174 



THE LIME-TREE. 



shoots for the upper part of their shoes, the outer 

 bark serves for the soles ; and they also make of it 

 baskets and boxes for domestic purposes. The 

 fishermen of Sweden make nets for catching fish 

 of the fibres of the inner bark, separated by 

 maceration, so as to form a kind of fiax ; and the 

 shepherds of Carniola weave a coarse cloth of it, 

 which serves them for their ordinary clothing. 

 The sap drawn off* in the spring affords a con- 

 siderable quantity of sugar, and the seed may be 

 converted into an oily substance perfectly re- 

 sembling chocolate, but unfortunately of little 

 value, as it soon becomes rancid. 



Among the many remarkable Lime-trees de- 

 scribed by various authors, the following are most 

 worthy of notice. At Chalouse, in Switzerland, 

 there stood one in Evelyn's time, under which 

 was " a bower composed of its branches, capable 

 of containing three hundred persons sitting at 

 ease ; it had a fountain set about with many 

 tables, formed only of the boughs, to which they 

 ascend by steps, all kept so accurately, and so 

 very thick, that the sun never looked into it." 

 The same author mentions another famous Lime 

 at Neustadt in Wirtemburg, which gave a distinc- 

 tive name to the town. Its huge limbs were sup- 

 ported by numerous stone columns bearing in- 

 scriptions. This tree, Loudon tells us, was in 

 1838 still in existence, the trunk being eighteen 

 feet in diameter, and the limbs being supported 

 by 118 columns. The people of Neustadt are 

 in the habit of sitting in this tree to eat fruit; 

 and several gooseberry trees have sprung up 

 in the crevices and hollows of the bark, the fruit 

 of which is sold to visitors. 



