472 
THE FOREST TREES OF BRITAIN. 
sesses of retaining its leaves during winter, 
well adapt it. Another recommendation is, 
that it grows well in the coldest and hardest 
soils, and may consequently be employed 
where other trees would not thrive. 
" The wood of the hornbeam is white and 
close-grained, and though not flexible, sur- 
passes in toughness the timber of any other 
British tree. The unevenm ss of the trunk 
described above is, however, communicated 
to the fibre of the wood, and hence it does not 
take a good polish. This defect does not exist 
in the young wood, which is exceedingly well 
adapted for the yokes of cattle and all kinds 
of wheelwright's work, especially mill-cogs. 
Selby recommends that it should be planted 
extensively in cold, stiff", clayey soils, for the 
staves of fish-barrels. It ranks among the 
best of fuels, burning freely, and giving out a 
great deal of heat ; it is highly inflammable, 
lighting easily and making a bright flame. 
This property was known to the ancients, for 
Pliny speaks of its being used for marriage 
torches. Its charcoal is highly prized, not 
only for ordinary purposes, but for the manu- 
facture of gunpowder. The inner bark is also 
used, according to Linnaaus, for dyeing yellow. 
" A number of trees are recorded by Loudon 
averaging from fifty to eighty feet high, with 
trunks from six to nine feet in circumference, 
but none requiring any particular notice. At 
Aldermaston Park, in Berkshire, is a group 
of fine hornbeams, which were evidently 
planted to form one of the quaint devices so 
much in vogue in the seventeenth century. 
They surround an elliptical area thirty paces 
in length and fifteen in width, and, crossing 
their branches high over head, form a leafy 
dome far more imposing than anything which 
the planter could have contemplated. The 
original intention probably was, that they 
should have been trained to form a hedge, 
such as Evelyn loved to look upon ; but they 
have long escaped from this unnatural thral- 
dom, and now rise to a height of fifty or sixty 
feet, with trunks varying from three to seven 
feet in circumference, and beautifully covered 
with lichens. 
" The hop hornbeam, occasionally met with 
in gardens and pleasure-grounds, approaches 
the common hornbeam in character, but be- 
longs to the genus Ostrya. It is not a native 
of Britain."— Pp. 127—132. 
" THE LIME TREE. 
"TlLIA EUROP^A. 
"Natural Order — Tiliace^e. 
" Class — Polyakdria. Order — -Polygtnia. 
" The lime or linden-tree was well known 
to the Greeks under the name of Philyra ; 
and the Romans, Pliny tells us, held it in 
great repute for its ' thousand uses.' The 
timber was employed in making agricultural 
implements, and was also considered to be well 
adapted for shields, as it was said to deaden 
the blow of a weapon better than any other 
kind of wood. Pliny states also, that it was 
not liable to be worm-eaten. The bark was a 
common writing material, and when split into 
ribands was made into head-dresses, which 
were worn on festive occasions. In medicine 
its supposed virtues were very great ; the 
leaves and bark had a healing power, and de- 
coctions of various parts beautified the skin 
and promoted the growth of the hair. The 
seed was said to be eaten Ijy no animal. Eve- 
lyn mentions that a book written on the inner 
bark of the lime, ' was brought to the Count of 
St. Amant, governor of Arras, 1662, for which 
there were given eight thousand ducats by the 
Emperor ; it contained a work of Cicero, De 
ordinandu Republicd, et de inveniendis ora- 
tionuvi exordiis; a piece inestimable, but 
never published, and now in the library at 
Vienna, after it had formerly been the greatest 
rarity in that of the late Cardinal Mazarin.' 
" In the Middle Ages the same honours 
were paid to the lime tree which belonged to 
the poplar, a tree which derived its name from 
being the emblem of popular freedom. During 
the struggles of the Swiss and Flemish to re- 
cover their liberty, it was their custom to 
plant a lime-tree on the field of every battle 
that they gained over their oppressors ; and 
some of these trees, particularly those planted 
by the Swiss in commemoration of their vic- 
tories over Charles the Bold, are still remain- 
ing, and have been the subject of many 
ballads. ' At Fribourg,' Loudon informs us, 
' there is a large lime, the branches of which 
are supported by props of wood. This tree 
was planted on the day when the victory of 
the Swiss over the Duke of Burgundy, Charles 
the Bold, was proclaimed, in the year 1476 ; 
and it is a monument admirably accordant 
with the then feebleness of the Swiss Repub- 
lics, and the extreme simplicity of their 
manners. In 1831, the trunk of this tree 
measured thirteen feet nine inches in circum- 
ference.' Another tree stands near the same 
place, which is supposed to be nearly a thou- 
sand years old ; its trunk is thirty-six feet in 
circumference and is still perfectly sound. 
" When too we recollect that the father of 
modern botany, Linnaeus, derived his name 
from the Swedish lin (our linden-tree), we 
must allow that it is recommended to us by 
the most pleasing associations. 
" The lime-tree occurs in Europe under 
three forms,* which are distinguished prin- 
cipally by the size and smoothness (or the 
* Tilia europaa, T. platyphylla, and T. par vi folia. 
