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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

ANDREW

SMITH

HALLIDIE:

/

SYLVA FLORIFERA

THE

HISTORICALLY AND BOTANIC ALLY TREATED ;

WITH
OBSERVATIONS ON THE FORMATION OF

ORNAMENTAL PLANTATIONS,

AND

PICTURESQUE SCENERY.

BY HENRY PHILLIPS, RH.S.

AUTHOR OF POMARIUM BRITANNICUM,
AND HISTORY OF CULTIVATED VEGETABLES.

Sylva nemus non alta facit : tegit arbutus herbam :

Rosmaris et lauri, nigraque myrtus olent.
Nee densa; foliis buxi, fragilesque myric®,

Nee tenues cytisi, cultaque pinus abest. OVID. Ars Am.

IN TWO VOLUMES.

VOL. I.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN,
PATERNOSTER-BOW.

1823.

&

^

LONDON :

Printed by A.& R. Spottiswoode,
New-Street-Square.

TO

MRS. HENRY PHILLIPS.

THE dedication of a work is the highest mark
of respect that an author has the power of
bestowing oil an individual. He, therefore,
naturally turns towards those, where his
.reverence, esteem, and affections are fixed.

And as it is now about a quarter of a century,
since we have journeyed together over roads,
sometimes sprinkled with flowers, and often
strewed with thorns, the latter of which you
have so invariably passed with fortitude and
cheerfulness, as to set me an example of
patience and perseverance: Hence, I flatter
myself, you will receive with pleasure my
labours in the Sylva Florifera; as it will
prove my endeavours to dissipate the grief

A 2

105989

IV DEDICATION.

that has so heavily befallen us since the com-
mencement of this work, which was intended
for your amiable and accomplished pupil ; the
loss of whom has fixed the cypress too firmly
in our bosoms ever to be entirely eradicated :
but as the study of vegetable nature is one of
the best cordials for sorrow, accept, dear
madam, the nectar its flowers offer, which
has proved so great a balm to

Your devoted and affectionate Husband,

HENRY PHILLIPS

Bedford Square,
Brighton.

PREFACE.

THE Planter of the Shrubbery has endea-
voured to dispose his trees and form his
groves in a manner that may render his
walks agreeable to every age and class,
that may be disposed to seek information
or amusement among the various plants
of the Sylva Florifera. Should his efforts
fail of success, he will at least enjoy the con-
sciousness of having attempted to please all
the admirers of Nature's works, by studying to
render every common an interesting pleasure
ground, and every hedge a pleasing plantation,
by the information he has endeavoured to
collect respecting the plants that flourish in
them.

The author has also tried to make his book
an agreeable companion to the traveller, who,
as he passes through woods and lanes, may
never feel himself solitary, but have his

VI PREFACE.

way enlivened by vegetable history and bota-
nical beauties. These by their connection
with anecdote, and their poetical celebrity,
may agreeably beguile his time as he jour-
neys by the humble bushes of the road, or the
proud natives of the forest.

To those who tread the flowery paths of
ornamental gardens, the writer would wish the
secrets of each blossom to be fully expanded,
that the wisdom of the Creator may always
shine conspicuous in their walks. Thus also,
the plants themselves may invite the youth
and the fair to the study of botany, by exhibit-
ing the beauty and simplicity of that science.

For the information of those who are form-
ing landscape plantations, the author has as-
signed to each tree and shrub its proper sta-
tion, and noticed the tints of its natural robe,
with observations intended to assist the plan-
ter in effecting a harmony of colouring and
an undulating appearance in the grove.

_ Won Chaonis abfuit arbos,

Non nemus Heliadum, nonfrondibus esculus altis,
Nee tilice molles, necfagus, et innuba laurus,
Et corylifragiles, etfraxinus utilis hastis,
Enodisque abies, curvdtaque glandibus ilex,
Et Platanus genialis, acerque coloribus impar,
Amnicolaque simul salices, et aqnatica lotos,
Perpetuoque virens buxus, tenuesque myric<z,
Et bicolor myrtus, et baccis ccerula tinus ;
Vos quoqueflexipedes hederte venistis, et una
Eampinete vites, et amictte vitibus ulmi :
Ornique, et picea, pomoque onerata rubenti
Arbutus, et lentce victoris prcemia palmce :
Et succincta comas, hirsutaque vertice pinus
Grttta Deum matri >

OVID. Metamorph,

" Much can we praise the trees so straight and hy,
The sayling pine ; the cedar proud and tall ;
The vine-propt elme ; the poplar never dry ;
The builder oake, sole king of forrests all ;
The aspine, good for staves ; the cypresse funerall ;
The laurell, meed of mightie conquerours
And poets sage ; the firre that weepeth still ;
The eugh, obedient to the bender's will ;
The birch for shaftes ; the sallow for the mill ;
The mirrhe sweete-bleeding in the bitter wound ;
The warlike beech ; the ash for nothing ill ;
The fruitful olive ; and the platane sound ;
The carver holme ; the maple, seldom inward sound."

SPENCER'S Faerie Queene, Book I. Canto 1,

INTRODUCTION,

" And let us to our fresh employments rise
Among the groves, the fountains, and the flowers,
That open now their choicest bosomed smells,
Reserved from night and kept for thee in store."

MILTON,

THE shrubbery is a style of pleasure-garden
which seems to owe its creation to the idea
that our sublime poet formed of Eden. It
originated in England, and is as peculiar to
the British nation as landscape-planting.
Whilst other arts have been derived from
ancient or borrowed from modern inventions,
this has indisputably sprung from the genius
of our soil, and is perhaps one of the most de-
lightful, as well as most beneficial, of all that
claim the name of elegant.

Ornamental plantations are now so univer-
sally spread over the face of this country,
that our island may be compared to a vase

VOL. I. B

2 INTRODUCTION.

emerging from the ocean, into which the
Sylvans of every region have set their fa-
vourite plants, and the Flora of every climate
poured her choicest gifts, for the embellish-
ment of the spot round which Neptune
throws his fostering arms. Our ambition
leads us to hope that we may add pleasure
to the pleasure-ground, by pointing out the
beauties of the shrubbery, which must render
vegetation an object of admiration and vene-
ration to all classes. We wisli to attract atten-
tion to the peculiar pleasing properties of each
plant by the remarks of the ingenious, the
anecdotes of the ancients, the harmony of the
poets, the observations of the physicians,
and the reflections of the moralists of all
ages. Morality, however, of a gloomy cast
will be avoided ; for our wish is to give the
work, like the subject, a smiling aspect.

Though flowering shrubs seem to contri-
bute nothing to pottage, and but little to
medicine in its present refined state, yet
they add greatly to our pleasure, and con-
siderably to our health. They win us to
good humour bv their fragrance and cheerful
appearance, and produce a serenity of mind
by the calm reflections they present to it ;
thus assisting to relieve the maladies of the

INTRODUCTION. 3}

soul, as drugs mitigate the grosser and more
perceptible sufferings of the body.

" The spleen is seldom felt where Flora reigns,
The lowering eye, the petulance, the frown,
And sullen sadness, that o'ershade, distort,
And mar the face of beauty, when no cause
For such immeasurable woe appears:
These Flora banishes, and gives the fair
Sweet smiles and bloom less transient than her own."

COWPER.

We shall notice the allegorical allusions
which the eastern nations are accustomed to
make by means of flowers, and the fables of
the ancient poets and mythologists respecting
plants. Thus, pleasing ideas may be con-
nected with pleasing objects, and agreeable
images convey lively but moral sentiments to
the mind, adding to the charms of the country
without recourse to romance and useless fic-
tion. These accustom the mind to such
violent sensations, that at last it is obliged
to resort to an excess of feeling, either of
mirth or grief, to prevent that dreaded
fashionable lethargy of spirit — ennui. Such
a habit in the end injures health and con-
sequently shortens life, as much as a calm
but cheerful state of mind assists in the pro-
longation and enjoyment of both : — -

" Come, then, ye blissful scenes, ye soft retreats,
Where life flows pure, the heart more calmly beats."

DELILLE.
B 2

4 INTRODUCTION.

It would seem, that the more terrible a
sight, and the more violent an impression,
the more agreeable to the greater portion of
mankind, who run with avidity after objects
of horror, whilst they pass unnoticed those
which produce gentle and agreeable sensa-
tions, and would to all appearance rather
tremble at the awful thunderbolt of Jupiter,
than calmly admire the bounteous horn of
plenty, It has been observed, that the
volcano near Naples attracts more travellers
to the city than the delicious gardens which
adorn the shores of that region. The plains
of Greece^ overspread with ruins, would entice
many to undertake a voyage to a distant
country, who would feel but little inclined to
travel over their native soil to view its
richly cultivated lawns ; and there is no
doubt, but that formerly, where one person
went to Egypt to be a witness of Nature's
bounty to that nation, five hundred became
travellers to behold the Pyramids. A temple
after it's fall excites more eager curiosity than
it did during its construction ; and many who
will not cross their thresholds to look at a
beautiful calm in Nature, will rush to get a
sight of a storm and shipwreck in a play-
house. This love of the terrific is not, as has
been asserted by foreigners, peculiar to the

INTRODUCTION. 5

English nation : it is prevalent every where.
The author observed an instance of it when
in Paris, in the summer of 1822. Wishing to
visit the celebrated garden of M. Bourseau,
which is unequalled for the beauty of it's
plants by any city-garden in Europe, he re-
ceived in anwer to all enquiries for direction
to the spot, the usual careless but short and
decisive, Je ne le connois pas, Monsieur ; but
on asking the way to La Mort, every turn and
alley were readily pointed out with all the
bustle and officiousness of French politeness.
In this history of flowering trees and
shrubs, there is nothing terrible to present to
the reader ; but every endeavour has been
used to

" Shew Nature's form in smiling beauty drest,
And call mankind to view her and be blest."

DELILLE»

It seems hardly possible for any mind to
be so debased as to be insensible to the
effects of Nature, .whose vegetable charms
become more endeared to us as our age
and reflection increase. A more delightful
cabinet of natural history can scarcely be
formed, than the shrubbery affords, even
when unadorned by exotic beauties. It of-
fers matter for contemplation of the most
agreeable kind, which varies still as seasons

B 3

6 INTRODUCTION.

revolve ; and as every tree and shrub has it's
peculiar inhabitants, we have at the same time
a collection of animal and vegetable wonders,
that are sufficient to occupy all the leisure
which our economical duties allow us. As
years increase, a taste for most pleasures in
general diminishes. Those of the court be-
come fatiguing; the charms of the table
appear to lessen ; and as passion subsides
and love languishes, the gay ball and splen-
did opera lose their delights ; but the fond-
ness for a garden increases, and is almost the
only pleasure that does increase. Let us not,
then, neglect to cultivate a taste for what will
form the delight and amusement of the latter
period of life. Every tree we plant adds to
the entertainment we prepare for future
years, for ourselves, our friends, and suc-
cessors.

Should particular times and circumstances
require a retrenchment to be made in domes-
tic expenses, it should not begin with the
garden. This once neglected or laid aside,
cannot soon or with small cost be re-es-
tablished. There are other more expensive
and less profitable indulgences, which may be
lessened without injury ; nay, perhaps, with
benefit to an establishment. By giving one
entertainment less each season in

INTRODUCTION. 7

more might be saved than by ruining a
whole pleasure-ground, — the only means of
subsistence to a lew poor labourers, whose
consequent discharge exposes them to want,
and all the evils that accompany it.

The introduction of a useful or ornamental
plant into our island is justly considered as
one of the most important services that a
person can render his country ; for it is im-
possible to calculate on the benefits that may
be derived through his means, when the
qualities of the vegetable are ascertained and
it's virtues known. Even what is introduced
and planted merely from curiosity or orna-
ment seems to unite us to the nations from
whence it comes. It bestows on us a share
of the blessings of other climates, and
affords us a portion of the smiles of a more
genial sun. When, therefore, we dwell on
the beauty of exotic trees and shrubs, we
wish to be understood as expressing our
gratitude to those who have enriched our land
with additional charms, and more fully dis-
played Nature to our eyes, and not as disre-
garding the plants that are indigenous to our
soil. We are aware that many an Englishman
has sighed under the shade of the banana, for
a sight of his native banks, where the prim-
rose sparkles through the hazel-hedge, and

B 4

8 INTRODUCTION.

the violet peeps so modestly. The plants of
our country recall the idea of it in the most
forcible manner, wherever we meet them.
They are often the first objects that attract the
attention of those who have been long absent
from their native fields, and who on their re-
turn pour out the genuine effusions of joy
on beholding the village-elm, the well-known
oak, or the unchanged yew, whose antiquity
is equal to that of the church it shades. We
are told of a young Indian, (Pontaveri from
Otaheite,) who, in the midst of the splendor
of Paris, regretting the simple beauty of his
native island, sprang forward at the unex-
pected sight of a banana tree in the Jardin
des Plantes, embraced it, while his eyes were
bathed in tears, and exclaiming with a voice
of joy, " Ah ! tree of my country !" seemed,
by a delightful illusion of sensibility, to
imagine himself for a moment transported to
the land which gave him birth.

We seem as it were for an instant to go
back to the delights of infancy, when, on each
succeeding spring, we visit the meadows co-
vered with cowslips, which afforded us so many
happy hours in childhood, as we formed balls
of their blossoms. Then the playful girl, be-
decked with wreaths and necklaces of daisies,
led her little swain in chains formed of the

INTRODUCTION. 9

milky flower-stalks of the dandelion ; but who
;at the sight of a butterfly burst the brittle
bonds and scampered away, to return, perhaps,
a few years after, sighing and entangled in
fetters not so visible, but more binding.

There is no part of Nature's works more
interesting than flowers. They seem intended
for the embellishment of our fair, and for the
ornament of the spot where they tread. Their
sweet perfumes have such influence over all
our sensations, that in the midst of flowering
shrubs the most acute grief generally gives
way to the sweetest melancholy. When our
home and domestic companions are encom-
passed by the shrubbery, our situation then
approaches nearest to a terrestrial paradise.
Is it not, then,

" Strange, there should be found,

Who, self-imprisoned in their proud saloons,
Renounce the odours of the open field,
For the unscented fictions of the loom ;
Who,, satisfied with only pencilled scenes,
Prefer, to the performance of a God,
Th* inferior wonders of an artist's hand ?
Lovely, indeed, the mimic works of art ;
But Nature's works far lovelier. "

COWPEIU

The shrubbery is to a rational mind a source
of inexhaustible delight and instruction, where
each season brings new joy, and every morn-
ing a fresh harvest of delightful sweets. Sub-

10 INTRODUCTION.

jectsfor new thoughts and contemplations pre-
sent themselves to our view, and even the most
dreary months still supply causes of admiration,,
and discover a world full of wonders; for

" E'en Winter oft has seen it gay.
With fretted frost-work spangled o'er,
While pendants drooped from every spray,
And crimson budlets told, once more,
That Spring would all its charms restore. "

It is not to old age done, that the garden
offers its placid delights. Every stage of life,,
from the cradle to the grave, is attracted by
it's charms. The infant is ready to spring
from it's nurse's arms, allured by the gay
colours which flowers exhibit. They form
the most innocent toy of childhood, and
the cultivation of them is generally it's first
labour, whilst their presentation often ex-
plains the passion of youth. The happy belle
loves to entwine them in her locks, and
the fond parents delight to see their child
mimic their beauties with the pencil :

" The flowers which grace their native beds,
Awhile put forth their blushing heads ;
But, e'er the close of parting day,
They wither, shrink, and die away ;
But these, which mimic skill hath made,
Nor scorched by suns, nor killed by shade,
Shall blush with less inconstant hue.
Which art at pleasure can renew."

LLOYD.

INTRODUCTION. 1 1

The representation of flowers is the proper
style of drawing for the softer sex. In this
attempt they will succeed, and by this study
will afford us a delight which they cannot
do, when, " o'erstepping the modesty of na-
ture," and the limits of their proper employ-
ments, they present us with specimens of
their proficiency in the science of anatomy.
A pursuit like this is often too bold, and the
subjects sometimes too masculine, to suit the
feelings of those who can never be admired for
acting and feeling like men. But flowers are
the peculiar province of the fair, and the
nearer their imitation approaches to nature,
the more it delight us; which paintings of mur-
ders, massacres, deaths, and agony, certainly
cannot. The beauty and grace that may be dis-
played in grouping flowers, united with the
gaiety of their colours and the harmony of
their tints, are objects well worthy the atten-
tion of those who were born to render life
delightful. The neatness, nicety, and patience
required in finishing flower-pieces, seem to
demand the delicate hand of a female artist,

" Oui, beaux arts, oui, la fern me, employant vos secrets,
Meme sans etre vue, ajoute a vos attraits.
Des fleurs par Valayer sur la toile jetees,
On estpret a cueillir les tiges imitees."

LEGOUVE.

