COMMON, OR EUROPEAN LIME-TREE. 7 



or insects. It is used by musical instrument makers for 

 the sounding boards of pianofortes, &c, as it does not warp 

 under change of temperature or atmosphere. It also forms 

 the best planks for shoemakers and glovers upon which to 

 cut their leather, also paneling for carriages, and is exten- 

 sively used in the manufacture of toys and Tunbridge ware, 

 and by the Turner for pill-boxes &c, for the apothecaries. 

 As a wood adapted for carving, it is superior to any other 

 we possess ; and to justify its claim to this distinction, we 

 have only to instance the exquisite productions of Gibbons, 

 whose carving adorns the mansions of many of our nobi- 

 lity, and is as fresh and sharp as when first from the 

 chisel, though executed nearly two hundred years ago. 

 The bark of the Lime, or at least its interior layers, after 

 being steeped or macerated in water, furnish the material 

 of which our bass mats, so useful for many purposes, are 

 made ; these are mostly fabricated in Russia and Sweden, 

 where the fibre is also sometimes manufactured into nets, 

 and in Carniola it is even woven into a coarse cloth for 

 ordinary clothing. The charcoal is used in the manufac- 

 ture of gunpowder, and is considered as scarcely inferior 

 to that produced by the alder and willow. From the 

 flowers the bees extract a most delicious and highly-fla- 

 voured honey, but this can only be procured in a pure and 

 unadulterated state in extensive tracts covered with this 

 tree ; such is the case at Kouno, in Lithuania, which is sur- 

 rounded by a forest of Lime-trees, and where the manage- 

 ment of the honey-bee occupies the principal attention of 

 the inhabitants, a full and detailed description of which 

 will be found in the appendix to Sir John Sinclair's " Hus- 

 bandry of Scotland." When cut over, it shoots freely and 

 grows rapidly, and in a moist, loamy soil forms a produc- 

 tive underwood, either to make into charcoal, or when 



