144 
LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 
rows of this tree, which presented to my view a scene far 
more beautiful than I had hitherto witnessed in any town, 
either in France, Flanders, or Germany.” In this country 
the European lime is also much planted in our cities ; and 
some avenues of it may be seen in Philadelphia, particu- 
larly before the State-house in Chestnut-street. The bass- 
wood is a very abundant tree in some parts of the middle 
states, and is seen growing in great profusion, forming thick 
woods by itself in the interior of this state. With us the 
wood is considered too soft to be of much value, but in 
England it was formerly in high repute as an excellent 
material for the use of carvers. Some very beautiful 
specimens of old carving in lime wood may be seen in 
Windsor Castle and Trinity College.* The Russian bass 
mats, which find their way to every commercial country, 
are prepared from the inner bark of this tree. The sap 
affords a sugar like the maple, although in less quantities ; 
and it is stated in the Encyclopaedia of Plants (p. 467) “ that 
the honey made from the flowers of the lime tree is reckoned 
the finest in the world. Near Knowno, in Lithuania, there 
are large forests chiefly of this tree, and probably a distinct 
variety. The honey produced in these forests sells at more 
than double the price of any other, and is used extensively 
in medicine and for liqueurs.” 
* The art of carving in wood, brought to such perfection by Gibbons, is now, 
we believe, much given up ; therefore the lime has lost a most important branch 
of its usefulness. Perhaps the finest specimens of the works of Gibbons are to 
be seen at Chatsworth, the seat of the Duke of Devonshire, in Derbyshire. The 
execution of the flowers, fish, game, nets, etc., on the panelling of the walls is 
quite wonderful. It was of him that Walpole justly said, ‘ that he was the first 
artist who gave to wood the loose and airy lightness of flowers, and chained 
together the various productions of the elements, with a free disorder natural to 
each species.’ The lime tree is still, however, used by the carver, and we hope 
that the art of wood carving may gradually be restored .” — Sir T. D. Lauder 
