LIME TREE. 



LINEN. 



ceived no popular specific names, but are both 

 called lime tree and bass-wood : that of white 

 lime, which I have given to this species on ac- 

 count of the colour of its foliage, is peculiarly 

 appropriate. 



" The Downy Lime Tree belongs to the south- 

 ern parts of the United States. It grows on the 

 borders of rivers and large marshes, where the 

 soil is cool and fertile, but not exposed to inun 

 dation. It is little multiplied, and consequently 

 is not taken notice of by the inhabitants ; for 

 this reason, and because it is the only species 

 of its kind in the maritime parts of the Caroli- 

 nas and of Georgia, it has received no specific 

 denomination, and is called simply lime tree ; 

 to which I have added the epithet downy, derived 

 from a character of its foliage not observed in 

 the preceding species. 



" This tree is forty or fifty feet in height, with 

 a proportional diameter. In its general ap- 

 pearance it resembles the American lime tree, 

 which grows farther north, more than the white 

 lime tree, which belongs to the Middle and 

 Western States. Its leaves differ widely in 

 size, according to the exposure in which they 

 have grown : in dry and open places they are 

 only two inches in diameter, and are twice as 

 large in cool and shaded situations. They are 

 rounded, pointed at the summit, very obliquely 

 truncated at the base, edged with fewer and 

 more remote teeth than those of the other 

 lime trees, and very downy beneath. The 

 flowers, also, are more numerous, and form 

 larger bunches, and the seeds are round and 

 downy. 



"The wood is very similar to that of the 

 other species, and I do not know that it is ever 

 employed." 



In some parts of Europe, the honey gathered 

 by bees from a species or variety of the linden 

 is in great request for its superior qualities, and 

 real or supposed healing virtues. It would be 

 highly desirable to have a tree introduced into 

 the United States which offers such a great re- 

 source to the bee culturists. See HOWET. 



Insect enemies. The European species of lime 

 or linden, whichhas been extensively introduced 

 into the United States as an ornamental tree, has 

 suffered greatly of late years from the attacks 

 of several destructive insects. Some of these 

 are in the form of long, dark-coloured worms 

 or caterpillars, with strong webs, which eat off 

 the foliage; others bore into the wood of the 

 body and branches, chiefly in the crotches, and 

 so destroy the strength of the limb, or the body 

 itself, that one or both yield readily to the wind, 

 or gradually decay and die. There are also the 

 leaf-beetles, the most elegant of the family of 

 Chrysomelians, which inhabit the leaves, not 

 only of the linden, but of the elm, the broods 

 being found in April, May, and June, and even 

 a second brood in September and October. 

 The trees are often seriously injured by these 

 flies or beetles and their larvae. After a very 

 minute description of this beautiful leaf-beetle, 

 with its dark-green body, silvery-white wing- 

 covers, ornamented with green spots, and rose- 

 coloured wings, Dr. Harris remarks that he 

 thinks the grubs go into the ground to turn to 

 pupae. When they become so numerous as 

 seriously to injure the lime and elm trees, Dr. 



Harris recommends the employment of decoc- 

 | lions of tobacco or of walnut leaves, thrown on 

 the trees by means of a garden or fire engine ; 

 a method which has been tried with good effect 

 for the destruction of the larvae of Galeruca cal- 

 mariensis, which appear occasionally in swarms, 

 and entirely strip the leaves from the elm trees 

 in midsummer. Dr. Harris describes a species 

 of lime-looper which proceeds from an umber- 

 moth greatly resembling that known in Europe, 

 and called by naturalists Hybernia defoliaria. 

 The American insect, however, differs so much 

 in the larva state from the European, as to en- 

 title it to be classed as a distinct species ; and 

 accordingly Dr. Harris has called it Hybernia 

 tiliaria, the lime tree winter-moth, from Tilia, 

 the scientific name of its favourite tree. The 

 fore-wings of the male moth are rusty buff or 

 nankin-yellow, sprinkled with very fine brown- 

 ish dots, and banded with two transverse, wavy, 

 brown lines, the band nearest the shoulders 

 being often indistinct. In the space between 

 the bands, and near to the thick edge of the 

 wing, there is generally a brown dot. The 

 hind-wings are much paler than the others, and 

 have a small brownish dot in the middle. The 

 colour of the body is the same as that of the 

 fore-wings ; and the legs are ringed with buff 

 and brown. The wings expand one inch and 

 three-quarters. The body of the female is gray- 

 ish or yellowish-white ; it is sprinkled on the 

 sides with black dots, and there are two square 

 black spots on the top of each ring, except the 

 last, which has only one spot. The front of 

 the head is black; and the antennae and the 

 legs are ringed with black and white. The 

 tail is tipped with a tapering, jointed egg-tube, 

 that can be drawn in and out, like the joints of 

 a telescope. Exclusive of this tube, the female 

 measures about half an inch in length. The 

 eggs are beautiful objects when seen under a 

 microscope. They are of an oval shape and 

 pale-yellow colour, and are covered with little 

 raised lines, like net-work, or like the cells of 

 a honey-comb. 



As these span-worms appear at the same 

 time as canker-worms, resemble them in their 

 habits, and often live on the same trees, they 

 can be kept in check by such means as are 

 found useful when employed against canker- 

 worms. See SPAX-WOKM. 



LINDEN TREE. See LIME TREE. 



LINEN (Germ, lienwand). A species of 

 cloth woven with the fibres of the flax plant. 

 The linen manufacture has been prosecuted in 

 England for a very long period; but though its 

 progress has been considerable, particularly of 

 late years, it has not been so great as might 

 have been anticipated. It is only within the 

 last fifty years that any machinery has been 

 used in the production of linen cloth ; the first 

 mills for the spinning of flax having been con- 

 structed at Darlington, about forty-eight years 

 ago. The principal seat of the manufacture 

 is, in England, Leeds and its immediate vici- 

 nity, and in Lancashire, Dorset, Durham, and 

 Salop ; in Scotland, Dundee, which, indeed, 

 may be regarded as the chief seat of the British 

 manufacture ; and in Ireland, the province of 

 [Jlster. The entire value of the linen manu- 

 facture of Great Britain and Ireland is esti- 

 3p2 726 



