THE LIME TREE. 



441 



and rather handsome, but it soon decays. Birch 

 makes very good charcoal. 



The weeping birch, b. pendula, is the most 

 graceful tree of the family. It grows both in 

 mountainous situations and bogs, from Lapland 

 to the subalpine parts of Italy and Asia. The 

 mahogany birch, b. lenta, or cherry birch of 

 Canada, abounds in the middle states of Penn- 

 sylvania, New York, and the Jerseys; but dis- 

 appears altogether in the higher latitudes of tlie 

 northern states. It is deemed a very fit tree for 

 planting in the valleys of the mountainous dis- 

 tricts of Britain. Its growth is rapid, and the 

 timber is close-grained; beautifully variegated, 

 and well adapted for cabinet work. The leaves, 

 which appear early in spruig, possess a peculiar 

 fragrance, which they retain after being dried in 

 a stove, aifording by infusion an agreeable di- 

 luent, superior to some of the common teas of 

 commerce. Tlie white bark of the birch con- 

 trasts well with the sombre trunks of other trees, 

 and, indeed, all tlie species are highly ornamen- 

 tal and graceful in gardens and shrubberies. 



The Alder (almis glutinosa), belongs to the 

 same natural family and Luina;an order as the 



which is got out of the bogs, in an undecayed 

 state, (and though it be not so durable in tlie 

 air as birch, it lasts much longer in water), has 

 tlio colour, if not the consistency of ebony .^ Of 

 birch or holly, which are very white, of juniper, 

 which has a slight cinnamon tinge, and of the 

 bog alder or the bog oak, both of which are 

 black, the coopers in the north of Scotland form 

 variegated cups, some of which are very hand- 

 some. In moist situations alder does very well 

 for foundation piles; and from the ease with 

 which it can be perforated when green, and from 

 its not being liable to split, it is well adapted 

 for wooden pipes. 



On the banks of the Mole, in Surrey, the alder 

 gi'ows very luxuriantly; and it adds great beauty 

 to the landscape in the neighbourhood of Dork- 

 ing and Esher. 



The Lime Tree (tilia Europea). Natural 

 family tiliacecej polt/andria, monogt/nia, Lin- 



The Alder. 



birch; it is not so handsome a tree, however, as 

 the birch, and the timber is not applicable to so 

 many useful purposes. Tlie alder is a native 

 of almost every part of Europe. It thrives best 

 in marshy situations, and by the margins of 

 lakes and rivers, where it is generally a large 

 slirub rather than a tree. As its shade rather 

 improves than injures the grass, coppices of it 

 afford good wintering for the out-door stock on 

 mountain grazings. 



Tlie bark of the alder contains a good deal of 

 tannin; and the young shoots dye a yellow or 

 cinnamon colour, the wood a browTi, and the 

 catkins of the flowers a green. The twigs of 

 the alder are brittle, and so is the stem when 

 green. In that state it is more easily worked 

 than any other timber. When of considerable 

 size, the timber of one of the varieties (tliere 

 are several of them) is red, and often so finely 

 streaked, that it is called Scotch mahogany in 

 tlio north, and furniture is made of it. That 



I.ime Tree. 



na;us. The lime is a handsime tree, which at- 

 tains a considerable size. The leaves are cordate, 

 serrated, unequal at the base, and of a light green 

 colour. The flowers begin to open about the 

 middle of May, and are in full blow by the middle 

 of July, when they appear of a white colour, and 

 have a very fragrant smell, yielding a honey of 

 peculiar and excellent flavour. The leaves be- 

 gin to open about the 12th of April, ai-e quite 

 out by the end of that month, and begin to fall 

 very early in autumn. 



Of the lime there are several species and var- 

 ieties, characterised chiefly by the size and shape 

 of the leaves; but the most valuable, and the 

 one which is most frequently met with, is the 

 common lime. It is an exceedingly beautiful 

 tree, grows fast, and attains a very great size. 

 It is not supposed to be a native of England, 

 but mention is made of it growing here as early 

 as the middle of the sixteenth century. In 

 Switzerland and Gennany there are lime trees of 

 an enormous size; and one, in tlie county of 

 Norfolk, is mentioned by Sir Thomas Brown as 

 being ninety feet high, with a trunk forty-eight 

 feet in circumference, at a foot and a half from 

 the ground. 



The lime bears the smoke of cities better than 

 any other tall-growing forest tree; and for this 

 reason the shaded walks about the cities on the 

 8 k 