12 INTRODUCTION.

We have seen many delightful pieces of
fruit and flower sketches by ladies, but do not
recollect instances where they have completely
succeeded in the delineation of the human
figure; and have known many become disgusted
by a vain attempt, when they might have fully
succeeded, and been well amused, had they
commenced that branch of the graphic art
which so peculiarly suits them. We are aware
that our opinion may be objected to by the
generality of drawing masters ; but we write
as a parent for parents, and can feel for those
whose time has been vainly wasted in endea-
vouring to follow, with unequal steps, some
of the boldest designs of man.

" But softer tasks divide Florella's hours ;
To watch the buds just opening on the day ;
With welcome shade to screen the languid flowers
That sicken in the Summer's parching ray.
Oft will she stop amidst her evening walk,
With tender hand each bruised plant to rear,
To bind the drooping lily's broken stalk,
And nurse the blossoms of the infant year."

BARBAULD*

The description, by Moses, of the garden
of Eden, the first abode of first created man,
formed the outlines which Milton has so
splendidly enriched with -all the imagery of
poetry. From this have been copied the
plantation, the park, and shrubbery, so justly
the pride of the nation, and so properly the

INTRODUCTION. 13

abode of it's beauty. The Greeks devoted
their terrestrial groves, as well as celestial gar-
dens, to the gods ; but the Mahometans re-
serve their flowery lawns and umbrageous
bowers for scenes of future bliss to mortal
believers. We, however, more prudent, should
wish to collect all such blessings, which boun-
teous Nature has scattered over the globe, and
in this present life form a modern garden,
worthy of the Hesperides, and deserving of,
though not requiring, a dragon to guard it.

*e • Much I love

To see the fair one bind the straggling pink,
Cheer the sweet rose, the lupin, and the stock,
And lend a staff to the still gadding pea.
Ye fair, it well becomes you. Better thus
Cheat time away than at the crowded rout,
Rustling in silk, in a small room close pent,
And heated e'en to fusion ; made to breathe
A rank, contagious air, and fret at whist,
Or sit aside to sneer and whisper scandal. "

Village Curate.

Some of the pleasure gardens of antiquity
were created for, and devoted to, the pleasure
of the softer sex. Solomon has celebrated
those of Jerusalem in song, and the extraor-
dinary gardens of Babylon appear to have
been formed by Nebuchadnezzar for his
Median queen, who, we are told, could not
become reconciled to the flat and naked ap-
pearance of the province of Babylon ; but

4 INTRODUCTION.

frequently regretted each rising hill and scat-
tered forest which she had formerly delighted
in, with all the charms they had presented to
her youthful imagination. The king, to gra-
tify his consort, within the precincts of the
city raised terraces and planted woods, in imi-
tation of those that diversified the face of
his queen's native country. Thus originated
those gardens, which, for their singularity
and comparative extent, were considered one
of the wonders of the world. Their base
covered four acres of land, and the height of
them was so considerable, that they resembled
a pyramidical mountain covered by a forest.
The upper area, which was about thirty feet
square, was about three hundred feet distant
from the river Euphrates, that washed the
base of the stupendous superstructure.

This towering pleasure-ground overlooked
the whole city and surrounding country, as
far as the eye could reach. Each terrace was
covered with earth and planted with trees, so
as to form a series of ascending groves ; and
every platform supported rural seats, foun-
tains, and sumptuous banquetting rooms, on
which all the splendor and luxury of eastern
magnificence were lavished. •

This edifice was constructed by immense
stone beams laid on pillars of stone, the first

INTRODUCTION. J5

flat being a square of about four hundred feet
each way; these flats or stories lessening in
surface as they increased in height. The
stones were first covered with reeds cemented
together by bitumen. On this covering was
laid a double row of bricks united by cement,
which were then covered also by sheets of
lead, in order to prevent the moisture from
penetrating downwards ; and these sheets
lastly sustained a depth of earth sufficient for
the plantation of trees and shrubs. We are
told that this elevated shrubbery was watered
by fountains, the water of which we pre-
sume to have been conveyed into it by manual
labour, as skill in hydraulics appears to be an
acquirement of later times ; and perhaps the
ancient Egyptians, from their peculiar situa-
tion and circumstances, were the only people
who attended at that period to the science.

We have noticed these gardens of Babylon,
to show that pleasure-grounds have existed
from the earliest ages in civilized countries.
As the arts have flourished or been neglected,
so have gardens flourished or decayed.

The Romans would naturally attach to their
villas in this country a similar style of garden
to that which they had been accustomed to in
Italy. But this would be lost in baronial
times, when nothing was secure outside the

16 INTRODUCTION.

castle walls. However, gardens of consi-
derable extent were joined to the convents
and monasteries of England ; and we find that
the cultivation of flowers and shrubs was at-,
tended to by most of the religious recluses of
those establishments, as well as that of fruits,
pot-herbs, and medicinal plants.

The citizens of London had gardens to
their villas as early as the time of Henry II.,
which Fitz-Stephen tells us were " large,
beautiful, and planted with trees. " In
Cerceau's Architecture, which appeared in the
reign of Henry III., every ground-plot was
laid out with plans of labyrinths and par-
terres.

The royal gardens of Nonsuch in Surrey,
were formed in the time of Henry VIII.
The privy gardens of that palace were
planted with flowering shrubs and fruit-
trees, and ornamented with basins of marble,
fountains, and pyramids. The gardens of
Hampton- Court were also planted about the
same period, by Cardinal Wolsey ; and from
that time to the present, the taste for orna-
mental trees and shrubs has continued to
increase.

Charles II. returned from the Continent
with a taste completely French ; and Evelyn
also, from his travels through France and

INTRODUCTION. 17

Italy, during the Commonwealth, imbibed
similar ideas. Thus our plantations at that
time consisted entirely of long, dull avenues,
and our pleasure-gardens of clipped hedges,
walks laid out upon geometrical principles,
and ever-green trees shorn into fanciful and
ridiculous figures. Le Notre, who planned
the celebrated gardens of Versailles, came
over at this time to England, by desire of
Charles, to plant the parks of Greenwich
and St. James's.

Early in the eighteenth century, the formal
and heavy style of gardening which had for
some time prevailed, was changed by the
united efforts of the English poets and
painters of the day. By their pure taste and
united efforts, they gave birth to that classical
style of planting which has since been so
much admired and imitated throughout the
most refined parts of Europe.

Whilst Addison was forming a rural garden
at his retirement at Bilton near Rugby, Pope
was employed in laying out a picturesque
plantation at Twickenham. At the same
time, with their pens they engaged in open
war against the right angles and disfiguring
shears of the gardeners of their day, against
whom they levelled some of the keenest

VOL. i. c

18 INTRODUCTION.

shafts of their ridicule. These geniuses were
seconded by Kent, who, as a painter and
architect, was admirably adapted to Jembody
their imaginations. In his capacity of land-
scape planter, he laid out the grounds of
Claremont and Esher, about the year 1730;
and as he painted the hall at Stowe, it is pro-
bable that he assisted Lord Cobham in the
grouping of his plantations also^ which had
been commenced on the modern plan about
the time that Pope was occupied in forming
his gardens at Twickenham. Kent was fol-
lowed in succession by Wright, Brown, Hol-
land, and Repton, who brings us down to the
present day.

As this work will include the history of
the trees that grace the park, as. well as the
shrubs that ornament the lawn, we shall pro-
ceed to make some brief remarks as to the
antiquity of these enclosures. The Persians
of old had parks, called by the Greeks para-
deisoi, which contained animals for the chase;
and the Romans had similar enclosures, ha~
bitationes ferarum, or habitations for beasts-
of the chase. It is generally supposed, that
the park of Blenheim is the site of grounds,
that were once used by the Romans for
hunting. It is also conjectured to be the

INTRODUCTION. 19

same spot which formed the park of Henry L,
who, we are told by H. Huntingdon, had a
park at Woodstock. *

The word " park" is originally Celtic, and
like the French word pare, signifies an en-
closed spot for the confinement of animals.
" No man can now," says Wood, " erect a
" park, without a licence under the broad
" seal ; for the common law does not en-
" courage matters of pleasure, which bring
" no profit to the Commonwealth. But there
" may be a park in reputation, erected with-
" out lawful warrant ; and the owner of such
" park may bring his action against persons
"killing his deer." It is considered in law
to be no longer a park when all the deer are
destroyed, for a park must consist of vert,
venison, and enclosure; and to pull down
park-walls or pales, subjects the offender to
the same punishment as killing deer.

It will be necessary now to make some ob-
servations on the formation and planting of

* Chaucer, the father of English poets, thus notices
park in the time of Edward III. : —

" I found a little weie
Toward a parke, enclosed with a wall, •
In compace rounde : and by a gate small,
Who so that would he irelie mighten gone
Into this parke, ywalled with grene stone."

e 2

20 INTRODUCTION.

shrubberies, though under each article we
shall state what trees assimilate best in
neighbourhood, The style of this kind of
garden must depend so much on the extent;
situation, and character of the ground, that it
would be absurd to offer more than general
remarks.

The plantation should be carefully made
to suit the building it is to surround. As the
villa and ornamented cottage form the largest
portion at present of edifices that claim a
pleasure-garden, we shall confine our observ-
ations to the grounds attached to these
dwellings. As such houses are generally
built on situations too flat to admit of much
natural variety, the first study should be to
find where and how we can break the level
by throwing up elevations, so as to answer
the double purpose of obscuring private
walks, and screening other parts from the
wind. But it requires considerable ingenuity
to hinder these elevations from having the ap-
pearance of artificial ones, which would make
them as ridiculous as a circular lake on a
lawn. As the removal of earth is attended
by the expense of labour only, this is one of
the most advantageous manners of laying out
money in the formation of a shrubbery, since
five feet lowered in one part and raised above

INTRODUCTION. 21

will give a slope or bank about double that
height. A considerable effect will thus be
obtained ; for in a flat country a small ele-
vation gives a great command of prospect,
and adds itself considerably to the beauty of
a landscape, especially when planted with
lofty growing trees, as larches and pines. An
undulating appearance may be given to level
ground, by judiciously planting the trees and
shrubs.

The too general error of planting close to
the dwelling-house should be avoided -y for
although such a plantation may have a pretty
appearance in the infant state, a few years'
growth will cause it to cast a gloom over the
apartments, and keep off a free circulation
of air. Besides, as plants give out noxious
air in the evening, it should be more par-
ticularly guarded against in this moist atmo-
sphere.

The training of trees to the walls of houses
is also objectionable, as they cause damps,
harbour insects, and collect leaves and other
substances that become offensive by their pu-
trefaction, whilst the vie^w of the plants them-
selves cannot be enjoyed from the windows.
However, all offices, out-houses, and un-
sightly buildings, may be covered with vines
and ornamental climbers.

c 3

INTRODUCTION.

However small the plantation be, those
abrupt terminations which mark the limits
must not be permitted. The shrubbery
should harmonize with the surrounding
scenery, and appear to blend with it into
one.

The plants which stand nearest the dwell-
ing must be of the dwarf kind, and of the
most beautiful sorts. The trees, also, should
be selected so as to correspond with the style
of building. The villa shows best when sur-
rounded by light ornamental trees, such as
the birch, the acacia, the sumach, the labur-
num, and cypress ; and a clump of poplars
may sometimes be introduced, so as to break
the line with good effect. The cottage may
have more rustic trees; while to the castle
belong the oak, the ash, and the pine. The
mansion admits of all at their proper distance,
and in suitable situations.

One of the most important things in plant-
ing is to attend particularly to the shades of
green, especially where the view from the
house or lawn catches the trees. Flowers,
which Pliny calls the joys of the trees, con-
tinue but for a short period, in comparison to
the duration of foliage ; therefore, the picture
should be formed by judiciously contrasting
the greens. Even the effect of perspective

INTRODUCTION. 23

may be considerably increased by the proper
arrangement of hues. Trees whose leaves are
of a grey or bluish tint, when seen over or
between shrubs of a yellow or bright green
seem thrown into the distance. Trees with
small and tremulous leaves should wave over
or before those of broad or fixed foliage. The
light and_ elegant acacia has a more beautiful
effect when it's branches float over the firm
and dark holly or bay-tree. In some situa-
tions the bare trunk of trees may be shown ;
in some, it should be concealed by ever-
greens and creepers. Vines, also, may be
suffered to embrace it, and form natural
festoons where the extent of ground will
allow of wilderness scenery. In all situations,
nature may be assisted, but should never
be deformed by clipping ; for ingenuity ought
to be employed to disguise art, not to ex-
pose it.

The beauty of plants cannot be displayed
when they are too much crowded, as they are
then drawn up into unnatural shapes. There-
fore, the oftener open spaces can be admitted,
the more will the shrubs exhibit themselves
to advantage, and the more cheerful will be
the walk ; for it becomes insipid and gloomy
when confined for any distance. The winds
also claim our attention. Care must be taken

c 4

24 INTRODUCTION.

so to arrange the position of the trees, that
only those gales which are most congenial to
the growth of particular plants should be al-
lowed access to them.

The undulating appearance of a plantation
will be considerably assisted by a gradual pro-
gression from the lowest shrub to the highest
tree, and again, from the highest to the
lowest. But, as some shrubs will not flourish
under certain trees, their respective situations
demand consideration. These shrubs may
indeed exist under such unfavourable circum-
stances, but their unhealthy appearance will
never be pleasing. Where the shade of any
tree is too powerful for laurel or privet to
thrive, ivy may be planted with advantage,
if it be desirable to cover the ground with
evergreen.

In proportion as the shrubbery or planta-
tion recedes from the dwelling, it should
become more rural in it's character, more
especially if the house be in the cottage
style. Here climbers, and such plants as
require the support of others, are to be in-
troduced. The most delightful groups in a
pleasure-ground are generally those where
nature, freeing herself from the shackles of
art, depends only on her own assistance for
support. Her beauty is chiefly to be seen

INTRODUCTION.

there where her various creations combine
spontaneously, and without restraint.

The means by which these plants raise
themselves up, so as to ofier their flowers to
the sun, are as various as they are curious,
and they seldom blossom whilst trailing on
the ground. The ivy and bignonia ascend
by the help of little fibres, which fix them-
selves to the bark of trees or crevices in walls
so tightly, as to render their disengagement
a difficult thing to be accomplished without
injury to the trunk or building they are
attached to. The honey-suckle, like the hop,
twines itself spirally around the trunk or
branches of trees, and often clasps them so
closely, as to make an impression on the
hardest timber. Others, as the vine and
passion-flower, rear themselves by means of
corkscrew tendrils, which hold so fast, that
the strongest winds seldom disunite them from
their support. Some plants climb by means
of a hook in their leaf-stalk, or have a kind of
vegetable hand given them, by which they
are assisted in mounting, as the pea and
several others.

To return from this digression. — The
sombre, gloomy walk of yew, cypress, or holly,
should lead to the spot from which there is
the most beautiful prospect, or to the gay

26 INTRODUCTION.

parterre where Flora has diffused her flowery
beauties ; as the contrast, particularly if sud-
den, adds greatly to the cheerfulness of the
terminating view.

Bad taste is seldom more conspicuous than
when we see trees or plants marshalled in
regular order and at equal distances, like
beaux and belles standing up for a quadrille
or country dance. Where the situation will
permit, four or six lilacs should be grouped
in one place, and as many laburnums in
another, so as to give effect in various parts
by a mass of colour.

The guelder rose should appear as if escap-
ing from the dark bosom of evergreens, and
not a plant should be set in the ground with-
out adding to the harmony of the whole.
A shrubbery should be planted, as a court or
stage dress is ornamented, for general effect,
and not for particular and partial inspection.
Boldness of design, which seems to be more
the offspring of nature and chance than of
art and study, should be attempted; but
though boldness is what the planter should
aspire to, all harshness, or too great abrupt-
ness, must be avoided, by a judicious mixture
of plants whose colours will blend easily
into one another.

The most beautiful shrubs should occupy

INTRODUCTION. , 27

the most conspicuous and prominent places.
For instance, a projecting part of the planta-
tion should be reserved for the purple rho-
dodendron, the flaming azalea, and other bog
plants. Here, it must be observed, that
unless proper soil be provided for these
American plants, the cost of the shrubs will
be lost, as they will soon decay when not
placed in earth congenial to their nature.
With these shrubs may be planted the hardy
kinds of heath, as the same soil suits both
species- With respect to evergreens, con-
siderable judgment is required, in order to
relieve their uniform appearance during
winter. This may be done, by skilfully
arranging different kinds, and those with
variegated leaves, or such as retain their
brilliant berries during the cold months.

However, a well planted shrubbery depends
not so much for its beauty on the expense or
rarity of the plants it contains, as on the se-
lection of trees and shrubs which succeed
each other in blossoming throughout the year,
or whose various-coloured fruits grace them
for the longest duration of time. We shall,
therefore, not dwell upon those plants alone
that are the ornaments of the summer season ;
but also point out some that will contribute to
the gaiety of the morning and evening of the

^8 INTRODUCTION.

year; so that the gloom may be banished at
all times as much as possible from the grove,
and nature's repose shortened between the
plaintive good-night of autumn, and the
cheerful good-morrow of spring.

