Hort. Kew.; T. europa a 3 rùbra Sibthorp; T. europaea y Smith's Flor. Brit., 571; Description. This variety is distinguished by the redness of its young branches, and it may be properly considered as a subvariety of all the above races or kinds. In Sweden, where lime woods extend over the low part of the country for many miles together, the common lime tree is met with, in some places, perhaps for a mile together, with the twigs bright red, yellow in others, and in others quite green. In the park at Shardeloes, near Amersham, in Buckinghamshire, may be seen large lime trees, all apparently of the commonest kind (T. europæ`a), some with yellow, others with red, and others with brown or green wood. In the garden of the London Horticultural Society there is one variety with small leaves and bright yellow wood; and another, with the large rough leaves of T. e. platyphylla, and bright yellow wood. Our conclusion from these, and other facts that have come before us, is, that there is a red-twigged and yellow-twigged variety or subvariety of T. europæ`a, of T. e. microphýlla, and of T. e. platyphýlla; and that T. rùbra Dec. can be nothing more than a variety of T. e. platyphylla. * T. e. 5 laciniata. The cut-leaved European Lime Tree. Synonymes. T. platyphylla laciniata Hort. Description. The leaves are smaller than those of the common species, and deeply and irregularly cut and twisted, scarcely two on the tree being alike. This variety is seldom seen of a large size; as might be expected from the diminished power of the leaves, in consequence of their diminished surface. We have never heard of its attaining a greater height than 30 ft. * T. e. 6 aúrea. The golden-twigged European Lime Tree. - Differing from the species in the yellowness of its twigs; and, apparently, not so vigorous in its growth as any of the other varieties, except T. e. laciniata. (See our plate in Vol. II.) T. e. 7 p. aúrea. The golden-twigged broad-leaved European Lime Tree. This differs from the common broad-leaved lime in no other respect than in the yellow colour of its twigs. It is, in winter, a very distinct and very handsome variety, and may be procured in some of the London nurseries. There is a small tree in the London Horticultural Society's Garden. IT. e. 8 dasýstyla. The hairy-styled European Lime Tree. T. dasýstyla Steven. - This is described as having petals without scales; leaves smooth, somewhat hairy at the base beneath; axils of veins bearded; style tomentose. It is found on the south-west coast of Tauria, at the base of the mountain Castel Dagle, where there is one tree near the public road. Steven considers it as satisfactorily distinct in the form of its fruit, and especially in the hairiness of its style. To us it appears that this variety bears the same relation to the species that Crataegus Oxyacántha eriocárpa does to the species. Other Varieties. There is a variety with variegated leaves, but it is such a ragged ill-looking plant that we deem it altogether unworthy of culture. There are some names of varieties in nurserymen's catalogues, which we have not thought worth a detailed notice; the slightest deviation being often eagerly seized on for the sake of producing something new. In the Bollwyller Catalogue for 1833, we have T. aspleniifòlia nòva, which, we presume, is a subvariety of T. europæ`a laciniàta ; and M. Baumann informs us that they have lately discovered a new variety of T. e. aúrea in a forest in their neighbourhood. In the Botanic Garden of Antwerp, there is a plant named T. europæ'a rubicaúlis, which is said to be quite different from T. europæ`a rùbra. There can be no doubt that where several of the varieties are growing together, and ripen seeds, these seeds will produce different new sorts, as the result of cross-fecundation. In a work published in 1750 at Leyden, entitled Les Agrémens de la Campagne, &c., the author recommends continuing all the different sorts of the lime by layers: because, says he, those which are raised from seed come up of different species; and almost all hybrids, such as the poplar-leaved lime, or the birch-leaved lime, which never arrive at the size of large trees, or become finely furnished with leaves. Those which come up with red bark, he says, grow very rapidly for a while, as do the yellow-barked varieties, but neither do they ever form large trees. The only seedlings that should be planted, with a view to this end, are such as have green leaves and shoots. (p. 207.) Geography of T. europaea and its Varieties. T. europæ'a appears to be confined to the middle and north of Europe. The variety T. e. platyphylla is found on the Alps of Switzerland, and the north of Italy; and also in Spain, Portugal, and Greece. T. europæ'a and T. microphylla appear to be indigenous chiefly in the north of