130 



THE HORNBEAM. 



be tenderer: among these hang certain triangled 

 things, upon which are found knaps, or little buds 

 of the bignesses of ciches (vetches), in which is 

 contained the fruit or seed. The root is strong 

 and thicke." 



Evelyn is loud in his praises of the Hornbeam ; 

 for, the tree being, as it is called, ^'tonsile," or very 

 patient of being clipped by the shears, it was 

 highly prized in the formal gardens of his day. 



It makes," he says, ''the noblest and stateliest 

 hedges for long walks in the gardens or parks, of 

 any tree whatsoever whose leaves are deciduous 

 and forsake their branches in winter, because it 

 grows tall and so sturdy as not to be wronged by 

 the winds ; besides, it will furnish to the very foot 

 of the stem, and flourishes with a glossy and po- 

 lished verdure, which is exceedingly delightful, 

 of long continuance, and, of all the other harder 

 woods, the speediest grower, maintaining a slender 

 upright stem, w^hich does not come to be bare and 

 sticky in many years. It has yet this (shall I call 

 it) infirmity, that, keeping on its leaves till new 

 ones thrust them ofi*, it is clad in russet all the 

 winter long. That admirable espalier hedge, in 

 the long middle walk of the Luxemburgh garden, 

 at Paris, than which there is nothing more grace- 

 ful, is planted of this tree ; and so is that cradle or 

 close walk, with that perplext canopy which lately 

 covered the seat in his Majesty's garden at Hamp- 

 ton Court. They very frequently plant a clump 

 of these trees before the entries of the great towns 

 in Germany, to which they apply timber-frames 

 for convenience of the people to sit and solace 

 in." 



Dr. Hunter tells us, that the Hornbeam was 