The hazel and filbert are amongst the num-
ber of those trees that blossom the first ; and
although their crimson female flowers, which
appear about the middle of January, make but
little show, yet they should have a place in
the shrubbery to display their catkins, that
hang with such peculiar grace from the
branches, at a season when scarcely any other
plant or shrub offers a flower, excepting the
rosemary.

" Sweet-scented flower ! who art wont to bloom
On January's frost severe ;
And o'er the wintry desert drear
To waft thy waste perfume !"

The furze bush, also, is one of the greatest
enliveners of the shrubbery at this season,
particularly when allowed to exhibit it's
golden blossoms at the foot of some dark-
foliaged evergreen. Among the trees of the
back-ground, the wych elm, the alder, the
willow, and the osier, flower in March. At
the same period, the leafless branches of the
almond are covered with blushing petals ;
whilst the sloe and plum are most con-

INTRODUCTION. 29

•

spieuously beautiful with snowy blossoms,
which are enhanced by contrast, if made to
rise from the midst of dwarf evergreens, and
shaded by others of taller growth. In a
later season, the fruit is no less acceptable,
and scarcely less ornamental, when it

" Hangs purpling, or displays an amber hue."

In the early months, also, the mezereon,
the dwarf almond, and the pyrus japonica,
give life to the fore-ground, when planted
in little groups of three or four of each
together.

At this season of the year, too, much of the
beauty of the shrubbery depends on covering
the banks, and feet of trees and shrubs, with
considerable patches of the earliest flowers.
In February, —

" The snowdrop, winter's timid child,
Awakes to life, bedew'd with tears,

And flings around its fragrance mild ;

And where no rival flow'rets bloom

Amidst the bare and chilling gloom,
A beauteous gem appears."

This beautiful flower has for its contem-
porary the crocus, which is also very orna-
mental, when planted in such quantity as to
cover a large space. When scattered singly,
or arranged in formal bodies, its effect is

30 INTRODUCTION.

entirely lost ; and, like a, single candle in a
cathedral, it seems but to cast an additional
gloom over the scene. The banks should,
therefore, be made to glow with the flaming
petals of the yellow crocus, whilst other
spots should shine with the silvery tints of the
purple variety. Clumps of the winter helle-
bore, or aconite, should also be formed on a
large scale, as their yellow cups, set, as it
were, in green saucers, have a fine effect in
February. The anemone hepatica is also as
beautiful as hardy ; and as there are varieties
with red, blue, and white flowers, it is a plant
that should be cultivated to a greater extent
than is usual, as an embellishment to this
season. The wild wood anemone, whose
white and yellow flowers so enliven the earth
at the same time, may be planted under the
trees ; and the primrose, that so sweetly
" peeps beneath the thorn," when sprinkled
abundantly between the shrubs and trees,
gives an additional pleasure to the eye. The
story of Proserpine may be recalled to our
minds, by the view of gay plantations of early
daffodils, that shake their golden heads to the
winds of February.

Whilst occupied in this gay assortment, let
us not forget that —

INTRODUCTION. 31

*' There is a flower, a little flower,
With silver crest and golden eye,
That welcomes every changing hour,
And weathers every sky ;

" 'Tis Flora's page : in every place,
In every season, fresh and fair,
It opens with perennial grace,
And blossoms every where.

" On waste and woodland, rock and plain,
It's humble buds unheeded rise ;
The rose has but a summer reign,
The daisy never dies."

MONTGOMERY.

Large patches of the common field daisy
are very ornamental, when planted amongst
shrubs ; and the double crimson, white, and
variegated kinds, deserve a conspicuous situa-
tion for their beauty, as well as for their early
flowering.

As the lawn forms a principal feature in.
every pleasure-ground, this should also have
an undulating surface, where the extent of
ground will admit of it ; and it must be a
small space indeed that will not allow of a
bank being thrown up. The form of this
part should neither be too regular, nor of
a studied irregularity. It should appear in
different places to retire into the plantation,
so as to give the idea of greater extent, espe-
cially when viewed from the windows of the
villa.

3' INTRODUCTION.

Where the coach-road is carried through
the lawn, (which, however, if possible, should
be avoided,) it should be occasionally ob-
scured by irregular clumps of shrubs, such
as roses mixt with dwarf evergreens. The
private walks must always be of breadth
sufficient to admit three persons abreast,
however small the grounds may be ; for plants
are sure to be injured where the walks are
narrow. In extensive shrubberies, each walk
should lead to some particular object ; to the
orchard, kitchen -garden, botanical borders,
green-house, dairy, ice-house, mushroom-hut,
aviary, poultry-yard, or stables. The inten-
tion of the plantation should seem to be, to
conduct the walker in the most agreeable
manner to each outlet and building of utility
or pleasure.

Where a lawn is of sufficient extent for de-
tached trees, the apple may be admitted with
great effect, the blossom being amongst the
most beautiful that open in spring. Such as
produce a red fruit in autumn are more
ornamental than most other trees.

To those who are so devoted to fashion, as
not to venture to "treat their lungs with air"
unmixed with smoke, till the crowds that
swarmed at court have fixed their departure
for rural scenes and a pure atmosphere, like

INTRODUCTION. 33

swallows and other birds of passage ; to such,
the gaiety of the autumnal shrubbery is of
most importance. It now remains to say,
how the last expiring glow of beauty may be
thrown over the pleasure-ground.

In addition to the trees and shrubs, which
will be noticed in this work as flowering the
latest, aid should be borrowed from such
autumnal flowers as continue gay until the
approach of winter. The towering hollyhock,
when half concealed and half seen through
the shrubs and evergreens, is one of the
boldest enliveners of the plantation at this
season. This plant yields to none in beauty
of form, majesty of carriage, or gaiety of
colour ; its hues proceed through all the
tints of crimson, .from the palest rose to the
deepest purple ; and from the purest white
through all the shades of yellow, orange, and
iron-brown. The tall sunflower should also
figure in the back-ground ; and the middle
space may be allotted to the richly-varied
dalea of the western world. The foreground
is to be rendered splendid by large plots of
the asters of China, the general tints of
which, inclining to blue or purple, contrast
well with the more gaudy colours of the
African marigold, or the nasturtium of Peru,
which latter should be suffered to climb the

VOL. I. D

34 INTRODUCTION.

holly or other trees, exhibiting its flaming
petals to enliven the closing year.

In young plantations, where the evergreens
have not spread sufficiently to cover the sur-
face, clumps of wall-flowers are exceedingly
ornamental, and their green, which is of the
most agreeable tint, lasts through the winter.
They often flower both late in the autumn
and early in summer. The periwinkle is
also an excellent running plant to cover the
slopes and banks of the shrubbery, as its blue
flowers are to be seen amidst its evergreen
leaves, from March to the middle of No-
vember.

It must not be forgotten that England
possesses advantages over every other part of
the globe for ornamental gardening ; first, in
the fineness and beauty of its turf, which re-
tains its verdure throughout the year without
much labour or expense; whilst, on the
continent, this is obtained only by the
assistance or partially-concealed means of
irrigation. The few lawns that are kept in
any tolerably decent order abroad, are ge-
nerally under the care of Scotch or English
gardeners. The gravel of this country is also
so superior to that of any other part of
Europe for the formation of walks, that the
royal gardens of Naples have their paths

INTRODUCTION. 35

covered with gravel, brought from the distance
of Kensington. Perhaps, there is no one
spot where the plants of the north and south
thrive so well together as in the English
shrubbery. Added to these advantages, the
absence of ravenous beasts and venemous
reptiles, are blessings that ought to make us

" Vain of our beauteous isle, and justly vain,
For freedom here, and health, and plenty reign."

The advantages to be derived from planting
timber trees will be noticed in their proper
place under their respective heads. Our
observations here will therefore be confined
to the recommending that great attention
be paid to the nature of the soil before the
plantation is formed ; so that the young trees
may have the benefit of a soil congenial to
their future growth. As it is the skilful
distribution of trees over the grounds, more
than their peculiar character, which adds
dignity to the landscape, so it forms one of
the most important parts of the planter's
study, to discover where to place the rising
grove in such a situation as to improve the
view. In a flat country, the first care should
be to give an additional appearance of height
to spots already elevated, by planting upon

D 2

36 INTRODUCTION.

them the tallest trees that the soil will suit.
In parks and paddocks, the belt or long
plantation, should generally be avoided, as
well as that of the crescent shape, because
they prevent a free circulation of air, and
render the enclosed atmosphere unwholesome.
Oblong, or circular plantations, on the con-
trary, afford the trees an opportunity of be-
nefiting by the air; admitting, at the same
time, a view of the landscapes which they
partially intercept.

" The fountain's fall, the river's flow,
The woody vallies, warm and low ;
The windy summit, wild and high,
Roughly rushing on the sky !
The pleasant seat, the ruin'd tower,
The, naked rock, the shady bower,
The town and village, dome and farm ; J
Each give to each a double charm, I
As pearls upon an Ethiop's arm. — J

DYER.

The principal feature of the park should
be grandeur, and the boldest points of the
surrounding country should be made sub-
servient to the scenery by that arrangement
of the plantation which will give such pros-
pects the greatest advantage. Yet should
the park exhibit some signs of refinement,
by the softening down of particular parts
by "means of varying tints, so as to give
greater contrast to the natural scenery.

INTRODUCTION. 37

" Here groves arranged in various order rise,
And bend their quiv'ring summits in the skies.
The regal oak, high o'er the circling shade,
Exalts the hoary honours of his head.
The spreading ash a differing green displays,
And the smooth asp in soothing whispers plays,
The fir that blooms in spring's eternal prime,
The spiry poplar, and the stately lime."

SYLVA FLORIFERA.

ACACIA. — ROBINIA PSEUD ACACIA.

Natural order •, Papilionacece, or Leguminosa.
A genus of the Diadelphia Decandria class*

Light-leaved acacias, and the shady plain,

And spreading cedar, grace the woodland reign."

BARBAULD.

ALTHOUGH we are far from being amongst

the number,

" Whose proud disgust and scorn
Detest those treasures which at home are born ;
Who feel no joy, though spreading to the air
His pompous trees their verdant branches rear,
Unless from Afric's soil their rise they boast,

From India's deserts, or Columbia's coast.

* * * * * -*

But if some foreign tree, of noble size,

With boughs majestic should adorn the skies,

Our forest natives with attention meet,

And hospitable care the stranger greet ;

Pleas'd 'mongst themselves his future dwelling make,

Not for his scarceness, but his beauty's sake :

If haply profit too should join with grace,

To civic honours they admit his race. "

DELILLE.

D 4

40 SYLVA FLOltlFERA.

Of all the exotic trees with which we have
adorned our native groves, this North Ameri-
can stands first. We have no tree that dis-
plays more elegant foliage than is formed by it's
pinnated leaves, which appear so judiciously
scattered over the branches that not one
obscures it's fellow, and their feathery light-
ness is only surpassed by the pleasing emerald
tints with which they are coloured ; nor are
it's bunches of pendant papilionaceous blos-
soms less acceptable for succeeding the more
gaudy laburnum, and thus lengthening the
charms of spring. The sweet perfume with
which they scent the surrounding air only
makes us regret their short duration ; but to
these succeed pods of so rich an umber brown,
that autumn seems to peep through the veil of
spring, and repay us for the loss of it's orange-
flower odour ; whilst the nightingale loves
to confide her nest to this new inhabitant of
our climate, whose long and strong thorns
seem to insure her family a protection, and
she descends to the lower branches to ravish
our ears with her sweet melody.

" Nor rural sights alone, but rural sounds
Exhilarate the spirits, and restore
The tone of languid nature." COWPER.

We cannot with indifference behold this tree
which the uncivilized natives of America have

ACACIA. 41

consecrated to the genius of chaste love.
These proud children of the desert are not less
susceptible of the pangs which Cupid occa-
sions, than the more polished inhabitants of
Europe ; nor are they less delicate in expres-
sing their sentiments, which, instead of flatter-
ing words, are told by a branch of acacia in
blossom. It is natural to suppose that this
seducing language is as well understood by
the young savage of the forest as by the
tutored coquette of the city.

The introduction of American plants into
Europe made a change in the system of bo-
tany absolutely necessary ; for that which had
been arranged by Tournefort and others, was
found impossible to be applied to the plants
of the new world. This tree, when first in-
troduced, was supposed to be a species of
the acacia known in the ancient world, be-
cause its thorny branches and winged leaves
bore resemblance to the Egyptian thorn, or
binding bean-tree, which the Greeks called
Afca^a, of cmagca, to sharpen, from whence the
Latin acacia. But by the system of Lin-
naeus we discover that it cannot be ranged
in the same class or order as the true
acacia.

It is therefore commonly called the false
acacia, while, in America, it is named the

42 SYLVA FJLORIFERA.

locust-tree. * We have now collected thir-
teen different species of this tree, all of
which bear the generic name of Robinia.

Europe owes this vegetable beauty to Mon-
sieur Jean Robin, nurseryman to the king of
France, and author of a " History of Plants,"
who first brought the seeds from Canada ;
and, in gratitude for the gift, botanists have
given it the name of Robinia. f Soon after
it's introduction into France, the English
gardeners received seeds from Virginia, from
which many trees were raised. Parkinson
observes in his Theatre of Plants, which was
published in 1640, that "it was grown of an
exceeding height, by Mr. Tradescant ; " and
Evelyn recommends it to the nation in his
Sylva, which was presented to the Royal
Society in 1662. In this work, he says, " The
acacia deserves a place among our avenue
trees, adorning our walks with their exotic
leaves and sweet flowers ; very hardy against
the pinching winter ; but not so proof against
it's blustering winds." This great man, who
so eminently displayed his desire to embel-

* A name which most probably was given to it by some
of the early missionaries, who would wish to create a belief
that it was the same tree the fruit of which supported tit.
John when in the wilderness.

•f Gerard received the nasturtium seed from M. J. Robin.

ACACIA. 43

lish and enrich his native country, by planta-
tions, adds, " I would encourage all imaginable
industry in such as travel foreign countries,
and especially gentlemen who have concerns
in our American plantations, to promote the
culture of such plants and trees, especially
timber, as may yet add to those we find already
agreeable to our climate."

These observations appear to have met
with little attention, as the tree seems to have
been rare in 1720, when Bradley notices it as
growing in the court before Russel House,
Bloomsbury, and in the Old Palace-yard, West-
minster. In both of these situations their roots
have given place to flag-stones, brick and mor-
tar ; their trunks to lamp-posts, and their
waving branches to clouds of coal smoke.
Mortimer says, " a great number of them were
formerly planted in St. James's Park, and that
in consequence of some of their branches being
broken by the wind, they were all cut down."

This graceful tree is to be found in every
well-planted shrubbery, yet it meets the eye
less frequently than could be wished by the
admirers of beautiful scenery, while in France
it not only ornaments the gardens, and shades
the public promenades, but it's winged leaves
shine through their woods and forests, so as

44 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

to give an idea of it's being a native of the soil.
There it adds utility to luxury, and profit to
beauty, for the turner finds the wood both
hard and firm, while the joiner uses it for
durability, and the cabinet-maker for the
beauty of it's yellow and brown veins; nor
must we forget a singular quality in this tree,
which is, that it burns well even on the day
that it is felled; a property of no small import-
ance to a country where wood continues to
be the only fuel. This tree grows from fifty
to seventy feet in height, and so rapidly when
young, that it is not uncommon to see shoots
of this tree six or eight feet long in one
summer. In New England, we are told of a
Robinia tree, of forty years old, that was in
1782 sixty feet high and four feet ten inches
in girth, at three feet from the ground. This
timber has been employed with success in
Virginia for ship-building, and found to be
far superior to American oak, elm, or ash, for
that purpose ; it is even said to be as durable
as the best white oak, and esteemed preferable
for axletrees of carriages, trenails for ships,
&c. Most of the houses which were built at
Boston in New England, on the first settling
of the English, were constructed of this tim-
ber. The native Americans make their bows

ACACIA.

45

of this wood, and point their arrows with
one of it's thorns. It's tap-root, when cleared
of the bark, has an agreeable perfume.

We are told, in Martin's edition of Miller,
that Sir George Saville had, in 1807, planted
many thousands of these trees at Rufford ;
and we feel confident that they will ultimately
benefit his estate, notwithstanding the cha-
racter given them by most English writers,
that their branches are subject to be broken
by the winds in summer. We have sr en
them so shattered in situations injudiciously
chosen, while on the banks of the Thames,
and in other sheltered spots, we have remarked
them of more considerable age and magnitude
than even in France.