Germany, in Russia, and in Sweden. We have already (p. 24.) expressed our doubts as to the genus Tília being indigenous in Britain; though, as Sir J. E. Smith has observed, all the varieties (species with him) are naturalised, if not all originally indigenous. Ray seems to have thought that T. e. microphylla was, or might be, indigenous; but he was of a different opinion with respect to the broad-leaved variety. He says, speaking of the latter kind, "I think that Turner and Gerard err in saying that this kind grows plentifully in Essex; for, although I am an inhabitant of Essex, I have never seen the Tília fœmina vulgàris platyphyllos [which, according to Smith, is a synonyme of T. europæ'a (Eng. Flora)] growing spontaneously there, or elsewhere in England. What we frequently find with us, in woods and hedges," he says, is the Tília minòre fòlio" [which, according to Smith, is a synonyme of T. parvifòlia. (Eng. Flora.)]. "This last species," Ray continues, "is called in Lincolnshire, by the rustics, bast; because ropes are made from its bark. It flowers later than the other, and ripens its seeds more perfectly." Sir J. E. Smith gives as a native habitat of T. europæ`a, "woods and hedges upon grassy declivities:" of T. e. platyphylla," Whitstable, Surrey; and near Dorking; on the banks of the Mole, near Boxhill; and a few other places in Surrey, Norfolk, and Oxfordshire." According to Watson, T. europæ'a is common all over Britain; and in the south-western, north-eastern, and north-western counties of Ireland: T. e. platyphylla is found in the north-eastern parts of England, and in the southern counties of Scotland: and T. e. microphylla is found in the south-eastern and north-eastern counties of England, and north-western counties of Scotland. Mr. Edwin Lees, Hon. Sec. of the Natural History Society of Worcester, informs us that at Shawley, eight miles north-west of Worcester, there is a wood, remote from any old dwelling or public road, of above 500 acres in extent, the greater part of the undergrowths of which is composed of T. e. microphylla. He also states that, in the same part of the county, there are some trees estimated to be upwards of 300 years old. So extensive a tract in Britain covered with the lime tree, we had before never heard of, and the circumstance has considerably diminished our doubts as to the tree being truly indigenous. In the Nouveau Du Hamel, T. europæ`a is said to be found wild in Denmark, Sweden, Bohemia, and throughout Europe generally. Pallas states that it is found through the whole of Russia, and great part of Siberia. T. e. platyphylla is said to inhabit Sweden, and most parts of Europe, as far south as the alpine regions of Spain. History. The common lime tree appears to have been known to the Greeks and Romans. The tree, according to Theophrastus, is of both sexes, which are totally different as to form; probably referring to the small-leaved DD 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 considerable space in the works of L'Obel, Gerard, Ray, and the various dendrological authors previously to the time of Linnæus, who describes only two species, T. europæ`a and T. americàna; 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 says, "growing tired of the horsechestnut for avenues, adopted the lime for that purpose, in the time of Louis XIV.; and, accordingly, the approaches to the residences of the French, as well as English, gentry of that date are bordered with lime trees"; and Fénélon, 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 Fumifugium. 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, Properties 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. The 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 College Library at Cambridge, and in the Duke of Devonshire's mansion at Chatsworth, 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 shoemakers 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, Linnæus 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. Ropes are still made from the bark of the tree in Cornwall, and in some parts of Devonshire; as appears by the Agricultural Reports of those counties; 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 summer, when, from the expansion produced by the ascending sap, the bark parts freely from the wood, it is stripped from the trees in lengths of from 6 ft. to 8 ft. These are afterwards steeped in water, till the bark separates 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 summer, they are manufactured into the mats so much in use by gardeners and upholsterers, 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 off in spring, and evaporated, affords a considerable quantity of sugar; and Adanson 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 delicacy, 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 Sir John Sinclair by the botanist Hove, and will be found printed as an appendix to the Husbandry 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 a butter, perfectly resembling 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 possession 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 keep. 