are fairly uniform in habit, but have spreading bushy tops, and when I saw 

 them in 1906 did not exceed about 60 ft. in height by about \\ ft. in girth. The 

 soil is rather sandy, and the trees when planted were only 5 ft. high, and were not 

 pruned sufficiently after planting to develop a good trunk, so that this avenue is never 

 likely to rival those at Burghley, Ashridge, or Cassiobury. Mr. Elliott tells me that 

 the trees have suffered considerably from the attacks of the following geometrid 

 moths : Cheimatobia brumata, C. boreata, Hybernia aurantiaria, H. defoliaria, H. 

 progemmaria, Anisopteryx cescularia ; but this damage has been checked, if not 

 entirely prevented, by putting grease bands on the trees, which arrest the female 

 moths when they try to ascend the stems in the winter months, and by killing the 

 pupae in the soil in July with gas-lime. Besides this avenue there are at Clumber 

 two much older ones, over 150 years old, running north and south on either side of 

 the elm avenue leading to West Drayton. One of these is 385 yards long and 30 

 yards wide, the other 330 yards long and 55 ft. wide. The trees are planted 24 ft. 

 apart. They were pollarded in 1888 in order to save their lives. 



At Newhouse Park, near Mamhead, Devonshire, Sir Robert Newman 

 showed me a fine avenue which seems to have been planted about 200 years 

 ago in anticipation of a mansion which was never built. It is only 20 ft. wide 

 and the trees 10 ft. apart; but favoured by a fine soil and climate, the trees, which 

 seem to have been pollarded at 10 ft., have shot up to an immense height, averaging 

 at least 120 ft., and several exceeding 130 ft. Two which I measured were 115 ft. 

 by 5 ft. 9 in., and 135 ft. by 7 ft. 6 in. I have little doubt that they were seedlings. 

 In a chestnut avenue at the same place the trees were much shorter and thicker, 

 about 70 ft. to 80 ft. by 15 ft. to 18 ft. in girth. 



