OK, PLAIN TEACHING. 



233 



The nuts, 5, are one-celled, con- 

 taining two seeds. 



621. 



The wood of the lime tree is used by piano- 

 forte makers for sounding boards, and by 

 cabinet makers for a variety of purposes. It 

 is turned into domestic utensils of various 

 kinds ; carved into toys, and turned into small 

 boxes for apothecaries. For carving it is 

 superior to any other wood, in the north of 

 Europe ropes and mats are formed from certain 

 parts of the bark. The Russian peasants weave 

 the bark of the young shoots for the upper 

 parts of their shoes, tfee outer bark serves for 

 the soles ; and they also make of it, tied with 

 strips of the inner bark, baskets and boxes for 

 domestic purposes. The outer bark of old trees 

 supplies them, like that of the birch, with tiles 

 for covering their cottages. The fishermen of 

 Sweden make nets for catching fish of the fibres 

 of the inner bark, separated so as to form a 

 kind of flax, and the shepherds of Carolina 

 weave a coarse cloth of it, which serves them 

 for their ordinary clothing. The sap of the 

 tree, drawn off in the spring, and evaporated, 

 affords a considerable quantity of sugar; and 

 the honey produced by the flowers is superior 

 to ali other kinds for its delicacy, and is worth 

 three times more than common honey. 



While we pass through the 

 shades of forests formed by mul- 

 titudes of elms, oaks, &c, we 

 cannot help thinking of those 

 remarkable trees, the banians, 6, 

 which, from the peculiar pro- 

 perty of throwing down from 

 their horizontal branches sup- 

 porters, which take root as soon 

 as they reach the ground, and 



these again giving out branches, 

 form immense woods, having a 

 single tree for their common 

 centre. In this manner, acres 

 and miles of plains are covered 

 with immense woods, divided 

 into colonnades and aisles, their 

 high roofs being formed of em- 

 bracing arms and densely-matted 

 leaves, through casual openings 

 here and there admitting stray 



f.12. 



sunbeams, to light with glan- 

 cing rays the vast and beautiful 

 cathedral of living wood and 

 whispering leaves. On the 

 banks of most Indian rivers 

 banian groves are to be found, 

 which, according to the nature 

 of the soil, the obstructions or 

 openness of the land, or the force 

 of the inundating waters, are 

 either vast or circumscribed. 

 On the banks of the Nerbudda 

 is a celebrated banian grove, or 

 rather tree, for there is but one 

 parent to the countless hundreds 

 of stems, under which, on the 

 march of an army, a column of 

 7000 men, with all their artillery, 

 baggage, beasts of burden, and 

 the whole material of the mov 