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 symmetrical and regular form of the tree, it is unfitted for grouping with 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 gardening it is well adapted, from the patience with which it bears the knife or the shears. In some of the public gardens of recreation on the Continent, and especially in those in the neighbourhood of Paris and Amsterdam, there are very imposing colonnades, arcades, walls, pyramids, and other architectural-looking masses, formed of this tree. Soil and Situation. A deep and rather light soil is recommended for the lime tree by Du Hamel (Traité des Arbres); but the largest trees are generally found in a good loamy soil. In Lithuania, where the tree is more abundant, and of a larger size, than it is either in Russia or Poland, the soil, as we particularly remarked about Kowno, when in that country in 1813, is rather a clayey loam than a sandy one. This agrees with an observation of Du Hamel, in another of his works (Exploitation des Bois), that the lime tree gets to a prodigious size in an argillaceous soil inclining somewhat to sand, and rather moist. In dry situations, the tree never attains a large size, and it loses its leaves earlier than any other tree. Being a tree of the plains, rather than of the mountains, it does not appear suitable for exposed surfaces: but it requires a pure air rather than otherwise; for, though it is found in towns on the Continent, and sparingly so in Britain, the smoke of mineral coal seems more injurious to it than it is to the platanus, the elm, or some other trees. Propagation and Culture. It is seldom propagated otherwise than by layers, which are made, in the nurseries, in autumn and winter, and which become rooted, so as to admit of being taken off, in a year. The tree, in Britain at least, appears seldom to ripen its seeds; but Evelyn states that he received many of these from Holland, and that plants may be raised from them; though, he says, with better success from suckers. Du Hamel says that the lime tree may be raised from seeds, which ought to be sown immediately after being gathered; because, if they are preserved dry till the following spring, they will often not come up till the second year. If, however, the seeds are mixed with sand, or with soil, not too dry, and kept in that state till the following spring, they will generally come up the first year. Owing to the slowness of the growth of plants raised from seeds, Du Hamel states, the French gardeners, when they want a supply of young lime trees, cut over an old one close by the surface of the ground, which soon sends up a great number of shoots: among these they throw in a quantity of soil, which they allow to remain one, or two, or three years; after which they find the shoots well rooted, and of a sufficient height and strength to be planted at once where they are finally to remain. This mode is still practised in France and Belgium, both with the lime and the elm. (See Agrémens de la Campagne, liv. ii.) We have seen the plants, or shoots, 15 ft. or 20 ft. high, with very few roots when they were first taken off: but all the branches being cut off close to the stems, and the stems shortened to 6 ft. or 7 ft., and the roots also pruned, they are planted, and seldom fail to grow; all the young shoots produced the first season after planting being removed, except one to serve as a leader. The lime tree bears transplanting when of a considerable size; but, when it is grown in the nurseries for this purpose, it ought always to be taken up and replanted every two or three years. A tree which has stood some years without being removed should always have the roots cut round, at 3 ft. or 4 ft. from the stem, a year before removal, for the purpose of stunting the growth, both of the head and roots, and of forming smaller roots and fibres. Evelyn mentions some very large lime trees which the prince elector took out of his forests at Heidelberg, to a steep hill "exceedingly exposed to the heat of the sun, and that in the heat of summer. They grow behind that strong tower on the south-west and most torrid part of the eminence, being a dry, reddish, barren earth; yet do they prosper rarely well: but the heads were cut off, and the pits into which they were transplanted were (by the industry and direction of Monsieur De Son, a Frenchman, and an admirable mechanic, who himself related it to me) filled with a composition of earth and cow-dung, |