The Acacia Robinia seems particularly
adapted to ornament the modern villa ; it's
light and loose foliage, that pleasingly admits
the light, seems to harmonize better with the
trellis work of the viranda than any other
flowering tree, while the grace of it's bend, anJ
the gaiety of it's head, correspond with the
nicety and cheerfulness of this style of building,
which has of late years so greatly embellished
our country. Nothing, perhaps, displays more
conspicuously than this the liberty of the peo-
ple, and the equity of the laws that protect the
lone cottage, more securely than any ramparts

46 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

or moats could have protected our forefathers,
who found no security but in their castles, or
the walled towns, where their reliance was on
their numbers. These towns were called Villa*,
and from whence we have derived the name
of villa for detached country dwellings ; and
as long as our liberties and laws remain un-
impaired, so long will the acacia wave it's
banners in security over our peaceable villas.
In placing this tree in the shrubbery or
plantation, a sheltered situation should be
chosen. It is a beautiful tree, either to look
through, or to look down upon, and it is equally
ornamental when it feathers to the ground, or
carries it's plumage above evergreen shrubs,
which it's shade injures less than that of other
trees, and it is certainly less hurtful by it's
drip than any tree we know of. This may
be accounted for from a singularity in the
nature of it's pinnated leaves : they fold over
and join their upper surfaces in bad weather,
leaving the tree, as it were, stripped of half
it's foliage, while the rain is conducted by

* The Latin word Civitas^ properly, is referred to the
people and inhabitants who live under one, not only one
law, but also under one and the selfsame magistrate and
government. Urbs, Villa, and Oppidum, signify the place
wherein those citizens live and assemble themselves. Tate
on the Antiquity., fyr. of Cities^ Boroughs, and Towns, 1 598.

ACACIA. 47

the branches to the trunk, and from the trunk
conveyed to the root. These winged leaves
expand themselves again in fine weather
to exhale oxygen gas, but at the approach of
night they again close their leaves, as if to
sleep, and are thought to give out carbonic
acid from their under surface. An infant,
who had observed this natural phenomenon
from it's nursery window, observed, "it was not
bedtime, for the acacia tree had not begun
its prayers ;"

" Thus every object of creation,
Can furnish hints to contemplation;
And from the most minute and mean,
A virtuous mind can morals glean."

GAY.

The Robinia or, false acacia, is not deli-
cate as to soil, for it will grow in earth of
every kind, but prospers best in such as is
light and sandy. The finest trees are those
raised from seed, which should be sown in
light earth, about the end of March, and in
about six weeks the young plants will appear;
they may be transplanted the following year,
for all trees that have a tap-root it is advisa-
ble to transplant young. This tree is also
propagated by suckers and cuttings ; but these
seldom prove so handsome as those raised
from seed.

48 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

We do not learn that this tree has in any
shape added to the catalogue of medicines.
The Acacia of the shops was formerly made
of the unripe pods of the true acacia tree ;
but of later years, the Acacia Germanica,
which is made from unripe sloes, is preferred
as an astringent medicine to the true acacia.

ROSE AC ACIA. — ROBINIA HISPID A.

THIS beautiful flowering shrub, which is
deemed the emblem of elegance, did not
cross the Atlantic until more than a century
after Jean Robin had transplanted its relative
into European soil. It is a native of Carolina,
from whence it was brought in 1743, to em-
bellish our shrubberies that have now

66 The world's extremes within their branches join'd,
To either hemisphere convey thy mind ;
Each plant you see presents a country new,
And every thought affords a voyage too ;
Through them, thy thought, that wanders from its

home,
To distant climates shall in safety roam."

DELILLE.

ROSE ACACIA. 49

This offspring of the New World has been
named rose acacia, from the colour, and not
from the form of its flowers, which, like those
of tfre common acacia, are formed like the
blossoms of the pea. These botanists deno-
minate papilionacei from papilioy a butterfly,
whose shape they are thought to resemble.

In its native soil, the rose acacia grows to
the height of twenty feet, but with us it
seldom exceeds from six to ten feet ; and as
its wood is exceedingly brittle, if it has not
some support, the branches are often broken
or slipped off by the wind ere it reaches that
height.

" Few self-supported flow'rs endure the wind
Uninjur'd, but expect th' upholding aid
Of the smooth shaven prop, and, neatly tied,
Are wedded thus, like beauty to old age,
For int'rest sake, the living to the dead."

COWPER.

This plant should always be found in the
fore ground of the shrubbery, where its
brilliant foliage, suspended on branches that
are clothed with hairs of a reddish brown,
cannot fail to excite our admiration ; and
although it seldom, if ever, matures its seed
in this country, it is by no means shy of
flowering, which it does in the early part of
June ; and often treats us with a second dis-

VOL. I. E

50 SYLVA FLORIFERA,

play of its drooping blossoms in August and
September, as if conscious that it had not
performed its part to nature, which has or-
dained, that plants should " bring forth seed
after their kind." It is well known, that most
plants will continue to give out blossoms, if
their flowers are cut off before seed is formed ;
which seems like the instinct of fowls, that
continue to lay eggs in the nest that is
plundered.

The rose acacia is propagated by grafting
it on the common acacia ; therefore it thrives
in any soil like the pajcent stock. Care should
be taken to rub off all shoots that appear
below the graft.

ARBOR VIT^:.— THUJA.

Natural order, Conifera. A genus of tJfe
Monceda Monadelphia class.

THE generic name of this tree is a corrup-
tion from ®u# of Theophrastus, or thya of
Pliny, which were derived from the verb
thyo, I perfume ; as the thya of the ancients
gave out an aromatic smoke when it was
burnt. It is called arbor vitce, or tree of life,
because it keeps in full leaf winter and
summer; and not in allusion to the tree of
life mentioned in the book of Genesis.

The royal garden of Fontainbleau had the
honour of giving nourishment to the first
arbor vitse that was planted in Europe, and
which was sent from Canada as a present tp
Francis the First. It does not appear to
have been cultivated in England during that
monarch's contemporary, as it is unnoticed
by Turner, who dedicated his " Herbal" to
Queen Elizabeth, in the first year of her reign;
but Gerard tells us, in his " History of

E 2

52 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

Plants," which was published in 1597, that it
was then growing very plentifully in his garden
at Holborn, where it flowered about May, but
it had not then ripened seed.

" The Thuja from China's fruitful lands,"

being of a brighter green and thicker of ver-
dure, has nearly superseded the arbor vitae of
Canada in our plantations. The seeds of the
Chinese arbor vitae were first sent by some of
the missionaries to Paris, where the quantities
of these evergreens show how successfully
they have been cultivated ; but, we fear, these
holy fathers have not been equally fortunate
in propagating the seeds of Christianity in
the land that gave them the tree of life.

Miller cultivated this species of the arbor
vitae, at Chelsea, in 1752; and it has now,
from the hardiness of its nature, and the ease
of its cultivation, spread itself, like the roses
of China, over every part of our island.
Surely this should induce us to naturalize,
or, at all events, to make the trial of culti-
vating the tea-tree, which would, ere this,
have covered our fields with its reviving
leaves, had we bestowed half the attention on
it that has been lavished on the asters and
chrysanthemums of that country.

The arbor vitae recommends itself to a place

ARBOR VIT.E. 53

in the shrubbery, not only by its perpetual
greenness, but by the singularity of its flat
spreading branches, and the minuteness of
its leaves, that cover the young branches like
the scales of fish. The flowers which appear
in the spring, are produced from the side
of the young branches, pretty near to the
foot-stalk; the male flowers grow oblong
catkins ; and between these, the female
flowers are collected in the form of cones.
When the male flowers have shed their
farina, they soon drop off; but the female
flowers are succeeded by a cone of a knotted
or cornered ovate shape, of a beautiful grey
colour, which encloses seeds of an elliptic
globular shape and of a pale hue.

, The arbor vitae is well adapted to screen
private walks or low buildings, as it gives out
branches near the ground ; but it has a som-
bre appearance, unless associated with more
cheerful foliage, or ornamented by some gay
climbing plant, as the everlasting pea or the
flaming nasturtium ; but no flower contrasts
so beautifully with this exotic evergreen as
our native bindweed, whose white convol-
vuluses appear with peculiar grace when sus-
pended from arid enlivening the tree of life.

" Each give to each a double charm,
As pearls upon an jflEthiop's arm."
E 3

54 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

There are many other aspiring plants that
might be more safely permitted to

" — catch the neighbouring shrub

With clasping tendrils, and invert his branch.
Else unadorn'd, with many a gay festoon
And fragrant chaplet, recompensing well
The strength they borrow with the grace they lend."

COWPER.

Although the arbor vitae will thrive in a
shaded situation, it never produces seed but
where it enjoys a free circulation of air. We
have observed it on the elevated part of
Pere-la-Chaise, the romantic burial-ground of
Paris, accompanying almost every tomb, com-
pletely covered with its singularly shaped but
beautiful coloured fruit. We could not learn,
whether the French planted it as a substitute
for the mournful cypress, or because they
consider its wood imperishable ; or whether
the name arbre de vie has been the induce-
ment. In a few years more, this burial-
ground will become a mountain filled with
dead bodies, and a forest composed of the
trees of life.

The celebrated professor Kalm, in his
travels into North America, observes, that
these trees were very plentiful in Canada;
but not much farther south than 42° 10'
north latitude.

ARBOR VIT^E. 55

Mr. Bartram found a single tree in Vir-
ginia, near the Falls in the river James. Dr.
Golden saw it in many places between New
York and Albany, in about 41° 30' north
latitude. It grows naturally also in Siberia
and the northern parts of China in nearly the
same latitude ; which is an additional in-
stance to those we have remarked in the
work on vegetables, that the natural plants
of Europe, or a species of them* are ge-
nerally to be found in the same latitudes of
the New World, although their uses are fre-
quently reversed, for the same plant which
the husbandman labours to root out of the
earth in one part of the globe, is sought after
with avidity by the inhabitants of other
countries. The nettle, which our peasants
drive from their fields with blows and male-
dictions, is a crop which the Egyptians put
up frequent and fervent prayers to be blessed
with. Its seed affords them an oil, while the
stem furnishes them with a thread, which
they weave into excellent cloth. Thus, by
investigation, we shall find, that there is not
a plant,

" From the proud woods, whose heads the sky assail,
To the low violet that loves the dale,"

E 4

56 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

but what has certain relations to the neces-
sities of man, and which does not serve him
somewhere for clothing, for shelter, for
pleasure, for medicine, or at least for fuel.
The arbor vitas, which we have borrowed from
the extremity of the east and of the west, as a
mere ornament to our pleasure-grounds,
forms an article of utility and profit to the
inhabitants of its native soil.

Kalm says, that it is reckoned the most
durable wood in Canada, where the French
call it cedre blanc, and the English white
cedar. All the posts which are driven into
the ground, and the palisades round the forts
in Canada, are of this wood. The planks in
the houses are made of it ; and the thin nar-
row pieces of wood which form both the ribs
and the bottom of the bark boats, commonly
made use of there, are taken from this wood,
because it is pliant enough for the purpose
when fresh, and likewise, because it is very
light. The Thuja wood is reckoned one of
the best for the use of lime-kilns. Its
branches are used all over Canada for
besoms, which leave their peculiar scent in
all the houses where they are used.

Our plantations have not been more beau-
tified by exotic shrubs, than our schools of
medicine have been enriched bv Indian

ARBOR VIT^E. 57

receipts. The poor uncolleged negro, look-
ing to Nature for a salve for every wound,
made many discoveries that would have
escaped the notice of the best lettered and
most laborious son of JEsculapius, whose
humane profession has taught him to be
emulous in collecting foreign remedies to
ease our native maladies, — of the botanist
who collects foreign trees to embellish our
native groves.

The arbor vitge affords the Indian a remedy
for the cough and the intermitting fever, and
a medicine for rheumatic pains, which the
commandant of Fort St. Frederic, M. de
Lusignan, said he could never sufficiently
praise, and which is simply the fresh leaves
pounded in a mortar, and mixed with lard or
other grease. This is boiled together till it
becomes a salve, which is spread on linen,
and applied to the part where the pain is, to
which it is said to give certain relief in a short
time.

The oil is recommended against the gout*
being rubbed on the part ; for it acts like fire,
by stimulating and opening. The leaves
bruised with honey dissolve tumors. *

The balsam and oil of arbor vitae were

* Bocrh. Hist. Dale.

58 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

very much used during the time of the plague
in Dresden.

In the culture of these trees, we observe
the finest are always raised from seed, which
should be sown in pots of light earth about
the month of March, and placed in a sunny
situation, with a south-east aspect. The pots
should be covered with moss so as to keep
the earth humid.

The seed throws up little hills of earth, out
of which the plant rises. For the two or
three first winters, the pots should be covered
with fern or other litter to secure the plants
from frost, and by the fourth year they will
be ready to plant in the shrubbery. *

These trees are more easily raised by layers
or cuttings. The latter should be planted in
September, upon a shady border, and in a
loam soil. They should be chosen from the
shoots of the same year, with a small joint of
the former year's wood at the bottom of
each. These should be planted three or four
inches deep, in proportion to their length,
treading the ground close to them, to prevent
the admission of air. If the following spring
should prove dry, there should be a little
mulch laid over the surface of the ground to

* Le Bon Jardinier.

ARBOR VIT^E. 59

prevent its drying. These cuttings may be
transplanted the next autumn. When they are
propagated by layers, the young branches
should be laid down in Autumn or March,
which will put out roots by the following
Autumn. *

* Miller.

60

ALDER.— ALNUS,

Natural order, Amentacece. A genus of the
Moncecia Tetrandria class.

THE classical reader will regard this tree
with peculiar interest, as it will remind him
of the lines in Virgil —

Tune alnos primum Jluvii sensere cavatas.

" Then first on seas the hollow'd alder swam."

DRYDEN,

Nee non et torrentem undam levis innatat alnus^
Missa Pado. Geor. 2.

" And down the rapid Po light alders glide.'*

Ovid also tells us,

" Trees rudely hollow'd did the waves sustain $
Ere ships in triumph plough'd the wat'ry plain."

When the Author of Nature first clothed
the earth with vegetables, evefy plant was
adapted to its peculiar situation. There was
nothing superfluous or idle, from the pine

ALDER. 61

that crowns the mountain, down to the violet
which perfumes the grove. All were links of
one harmonious chain: —

** Nature, enchanting Nature, in whose form
And lineaments divine, I trace a hand
That errs not." COWPER.

The alder and its relatives that love the
stream, follow the current through every part
of the globe ; confining the rivers to their due
bounds, and correcting the vitiated air of
those situations by the peculiar qualities
allotted to aquatic trees, which absorb the
corrupted air more profusely than the natives
of drier situations* We cannot reflect on
this great wisdom of Providence in the scat-
tering of plants, without exclaiming with
Pope —

" How wondrous are thy ways I

How far above our knowledge and our praise !"

In this country, the alder is seldom suffered
to attain its natural bulk, but in ancient times,
when men were less numerous and trees
more abundant, the dimensions of the alder
were sufficient to form theiiv boats, which we
have already noticed from Virgil; and if we
except Noah's ark, we shall find, that the first
vessels we read of were made from these
trees. Their contiguity to rivers, and the im-

62 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

perishable nature of the wood when kept in
the water, were doubtlessly their recom-
mendations to the early navigators. As men
dispersed themselves over Europe, so did
they convey the nautical use of this tree ; and
it is singular, how little the pronunciation of
its name has changed with the migrations of
man. The oldest English writer we have
consulted calls it Alder, from which it was
changed to Aller, and again to Alder; the
Scots call it Eller ; the French Aulne ; the
Germans Eller , Erie, or Erlenbaum; the
Dutch Els, Elzeboom; the Danes Ell, Elle,
Elletrcee', the Swedes Al, Ahl; the Italians
Alno, Ontario ; the Spaniards Aliso, Alamo ;
the Portugueze Alemo; the Russians Olcha;
the Polanders Olsza; and the Latins Alnus
and Alnos,, which is thought to be abridged
from alor amne: — " I am nourished by the
stream."

The alder does not possess those striking
beauties, which attract our admiration to
many other trees or shrubs ; nor is it calcu-
lated to fill a space in those shrubberies
whose narrow bounds are limited to the
width of the dwelling, and whose length is
terminated by the useful abode of the horse
and chaise. The alder must terminate the
largest shrubbery and most lengthened walk ;

ALDER. 63

it should point out the river's approach, and
direct the angler where to

" Throw nice judging the delusive fly,"
Or it should mark the spot.

Where with the pool

Is mix'd the trembling stream, or where it boils
Around the stone, or from the hollow'd bank
Reverted plays in undulating flow." THOMSON.

The highest pinnacle of the planter's per-
fection is to disguise art under the appearance
of nature ; which he can only do by atten-
tion to rural scenery, where we often meet
with plants more happily grouped than in the
studied views of the landscape gardener ; yet
we would say with Pomona's bard,

" Attend my lays ; nor hence disdain to learn,
How Nature's gifts may be improved by art."

