Chapter III: Introduction (2)

The Alder is usually planted as coppice-wood, to be cut down every five or six years, for conversion into charcoal, which is preferred in making gunpowder. The bark on the young wood is powerfully astringent, and is employed by tanners; and the young shoots are used for dyeing red, brown, and yellow; and in combination with copperas, to dye black. It is greatly cultivated in Flanders and Holland for piles, for which purpose it is invaluable, as when constantly under water, or in moist and boggy situations, it becomes hardened, black as ebony, and will last for ages. On this account it is also very serviceable in strengthening the embankments of rivers or canals; and while the roots and trunks are preventing the encroachment of the stream, they throw out branches which may be cut for poles every fifth or sixth year, especially if pruned of superfluous shoots in the spring.

As Alders in the spring, their boles extend,
And heave so fiercely that the bark they rend.

Virgil, _ecl._ x.

Vitruvius informs us, that the morasses about Ravenna were piled with this timber to build upon; and Evelyn says that it was used in the foundations of Ponte Rialto, over the Grand Canal at Venice. The wood is also valuable for various domestic purposes.

Besides the common Alder there are introduced at least six other species:--

1. _A. Glutinosa_, already described.

2. _Emarginata_, leaves nearly round, wedge-shaped, and edged with green.

3. _Laciniata_, leaves oblong and pinnatifid, with the lobes acute.

4. _Quercifolia_, leaves sinuated, with the lobes obtuse.

5. _Oxyacanthoefolia_, leaves sinuated and lobed; smaller than those of the preceding variety, and somewhat resembling the common hawthorn.

6. _Macrocarpa_, leaves and fruit larger than those of the species.

7. _Foliis variegatis_, leaves variegated.

THE ASH-TREE.

[_Fraxinus._[B] Nat. Ord.--_Oleaceæ_; Linn.--_Dian. Monog._]

[B] _Generic characters._ Calyx none, or deeply 4-cleft. Corolla none, or of 4 petals. Perianth single, or none. Fruit a 2-celled, 2-seeded capsule, flattened and foliaceous at the extremity (a _samara_). Name from [Greek: phraxis], separation, on account of the ease with which the wood may be split.

The Common Ash (_F. excelsior_), is one of the noblest of our forest-trees, and generally carries its principal stem higher than the oak, rising in an easy flowing line. Its chief beauty, however, consists in the lightness of its whole appearance. Its branches at first keep close to the trunk, and form acute angles with it; but as they begin to lengthen, they commonly take an easy sweep; and the looseness of the leaves corresponding with the lightness of the spray, the whole forms an elegant depending foliage. Nothing can have a better effect than an old Ash hanging from the corner of a wood, and bringing off the heaviness of the other foliage with its loose pendent branches. And yet in some soils, the Ash loses much of its beauty in the decline of age. The foliage becomes rare and meagre; and its branches, instead of hanging loosely, start away in disagreeable forms; thus the Ash often loses that grandeur and beauty in old age, which the generality of trees, and particularly the oak, preserve till a late period of their existence.

The Ash also falls under the displeasure of the picturesque eye on another account, that is, from its leaf being much tenderer than that of the oak, it sooner receives impressions from the winds and frosts. Instead, therefore, of contributing its tint in the wane of the year among the many-coloured offspring of the woods, it shrinks from the blast, drops its leaf, and in each scene where it predominates, leaves wide blanks of desolated boughs, amidst foliage yet fresh and verdant. Before its decay, we sometimes see its leaf tinged with a fine yellow, well contrasted with the neighbouring greens. But this is one of Nature's casual beauties. Much oftener its leaf decays in a dark, muddy, unpleasing tint. And yet, sometimes, notwithstanding this early loss of its foliage, we see the Ash, in a sheltered situation, when the rains have been abundant and the season mild, retain its light pleasant green, when the oak and the elm, in its neighbourhood, have put on their autumnal attire. The leaves of the common Ash were used as fodder for cattle by the Romans, who esteemed them better for that purpose than those of any other tree: and in this country, in various districts, they were used in the same manner.

The common Ash is indigenous to northern and central Europe, to the north of Africa, and to Japan. The Romans, it is said, named it _Fraxinus, quia facile frangitur_, to express the fragile nature of the wood, as the boughs of it are easily broken. It is supposed that the name of Ash has been given to this tree, because the bark of the trunk and branches is of the colour of wood ashes. Some, however, affirm that the word is derived from the Saxon _Æsc_, a pike.

It is recorded in the fables of the ancients, that Love first made his arrows of this wood. The disciples of Mars used ashen poles for lances:

A lance of tough ground Ash the Trojan threw,
Rough in the rind and knotted as it grew.

Æneid.

Virgil says that the spears of the Amazons were formed of this wood, and Homer sings the mighty ashen spear of Achilles:

The noble Ash rewards the planter's toil;
Noble, since great Achilles from her side
Took the dire spear by which brave Hector died.

Rapin.

It is said, in the Edda, that the Ash was held in high veneration, and that man was formed from its wood. Hesiod, in like manner, deduces his brazen race of men from the Ash.

The warlike Ash, that reeks with human blood.

There are many remarkable Ash-trees in various parts of the country. One at Woburn Abbey measures at the ground twenty-three feet in circumference; at twelve inches from the ground, it is twenty feet; and fifteen feet three inches at three feet from the ground. It is ninety feet high, and the ground overshadowed by its branches is one hundred and thirteen feet in diameter. The trunk of another, near Kennety Church, in King's County, is twenty-one feet ten inches in circumference, and seventeen feet high, before the branches break out, which are of enormous bulk. There formerly stood in the church-yard of Kilmalie, in Lochaber, an Ash that was considered the largest and most remarkable tree in the Highlands. Lochiel and his numerous kindred and clan held it in great veneration for generations, which is supposed to have hastened its destruction; it being burnt to the ground by the brutal soldiery in 1746. In one direction its diameter was seventeen feet three inches, and the cross diameter twenty-one feet; its circumference at the ground was fifty-eight feet!

