37 
THE LIME, OR LINDEN-TREE. 
TILIA. 
“ The stately lime, smooth, gentle, straight, and fair, 
(With which no other Dryad can compare.)” 
Though we are not prepared, perhaps, entirely to 
acquiesce in the sweeping commendation contained in 
the closing line of the selected motto, yet can we truly 
say the lime is a very beautiful tree: it has an aristocratic 
look about it, which makes it a fitting ornament for 
cultivated grounds, where we often find it expanding 
itself in full glory; it also adorns our woods and hedge¬ 
rows, for it rejects no soil or situation, though of course 
both its size and also the swiftness of its growth depend 
a good deal on local circumstances. “ In rich, feeding, 
loamy ground,” says Evelyn, “ its growth will be most 
incredible for speed and spreading.” Tliis circumstance, 
together with the stately beauty of its appearance, makes 
it a matter of surprise that it is not more extensively 
cidtivated: it is objected against it, that the leaf comes 
out late, and falls early; but surely this defect is more 
d 3 
