THE LIME (OR LINDEN). 



GENERAL REMARKS. 



OOK down the long avenue with its boundary lines of 

 fresh green foliage gradually converging, till at the 

 furthest point of the vista one might fancy they met 

 and blended into one. They were wise men in bye-gone 

 days who so often planted lime-trees along their approaches, since 

 the best effect is to be gained by precision and symmetry ; there is 

 scarcely another tree which, without the stiff formality of the Spruce, 

 will repeat so exactly, in one specimen after another, the same graceful 

 lines, the bend and recurve of the drooping lower branches. One 

 rank might be but the reflection in a mirror of the opposite rank. 

 And not the man of geometrical tastes only can find satisfaction in 

 the symmetry of the green Lime avenue. There is the vivid 

 translucent green of the young foliage, the delicate beauty and 

 delicious sweetness of the blossom, which comes so late in the season 

 as to make the Lime one of the last among the flowering trees, 

 and its scent the very essence of Summer. A cool and fragrant shade, 

 a soft hum of bees overhead, leaf-shadows stirring and flickering over 

 the road-way : it would be hard indeed to find a pleasanter path 

 in the heat of the day. 



THE BRANCHES . 



The Lime tree resembles the Beech in the arrangement of the 

 buds, and in the growth of the twig which is continued from a lateral 

 bud, the terminal bud being abortive. The twigs of the Beech, Elm, 

 and Lime all form more or less of a zigzag line between bud 

 and bud. 



The Lime has a tall straight stem, smooth except at the bole, 

 which can be traced to near the apex of the tree. The boughs are 