The round dark leaves of the alder may be
associated with the long lanceolate and silver-
tinted foliage of the salix alba, or white
willow ; and where the stream widens into a
pool, the softer tints of the weeping willow
may lend its aid, and " Po's tall poplar" may
be employed to break the line.

The alder is what botanists denominate an
androgynous plant, that is, producing both
male and female flowers separately, but on

64 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

the same tree. The catkins, or male blos-
soms, are formed about the middle of
September, where they hang uninjured by
tempestuous rains, and unseduced by flat-
tering sun-beams, till their betrothed female
flowers appear in March, when

" The happy trees

Commit their mutual wishes to the breeze.
The palm invites the palm to Hymen's vows ;
Swung in the wind the poplars nod in love ;
Alders to alders bend their longing boughs ;
And, through the leaves^ love whispers in the grove."

The flowers of the alder have no gay tint
to recommend them, but the botanist and
the curious observer of Nature find pleasure
and instruction in every bud that opens.

The ancients were well acquainted with
the imperishable property of this timber,
when used for piles or other works that were
covered with swampy earth or water. Vi-
truvius, the celebrated Roman architect, tells
us in the work which he dedicated to Au-
gustus, that the morasses about Ravenna
were piled with these trees, in order to lay
the foundations for buildings. Evelyn in-
forms us, that the alder was used under that
famous bridge the Rial to, which passes over
the grand canal at Venice.

In Flanders and Holland, the alder tree is

ALDER. 65

greatly cultivated for the purpose of piles ;
for in those moist and boggy situations, build-
ings could not be safely erected without the
aid of this tree that loves such a soil. When
this wood has lain long in bogs, it become^
black as ebony. Joseph Bauhimas pretends,
that in process of time it turns to stone. It
is possible, that it may in some situations
become petrified, where it meets with earth
and water of a lapidescent quality.

The alder is one of the most proper and
profitable trees that can be employed to keep
up the embankments of rivers or canals ;
for whilst its roots and trunk are acting as a
buttress against the power of the stream,
they send out branches which may be cut for
poles every fifth or sixth year, particularly if
they be pruned of their superfluous shoots in
the spring.

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

VIRGIL.

It is no small recommendation to these
trees, that their branches do not injure the
growth of grass, whilst their appearance adds
more to the beauty of brook-lands than most
other aquatic trees. The wood of the alder
makes excellent charcoal; and it is valuable
for pumps, pipes, sluices, and all works in-

VOL. I. F

66 SYLVA FLOJUfERA.

tended to be constantly under water. It also
serves for many useful purposes in domestic
and rural economy, such as cart-wheels,
troughs, handles of tools, &c. ; whilst the
good housewife knows its value in spinning-
wheels, milk-vessels, bowls, trenchers, &c.,
and it supports her from the damp earth, in
the shape of wooden heels, pattens, and clogs ;
nor is she unacquainted with a property in
the leaves, with which she strews her chambers
before sweeping, for when fresh they are
covered with a glutinous liquor, that entangles
fleas like birds in bird-lime. The whole tree
is very astringent, and well-known to the
country dyers The bark is used by them,
as well as by the tanner and leather-dresser,
and the fisherman is not unacquainted with
its utility for tanning his nets.

Those artisans, whose lives are spent in
the Gobelins, to throw a semblance of nature
into tapestry, barrow their shades for flesh
colours from this tree, with the assistance of
a little copperas. The young shoots dye
yellow, but if cut in the spring, when full of
sap, they dye a cinnamon colour. The fresh
wood yields an umber tint; the catkins a
tolerable good green ; and the bark is em-
ployed as a basis for black, particularly in

ALDER. 67

dyeing cotton. The Laplanders chew the
bark, and colour their leather garments red
with their saliva. The bark and the fruit
together yield a tolerably good ink. The
roots and knots furnish the cabinet-maker
with a beautiful veined wood.

Having already noticed from the architect
of the ancients, that it was valuable to prop
up houses, we will now see what use our
ancestors made of it in propping up their
constitutions. In Lemery des Drogues, we
read that the bark and its fruit are cooling,
and proper for inflammations of the throat,
being used as a gargarism. Both Tragus and
Dodonaeus made use of the leaves of the alder
as a cataplasm, to soften and resolve tumours.
Dale tells us, that taken inwardly the leaves
are excellent vulneraries. Most of the old
medical writers sum up its various properties
by stating, that the leaves put into the shoes
of travellers, mitigate pain and lassitude.
This last receipt we particularly recommend
to those bulky subjects, who pass feverish
days and restless nights, because

" They never pass their brick-wall bounds,

To range the fields, and treat their lungs with air."

It is well known that the finest alder trees
are raised from seed; yet it is seldom, if ever,

F 2

68 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

practised in this country, because it is not the
custom !

" Let not thy servile care

Too close a copy of our fathers bear ;

Give new resources to the rustic art,

Try other schemes, and other views impart."

The best time for planting truncheons of
alder is in February, or the beginning of
March : they should be sharpened at the end,
and the ground loosened with an iron crow
before they are thrust into it, to prevent the
bark being torn off. They must be planted
at least two feet deep. When the alder is
cultivated by layers, the operation should be
performed in October, and in twelve months
it will be ready to transplant. *

Aiton enumerates five different species of
alder, most of which afford several varieties.

Monsieur Noisette has lately introduced a
new species of this tree, which has very large
leaves, and which he names maritima macro-
phyla.

* His Grace the Duke of Devonshire planted 19,612
alders, between the years 1816 and 1819.

69

ARBUTUS, OR, STRAWBERRY TREE.—
ARBUTUS UNEDO.

Natural order, Bicornes. Ericece, Juss. A genus
of the Decandria Monogynia class.

" Pomoque onerata ntbenti
Arbutus" OVID,

The arbutus laden with blushing fruit."

" At a season

When the cheerless empire of the sky
To Capricorn the Centaur archer yields,
And fierce Aquarius stains the inverted year ;
Hung o'er the farthest verge of heaven, the sun
Scarce spreads thro' ether the dejected day ;"

THIS beautiful shrub mingles its drooping
alabaster flowers, and its pendent crimson
berries, with its glossy dark foliage, thus of-
fering all its beauties to enliven the evening of
our year when most other trees have retired
to rest, which must always ensure it a favour-
able situation in the shrubbery, where it will,
as often as we see its unpalatable berries, re-
mind us of the gratitude which we owe to the

F 3

70 SYLVA FLOUIFERA.

horticulturist as well as the agriculturist, who
has collected to one spot the fruits and grains
that were scattered so widely over the globe,
and who has by his art so much improved
what he has collected, that we now reject as
food the strawberry of the arbutus, which fed
the earlier race of mankind.

The Greeks called this tree Ko^apof, and the
fruit M<^»*xuX0i/ ; the Latins named the tree
arbutus ; but in Pliny's time, when Rome
abounded in wine and oil, they called the fruit
of this tree unedo, which was an abridgement
ofunum edo, meaning, you will eat but one.
It has the name of strawberry-tree with us,
because its berries so nearly resemble, in ap-
pearance, that delicious fruit. When it was
first introduced from Ireland, it bore the name
of Cain-apple. We conclude that this name
was bestowed on it by superstition, whose ter-
rible imagination alone was able to transform
these beautiful berries into clots of Abel's
blood.

We are. not able to ascertain precisely at
what period the arbutus was first cultivated
in England. Dr. Turner says that he had not
seen it in this country in 1568. Gerard also
describes the tree in 1597, but he does not
say that it was then planted in our gardens.
Parkinson notices in 1640, that " it came to

ARBUTUS. 71

us from Ireland." Evelyn observes, as late
as the time of Charles the Second, that " the
arbutus is too much neglected by us, making
that a rarity which grows so common and
naturally in Ireland." It is found growing
spontaneously on rocky limestone situations,
in the west of Ireland, particularly in the
county of Kerry, near the lake of Killarney,
where the peasants eat the fruit.

The arbutus is a native of the south of
Europe, Greece, Palestine, and many other
parts of Asia. It grows so plentifully about
Magnesia, as to be the principal fuel used by
the inhabitants. Bel ton says, it is common
in Crete, and between Aleppo and Antioch.
Wheeler observed it near Athens, and saw
the fruit in the market at Smyrna. In Con-
stantinople it is called komaria, which is nearly
preserving the Greek name. A friend, who
has resided there for some years past, informs
me, that the fruit is commonly offered for sale
in that capital, being threaded on a straw or
grass, as our peasants' children string birds'
eggs or wild strawberries.

Horace celebrates the shade of this tree — •

" Nunc viridi membra sitb arbuto
Stratw."

" Stretched under the green arbutus.'1
F 4

72

SYLVA FLORIFERA.

But Virgil describes its foliage as rather thin :

" Muscosifontes, et somno mollior herba,
Et qua vos rard viridis tegit arbutus umbra,
Solstitium pecori, defendite" Eel. viL

"Ye mossy fountains, and grass softer than sleep,
And the arbutus which covers you with its thin shade,
Keep off the solstitial heat from my cattle."

This prince of poets recommends the twigs
as a^Vvinter food for goats :

"jubeo Jrondentia capris

Arbuta sufficere"

" Supply your goats with the leafy arbutus.'*

He also writes —

" Arbutece crates, ct mystica vannus lacchi."

" Wattles of the strawberry tree, and the mystic van
of Bacchus."

If we lay aside the works which the an-
cients have written on vegetation, to read
nature itself, we cannot be less delighted ; for
there is not, says an elegant poet,

"a tree,

A plant, a leaf, a blossom, but contains
A folio volume. We may read, and read,
And read again, and still find something new,
Something to please, and something to instruct.1'

It is on this account that we would wish to
see the study of botany more generally culti-
vated, which gives, as it were, an additional eye
to those who walk either amongst the native

ARBUTUS. 73

beauties of the field, or the exotic charms of
the shrubbery ; for, however elegant, however
admirable, however diversified, the structure
of vegetables may be, it does not strike the
eye of those who are ignorant of their parts
enough to interest them, because they do not
even know where to look, or the use of what
they look at. They have no conception of
that assemblage and chain of relations and
combinations which overwhelm with their
wonders the mind of the observer who has
studied this part of the creation, and who would
find more beauties in the little inflated flower
of the arbutus, than the indolent observer
can perceive in the gay amaryllis of Buenos
Ayres, or than the indifferent spectator will
see in the matchless elegance of the passiflora,
whose stars so splendidly illuminate the Bra^
zilian forests. The very formation of the
arbutus flowers strikes the botanist with admi-
ration. He there learns that nothing is too
minute to show the wisdom of the universal
Creator ; he observes how carefully nature
has adapted these winter blossoms to the sea-
son of their flowering. These little vegetable
bottles, which house so securely the parts of
fructification from the storm, cover also
the embryo fruit with their crystal-like bell,
which admits the necessary light, whilst

74 SYLVA FLOR1FERA.

its indented margin excludes more air than
is requisite, and its pendent position throws
off the dews and keeps the anthers dry, that
they may discharge their impregnating dust
even in the rainy season of November.
But lest we should dwell too long on the
anatomy of plants for those who make it
their trade to dissect poor authors whilst
living, we will return to the natural history
of the arbutus, which takes a whole year
to mature its fruit, so that the red branch,
from which the ruby balls are suspended, is
garnished with the snowy corollas of the suc-
ceeding crop, and thus —

" with blossoms and with pendants shine,

And vernal honours to their autumn join;
Exceed their promise in the ripen'd store.
Yet in the rising blossom promise more."

POPE.

The arbutus tree succeeds best in a moist
soil, for when planted in dry ground it seldom
produces much fruit ; it is therefore recom-
mended to place it in warm situations ; and
if the earth is not naturally moist, there should
be plenty of loam and rotten neat's dung laid
about its roots, and in dry springs it should
be plentifully watered.

Miller says, " these plants are tolerably
hardy, and are seldom hurt, except in extreme

ARBUTUS. 75

hard winters, which many times kill the young
and tender branches, but rarely destroy the
roots ; therefore, however dead they may ap-
pear after a hard winter, yet I would advise
the letting them remain till the succeeding
summer has sufficiently demonstrated what
are living and what are dead ; for the winters
of 1728-9, and 1739-40, gave us great reason
to believe most of the trees of this kind were
destroyed ; and many people were so hasty
as to dig up or cut down many of their trees ;
whereas all those who had patience to let them
remain, found that scarce one in five hundred
failed to come out again the next summer,
and many of them made handsome plants
that year."

The arbutus trees may be propagated by
layers, but they are principally raised from
seed ; and as they require to be kept in pots
for several years before they are ready for the
plantation, we must not think the nursery-
man's charge exorbitant for demanding a
higher price for this plant than for many
others of a more delicate nature.

Monsieur Pirolle tells us in his Bon Jardi-
nier of 1822, that the arbutus trees which are
raised from English seed are found to be of a
hardier nature and better enabled to endure
the winter than those raised from the seed of

76 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

other countries. Mr. Boutcher observes, that
as the seeds ripen at different times, they must
not be gathered all at once.

Those fruits which are ripe may easily be
known, by their turning of a deep brownish
tawny colour, which is generally in the month
of December ; they retain their growing qua-
lity a very short time, and therefore the ber-
ries should be mixed with dry sand to pre-
serve them until the time of sowing, which is
about the middle of March, when the seed
should be rubbed out and sowed with the sand
in pots of rich loose mould, which should be
plunged into an old bed of tanner's bark, that
has lost its heat, and covered with glasses to
keep out the frost. Mr. Boutcher says, if the
quantity you intend to raise be large, prepare
a moderate hot-bed of tanner's bark ; lay on
six inches deep of the finest rich loose mould,
sow the seeds, and cover them not more than
one-sixth of an inch deep. In five or six
weeks the plants will appear. The second
spring he recommends them to be removed
into penny pots, which should be plunged
into the hot-bed till August, hardening them
gradually, by exposing them to the open air
in moist calm weather.

They may then be placed in a warm spot
under a hedge, till October ; after that time

ARBUTUS. 77

attention must be paid to cover them with
mats in bad weather. The following spring,
the surface mould should be taken out, and
the pots again filled with rich earth, and re-
moved to a shady border till autumn. In dry
weather they must be watered every second
or third evening ; and placed for the winter
under a hedge or wall, where they may
have sun. M. Pirolle recommends a south
aspect.

Having thus stood two seasons in the pots,
they are to be shaken out cautiously, and the
mouldy or musty roots cut off. They must
then be plunged in water and earth for an
hour, and afterwards placed in twopenny pots,
where they may continue two or three years.
The first season they should be kept under
shade and shelter, and watered in dry weather;
and every spring the earth must be taken away
from the surface of the pots, and replaced by
some which is fresh and rich.

It is recommended not to prune this tree at
removal ; this should therefore be done a year
before or after the operation.

We meet with a variety of this tree in our
shrubberies with double blossoms, and an-
other with red flowers.

Aiton enumerates five different species of
the arbutus, and we met with some varieties

78 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

of them in the Parisian gardens, that we have
not yet seen in our shrubberies.

We have turned over many ancient medi-
cal works without being able to meet with the
virtues of this plant, excepting that Amatus
Lusitanus informs us that there was formerly
a water distilled from its leaves and flowers,
"that is a sacred preservative and antidote
against the plague and poisons." Galen,
Dioscorides, Pliny, and several later writers,
caution us not to eat too freely of the fruit;
and however disposed we may be to neglect
the first recommendation, we may safely an-
swer for our attention to the second, leaving
them as of old for the bird-catchers, to entice
their prey in the winter season.

The leaves may be usefully employed by
tanners in preparing their leather.

79

ASH.— FRAXINUS.

Natural order, Sepiarics. Jasminece, Juss. A
genus of the Polygamia Dioecia class.

" No tree in all the grove but has its charms,
Though each its hue peculiar ;

*******

And ash far stretching his umbrageous arm."

COWPER.

" The tow'ring ash is fairest in the woods." VIRGIL.

THIS tree was called by the Greeks
and by some ^eXg#. The Latins, it is thought,
named it Fraxinus, quia facile frangitur, to ex-
press the fragile nature of the wood, as the
boughs of it are easily broken. We are
thought to have given the name of ash to
this tree, because the bark of the trunk and
branches is of the colour of wood-ashes*
whilst some learned etymologists affirm that
the word is derived from the Saxon JEsc.

It will be seen that we have been particu-
larly fortunate in our antiquarian researches
respecting this tree, so much celebrated by
the ancients, as we have not only discovered
the purposes to which it was converted by

80 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

mortals in old times, but we have, through

them dived into the secrets of their gods to

learn how the celestials regarded the proper-

ties of the ash ; and through their fables we

learn that Love first made his arrows of this

wood ; but afterwards he formed them only

of cypress. Of what materials the sly urchin

makes them at present, we must leave the

sighing Damon's and Phyllis's to find out,

and console ourselves that at the present time,

when mankind and beauty are so encreased

upon earth, that he does not make them of

ashen poles, whose showers would darken the

air, and render it unsafe to move about. We

shall give authorities to show, that Mars seiz-

ed the ashen poles to put into the hands of

his disciples,

*' A lance of tough ground-ash the Trojan threw,
Rough in the rind, and knotted as it grew."

