THE LIME TREE. 351 
streets and public promenades. Its blossoms expand in July, 
and are fragrant, particularly in hot weather. Where heat is 
reflected by pavements and buildings, its odour is strengthened 
and its shade is rendered exceedingly desirable. It attains 
to a great size-in a short period. 
Though destitute of the wild ramifications and picturesque 
character of the oak or Scotch elm, it forms a vigorous, 
pliant, well-balanced tree, with a great number of lateral 
branches of an easy and graceful habit, and generally accords 
well with the meadows and cultivated grounds with which it 
is frequently associated. 
In favourable seasons the seeds are ripe in autumn, and 
may be sown in winter or early in spring. The plants come 
up in the ensuing summer. Where several kinds of lime 
trees stand together, and blossom at the same time, the 
seeds readily become hybridized, and produce various sorts, 
although they are gathered from one tree. The growth of 
plants from seeds, however, is seldom practised; even when 
the seeds can be had fully ripe, their progress is slow com- 
pared with that of layers, which always perpetuate the exact 
variety of the parent tree. 
The method of raising plants from layers is therefore gene- 
rally practised by nurserymen. When topped over at the 
surface of the ground, the plant readily produces a number of 
young shoots, and is easily formed into a stool. The young 
shoots are bent down into the earth to the depth of three or 
four inches, with their extremities placed in an upright posi- 
tion, which form the young plant. The laying of these 
shoots may be performed in winter, or early in spring, and 
the plants will become rooted and ready for removal by 
November following, when the young shoots, the produce of 
the preceding summer, should be inserted into the ground 
into the same position as described, to form another crop of 
young plants, and so on, removing a crop and laying down 
another yearly. It is often necessary to manure the stools 
by adding a few inches in depth of rich compost or vegetable 
mould, and in some soils, destitute of a considerable propor- 