Trees raised from the keys of the Ash are decidedly the best. The "keys," or tongues, should be gathered from a young thriving tree when they begin to fall (which is about the end of October), laid to dry, and then sown any time betwixt that and Christmas. They will remain a full year in the ground before they appear; it is therefore necessary to fence them in, and wait patiently. The Ash will grow exceedingly well upon almost any soil, and indeed is frequently met with in ruined walls and rocks, insinuating its roots into the crevices of decaying buildings, covering the surface with verdure, while it is instrumental in destroying that which yields it support. Its winged capsules are supposed to be deposited in those places by the wind.

The Ash asks not a depth of fruitful mould,
But, like frugality, on little means
It thrives, and high o'er creviced ruins spreads
Its ample shade, or in the naked rock,
That nods in air, with graceful limbs depends.

Bidlake.

Southey, in _Don Roderick_, speaks of the Ash:

--amid the brook,
Gray as the stone to which it clung, half root,
Half trunk, the young Ash rises from the rock,
And there its parent lifts its lofty head,
And spreads its graceful boughs; the passing wind
With twinkling motion lifts the silent leaves,
And shakes its rattling tufts.

The roots of the Ash are remarkably beautiful, and often finely veined, and will take a good polish. There are also certain knotty excrescences in the Ash, called the _brusca_, and _mollusca_, which, when cut and polished, are very beautiful. Dr. Plot, in his _History of Oxfordshire_ mentions a dining-table made of them, which represented the exact figure of a fish.

With the exception of that of the oak, the timber of the Ash serves for the greatest variety of uses of any tree in the forest. It is excellent for ploughs.

Tough, bending Ash,
Gives to the humble swain his useful plough,
And for the peer his prouder chariot builds.

Dodsley.

It is also used for axle-trees, wheel-rings, harrows; and also makes good oars, blocks for pulleys, &c. It is of the utmost value to the husbandman for carts, ladders, &c., and the branches are very serviceable for fuel, either fresh or dry. The most profitable age for felling the Ash, appears to be from eighty to one hundred years. It will continue pushing from stools or from pollards, for above one hundred years.

Though a handsome tree, it ought by no means to be planted for ornament in places designed to be kept neat, because the leaves fall off, with their long stalks, very early in the autumn, and by their litter destroy the beauty of such places; yet, however unfit for planting near gravel-walks, or pleasure-grounds, it is very suitable for woods, to form clumps in large parks, or to be set out as standards. It should never be planted on tillage land, as the dripping of the leaves injures the corn, and the roots tend to draw away all nourishment from the ground. Neither should it be planted near pasture ground; for if the kine eat the leaves or shoots, the butter will become rank, and of little value.

There are many varieties of the common Ash, but that with pendulous branches is probably the best known: it is called the Weeping Ash, and is of a heavy and somewhat unnatural appearance, yet it is very generally admired.

The foliage of the Ash-tree becomes of a brown colour in October.

Like leaves on trees the race of man is found--
Now green in youth, now withering on the ground;
Another race the following spring supplies,
They fall successive, and successive rise:
So generations in their course decay,
So flourish these, when those are past away.

Pope.

There are numerous species of the Ash, but these are so rarely to be met with in this country, that it is not necessary to particularize any of them.

THE BEECH-TREE.

[_Fagus._[C] Nat. Ord.--_Amentiferæ_; Linn.--_Monoec. Poly._]

[C] _Generic characters. Barren_ flowers in a roundish catkin. Perianth campanulate, divided into 5 or 6 segments. Stamens 8 to 15. _Fertile_ flowers, 2 together, within a 4-lobed prickly involucre. Stigma 3. Ovaries 3-cornered and 3-celled. Nut by abortion 1 or 2-seeded. Named from [Greek: phagô], to eat.

The Common Beech (_F. sylvática_), is supposed to be indigenous to England, but not to Scotland or Ireland. According to Evelyn, it is a beautiful as well as valuable tree, growing generally to a greater stature than the Ash: though Gilpin observes, that it does not deserve to be ranked among timber-trees; its wood being of a soft, spongy nature, sappy, and alluring to the worm. Neither will Gilpin allow that, in point of picturesque beauty, it should rank much higher than in point of utility. Its skeleton, compared with that of the oak, the ash, or the elm, he says, is very deficient; yet its trunk is often highly picturesque, being frequently studded with bold knobs and projections, and having sometimes a sort of irregular fluting about it, which is very characteristic. It has another peculiarity, also, which is somewhat pleasing--that of a number of stems arising from the root. The bark, too, wears often a pleasant hue. It is naturally of a dingy olive; but it is always overspread, in patches, with a variety of mosses and lichens, which are commonly of a lighter tint in the upper parts, and of a deep velvet green towards the root. Its smoothness, also, contrasts agreeably with these rougher appendages. No bark tempts the lover so much to make it the depository of his mistress's name. In days of yore, it seems to have commonly served as the lover's tablet. In Dryden's translation of Virgil's _Eclogues_, we find the following:--

Or shall I rather the sad verse repeat,
Which on the Beech's bark I lately writ--
I writ, and sang betwixt.

There seems to have been connected with this custom the curious idea, that as the tree increased in growth, so would the words, and also the hopes expressed thereon:

The rind of every plant her name shall know,
And as the rind extends the love shall grow.

Our own Thomson, too, narrates that Musidora carved, on the soft bark of a Beech-tree, the confession of her attachment to Damon:

At length, a tender calm,
Hushed, by degrees, the tumult of her soul;
And on the spreading Beech, that o'er the stream
Incumbent hung, she, with the sylvan pen
Of rural lovers, this confession carved,
Which soon her Damon kissed with weeping joy.

