CHAP. XVIIT. 



369 



Ropes are still made from the bark of the tree in Cornwall, and in some 

 parts of Devonshire j as appears by the Agricultural Reports of those coun- 

 ties; and this, according to Ray, was formerly the case in Lincolnshire. 

 The manufacture of mats from the inner bark of the lime tree, however, 

 is now chiefly confined to Russia, and some parts of Sweden. Trees of 

 from 6 in. to 1 ft. in diameter are selected in the woods ; and in the beginning 

 of summ.er, when, from the expansion produced by the ascending sap, the 

 bark parts freely from the v/ood, it is stripped from the trees in lengths of 

 from 6 ft. to 8 ft. These are afterwards steeped in water, till the bark se- 

 parates freely into layers ; it is then taken out and separated into ribands 

 or strands, which are hung up in the shade, generally in the wood where the 

 tree grew from which they were taken ; and, in the course of the simiraer, 

 they are manufactured into the mats so much in use by gardeners and up- 

 holsterers, and for covering packages generally. 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 flax ; and the shepherds of Carniola 

 weave a coarse cloth of it, which serves them for their ordinary clothing. 

 The trees from which the bark is taken are cut down during the same summer, 

 collected into open places in the woods, cut into short lengths, and burned 

 in heaps, so as to form charcoal. The sap of the lime tree, drawn olF in 

 spring, and evaporated, affords a considerable quantity of sugar; and Adan- 

 son suggested the idea of employing it for this purpose in France, along with 

 the sap of the birch and the maple. The honey produced by the flowers is 

 considered superior to all other kinds for its delicac}', selling at three or four 

 times the price of common honey ; and it is used exclusively in medicine, 

 and for making some particular kinds of liqueurs, more especially Rosoglia. 

 This lime tree honey is only to be procured at the little town of Kowno, 

 on the river Niemen, in Lithuania, which is surrounded by an extensive forest 

 of limes. An account of this forest, of the mode of managing the bees in 

 it, and of disposing of the honey, &c., was given to Su- John Sinclair by 

 the botanist Hove, and will be found printed as an appendix to the Hus- 

 hmidry of Scotland. The Jews of Poland produce a close imitation of this 

 honey, by bleaching the common sort in the open air during frosty weather. 

 (See Bright's Travels in Hungary.) The fruit of the lime tree had long 

 been thought of little use, till Missa, a physician of the faculty of Paris, by 

 triturating it, mixed with some of its flowers, succeeded in procuring abutter, 

 perfectly resembhng chocolate; having the same taste, and giving the same 

 paste, as the cocoa. This was in the time of Frederick the Great ; who, 

 feeling a greater interest in the discovery than the French, who were in pos- 

 session of plantations of the cocoa in their colonies, engaged the chemist 

 Marcgraf to prove the observations of Missa, which he did entirely to the 

 satisfaction of Frederick; but, unfortunately, it was found that the lime 

 tree chocolate did not keej). On this Ventenat remarks, that, if the subject 

 had been pursued a little further, and the fruits of some of the American 

 species of limes taken, the success would probably have been complete. In 

 landscape-gardening the principal use of the lime is as a detached tree on a 

 lawn, or in scenery which is decidedly gardenesque; because, from the sym- 

 metncal and regular form of the tree, it is unfitted for grouping Avith other 

 trees in the picturesque manner. London and Wise recommended the lime 

 tree, as preferable to the elm, for sheltering gardens or orchards; because the 

 roots do not, like those of the elm, spread out and impoverish all around 

 them. In the Retired Gardener, the chief use of the tree is said to be for 

 bowers, or covered ways 18 ft. or 20 ft. high : the lime being trained to a 

 shelter roof. Evelyn commends the lime for its " unparalleled beauty " 

 for walks; "because" he says, "it will grow in almost all grounds, lasts 

 long, soon heals its wounds when pruned, affects uprightness, stoutly resists 

 a storm, and seldom becomes hollow." Scattered trees of it harmonise 

 well with immense masses of Grecian or Roman architecture ; but it is less 

 suitable for the narrow perpendicular forms of the Gothic. For architectural 



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