Book ix.

Virgil also tells us, that the spears of the
Amazons were of this wood, and Homer
celebrates the mighty ashen spear of Achilles.
It has been surmised in modern times, that
when the son of Venus resigned the ash to
his father's use, it was on consideration that
his grandfather Jupiter should, in consequence
of his increased duties, allow him to disperse

ASH. 81

his arrows either by gas or steam, or some
celestial invention that has not yet been com-
municated to us mortals.

Tradition has handed down to us an alle-
gory, which we relate, not only to show that
the ash was esteemed a sacred tree, but be-
cause we recognize in this fable of the
heathens, a disfigured, but very striking ana-
logy to the tree of knowledge of good and
evil, which proves that the heathens of the
earliest days formed the same idea of an
Omnipotent Being, and of good and evil,
as is expressed by the Hebrew writers. This
figurative fable, which is from the Edda,
states, that the court of the Gods is held
beneath a miraculous ash, whose branches
cover the surface of the world, and whose
summit touches the heavens ; whilst its roots
descend to the regions of Pluto. An eagle
constantly reposes on the tree to observe
every thing, whilst a squirrel ascends and de-
scends incessantly to make report. Serpents
are twined around the trunk ; beneath one of
its roots runs a limpid fountain, where wisdom
is concealed: it communicates with a neigh-
bouring stream, in which is found the know-
ledge of things to come.

. This ingenious idea signifies that wisdom
knows how to profit for the future by

VOL. I. G

82 SYLVA FLOKIFERA,

the remembrance of what is useful in the
past.

Three virgins are entrusted with the guar-
dianship of this sacred tree, who always re-
main beneath the branches to refresh the ash
with these salutary waters, which, on falling
back on the earth, forms a dew which pro-
duces honey : happy effects of the invention
of wisdom and science.

The Edda of Woden, holds the ash in so
liigh a veneration, that man is described as
being formed from it. Hesiod, who is sup-
posed to have lived in Homer's time, deduces
his brazen race of men from the ash ; and
in his Theogony has nymphs of the name

That the ancient writers should so highly
extol the ash is not extraordinary, as its inner
bark often was the substance they wrote on
before the invention of paper. Ancient
writers state, that serpents have such an anti-
pathy to the ash that they will not approach
even within its morning or evening shadow ;
and Pliny tells us, (he says upon experience),
that if a fire and a serpent be surrounded by
ash boughs, the serpent will sooner run into
the fire than into the boughs. He considers
it as providential that the ash should blossom
before the serpents appear, and that it should

ASH. 83

not cast its leaves until these reptiles were
gone.

Dioscorides the celebrated physician to
Antony and Cleopatra, assures us, that the
leaves of the ash applied to the wound, or
the juice of them being mixed with wine and
drunk, was a cure for the venomous bite of
vipers.

We may still trace in this country the re-
mains of a superstitious veneration towards
this tree. In the south-east part of the king-
dom, the country people split young ash trees,
and make their distempered children pass
through the chasm in hopes of a cure. They
have also a superstitious custom of boring a
hole in an ash, and fastening in a shrew
mouse ; a few strokes with a branch of this
tree is then accounted a sovereign remedy
against cramps and lameness in cattle, which
are ignorantly supposed to proceed from this
harmless animal.

Lightfoot says, that in many parts of the
Highlands of Scotland, at the birth of a child,
the nurse or midwife puts one end of a great
stick of this tree into the fire, and while it is
burning, receives into a spoon the sap or juice
which oozes out at the other end, and ad-
ministers this as the first spoonful of liquor
to the new-bom babe.

G 2

84 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

Nature, which provides the Greenland bear
with its shaggy coat, and adapts the plumage
of the feathered race to the height they are
destined to soar in the air, has not with less
wisdom clothed the vegetable creation with
a foliage suitable to their natural destinations.
Thus the ash, which was allotted to cover the
barren soils of the most bleak and exposed
situations, securely locks up its winged foliage
and its loose flowers within its black buds,
until Boreas has exhausted his March winds,
and the early retiring of its sap in autumn,
leaves the branches disengaged of their pin-
nated foliage, before the arrival of the equi-
noctial gales, thus leaving the trunk and
branches too poor for the hurricane to vent
its vengeance on. It is therefore well calcu-
lated for plantations on those exposed situa-
tions on the sea coast, where but few other
trees will prosper ; and the planting of those
few in such situations is often too much
neglected, as the dreariness of the downs in
the vicinity of Brighton so conspicuously ex-
emplifies, where, if a few patches of ground
were ploughed up and sown with ash keys,
holly berries, and furze seed, as happy a com-
bination would spring up, as the greatest ad-
mirers of light and shade could wish. We
make this observation on a September day on

ASH. 85

a spot with such scenery before us, where the
thinly-scattered but elegant pinnated leaves of
the pale ash, and its light hanging bunches of
keys, bend with every breeze over the im-.
moveable holly, whose dark shining spiny
foliage reflects the vermilion berries which
crowd its spiral branches, whilst the approach
to their trunks is defended by the chevaux
de frize of the gaily yellow and sweetly per-
fumed furze.

It is with pleasure that we record, that
many extensive plantations have within our
age been formed in these kingdoms, which
reflect the highest honour on the proprietors
who thus liberally provide for their posterity,
whilst they enjoy the prospect of the rising
beauties that their munificence has lent to
embellish their country.

Amongst these plantations we shall notice
such as have been formed of ash.

In Suffolk, William Wollaston, Esq. planted
twenty acres with this tree, at Great Fin-
borough.

At Butsfield, Lan chester, Durham, Thomas
White, Esq. planted 35 acres.

At Frindsbury, in Kent, Mr. David Day
planted 16 acres with ash trees ; and 150,800
on 32 additional acres.

At By scot, near Farringdon, Berks, Edward
0 3

86 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

Lov. Loveden, Esq. planted 63,000 on 7 acres
9 perches.

AtBelmont, Staffordshire, John Sneyd,Esq.
planted 6,000 between the years 1784 and
1786.

At Ambleside, in Westmoreland, Dr. Ri-
chard Watson, Bishop of Llandaff, planted
20,000 on 11 acres, in the year 1788.

George Ross, Esq. planted 42,000 in Cro-
marty. The late Earl of Fife planted no less
than 57,500, in the county of Murray,* and
his Grace the Duke of Devonshire caused
86,514 to be planted on his estates between
the years of 1816 and 1819.

Evelyn tells us, that in his time an ash-tree
that had been raised from seed, forty years
before, sold for thirty pounds ; and he adds,
" I have been , credibly in formed, that one
person hath planted so much of this one sort
of timber in his lifetime, as hath been valued
worth fifty thousand pounds to be bought.
These (says he) are pretty encouragements
for a small and pleasant industry."

Mr. Boutcher has given an instance of the
great profit of an ash plantation, in a small
experiment, which he thus relates: " On half
a rood of heavy meadow, chiefly barren red
clay and moss, I planted ash trees six years

* Transact. Soc. Arts, &c.

ASH. 87

old, and eight feet high, in rows, four feet
asunder, and two feet distance in the row.
After four years I cut them down within five
or six inches of the ground. Having more
than I wanted, in seven years I sold half for
pollards and hoops for 40s. In six years I
cut them again, and sold them for 50s. In
six years after this I cut them again, and sold
them at the same price. There remained
now twenty-three, intended to stand for tim-
ber ; but I was obliged to sell them at twenty-
three years' growth for 7s. a tree. Thus would
an acre of indifferent ground, properly situ-
ated for sale, yield in twenty-three years
115/. 10s., without any other expense than
digging the ground for the first five or six
years, and cutting the coppice." Observe,
that no price is mentioned for the first cut-
ting, which he used himself;; and that he
found he should have had at least one-third
more for the price of the last cutting. He
.also found that he had planted too thick, and
that he might have had more wood if the
rows had been six feet asunder, and the sets
three feet distant in the row.

" We have heard of a gentleman," says the
author of Practical Economy, " whose lands
were more extensive than fertile, whose prac-
tice it was to plant 1500 trees, on the birth

« 4

88 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

of every daughter, upon his waste grounds,
which were, on an average, worth one pound
each on her coming of age; thus enabling
him to give her a fortune of 1000/., without
any extraordinary economy on his part; the
regular thinning of the trees, at proper sea-
sons, with barking, &c., paying off all the
current expences, besides yielding him a small
rent for the land."

This, however, was when WOOL was thought
a larger sum for a daughter's fortune than at
present ; but by stating some experiments of
a later date, it will be sufficiently manifested
how much planting of trees, even upon small
portions of land, is connected with domestic
economy, and which will be found in the his-
tory of the fir and the sycamore.

In Yorkshire, very recently, 5000 oaks
were cut down, which yielded the sum of
100,000/. ; and as recently, in Somersetshire,
the timber of an estate of 2000 acres, was re-
fused to an offer of 50,000/.

The number of canals which have lately
been cut, and the excellence of the roads in
most parts of the kingdom, must act as a
great stimulus towards planting, as by the faci-
lity with which timber can now be conveyed
from the most inland districts to the coast, the
price will be more generally equalized.

In remote times, when this island was over-

ASH. 89

run with woods, timber trees were principally
valued for the food which they yielded to
herds of swine ; and thus, by the laws of
HowelDda, the price of an ash was rated at
4d., while an oak or a beech was put at 120rf.

" No want of timber then was felt or fear'd
In Albion's happy isle."

At the present time, ash timber meets with
as ready a sale, and brings nearly as high a
price as the best oak ; and although we do
not so frequently meet with large ash trees,
as we do with large oaks and elms, yet it will
be seen that the natural size of the tree is
nearly the same. But as it grows so much
more rapidly than the oak, so will it sooner
decay than that tree, if not felled at maturity.
It is observed, that when the woodpeckers
are seen tapping these trees, they ought to be
cut, as these birds never make holes in the
ash, until it is on the decay.

Dr. Plot mentions an ash-tree of eight feet
diameter, which was valued at thirty pounds.
Mr. Marsham informs us of another in Benel
Church Yard, near Dunbarton, in Scotland,
which in 1768, measured sixteen feet nine
inches in girth, at five feet from the ground.
The Rev. Arthur Young, in his Irish tour,
mentions ^some of seventy and eighty feet in

90 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

height, which were of only thirty years' growth.
The trunk of one on the bank of the Avon-
more was above fourteen feet round, and car-
ried nearly the same dimensions for eighteen
feet. An ash at Dunganstown was a few years
back, twelve feet round, and quite clear of
branches for thirty feet, where it measured
ten feet round, and the arms extended in
beautiful forms twenty-eight yards. At Tiny
Park is another, the circumference of which,
in the smallest part, somewhat exceeded nine-
teen feet, or six feet four inches diameter, in
1808. At Leixlip Castle is a row of eighteen
ash trees, on a very bleak exposure, measuring
from nine to twelve feet round, with fair
stems of considerable height, and fine branch-
ing heads. At Donirey, near Clare, in the
county of Galway, is an old ash, that at four
feet from the ground measures forty-two feet
in circumference, at six feet high thirty feet.
The trunk has long been quite hollow, and a
little school was kept in it. There were a few
branches remaining in 1808, which were fresh
and vigorous. Near Kennity Church, in the
King's County, is an ash, the trunk of which
as twenty-one feet ten inches round, and it is
•seventeen feet high before the branches break
out. These are of enormous bulk. When a
funeral of the lower class passes by, they lay

ASH. 91

the corpse down for a few minutes, say a
prayer, and then throw a stone to increase
the heap, which has been accumulating round
the root. Dr. Walker says he measured the
trunk of a dead ash, in the church yard of
Lochabar, in Scotland, which, at five feet from
the surface of the ground, was fifty-eight feet
in circumference.

The Romans used the ash-leaves for fod-
der, which were esteemed better for cattle
than those of any other tree, the elm ex-
cepted ; and they were also used for the same
purpose in this country, before agriculture
was so well understood, and our fields
clothed with artificial grasses. In Queen
Elizabeth's time, the inhabitants of Colton
and Hawkshead fells remonstrated against
the number of forges in the country, because
they consumed all the loppings and croppings,
which were the sole winter food for their
cattle. In the north of Lancashire they still
lop the ash to feed the cattle in autumn,
when the grass is upon the decline ; the cat-
tle peeling off the bark. The Rev. Mr. Gil-
pin tells us, that, in forests, the keepers make
the deer browze on summer evenings on the
spray of ash, that they may not stray too far
from the walk.

The ash is thought to be a very improper

92 STfLVA FLORIFERA.

tree for hedge rows and the borders of arable
or pasture land, as its spreading roots exhaust
the soil very much, and the drip of the tree
is unfavourable to all other vegetation. In
good dairy countries the ash is seldom suf-
fered in the pastures, as it is thought to make
the butter rank if the cows eat of its leaves,
and which is said always to be the case with
the butter which is made about Guildford
and Godalming, and in some other parts of
Surrey, where the ash trees abound in the
fields. The correctness of this fact is doubt-
ful, as there is no taste in the ash leaves to
countenance the assertion ; and we have fre-
quently remarked, that a good housewife has
made excellent butter, when her gayer neigh-
bour, on the opposite side of the hedge,
could not eat her own churning.

We have already remarked, that the ash
tree in early days, served both the soldier and
the scholar. It was also a principal material
for forming the peaceable implements of hus-
bandry, as it continues to be with us to this
day, in the shape of ploughs, harrows, &c.
The gardener recognizes it in his spade tree
and other tool handles ; the hop-planter
knows its value for poles, the thatcher for
spars, the builder for ladders, the cooper for
hoops, the turner for his lathe, the shipwright

ASH. 93

for pullies, the boatsman for oars, the fisher-
man for tanning his nets and drying his her-
rings. The wheelwright employs it usefully,
and the coach-maker profitably, whilst the
cabinet-maker palms it upon us as green
ebony, and much have we in youth enjoyed
the crack and fly of this sweet fuel on the
farmer's hearth at harvest-home.

The ashes of this wood afford very good
potash, and the bark is used in tanning calf-
skins.

We have no objection to those who collect
ash-leaves drinking the infusion themselves ;
but such as vend it as pure souchong we
wish the utmost rigour of the offended law
to visit.

The ash-keys were formerly gathered in
the green state, and pickled with salt and vi-
negar, and served to table for sauce.

The chemical writers who have noticed the
ash, tell us that the leaves of this tree yield a
great many acid liquors, a little urinous spirit,
no concreted volatile salt, a great deal of oil
and earth, and a moderate quantity of fixed
salt, by which the natural salt of this plant
seems to resemble that called by Angelus
Sala, oxysal diaphoreticum ; but in the ash it
is joined with a great deal of sulphur and

94 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

earth : thus they say it is aperitive, diuretic,
and sudorific.

Were we to transcribe all we have seen
written on the medical virtues of this plant,
it might naturally be asked how it happens
that we do not meet our ancestors upon earth,
who had in this tree a cure for every malady.

The Arabian, as well as the Greek and
Roman physicians, highly extol the medi-
cinal properties of the seed which the Latins
named lingua avis, bird's tongue, which it re-
sembles.

Dr. Taner, Robinson, and the famous Dr.
Bowles, are amongst the later physicians who
commend the good qualities of this little seed,
and it was from these observations principally
that our attention was directed to the forma-
tion of the seed ; on dissecting the pod of which
carefully with a pen-knife, the umbilical cord
will be found running from the stalk to the
upper end of the fruit, or seed, where it enters,
to convey the nourishment to the germ, which
(on opening from the reverse end,) will be
found the future tree, so formed both in trunk
and leaves, as not even to require the assist-
ance of magnifiers to see the perfect plant.
We are not aware of its being seen so per-
fectly in any other seed, therefore we would

20

ASH* 95

direct the attention of the curious to this phe-
nomenon of vegetable nature.

The common ash propagates itself plenti-
fully by the seed, so that abundance of young
trees may be found in the neighbourhood of
ash-trees, provided cattle are not suffered to
graze on the land.

In raising woods or considerable planta-
tions of ash-trees, it is recommended to pre-
pare the ground as for corn, and to sow a good
quantity of ash keys with oats. If the crop of
corn be taken off at the proper season on the
following year, the ground will be covered
with young trees. Ash seeds that have been
kept over the year, as well as those which are
deeply covered with earth, do not come up
until the second year.

The variety of the common ash, with pen-
dulous branches, called the weeping ash, is
produced by engrafting, and it has at all times
a heavy unnatural appearance. But those who
admire trees of such singular, distorted shapes,
should be careful to plant them where their
branches may have full liberty to extend
themselves each way, and the tree will then
form an agreeable leafy marquee, for the warm
season, but it is generally ill placed in the
shrubbery, and often very ridiculously planted

9(5 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

in small cottage gardens, where it occupies
ground that flowering shrubs should embellish
without having room to display its reversed
branches to any advantage.