The branches of the Beech are fantastically wreathed and disproportioned, twining awkwardly among one another, and running often into long unvaried lines, without any of that strength and firmness which we admire in the oak, or of that easy simplicity which pleases in the ash: in short, we rarely see a Beech well ramified. In full leaf, it is unequally pleasing; it has the appearance of an overgrown bush. Virgil, indeed, was right in choosing the Beech for its shade. No tree forms so complete a roof. If you wish either for shade or shelter, you will find it best

Beneath the shade which Beechen boughs diffuse.

Its bushiness imparts a great heaviness to the tree, which is always a deformity:

A gloomy grove of Beech.

Sometimes a light branch issues from a heavy mass; and though these are often beautiful in themselves, they are seldom in harmony with the tree. They distinguish, however, its character, which will be best seen by comparing it with the elm. The latter has a rounder, the former a more pointed foliage; but the elm is always in harmony with itself. Gilpin can see few beauties in the Beech; but, in conclusion, he admits that it sometimes has its beauty, and often its use. In distance, it preserves the depth of the forest, and, even on the spot, in contrast, it is frequently a choice accompaniment. In the corner of a landscape, too, when a thick heavy tree is wanted, or a part of one, at least, which is often necessary, nothing answers the purpose like the Beech.

If we would really appreciate the beauty of this tree, we should walk in a wood of them. In its juvenility, contrary to the generality of trees, the Beech is decidedly the most pleasing, not having acquired that heaviness which Gilpin so loudly complains of. A light, airy young Beech, with its spiry branches hanging in easy forms, is generally beautiful. And, occasionally, the forest Beech, in a dry hungry soil, preserves the lightness of youth in the maturity of age.

We must, however, mention its autumnal hues, which are often beautiful. Sometimes it is dressed in modest brown, but commonly in glowing orange; and in both dresses its harmony with the grove is pleasing. About the end of September, when the leaf begins to change, it makes a happy contrast with the oak, whose foliage is yet verdant. Some of the finest oppositions of tint which, perhaps, the forest can furnish, arise from the union of oak and Beech. We often see a wonderful effect from this combination; and yet, accommodating as its leaf is in landscape, on handling, it feels as if it were fabricated with metallic rigour.

The leaves are of a pleasant green, and many of them remain on the branches during winter. In France and Switzerland, when dried, they are very commonly used for beds, or, instead of straw, for mattresses. Its fruit consists of "two nuts joined at the base, and covered with an almost globular involucre, which has soft spines on the outside, but within is delicately smooth and silky." Beech mast, as it is called, was formerly used for fattening swine and deer. It affords also a sweet oil, which the poor in France are said to eat most willingly.

--The Beech, of oily nuts
Prolific.

The Beech abounds especially along the great ridge of chalk-hills which passes from Dorsetshire through Wiltshire, Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex, and Kent; trenching out into Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, and Hertfordshire; and it is also found on the Stroudwater and Cotswold hills in Gloucestershire, and on the banks of the Wye in Herefordshire and Monmouthshire. It is particularly abundant in Buckinghamshire, where it forms extensive forests of great magnificence and beauty. It is seldom found mixed with other trees, even when they are coeval with it in point of age. It is rarely found in soil that is not more or less calcareous; and it most commonly abounds on chalk. The finest trees in England are said to grow in Hampshire; and there is a curious legend respecting those in the forest of St. Leonard, in that county. This forest, which was the abode of St. Leonard, abounds in noble Beech-trees; and the saint was particularly fond of reposing under their shade; but, when he did so, he was annoyed during the day by vipers, and at night by the singing of the nightingale. Accordingly, he prayed that they might be removed; and such was the efficacy of his prayers, that since his time, in this forest,

"The viper has ne'er been known to sting,
Or the nightingale e'er heard to sing."

The wood of this tree, from its softness, is easy of being worked, and is consequently a favourite with the turner. Beechen bowls, curiously carved, were highly prized by the ancient shepherds. Indeed, we learn that their use was almost universal:

Hence, in the world's best years, the humble shed
Was happily and fully furnished:
Beech made their chests, their beds, and the joined stools;
Beech made the board, the platters, and the bowls.

And it is still used for dishes, trays, trenchers, &c. And Dodsley informs us that it was used for the sounding-boards of musical instruments.

--The soft Beech
And close-grained box employ the turner's wheel;
And with a thousand implements supply
Mechanic skill.

We cannot willingly conclude this article without introducing Wordsworth's beautiful description of a solitary Beech-tree, which stood within "a stately fir-grove," where he was not loth

To sympathize with vulgar coppice birds,
That, for protection from the nipping blast,
Thither repaired. A single Beech-tree grew
Within this grove of firs, and in the fork
Of that one Beech appeared a thrush's nest:
A last year's nest, conspicuously built
At such small elevation from the ground,
As gave sure sign that they who in that house
Of nature and of love had made their home,
Amid the fir-trees all the summer long,
Dwelt in a tranquil spot.

The principal varieties of the Beech are:--

1. _Purpurea_, the purple Beech, which has the buds and young shoots of a rose colour; the leaves, when half developed, of a cherry red, and of so dark a purple, when fully matured, as to appear almost black.

2. _Foliis variegatis_, having the leaves variegated with white and yellow, interspersed with some streaks of red and purple.

3. _Pendulata_, the weeping Beech, having the branches beautifully pendent.

THE BIRCH-TREE.

