368 



ARBOR,ETTJM AND PRUTICETUM. 



PART III. 



and large-leaved varieties. The leaves, he says, are sweet, and used as fodder 

 for most kinds of cattle. The tree was highly esteemed by the Romans for 

 its shade ; and, according to Pliny, for the numerous uses to which its wood 

 might be applied. In modern times, the lime tree was one of the first to 

 attract the notice of writers on plants ; and, accordingly, it occupies a con- 

 siderable space in the works of L'Obel, Gerard, Ra}^ and the various den- 

 drological authors previously to the time of Linneeus, who describes only 

 two species, T. europge'a and T. americana; but M. Ventenat, in 1798, 

 describes three European species and three American ones. De Candolle 

 has described ten species. Evelyn, speaking of the lime tree, says, " It 

 is a shameful negligence that we are no better provided with nurseries 

 for a tree so choice, and so universally acceptable. We send, commonly, 

 for this tree into Flanders and Holland, while our woods do in some 

 places spontaneously produce them." The lime tree has long been a 

 favourite tree for avenues and public walks ; it is planted in the streets of 

 some of the principal towns of France, Holland, and Germany: and it forms, 

 avenues to country seats, both on the Continent and in Great Britain. " The 

 French," Du Hamel saj'S, " growing tired of the horsechestnut for avenues, 

 adopted the lime for that purpose, in the time of Louis XIV. ; and, accord- 

 ingly, the approaches to the residences of the French, as well as English, 

 gentry of that date are bordered with lime trees " ; and Fenelon, Sir J. E. 

 Smith observes, "in conformity to this taste, decorates, with 'flowery lime 

 trees,' his enchanted Isle of' Calypso." The lime trees in St. James's 

 Park are said to have been planted at the suggestion of Evelyn ; probably 

 with a view to the improvement of the air, and to avert, *in part, the 

 evils pointed out in his Fumifngium. The Dutch plant the lime in towns, 

 along their widest streets, and by the sides of their canals; and the whole 

 country is perfumed by their flowers during the months of July and August,. 

 In Miller's time, the tree began to be little esteemed, on account of its coming 

 into leaf late in the spring, and beginning to decay early in autumn ,• more 

 especially when planted in a dry soil. Since the modern"^ style of laying out 

 grounds has rendered straight avenues unfashionable, the lime tree has not 

 been nearly so much planted as formerly ; and its chief use at present, both 

 in Britain and on the Continent, is for planting public walks and promenades. 



Froperties and Uses. The wood of the lime tree is of pale yellow or white, 

 close-grained, soft, light, and smooth, and not attacked by insects. It is 

 used by pianoforte-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 the apothecaries. Tlie most 

 elegant use to which it is applied is for carving, for which it is superior to 

 every other wood. Many of the fine carvings in Windsor Castle, Trinity Col- 

 lege Library at Cambridge, and in the Duke of Devonshire's mansion at Chats- 

 worth,_ are of this wood. It is supposed by some, that the blocks employed by 

 Holbein for wood-engravings were of this tree. The wood is said to make 

 excellent charcoal for gunpowder ; even better than alder, and nearly as good 

 as hazel. Baskets and cradles were formerly made from the twigs ; and shoe- 

 makers and glovers are said to prefer planks of lime tree for cutting the finer 

 kinds of leather upon. The leaves of the lime tree, in common with those 

 of the elm and the poplar, were used, both in a dried and in a green state, 

 for feeding cattle, by the Romans; and they are still collected for the same 

 purpose in Sweden, Norway, Carniola, and Switzerland ; though in Sweden, 

 .Linngeus says, they communicate a bad flavour to the milk of cows. One of 

 the most important uses of the lime tree, in the north of Europe, is that of 

 supplying material for forming ropes and mats the latter of which enter 

 extensively into European commerce. The Russian peasants weave the bark 

 of the young shoots for the upper parts of their shoes, the outer bark serves 

 for the soles ; and they also make of it, tied together 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. 