There are varieties of the common ash with
variegated leaves, and the fraxinus simplici-
folia, various leaved ash, is also an indigenous
species of this tree, to which we have added
two that are natives of Italy, one of Aleppo,
and four different species have been imported
from North America.

The manna ash, fraxinus rotundifolia, is in-
digenous to Italy, and is found in great abun-
dance in the lower parts of Calabria, where it
grows spontaneously, and without culture,
except that the woodmen cut down all the
strong stems that grow above the thickness of
a man's leg. The Duchess of Beaufort intro-
duced this tree to England, where she culti-
vated it in 1697, but it seldom rises above
fifteen or sixteen feet high in this country, and
the shoots are shorter and closer together than
in the common ash. The leaflets are also
shorter, and have deeper serratures on their
edges, and are of a lighter green. The Howers
which are produced from the side of the
branches are of a purple colour, and appear
in April before the leaves come out. This
tree should be planted in an eastern exposure,

ASH. , 97

in order to warm the juices in the morning,,
and to inspissate those which the heat has
sweated out in the evening.

Before we relate the manner of gathering
the manna from these ash-trees, we shall
briefly treat on the nature of manna, and the
cause of its formation. The first notice of
this substance will be found in scripture,
where the term manna seems to signify a mi-
raculous kind of food, which fell from heaven,
for the support of the Israelites, in their pas-
sage through the wilderness. Salmasius and
others affirm, that the manna of the Israelites
was in reality no other than a species of honey,
or dew, condensed ; and that the one and the
other were the same with the wild honey
wherewith St. John was fed in the wilderness ;
so that the miracle did not consist in the
formation of any new substance in favour of
the Israelites, but in the abundance and regu-
lar manner in which it was dispensed by Pro-
vidence for the sustenance of so vast a mul-
titude. Manna is not peculiar to the ash-tree
alone, as it is only the extravasated juice of
plants, which is discharged more or less by
plants in general, according to their nature,
and the temperature of the season, which re-
gulates their transpiration. It was formerly
thought to be a kind of mel aerium, or honey-

VOL. I. H

98 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

dew, which, falling in the night, gathers on
certain trees ; but these dews melt in the sun,
whereas manna whitens and hardens in it.

The evaporation of leaves, says Decandolle,
is one of the most obvious and important of
their functions. No person can deny it who
has noticed the drops of clear moisture on
the points of leaves, even in hot-houses, where
they cannot be affected by the dew ; or who
has traced the movement of a mist in a
still evening, as it raises itself from fields
planted with vegetables ; or who has seen the
rising of clouds from forests, and the ascent
of vapoury columns from the same place be-
fore the formation of a storm. In fact, plants
lose, by evaporation from their leaves, the
greatest part of the moisture which they take
in by their roots. The organs which, are
chiefly employed in evaporation are the slits,
and also the hairs, which latter organs are
therefore more abundant in young shoots, and
in those parts whose evaporation is most ac-
tive. The sudden and powerful operation of
the sunbeams, after a passing drizzling rain,
favours not unfrequently the perspiration of
oxidized slime, and of sweet drops, which are
known by the name of honey dew ; the lime
and sycamore usually have a great deal of it
on their leaves in the heat of summer, and

9

ASH. 99

which, if steeped in water, renders it sweet
and purgative.

That the medicinal drug, known by us
under the name of manna, is merely the juices
of the various plants condensed by their
meeting the air, is fully demonstrated by the
manner in which it is obtained from the
fraxinm rotundifolia. Mr. Swinburn tells us,
that in Calabria, the gatherers of manna com-
mence this business about the end of July,
by making a horizontal gash, inclining up-
wards, in the bole of the tree. But as the
liquor never oozes out the first day, another
cut is given on the second, and then the
woodman fixes the stalk of a maple leaf in
the upper wound, and the end of the leaf in
the lower one, so as to form a cup to receive
the gum as it distils from each slash. The sea-
son continues about a month. The men have
only three carlini, Is. lid., for every rotolo ;
which quantity, containing thirty-three ounces
and a third, is sold for twenty-four carlini and
three quarters, or somewhat more than ten
shillings ; if it be in tubular pieces, the price
rises one third. These pieces are called Manna
in cannoli, and these regular tubes are pro-
duced, by applying to the incision thin straw,
or small bits of shrubs, upon which the manna
runs as it oozes out. Formerly the Syrian

H 2

100 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

manna was in the most repute, but now it
gives way to the Calabrian.

Fuchsius observes, that the peasants of
Mount Libanus eat manna ordinarily, as others
do honey, whilst at Mexico they are said to
have a manna, which they eat as we do cheese ;
thus we observe it differs in its qualities ac-
cording to the climate and the vegetables
from which it is distilled, and what in one
country would afford a nutritive substance to
its inhabitants, would prove a medicine when
obtained from other plants in a different cli-
mate, and taken by a people of different
habits.

Physicians are better agreed as to the vir-
tues of this drug, which they originally learnt
from the Arabians, than etymologists are to
the origin of its name, as some state that it is
either from the Hebrew word manah, a gift,
to intimate its being a gift from heaven ; or
from minnah, which signifies to prepare, be-
cause the mannah came to them ready for
eating, and needed no preparation but gather-
ing ; or as some suppose from the Egyptian
word man, (what is it ?) which seems the more
probable, in regard the Scripture takes
notice of the surprise they were under when
they first saw this new food descend.

ASH. 101

Salmasius, however, prefers another: ac-
cording to him the Arabs and Chaldeans
vised the word man, to signify a kind of dew
or honey that fell on trees, and was gathered
in great abundance on Mount Libanus ; on
which footing the Israelites did not use the
term manna out of surprise, but because they
found this food fall with the dew, in the same
manner as the honey-dew, so well known to
them under the name of man.

M. Pirolle tells us, that in France the com-
mon ash is often attacked by the Spanish
flies, which sometimes entirely destroy the
foliage, and cause an odour that is both inju-
rious and disagreeable ; for when they be-
come decomposed into a dust, it is difficult
to pass the trees without inhaling these dan-
gerous particles.

The foliage of the ash tree changes to a
lemon colour in October.

" Like leaves on trees the race of man is found,
Now green in youth, now with'ring 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'S Homer.

3. S

ASP, OK ASPEN-TREE.— POPULUS
TREMULA.

Natural order -, Amentacece. A genus of the
Dicecia Odandria class.

— " Rustling turn the many-twinkling leaves
Ofaspintall."

THIS aboriginal of our forests moves its
restless foliage also in most boggy grounds
from Sweden to Italy. It is a branch of the pop-
lar family, and from the incessant trembling
of its leaves, was called by the Latins Populus
tremula. The Greeks named it Kep^g-, from
j«pKw the same as K^KU, strepitumdo, to creak.
The English name is from the German Espe,
which is their general name for all poplars.
The heart-shaped leaves of this tree adhere
to the twigs by a long and slender stalk, the
plane of which is at right angles to that of the
leaf, and consequently allows them a much
freer motion than other leaves that have their
planes parallel with their stalks. This, with
their cottony lining below, and their hairy

ASP. 103

surface above, causes that perpetual motion
and quivering, even when we cannot perceive
by other means the least breath of air stirring
in the atmosphere. This trepidation is at-
tended of course with a rustling noise, on
which account country people often call it
Rattler. Ignorance, which has ever been more
attached to superstition than to philosophical
reasoning, accounts for this phenomenon,
from a notion that our Saviour's cross was
made of this tree, and that therefore the leaves
can never rest.

The plaintive lines of a fair and unfortunate
poetess almost give the idea of her joining in
the superstition of the Highlanders :

" Why tremble so, broad aspen-tree ?

Why shake thy leaves, ne'er ceasing ?
At rest thou never seem'st to be !

For when the air is still and clear,
Or when the nipping gale, increasing,

Shakes from thy boughs soft twilight's tear,
Thou tremblest still, broad aspen-tree,
And never tranquil seem'st to be.

" Beneath thy shade, at sultry noon,

I oft have sat, deep musing ;
And oft have watch'd the rising moon

Above the dusky summit shine,
A placid light diffusing !

Though all around a calm divine
The rest of nature seem'd to be,
Still didst thou tremble, aspen-tree !"

H 4

104 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

The aspen-tree may be planted so as to or-
nament large grounds, but its effect is lost
when crowded. When it meets the eye as a
fore-ground to plantations of firs, it has both
a pleasing and singular appearance, as its fo-
liage changes with the wind from a silver grey
to a bright green ; for when the sight goes
with the wind, it catches only the under side
of the leaves, which are covered with a pale
floss ; but when it meets the current of air,
the tree presents the upper surface of its foli-
age to the view ; thus its tints are as change-
able as its nature is tremulous.

Like its relative poplar, this tree is of speedy
growth, and will thrive in any situation or
soil, but worst in clay. It is accused of im-
poverishing the land, and its leaves are
charged with destroy ing the grass, whilst its nu-
merous roots, which spread near the surface,
will not, it is said, permit any thing else to
grow. The wood is extremely light, white,
soft and smooth, but durable in the air. It
is used for making milk-pails, wooden-shoes,
clogs and pattens, &c. The bark is the fa-
vourite food of beavers, whilst the leaves
and the stalks form the nourishment and birth-
place of the tipula juniperina, a species of
long-legged fly.

ASP. 105

The aspen-tree will not bear lopping, like
other species of the poplar. Evelyn quaintly
observes, " It thrusts down a more searching
foot, and takes it ill to have its head cut off."

Gerard, who composed his History of Plants
during the reign of a virgin queen, must, we
conclude, have possessed but little gallantry,
unless he was troubled in his domestic circle
by a too animated female tongue ; for in his
account of the aspen-tree he says, " It may
also be called Tremble, after the French
name, considering it is the matter whereof
women's toongs were made, which seldome
cease wagging." May not the ladies retort
with La Fontaine—

— Je sais meme sur cefait
Bon nombre d'hommes qui sontfemmes ?

'

106

BAY. — LAURUS NOB1LIS.

Natural order ^ Holoracece ; Lauri, Juss. A
genus of the Enneandria Monogynia class.

THIS plant, the laurel of antiquity, is a na-
tive of classical ground. The Greeks called
it Aft'^ Daphne, from SiaQdvy on account of
the crackling noise it makes while burning.
Fable informs us, that our sweet bay owes
both its origin and its name to Daphne, the
chaste daughter of Peneus, deity of a river so
named in Thessaly, whose banks are lined
with these trees. The mythologists tell us,
that the fair Daphne, flying from the embrace
of Phoebus, who had near overtaken her,

" Cast a mournful look

Upon the streams of her paternal brook ;

* Oh, help,' she cried, ' in this extremest need !

If water gods are deities indeed:

Gape earth, and this unhappy wretch intomb ;

Or change my form, whence all my sorrows come/

Scarce had she fmish'd, when her feet she found

Benumb'd with cold, and fastened to the ground :

A filmy rind about her body grows ;

Her hair to leaves, her arms extend to boughs :

The nymph is all into a laurel gone ;

The smoothness of her skin remains alone."

BAY. 107

The disappointed Apollo then claimed the
tree as sacred to himself.

" Because thou canst not be

My mistress, I espouse thee for my tree :

Be thou the prize of honour and renown ;

The deathless poet, and the poem crown.

Thou shalt the Roman festivals adorn,

And, after poets, be by victors worn." OVID.

The Latins called it Laurus, from lavo, on
account of its quality in purging the blood ;
or, as some suppose, from laudis, praise, and
from whence the ancients called it Laudea,
but in later times the d was changed for r9
making it Laurus and Laurea.

This favourite tree of Apollo's gave the
name to a capital in ancient times, which is
now called Paterno.

" Deep in the palace, of long growth, there stood
A laurel's trunk, a venerable wood,
Where rites divine were paid ; whose holy hair
Was cut and trimm'd with superstitious care.
This plant Latinus, when his town he walFd,
Then found, and from the tree Laurentum called :
And last, in honour of his new abode,
He vow'd the laurel to the laurel's god." VIRGIL.

The ancients believed that the *aurus was
a protection from lightning ; Ovid makes
Phoebus give it this virtue :

" Secure from thunder, and unharm'd by Jove,
Unfading as th' immortal pow'rs above :
And as the locks of Phoebus are unshorn,
So shall perpetual green thy boughs adorn."

108 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

It is related that Tiberius, who had a great
dread of lightning when accompanied with
thunder, would cover his head with boughs
of this tree, and creep under his bed to avoid
it. The belief that the bay-tree had the pro-
perty of repelling lightning lasted a long time
after the fall of paganism : Madame de Genlis
tells us, that it was on this superstition that
the device of the Count de Dunois was
founded, which represented this tree beneath
a tempestuous sky, and for motto — •

Terrce solum natale tuetur.
" I defend the earth which bears me."

To this day it is customary for the peasants
in the Pyrenees to cover themselves with
branches of the bay tree, as a security from
the lightning, and we have known it planted
by our own villagers as a protection from fire.
In this happy effect of ignorance, we trace the
expiring spark of Roman superstition.

The aromatic emissions of these trees were
in such reputation for clearing the air, and
resisting contagion, that during a pestilence
the physicians of the Emperor Claudius ad-
vised his court to be removed to Laurentium,
so celebrated for bay -trees ; and it has been
thought that this supposed virtue of the laurus
was an inducement for Pliny the younger to

BAY. 109

reside so much at his favourite villa, near
Laurentium.

Theophrastus tells us, that superstitious
people would keep a bay-leaf in their mouths
all day, to preserve themselves from any mis-
fortune or pollution. The ancients also at-
tributed to the laurus the property of pre-
serving the corn from mildew.

Amongst the other wonders related of the
bay, its decay was said to be ominous of some
fatal accident. Suetonius (in Galba) affirms,
that all the bay-trees withered to the very
roots in the winter, though it was very mild,
which preceded the death of Nero. This ac-
cident could only have been deemed fatal to
the monster and his creatures !

Evelyn tells us, that in 1629, preceding a
great pestilence at Padua, almost all the bay-
trees about that famous university grew sick and
perished ; upon which it was said that Apollo
and the muses were about to desert that city.

We cannot pass this tree in the shrubbery
without having our recollection roused by the
remembrance of some anecdote connected with
ancient history. When under the shade of
the bay-tree we almost fancy ourselves in the
first temple which was raised to Apollo at
Delphi ; for this temple was formed entirely
of the branches of this tree, which were

110 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

brought from the valley of Tempe, and were
so curiously interwoven as to form an ele-
vated roof. Whilst the temple of the god of
poetry and music offered nothing but the
symbol of glory in its construction it was
sacred ; but when its walls were composed of
marble,and its coffers were filled with those me-
tals which possess the hateful quality of trans-
forming virtuous men into dishonest ones,
and bad men into monsters, then the god was
worshipped with more ceremony, the oracle
despised, and the sacred urns plundered. The
people of Phocis, the very inhabitants of
Mount Parnassus, committed sacrilege upon
their own god, carrying away at one time,
from the temple of Apollo, ten thousand
talents.

Nero carried away no less than five hun-
dred statues of brass, partly of the gods, and
partly of the most illustrious heroes, from
this repository of superstitious opulence ;
whilst, in later ages, Constantine the great re-
moved its most splendid ornaments to his new
capital. The deeds of these sceptred robbers
are recorded to this day in every known lan-
guage, whilst their plunder is mouldered to
dust !

The oracles were always delivered by a
priestess called Pythia, and were generally

BAY. Ill

given in verse, until it was sarcastically ob-
served, that the god and patron of poetry was
one of the worst poets in the world, which
induced the priestess to deliver her answers
in prose. It was customary for all that con-
sulted the oracle to make rich presents to the
god of Delphi ; and no monarch distinguished
himself more by his donations than Croesus.

There were also diviners called Daphne-
phagi, laurel-eaters, because they chewed lau-
rel leaves, pretending thereby to be inspired
by Apollo. The bay-tree was also employed
in other kinds of divination and religious
cheats, such as throwing them into the fire ;
when to draw a good augury the leaves must
crackle. They put them also beneath their
pillows at night, to obtain prophetic dreams ;
and they were planted around their dwellings
to bring good luck.

The origin of the Daphnephoria, a festival
in honour of Apollo, which was held every
ninth year, will show how sacredly the bay-
tree was considered to belong to that god.
An oracle advised the ^Etolians, who inha-
bited Arne and the adjacent country, to leave
their own country and go in quest of a settle-
ment ; they therefore invaded the Theban
territories, which at that time were pillaged
by an army of Pelasgians.

112 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

When the celebration of Apollo's festivals
arrived, both nations, who religiously observed
them, laid aside all hostilities, and, according
to custom, cut down branches of the bay-tree
from Mount Helicon, and in the neighbour-
hood of the river Melas, and walked in pro-
cession in honour of the divinity. The day
that this solemnity was observed, Polemates,
the general of the Boeotian army, saw a youth
in a dream that presented him with a com-
plete suit of armour, and commanded the
Boeotians to offer solemn prayers to Apollo,
and walk in procession, with laurel-boughs in
their hands, every ninth year. Three days
after this dream the Boeotian general made a
sally, and cut off the greatest part of the be-
siegers, who were compelled by this blow to
relinquish their enterprize ; Polemates, from
this, instituted a novennial festival to the god
who seemed to be the patron of the Boeotians.