[_Betula._[D] Nat. Ord.--_Amentiferæ_; Linn.--_Monoec. Poly._]

[D] _Generic characters._ _Barren_ flowers in a cylindrical catkin with ternate scales. Perianth none. Stamens 10 or 12. _Fertile_ flowers in an oblong catkin, with 3-lobed, 3-flowered scales. Perianth none. Styles 2, filiform. Emit an oblong nut, deciduous, winged, 1-celled. Kernel solitary.

--most beautiful
Of forest trees, the lady of the woods.

Coleridge.

The common Birch (_B. alba_) is a native of the colder regions of Europe and Asia, being found from Iceland to Mount Etna; in Siberia, as far as the Altaic mountains; and also in the Himalayas; but not in Africa. It is known, at first sight, by the silvery whiteness of its bark, the comparative smallness of its leaves, and the lightness and airiness of its whole appearance. It is admirably calculated to diversify the scene, forming a pleasing variety among other trees, either in summer or winter. In summer it is covered over with beautiful small leaves, and the stem being generally marked with brown, yellow, and silvery touches of a peculiarly picturesque character, as they are characteristic objects of imitation for the pencil, forms an agreeable contrast with the dark green hue of the foliage, as it is waved to and fro by every breath of air. Only the stem and larger branches, however, have this varied colouring: the spray is of a deep brown, which is the colour, too, of the larger branches, where the external rind is peeled off. As the tree grows old, its bark becomes rough and furrowed; it loses all its varied tints, and assumes a uniform ferruginous hue.

The Birch is altogether raised from roots or suckers, which, being planted at intervals of four or five feet, in small twigs, will speedily rise to trees, provided the soil suit them, and this cannot well be too barren or spongy; for it will thrive in dry and wet, sandy or stony places, in marshes or bogs.

In ancient times, the Birch, whose timber is almost worthless, according to Evelyn, afforded the Old English warriors arrows, bolts, and shafts; and in modern times, its charcoal forms a principal ingredient in the manufacture of gunpowder. In spring, the Birch abounds in juices, and from these the rustic housewife makes an agreeable and wholesome wine: as Warton sings:

And though she boasts no charm divine,
Yet she can carve, and make Birch wine.

Pomona's bard says, also, that

--Even afflictive Birch,
Cursed by unlettered idle youth, distils
A limpid current from her wounded bark,
Profuse of nursing sap.

We are informed that a Birch-tree has been known to yield, in the course of the season, a quantity of sap equal to its own weight. It is obtained by inserting, in the early part of spring, a fosset made of an elder stick, with the pith taken out; and setting vessels, or hanging bladders, to receive the liquor. The sooner it is boiled the better; so that, in order to procure a sufficient quantity in a short time, a number of trees should be bored on the same day, and two or three fossets inserted in each of the larger trees. Sugar is now commonly used to sweeten it, in the proportion of from two to four pounds to each gallon of liquor. This is allowed to simmer so long as any scum rises, which must be cleared as fast as it appears. It is then poured into a tub to cool, after which it is turned into a cask, and bunged up when it has done working; and is ready to be drunk when a year old.

As before remarked, the timber of the Birch is of little value; though in the Highlands, where pine is not to be had, it is used for all purposes. Its stems form the rafters of cabins; "wattles of the boughs are the walls and the door; and even the chests and boxes are of this rude basket-work."

Light and strong canoes were formerly made of this timber in Britain, and also in other parts of Europe; and are even now in the northern parts of America. It also makes good fuel; and in Lancashire great quantities of besoms are made for exportation from the slender twigs. The bark is used in Russia and Poland for the covering of houses, instead of slates or tiles; and anciently the inner white cuticle and silken bark were used for writing-paper. Coleridge describes

A curious picture, with a master's haste
Sketched on a strip of pinky-silver skin
Peeled from the Birchen bark.

There is no part of this tree, however, that is not useful for some purpose or other. Even its leaves are used by the Finland women, in forming a soft elastic couch for the cradle of infancy.

Gilpin particularly notes a beautiful variety of the White Birch, _B. pendula_, sometimes called the Lady Birch, or the Weeping Birch. Its spray being slenderer and longer than the common sort, forms an elegant pensile foliage, like the weeping willow, and, like it, is put in motion by the smallest breeze. When agitated, it is well adapted to characterize a storm, or to perform any office in landscape which is expected from the weeping willow. This is agreeably described in Wilson's Isle of Palms:

--on the green slope
Of a romantic glade we sate us down,
Amid the fragrance of the yellow broom,
While o'er our heads the Weeping Birch-tree streamed
Its branches, arching like a fountain shower.

"A Weeping Birch, at Balloghie, in the parish of Birse, in Aberdeenshire, in 1792, measured five feet in circumference; but it carried nearly this degree of thickness, with a clear stem, up to the height of about fifty feet, and it was judged to be about one hundred feet high."

THE CEDAR OF LEBANON.

[_Cedrus Libani._ Nat. Ord.--_Coniferæ_; Linn.--_Pinus C. Monoec.
Monand.]_

On high the Cedar
Stoops, like a monarch to his people bending,
And casts his sweets around him.

Barry Cornwall.

The Cedar of Lebanon is a majestic evergreen tree, generally from fifty to eighty feet in height, extending wide its boughs and branches; and its sturdy arms grow in time so weighty, as frequently to bend the very stem and main shaft. Phillips observes, that "this noble tree has a dignity and a general striking character of growth so peculiar to itself, that no other tree can possibly be mistaken for it. It is instantly recognized by its wide-extending branches, that incline their extremities downwards, exhibiting a most beautiful upper surface, like so many verdant banks, which, when agitated by the wind, play in the most graceful manner, forming one of the most elegant, as well as one of the most noble, objects of the vegetable kingdom."

The Cedar of Lebanon was formerly supposed to grow nowhere but on that mountain; but it was discovered, in 1832, on several mountains of the same group, and the probability is, that it extends over the whole of the Tauri mountains. It has also been discovered on the Atlas range of northern Africa.

