U2 



HISTORY OF THE VEGETABLE KINGnOM. 



Continent, more especially in Germany, are 

 planted with it. It has other advantages : tlie 

 trunk is smooth; the leaves are of a most beau- 

 tifully delicate green; the flowers throw out a 

 very agreeable fragrance; and it is not so liable 

 to get unsightly, from wounds and decayed 

 branches, as almost any other tree. But its 

 leaves come late in the spring, and they begin 

 to fall earlj% — as early sometimes as the month 

 of July, 



Though a soft and weak timber, the lime is 

 valuable for many purposes. It is delicately 

 white, and of an uniform colour, and therefore 

 it is admirably adapted for all light works that 

 are to be partially painted, and then varnished. 

 Though it be very close in the grain, it blunts 

 the tool less than any other timber; and as it has 

 the same property as maple, of not warping, and 

 even in a higher degree, it is used for cutting- 

 l)oards, and for the keys of musical instruments. 

 It also stands the tool well, and is called, by way 

 of eminence," the carver's tree," being used by the 

 carvers and gilders for most parts of their wooden 

 ornaments. At iron foundries, the ornaments 

 for the fronts of stoves and other purposes are 

 all fii-st cut in lime tree, and some of them are 

 moulded from the carving, though casts be more 

 generally taken in lead, as being more durable, 

 and admitting of a smoother surface. The ex- 

 quisite carvings with which Grindling Gibbons 

 ornamented so many of the churches and palaces 

 in England, in the time of Charles II., are all 

 executed in lime tree. Lime, though softer and 

 more easily cut than beech or maple, is not so 

 much affected either by the worm or by rot. 



The bark of the lime tree is an article of 

 commerce. As the trunk of the tree is tall and 

 free from knots, the bark may be stripped off in 

 long pieces. These are macerated in water tiU 

 the fibrous layers separate; and are then divided 

 into nan-ow slips, called bast, which, in the 

 northern parts of Europe, are plaited into ropes, 

 and worked into mats. The mats in which flax 

 and hemp are imported from the Baltic, and 

 which, in this coimtry, are in constant use by 

 gardeners for covering plants from the weather, 

 and tying them up, and also for market and tool 

 baskets, are made of bast, or the bark of the 

 lime tree. Though the lime be not so great a 

 favourite in this country as it was in former 

 times, it may very fairly be doubted whether 

 the poplars, and other soft, fast-growing trees 

 that have l)een substituted for it, are a change 

 for the better. The lime is not a tree for bleak 

 and cold lands. It thrives best in rich loam, 

 and in warm and rather moist situations; and 

 though the average age to which it will grow 

 has not been accurately determined, yet, from 

 the healthy nature of the tree, and the great 

 size that it has arrived at, it must be considera- 

 ble—upwards of a hundred years. 



The lime is generally raised from seeds, whicli 

 produce the handsomest trees; it may, however, 

 be propagated by cuttings or suckers. The seeds 

 are collected and dried for a few weeks, and then 

 sown in a rich mould in autumn. They will 

 spring up in the following spring, and after two 

 years' age may be planted out. 



The honey made from the flowers of the lime, 

 is reckoned the finest in the world. Near Kowno, 

 in Lithuania, there are large forests chiefly of 

 this tree. The honey produced in these forests, 

 sells at more than double the price of any other, 

 and is used exclusively in medicine, and for 

 mixing with liquors. 



It was customary with the ancients to crown 

 themselves with garlands of roses and other 

 flowers during their convivial entertainments; 

 and these were artfully bound together with 

 slips of the inner rind of the lime tree. 



The American Lime ft. Americana J, of which 

 there are several varieties, very nearly resembles 

 the European species. The leaves, which vary 

 in size according to the varieties, are finely ser- 

 rated on the edges, and end in acute points, with 

 the under surface of a paler green than the upper. 

 The large-leaved is by far the finest sort; and 

 the branches of this species vary from aU the 

 others, in having a dark brown bark. The 

 flowers are furnished with nectaries; whereas 

 those of the common lime have none. They 

 are produced in bunches, and are succeeded by 

 seeds contained in coriaceous capsules. 



The Horse Chestnut (wsculus hippocastan- 

 tcmj. Natural family hippocastaneoe; heptan- 

 dria, monogynia, of Linna;us. This tree is a 

 native of the northern or central parts of Asia, 

 from which it was introduced into Europe about 

 the middle of the sixteenth century. Its pro- 

 gress can be traced from parts of Northern Asia 

 to Constantinople, thence to Vienna, and thence 

 to Paris, where the first tree was planted in 1615. 

 It is very beautiful in the arrangement of its 

 branches, which give it the form of a paraboloid ; 

 in the shape of its leaves; and in its pyramids 

 of large white flowers, delicately marked with 

 red and yellow. It grows very rapidly, and to 

 a great height; but the timber is soft, spongy, 

 and not durable, and therefore of little value. 

 It is white, but every way inferior to the lime, 

 as it does not stand the tool, and almost any 

 thing will scratch it. It has sometimes been 

 used by the turner, and also for pipes; but though 

 it be cheap, the advantage of using it is very 

 questionable. As it requires a good soil, it is 

 not worth cultivating but as an ornamental tree. 

 The Turks are said to grind the nuts, and mix 

 them with the food of their horses (whence the 

 common name): they devour them with avidity, 

 and they are stated to be eaten whole by deer 

 and sheep, and by poultry when boiled; but 

 hogs refuse them both raw and prepared. Tlie 



