LIME TREE. 219 



and trunks ; and helps to roof their cottages. Of the 

 inner bark are made mats, many of which they export ; 

 the rind of the young shoots they braid into shoes. 

 " The wood is sawn into boards, wrought up into canoes, 

 and burned into pot-ashes, and from the blossom of the 

 Linden tree the bees suck an excellent nourishment V 



Evelyn says, that in a rich loamy soil, which the Lime 

 affects, " its growth will be most incredible for speed and 

 spreading." Of the several varieties, the Red-twigged is 

 the most desirable, from the very circumstance which 

 gives it the name ; the red twigs finely contrasting with 

 the green foliage. 



There are several Lime trees upon record remarkable 

 for their magnitude : it will suffice to mention a few of 

 the most considerable. Evelyn speaks of one in Switzer- 

 land forming a bower with its branches, capable of con- 

 taining three hundred men sitting at ease. It has a 

 fountain, set about witli many tables, formed only of the 

 boughs, to which they ascend by steps, all kept so accu- 

 rately, and so very thick, that the sun never looks into 

 it. " But this," continues he, " is nothing to that pro- 

 digious Lime of Neustadt, in the duchy of Wirtemberg, 

 so famous for its monstrosity, that even the city itself 

 receives a denomination from it, being called by the 

 Germans ' Neustadt andcr grossen Linden, ' Ncustndi 

 by the great Lime tree."* The circumference of the trunk 

 is tAventy-seven feet four fingers/ 1 



He mentions a third, the account of which he received 

 from Sir Thomas Brown of Norwich, and gives in his 

 own words. We will hope he speaks from his own 

 knowledge, since whatever he heard, his " active faith" 

 would credit. 



* Tookc's Survey of Russia, vol. iii. p. 3*. 