It is generally spoken of as a lofty tree. Milton, in speaking of it, says,

Insuperable height of loftiest shade.

And Rowe, in his Lucan, alludes to the "tall Cedar's head;" and Spenser speaks of the "Cedar tall;" and Churchill sings,

The Cedar, whose top mates the highest cloud.

Notwithstanding these poetical authorities for the loftiness of the Cedar, we are assured by Evelyn, and others, that it is not lofty, but is rather remarkable for its wide-spreading branches. In Prior's Solomon, we read of

The spreading Cedar that an age had stood,
Supreme of trees, and mistress of the wood,
Cut down and carved, my shining roof adorns,
And Lebanon his ruined honour mourns.

Mason describes it as far-spreading:

--Cedars here,
Coeval with the sky-crowned mountain's self,
Spread wide their giant arms.

The prophet Ezekiel has given us the fullest description of the Cedar: "Behold the Assyrian was a Cedar in Lebanon, with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of a high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs. His boughs were multiplied, and his branches became long. The fir-trees were not like his boughs, nor the chestnut-trees like his branches, nor any tree in the garden of God like unto him in beauty."

In this description, two of the principal characteristics of the Cedar are marked.

The first is, the multiplicity and length of his branches. Few trees divide so many fair branches from the main stem, or spread over so large a compass of ground. His boughs are multiplied, as Ezekiel says, and his branches become long, which David calls spreading abroad.

The second characteristic is his shadowing shroud. No tree in the forest is more remarkable than the Cedar for its close-woven leafy canopy. Ezekiel's Cedar is marked as a tree of full and perfect growth, from the circumstance of its top being among the thick boughs. Almost every young tree, and particularly every young Cedar, has what is called a leading branch or two, which continue spiring above the rest till the tree has attained its full size; then the tree becomes, in the language of the nurseryman, clump-headed: but, in the language of eastern sublimity its top is among the thick boughs; that is, no distinction of any spiry head, or leading branch, appears; the head and the branches are all mixed together. This is generally, in all trees, the state in which they are most perfect and most beautiful. Such is the grandeur and form of the Cedar of Lebanon. Its mantling foliage, or shadowing shroud, as Ezekiel calls it, is its greatest beauty, which arises from the horizontal growth of its branches forming a kind of sweeping, irregular penthouse. And when to the idea of beauty that of strength is added, by the pyramidal form of the stem, and the robustness of the limbs, the tree is complete in all its beauty and majesty. In these climates, indeed, we cannot expect to see the Cedar in such perfection. The forest of Lebanon is, perhaps, the only part of the world where its growth is perfect; yet we may, in some degree, conceive its beauty and majesty, from the paltry resemblances of it at this distance from its native soil. In its youth, it is often with us a vigorous thriving plant; and if the leading branch is not bound to a pole (as many people deform their Cedars), but left to take its natural course, and guide the stem after it in some irregular waving line, it is often an object of great beauty. But, in its maturer age, the beauty of the English Cedar is generally gone; it becomes shrivelled, deformed, and stunted; its body increases, but its limbs shrink and wither. Thus it never gives us its two leading qualities together. In its youth, we have some idea of its beauty, without its strength; and in its advanced age, we have some idea of its strength, without its beauty. The imagination, therefore, by joining together the two different periods of its age in this climate, may form some conception of the grandeur of the Cedar in its own climate, where its strength and beauty are united.

The following particular botanical description of this celebrated tree, is given by Loudon in his _Arboretum_:--

"The _leaves_ are generally of a dark grass green, straight, about
one inch long, slender, nearly cylindrical, tapering to a point,
and are on foot-stalks. The leaves, which remain two years on the
branches, are at first produced in tufts; the buds from which they
spring having the appearance of abortive shoots, which, instead of
becoming branches, only produce a tuft of leaves pressed closely
together in a whorl. These buds continue, for several years in
succession, to produce every spring a new tuft of leaves, placed
above those of the preceding year; and thus each bud may be said to
make a slight growth annually, but so slowly, that it can scarcely
be perceived to have advanced a line in length; hence, many of
these buds may be found on old trees, which have eight or ten
rings, each ring being the growth of one year; and sometimes they
ramify a little. At length, sooner or later, they produce the male
and female flowers. The _male catkins_ are simple, solitary, of a
reddish hue, about two inches long, terminal, and turning upwards.
They are composed of a great number of sessile, imbricated stamens,
on a common axis. Each stamen is furnished with an anther with two
cells, which open lengthwise by their lower part; and each
terminates in a sort of crest, pointing upwards. The pollen is
yellowish, and is produced in great abundance. The _female catkins_
are short, erect, roundish, and rather oval; they change, after
fecundation, into ovate oblong _cones_, which become, at maturity,
from two and a half to five inches long. The cones are of a
grayish-brown, with a plum-coloured or pinkish bloom when young,
which they lose as they approach maturity; they are composed of a
series of coriaceous imbricated _scales_, laid flat, and firmly
pressed against each other in an oblique spiral direction. The
scales are very broad, obtuse, and truncated at the summit; very
thin, and slightly denticulated at the edge; and reddish and
shining on the flat part. Each scale contains two seeds, each
surmounted by a very thin membranous _wing_, of which the upper
part is very broad, and the lower narrow, enveloping the greater
part of the seed. The cones are very firmly attached to the
branches; they neither open nor fall off, as in the other Abietinæ;
but, when ripe, the scales become loose, and drop gradually,
leaving the axis of the cone still fixed on the branch. The _seeds_
are of an irregular, but somewhat triangular form, nearly one and a
half inch long, of a lightish brown colour. Every part of the cone
abounds with resin, which sometimes exudes from between the scales.
The female catkins are produced in October, but the cones do not
appear till the end of the second year; and, if not gathered, they
will remain attached to the tree for several years. The Cedar of
Lebanon does not begin to produce cones till it is twenty-five or
thirty years old; and, even then, the seeds in such cones are
generally imperfect; and it is not till after several years of
bearing, that seeds from the cones of young trees can be depended
upon. Some Cedars produce only male catkins, and these in immense
abundance; others, only female catkins; and some both. There are
trees of vigorous growth at various places, which, though upwards
of one hundred years old, have scarcely ever produced either male
or female catkins. The duration of the Cedar is supposed to extend
to several centuries."

The Cedar is cultivated from seeds and berries. Any climate suits it, provided it meet with a sandy soil; though it grows better in cold than in warm climates, as its cultivation is more successful in Scotland than in England.

The peculiar property of its timber is extremely remarkable, being declared proof against all putrefaction of human or other bodies, serving better than all other ingredients or compositions for embalming; thus, by a singular contradiction, giving life as it were to the dead, and destroying the worms which are living, as it does, where any goods are kept in chests and presses of the wood--except woollen cloths and furs, which, it is observed, they destroy. Its preservative power is attributed to the bitterness of its resinous juices. The ancients, in praising any literary work, would say, "It is worthy of being cased in Cedar." It is also very durable, it being on record that in the Temple of Apollo, at Utica, there was found timber of near two thousand years old.

The most remarkable existing Cedars in this country are at Chelsea, at Enfield, at Chiswick House, at Sion House, at Strathfieldsaye, at Charley Wood near Rickmansworth, at Wilton, near Salisbury and at Osgood Hanbury's near Coggeshall. The largest of these, at Strathfieldsaye, is one hundred and eight feet in height; diameter of the trunk, three feet, and diameter of the head, seventy-four feet.

THE SWEET CHESTNUT-TREE.

[_Castaneæ vulgaris._ Nat. Ord.--_Amentiferæ_; Linn.--_Monoec.
Poly._]

The Sweet Chestnut, so called with reference to the fruit, in contradistinction to that of the Horse-Chestnut, which is bitter, is also called the Spanish Chestnut, because the best chestnuts for the table are imported from Spain. In favourable situations, it becomes a magnificent tree, though it never attains a height, or diameter of head, equal to that of the oak. The trunk generally rises erect, forming, in all cases, a massy column of wood, in proportion to the expansion of the head, or the height of the tree. The branches form nearly the same angle with the trunk as those of the oak; though in thriving trees the angle is somewhat more acute. If planted in woods, by the road-side, and left untrimmed, as they should be, they will be feathered to the bottom, and will in summer, in addition to their beautiful appearance, hide the naked stems of other trees which are considered disagreeable objects; while in autumn, the golden hue of the leaves will heighten the mellow and pleasing effect produced in the woodlands by the variety of hues in the foliage of different trees, which contrast and blend together in one harmonious and pictorial aspect.

The Chestnut has been considered indigenous; but this is the more doubtful, that the tree rarely ripens its fruit, except in a climate that will ripen the grape in the open air. On old trees, the leaves are from four to six inches long; but on young and vigorous shoots, they are often nearly twelve inches in length, and from three to four inches in breadth. They are of a rich shining green above, and paler beneath. The flowers are produced on the wood of the current year, and are ranged along the common stalk, in lateral sessile tufts. The rate of growth of young trees, in the neighbourhood of London, averages from two to three feet for the first ten or twelve years. The tree will attain the height of from sixty to eighty feet in about sixty years; but the tree will live for several centuries afterwards, and produce abundance of fruit. The finest trees in England are said to stand on the banks of the Tamer, in Cornwall; and at Beechworth Castle, in Surrey, there are seventy or eighty Chestnuts, measuring from twelve to eighteen or twenty feet in girth, and some of them very picturesque in form. One, on Earl Durie's estate of Tortworth, in Gloucestershire, is proved to have stood ever since 1150, and to have been then remarkable for its age and size.

_Specific characters of C. vulgaris_. Leaves lanceolate, acutely serrate, smooth beneath; prickles compound and entangled; stigmas 6.]

The Chestnut is cultivated best by sowing and setting: the nuts must, however, be left to sweat, and then be covered with sand; after having been thus heated for a month, plunge the nuts in water, and reject the swimmers; then dry them for thirty days, and repeat the process. In November, set them as you would beans, taking care to do it in their husks. This tree will thrive in almost all soils and situations, though it succeeds best in rich loamy land. Nothing will thrive beneath its shade. Among mast-bearing trees this is said to be the most valuable; since the nuts, when ripened in southern climates, are considered delicacies for princes. In this country, however, where they rarely come to maturity, they fall to the lot of hogs and squirrels. The trees cultivated for fruit are generally grafted; and, in several parts of South Europe, the peasantry are mainly supported by bread made of the nut-flour. In Italy, in Virgil's time, they ate them with milk and cheese:

Chestnuts, and curds and cream shall be our fare.

And again, in his second _Pastoral_, thus translated by Dryden:

Myself will search our planted grounds at home,
For downy peaches and the glossy plum;
And thrash the Chestnuts in the neighbouring grove,
Such as my Amaryllis used to love.

The timber of the Chestnut is strong and very durable; but it is often found decayed at the core, and, in working, is very brittle. The wood is preferred for the manufacture of liquor tubs and vessels, as it does not shrink after being once seasoned. This tree is now, however, chiefly grown for hop-poles, which are the straightest, tallest, and most durable. Though cut at an early age for this purpose, the trees are frequently ornaments of our parks and pleasure-grounds.

THE ELM-TREE.

[_Ulmus_[E] Nat. Ord.--_Ulmaceæ_; Linn.--_Pentand. Digy._]

[E] _Generic characters of the Ulmi._ Calyx campanulate, inferior, 4 to 5-cleft, persistent. Corolla none. Fruit a membranous, compressed, winged capsule (a _samara_), 1-seeded.

There stood the Elme, whose shade, so mildly dim,
Doth nourish all that groweth under him.

W. Browne.

The Common Elm (_U. campestris_), after having assumed the dignity and hoary roughness of age, is not excelled in grandeur and beauty by any of its brethren. In this latter stage, it partakes so much of the character of the oak, that it is easily mistaken for it; though the oak--such an oak as is strongly marked with its peculiar character--can never be mistaken for the Elm. "This defect, however," says Gilpin, "appears chiefly in the skeleton of the Elm. In full foliage, its character is better marked. No tree is better adapted to receive grand masses of light. In this respect, it is superior both to the oak and the ash. Nor is its foliage, shadowing as it is, of the heavy kind. Its leaves are small, and this gives it a natural lightness; it commonly hangs loosely, and is in general very picturesque."

The Elm is not frequently met with in woods or forests, but is more commonly planted in avenues or other artificial situations. Cowper very accurately sketches the variety of form in the Elm, and alludes to the different sites where they are to be found. In the _Task_, he first introduces them rearing their lofty heads by the river's brink:

--There, fast rooted in his bank,
Stand, never overlooked, our favourite Elms,
That screen the herdsman's solitary hut.

Then he gives us an enchanting scene, where a lowly cot is surrounded by them:

'Tis perched upon the green hill-top, but close
Environed with a ring of branching Elms,
That overhang the thatch.

He then introduces us to a grove of Elms:

--The grove receives us next;
Between the upright shafts of whose tall Elms
We may discern the thrasher at his task.

The Elm is frequently referred to by the poets. Wordsworth thus speaks of a grove of them:

Upon that open level stood a grove,
The wished-for port to which my course was bound.
Thither I came, and there, amid the gloom
Spread by a brotherhood of lofty Elms,
Appeared a roofless hut.

In _The Church Yard among the Mountains_, he introduces one that seems to be the pride of the village:

--A wide-spread Elm
Stands in our valley, named the JOYFUL TREE;
From dateless usage which our peasants hold
Of giving welcome to the first of May,
By dances round its trunk.

And again:

--The Joyful Elm,
Around whose trunk the maidens dance in May.

Dr. Hunter supposes that the Elm is a native of England. Philips, however, does not agree with this; but, admitting that the tree was known in England as early as the Saxon times, observes, that this does not prove the Elm to be indigenous to the soil, confuted as it is by Nature, which rarely allows it to propagate its species in this country according to her common rules; while in other countries, where the seed falls, young plants spring up as commonly as the oaks in Britain.

In favourable situations, the common Elm becomes a large timber-tree, of considerable beauty and utility, naturally growing upright. It is the first tree to put forth its light and cheerful green in spring, a tint which contrasts agreeably with the foliage of the oak, whose leaf has generally, in its early state, more of an olive cast. We see them often in fine harmony together about the end of April and the beginning of May. The Elm is also frequently found planted with the Scotch fir. In spring, its light green is very discordant with the gloomy hue of its companion; but as the year advances, the Elm leaf takes a darker tint, and unites in harmony with the fir. In autumn also, the yellow leaf of the Elm mixes as kindly with the orange of the beech, the ochre of the oak, and many of the other fading hues of the wood.

The Elm was considered by the ancients of Eastern nations as a funereal tree, as well as the cypress. It is celebrated in the _Iliad_, for having formed a hasty bridge, by which Achilles escaped the Xanthus, when that river, by its overflowing, placed him in danger of being carried away. It has been suggested that the Romans probably introduced it, and planted it on the graves of their departed heroes. It was well-known among the Latins. Virgil says, that the husbandmen bent the young Elm, whilst growing, into the proper shape, for their _buris_ or plough-tail:

Young Elms with early force in copses bow,
Fit for the figure of the crooked plough.

Dryden.

The Romans esteemed the Elm to be the natural support and friend of the vine; and the feeling that a strong sympathy subsisted between plants, led them never to plant one without the other. The gravest of Latin authors speak of the Elm as husband of the vine; and Pliny tells us, that that Elm is a poor spouse that does not support three vines. This mode of marrying the vine to the Elm gave rise to the elegant insinuation of Vertumnus to Pomona, whose story may be found in Ovid:

"If that fair Elm," he cried, "alone should stand,
No grapes would glow with gold, and tempt the hand:
Or, if that vine without her Elm should grow,
'Twould creep a poor neglected shrub below."

This union of the vine and the Elm is constantly alluded to by the poets. Tasso, as translated by Fairfax, says,

The married Elm fell with his fruitful vine.

The lofty Elm with creeping vines o'erspread.

Ovid.

Milton, narrating the occupations of Adam and Eve before the fall, sings,

--They led the vine
To wed her Elm; she, spoused, about him twines
Her marriageable arms, and with her brings
Her dower, the adopted clusters, to adorn
His barren leaves.

And Beaumont says,

--The amorous vine
Did with the fair and straight-limbed Elm entwine.

And Wordsworth, in that beautiful reflection, the _Pillar of Trajan_, speaks of it:

So, pleased with purple clusters to entwine
Some lofty Elm-tree, mounts the daring vine.

There is a beautiful group of Elms at Mongewell, Oxon, which are in full vigour. The principal one is seventy-nine feet high, fourteen feet in girth at three feet from the ground, sixty-five in extent of boughs, and contains two hundred and fifty-six feet of solid timber. Strutt informs us, that, in 1830, Dr. Barrington, the venerable Bishop of Durham, when in his ninetieth year, erected an urn in the midst of their shade, to the memory of two of his friends; inscribing thereon the following classical fragment:

In this once-favoured walk, beneath these Elms,
Where thickened foliage, to the solar ray
Impervious, sheds a venerable gloom,
Oft in instructive converse we beguiled
The fervid time, which each returning year
To friendship's call devoted. Such things were;
But are, alas! no more.

The Chipstead Elm, in Kent, which is an English tree, is a fine specimen; and is of an immense size. It is beautiful as to form, and its trunk is richly mantled with ivy. In Henry V.'s time, the high road from Rye to London passed close by it, and a fair was held annually under its branches.

At Sprotborough, Yorkshire, stands what is justly regarded as the pride of the grounds--a magnificent English Elm. This noble tree is about fifteen feet in circumference in the bole, and still thicker at the height of four feet from the ground, where it divides into five enormous boughs, each of the size of a large tree, and gracefully descending to the ground; the whole forming a splendid mass of foliage, having a diameter of about forty yards from bough to bough end.

The Elm is generally raised by means of suckers, rarely from seeds. It delights in a rich, loamy soil, thriving best in an open situation, and bears transplantation well. It may also be planted in good pasture grounds, as it does not injure the grass beneath; and its leaves are agreeable to cattle, which in some countries are chiefly supported by them. They will eat them before oats, and thrive well upon them. Evelyn says, that in Herefordshire the inhabitants gathered them in sacks for their swine and other cattle.

Fruitful in leaves the Elm.

So prolific is this tree in leaves, that it affords a constant shade during the summer months, and for this reason it has been planted in most of the public and royal gardens in Europe. It is also of quick growth, as it will yield a load of timber in little more than forty years: it does not, however, cease growing--if planted in a favourable situation--neither too dry nor too moist--till it is one hundred or one hundred and fifty years old; and it will live several centuries.

The wood of the Elm is hard and tough, and is greatly esteemed for pipes that are constantly under ground. In London, before iron pipes were used, the consumption of this timber for water-pipes was enormous. It is also valuable for keels, and planking beneath the water-line of ships, and for mill-wheels and water-works. When long bows were in fashion it was used in their manufacture, and the Statutes recommend it for that purpose.

Besides _U. campestris_ there are six other varieties which have been long naturalized in this country, the botanical descriptions of which are:--

2. _U. suberosa_. Ebr. Leaves nearly orbicular, acute, obliquely
cordate at the base, sharply, regularly, and doubly serrate; always
scabrous above, pubescent below, chiefly hairy in the axillæ.
Branches spreading, bright-brown, winged with corky excrescences;
when young, very hairy. Fruit nearly round, deeply cloven, naked.
Grows in hedges, and flowers in March.

3. _U. major_. Smith. Leaves ovato-acuminate, very oblique at the
base, sharply, doubly, and regularly serrate; always scabrous
above, pubescent below, with dense tufts of white hairs in the
axillæ. Branches spreading, bright-brown, winged with corky
excrescences; when young, nearly smooth. Fruit obovate, slightly
cloven, naked. _U. hollandica_. Miller. Grows in hedges, and
flowers in March.

4. _U. carpinifolia_. Lindl. Leaves ovato-acuminate, coriaceous,
strongly veined, simply crenate, serrate, slightly oblique and
cordate at the base, shining, but rather scabrous above, smooth
beneath. Branches bright-brown, nearly smooth. Grows four miles
from Stratford-on-Avon, on the road to Alcester.

5. _U. glabra_. Miller. Leaves ovato-lanceolate, acuminate, doubly
and evenly crenate-serrate, cuneate and oblique at the base,
becoming quite smooth above, smooth or glandular beneath, with a
few hairs in the axillæ. Branches bright-brown, smooth, wiry,
weeping. Fruit obovate, naked, deeply cloven. [Greek: Beta].
_glandulosa_. Leaves very glandular beneath, [Greek: gamma].
_latifolia_. Leaves oblong, acute, very broad. Grows in woods and
hedges; [Greek: Beta]. near Ludlow; [Greek: gamma]. at West Hatch,
in Essex. Flowers in March. N. B. To this species the Downton Elm
and Scampston Elm of the nurseries probably belong.

6. _U. stricta_. Lindl. _Cornish Elm_. Leaves obovate, cuspidate,
cuneate at the base, evenly and nearly doubly crenate-serrate,
strongly veined, coriaceous, very smooth and shining above, smooth
beneath, with hairy axillæ. Branches bright-brown, smooth, rigid,
erect, very compact. [Greek: Beta] _parvifolia_. Leaves much
smaller, less oblique at the base, finely and regularly crenate,
acuminate rather than cuspidate. Grows in Cornwall and North Devon;
[Greek: Beta] the less common.

7. _U. montana_. Bauh. _Witch Elm_. Leaves obovate, cuspidate,
doubly and coarsely serrate, cuneate and nearly equal at the base,
always exceedingly scabrous above, evenly downy beneath. Branches
not corky, cinereous, smooth. Fruit rhomboid, oblong, scarcely
cloven, naked. _U. campestris_. Willd. _U. effusa_. Sibth., not of
others. _U. nuda_. Chr. _U. glabra_, Hudson, according to Smith. N.
B. Of this, the Giant Elm and the Chichester Elm of the nurseries
are varieties.

THE HAWTHORN-TREE.

[_Cratægus_.[F] Nat. Ord.--_Rosaceæ_; Linn.--_Icosand. Pentag._]

[F] _Cratægus_. Calyx superior, monosepalous, 5-cleft. Petals 5. Styles 2 to 5. Fruit a small _pome_, oval or round, concealing the upper end of the bony carpels. _Flowers_ in cymes. _Leaves_ lobed.

The Hawthorn bush, with seats beneath the shade,
For talking age and whispering lovers made.