By the manner in which this festival was
kept, we may trace their religion from the
eastern nations, where the sun was the pri-
mary object of adoration ; for in this festival it
was usual to adorn an olive-bough with gar-
lands of the laurus and other flowers, and place
on the top a brazen globe, on which were
suspended smaller ones. In the middle were
placed a number of crowns, and a globe of

RAY. 113

inferior size, and the bottom was adorned
with a saffron-coloured garment. The globe
on the top represented the sun or Apollo, that
in the middle was an emblem of the moon,
and the others of the stars. The crowns,
which were 365 in number, represented the
sun's annual revolution. This allegorical
bough was carried to the temple in solemn
procession, by a beautiful youth of illustrious
family, who then officiated as priest of Apollo.
The despatches and letters which were sent
to the senate at Rome, from the victorious
generals, were made up and ornamented with
leaves of the Laurus; and in their triumphs
every common soldier carried a sprig of bay
in his hand, both to denote victory, and as of
virtue to purge them from blood and slaughter.

Linnaeus surnamed this tree Nobilis, from
the exalted uses to which it has been applied;
for it is the brilliant symbol of all kinds of
triumph. It crowns conquerors, and is also the
most glorious attribute of clemency. This
divine virtue, personified, is represented in
the ancient medals under the figure of a
female holding a spear, and a branch of the
bay-tree.

This tree, whose constant deep-green foli-
age varies so decidedly the tints in our plan-
tations, causes thoughts and reflections as

VOL. i. i

114 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

various in our walks ; for we do not unite the
idea of peace with the olive-branch, more
strongly than that of glory with the bay-tree.
Henry the I Vth of France, before his achieve-
ments at the beginning of the civil wars, de-
manded a new year's gift of Aubigne, who
sent him an emblematic nosegay, composed of
olive, bay, and of cypress, with a sonnet, the
explanation of which was, that he must make
a good peace, vanquish, or die.

It was an ancient custom to place wreaths
of laurus with the berries on the heads of those
who had distinguished themselves in some
particular branch of polite acquirement; hence
our expression poet laureate. The poet lau-
reate (" now broach ye a pipe of Malvoisie,")
of modern times tunes his reed so sweetly,
that Apollo cannot reward him without the
aid of Bacchus, who annually furnishes the
happy bard with a butt of malmsey. Some
penetrating critics have, since this change,
declared that they discovered the wine in the
walk of the laureate's poems.

Students who have taken their degrees at
the universities are called bachelor, from the
French Bachelier, which is derived from
the Latin Baccalaureus (laurel and berries).
These scholars were not allowed to marry,
lest the duties of husband and father should

BAY. 115

take them from their literary pursuits; and in
time all single men were called bachelors.

But it is not the bachelors alone who have
sighed for the laurus crown ; as the wish of
her who excited so much interest in the
Perditta of Shakspeare will prove :

" Heaven knows I never would repine,
Though Fortune's fiercest frowns were mine,
If fate would grant that o'er my tomb
One little laurel-branch might bloom ;
And mem'ry sometimes wander near
To bid it live — and drop a tear!"

It is beyond a doubt, says Dr. Hunter, that
the bay-tree, and not the laurel, is the laurus
of the ancients. The laurel was not known in
Europe till the latter end of the sixteenth
century, which will be shown in the history
of that shrub. Besides, our laurel has not the
properties ascribed by the ancients to their
laurus. Virgil says it has a fine smell, which
the laurel has not.

Et vos, O Lauri, carpam, et te proxime9
Sic positce, quoniam suaves miscetis odores.

Eel ii.

And in the sixth ^Eneid, —

Odoratum Lauri nemus.

We cannot ascertain at what exact period the
bay-tree was first cultivated in this country ;

i 2

116 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

but in all probability it was planted by the
Romans, and fell with their villas. Chaucer,
who wrote in the time of Edward the Third,
says,

" And tho that baren bowes, in hir bond,
Of the precious Laurer, so notable,
Be such as were (I woll ye understond)
Most noble Knightes of the Round Table,
And eke the Donesperses honourable;
Which they bere in the sign of victory,
As witness of hir dedes, mightily."

Turner, our oldest writer on plants, says, in
1564, " The bay tre in England is no great
tre, but it thryueth there many partes better
and is lustier than in Germany." And we
find that during the reign of Elizabeth, it was
common to strew the floors of distinguished
persons in England with bay-leaves. Gerard
observes, in 1596, that he had not seen the
bay-tree in " Denmarke, Swenia, Poland,
Liuonia, or Russia ; or in any of those colde
countries where I haue trauelled." And we
conclude that it was rare in this country, even
so late as the beginning of the eighteenth cen-
tury, as Bradley says, in 1716, " they should
be put in pots or cases, and housed in the
winter, that their beauty may be preserved."
He states that " he has seen pyramids, and
headed plants of bays introduced into parterre

BAY. 117

work, but he cannot advise the doing it, lest
they should be injured by hard weather."
He adds, " the finest bay -trees he has ever
seen, either abroad or in England, are now in
the Royal Gardens at Kensington, which are
of very great value." From Mons. Liger,
who wrote in 1703, we learn that these trees
were then nursed with great care in the Royal
Gardens of France ; for he tells us that they
were planted in boxes and pots, and cut into
pyramids, or globes, to ornament the gardens
at Versailles. The bay-tree seems rare in the
vicinity of Paris*, at the present time, as we
did not meet with it in any garden excepting
the Jardin des Plantes, either in the summer of
1821 or 1822; and at Ptre la Chaise 'we only
found it at the tomb of Delille, where, should
it thrive, our successors will be told we may
suppose, that it sprang from his body, as they
still tell us in the vicinity of Naples, where,
at the tomb of Virgil, they show you a bay-
tree that they pretend was produced by the
ashes of this great poet, and which is as
readily believed as the dream of Maia his
mother, who, we are told, dreamt that she
was delivered of a branch of laurus, and that

* Bay-leaves are in considerable demand in Paris, for
domestic uses, and for which purpose they are sent from
the south of France in great quantities,

i 3

118 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

having planted it in the earth, there instantly
sprang up a majestic tree, covered with fruit
and flowers of every kind. We presume that
the^Eneid was read before this dream was told.
Miraculous days having passed away before
the formation of our shrubbery commenced,
let us attend to nature, and see where she
advises us to plant this Daphne of the Greeks,
and Laurus of the Romans, which furnished
the Delphic wreath, and graced the head of
triumphant heroes ; guarded the gate of the
Csesars, and formed the Pontifex maximus to
be placed on the houses of the sick. Observ-
ations instruct us to place this tree in situa-
tions where it is sheltered from north and
north-east winds, which affect its beauty, and
often its growth. We notice that it thrives
under the very wings of larger trees, where it
is difficult to make other shrubs prosper, and
which is of importance in our plantations.
A warm, dry, sandy, or gravelly soil is recom-
mended for this tree; but we have noticed
that it thrives well in a rich loam ; for the
handsomest bay-tree that we have seen, was
planted in such soil, by a lady at Tarring,
in Sussex, on her wedding-day ; which had
sent up its spiral top higher than her dwelling,
in less than twenty years ; affording ample
shade to her playful and numerous offspring.

10

BAY. 119

Its lower branches were the roosting-place of
her poultry, and the higher boughs protected
the nests of various birds, who treated her
with Apollo's strains, for having planted
Apollo's tree ; which, of itself, refreshes her
family by the salubrious perfume it gives to
the air of her little garden — to say nothing
of the aromatic taste its leaves give to her
baked herrings; a dish not to be despised at
a country dejeune, as many a sea-side resident
will agree, who knows not, or cares not for
the happy allusions it affords to the classical
reader. They prefer its spicy taste to the
finest passages of the ancient poets. But we
would wish to inspire our marine friends with
a relish for plants as well as for fish: at any
rate, to preserve the few trees that nature
spontaneously scatters on the coast. For, some
years back, we saw a beautiful farm, about a
mile from Worthing, swept of every shrub
and tree by the farmer, who had purchased it
by his profits during the war. We almost
regretted at the time that he had not resided
in some despotic government, where, at every
change of the moon, he would have been
scourged with the leafless branches, until his
hedge-rows had recovered their wonted foliage.
But he resided in a land of liberty, and pos-
sessed a right either to please himself or his

i 4

120 SYLVA FLORIFEIIA.

wife by exposing his house to every gaze,
his fields to every wind. But in charity we
will presume that this rural devastation was
committed, not through a want of taste, but
that it was a sacrifice to the will of his spouse,
and that he acted upon the principle of the
Duke of Antin, who gratified Louis XIV. by a
similar demolition. This monarch complained
of a wood that injured the view from his apart-
ment at Fontainbleau, upon which the Duke of
Antin caused all the trees to be sawn (secretly)
near the root, and cords fixed to each tree.
More than 1200 men remained in readiness to
fell them at the least signal, when the King,
walking near the spot, repeated that this wood
displeased him, which was no sooner said,
than the obsequious Duke gave a whistle, and
in an instant the whole forest was seen to fall.
The Duchess of Burgundy, who witnessed this
feat, exclaimed, laughing, " Ah! bon Dieu,
si le roi avoit desire nos tetes, Monsieur
d' Antin les feroit tomber de meme."

We have not learnt whether this forest
sprang up again ; but we are told by Mortimer,
that bay-trees whose branches are killed by the
weather, or other accident, if cut down to the
ground, will send up strong shoots, which we
know by experience to be correct ; therefore
we should caution gardeners against grubbing

BAY. 121

up the roots too hastily. This tree should
never have a branch taken from it but in the
spring. The directions for raising these trees
from seed, are given in the same manner by
all writers on the subject, from Pliny down to
Miller. It is to gather the fruit when quite
ripe, which is not before January or February.
The berries are then to be preserved in dry
sand, until the middle of March, when they
may be sown in a shady border of rich loose
undunged earth. The berries should be
dropped in rows, as French beans are planted,
and covered with fine rich mould about an
inch thick. The young plants will require
frequent, but moderate watering, for the two
first years. The French nurserymen raise
them under glass, or in an orangery.

The bay-tree will grow by cuttings, but
these should be planted in a moderate hot
bed, and kept moist, and covered from the
heat of the sun during summer, and from
the frost in winter. April is the proper time
to plant cuttings, but layers may be laid down
either in March or August; which, by the
second spring, will make good plants.

The variegated bay is increased by budding
it on the common sort. Neither the broad
nor the narrow leaved varieties are so hardy as
the common bay.

122 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

The leaves and berries of the bay-tree have
an aromatic astringent taste, and a fragrant
smell. They are accounted stomachic, carmi-
native, and uterine ; but are not much used
in medicine at the present day, although old
writers are very voluminous in describing
their virtues. Some tell us that the leaves
were formerly eaten to prevent intoxication,
whilst others ate them to produce oracles;
from whence the bay is sometimes called the
" Prophetic Tree." "

Venturi prtiescia Laurus.

CLAUDIAN.

BEECH TREE.— See Pomarium Bntanntcum.

123

BIRCH.— BETULA.

Natural order, Amentacece. A genus of the
Moncecia Tetrandria class.

*' And all in sight doth rise a birchen tree,

Which learning near her little dome did stow;
Whilom a twig of small regard to see,

Though now so wide its waving branches flow,
And work the simple vassals mickle woe;
For not a wind might curl the leaves that blew,
And as they look'd, they found their horror grew,
And shaped it into rods, and tingled at the view." *

SHENSTONE.

IN the early days of Rome, the lictors had
their fasces made of the branches of this tree,
and which they carried before the magistrates
to clear the way, beating such as caused ob-
struction : from hence the most ingenious ety-
mologist we have consulted derives the generic
name of the birch. " The Latins," says Coles,

* Shenstdne is not the only poet who has celebrated the
mystic power of this dread tree. It is introduced thus in
the Dunciad: —

" When lo ! a spectre rose, whose index hand
Held forth the virtue of the dreadful wand ;
His beavered brow a birchen garland wears,
Dropping with infant's blood, and mother's tears.

124 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

" call it jBetula, and sometimes Betulla, from
the old verb baluo, signifying to beat ; because
it was and is often used for that purpose."

The English word birch seems derived
from the German Birke^ or the Dutch Berk ;
all the European languages are similar in the
pronunciation of the name of this tree. In
summing up the virtues of this tree. Coles
says, in his Paradise of Plants, " The civill
uses whereunto the birch-tree serveth are
many ; as, for the punishment of children,
both at home and at school ; for it hath an
admirable influence upon them, to quiet them
when they are out of order ; and therefore
some call it Make-peace."

However terrible the birchen twigs may be
to the idle boy, the man of taste must be
pleased with the appearance its slender base
and inverted pyramidical top present, and
which is heightened by the soft tints of its
foliage, that plays with every breath of air

O'er every vein a shuddering horror runs,
Eton and Winton shake through all their sons.
All flesh is humbled, Westminster's bold race
Shrink, and confess the genius of the place:
The pale boy-senator yet tingling stands,
And holds his breeches close with both his hands."

POPE.

BIRCH. 125

that stirs. It grows naturally in those cold
mountains where the dark fir rises its motion-
less leaves in the shape of a pyramid ; thus
contrasting in shape, as much as in colour,
and from whence we should be instructed to
follow nature in our grouping ; for,

" What varied beauties shine upon her face;
Here all is beauty, harmony, and grace!"

The birch approaches nearer the Arctic
pole than any other tree ; preserving all its
vigour in those icy climates, that are almost
destitute of other vegetable productions. It
flourishes even in the bosom of expiring
nature, and is the only tree that Greenland
produces —

« Where,

Vast regions, dreary, bleak, and bare !
There, on an icy mountain's height,
Seen only by the moon's pale light,
Stern Winter rears his giant form;
His robe a mist — his life a storm."

In Russia, Poland, and other northern
places, the twigs of this tree cover the dwell-
ings of the peasants instead of tile or thatch.

In our ornamental plantations the silvery
bark of the birch shines as conspicuously
through the branches of other trees, as its airi-
ness is marked by the smallness of its leaves,

126 SYLVA FLORIFEEA.

when contrasted with other natives of the
forest. It carries the mind of the man of
letters back to early days ; for,

.

" Thus is nature's vesture wrought,
To instruct our wandering thought."

.

The bark of this tree consists of an accu-
mulation of ten or twelve skins, which are
white and thin, like paper ; the use of which
it supplied to the ancients, and of its im-
perishable nature let us

" Ask, now, of history's authentic page,
And call up evidence from every age/'

The books which Numa composed about
700 years before Christ, were written on the
bark of the birch-tree; and, if we may depend
on the testimony of Pliny and of Plutarch,
they were found in the tomb of that great
king, where they had remained four hundred
years. Numa had forbidden his body to be
burnt, according to the custom of the Romans;
but he ordered it to be buried near Mount
Janiculum, with many of the books which he
had written. The body of this philosophical
monarch was entirely consumed by time; but
the books, which treated of philosophy and
religion, were in such a state of preservation,
that Petilius, the praetor, undertook to read

BIRCH. 127

them by command of the senate. On the
report which he made respecting their con-
tents, they were ordered to be burnt ; for, as
they contained the reasons, why he had "made
innovations in the form of worship, and in the
religion of the Romans, their being made
known to the citizens might have endangered
the prosperity of their state, as it must have
appeared that their religion was built upon
error, and that it was merely political.

Evelyn tells us, that, in a history of Sweden,
it is stated that the poor people grind the
bark of birch trees to mingle with their
bread-corn.

Christopher the Third, king of Denmark, in
1450, received the unjust surname of Eerka
Kanung, which signifies king of bark, be-
cause, in his reign, there was such a scarcity,
that the peasants were obliged to mix the bark
of this tree with their flour. It is to be
regretted, that the thoughtless people of every
kingdom charge their monarch with all the
afflictions which befall their country. The
cares of the state are but ill repaid by una-
dulterated bread, or luxurious diet! The men
who fill these perilous situations should at
least receive, if not our love, our pity.

Although every species of tree or plant
that we look upon in the shrubbery creates a

128 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

new idea, or gives a fresh turn to our thoughts,
yet, perhaps, no two persons think alike during
such contemplation ; for different minds in-
cline to different thoughts, as different men
pursue different objects.

" On this side and on that, men see their friends
Drop off, like leaves in autumn; yet launch out
Into fantastic schemes, which the long lives
In the world's hale and undegenerate days
Could scarce have leisure for."

These were the reflections of Blair. The
magistrate must think of the Roman lictors
when he sees the birch, as naturally as the
country pedagogue will think of the truant,
or the truant of the pedagogue. The chan-
cellor who becomes broomseller will reflect
how inadvertently laws may be broken. The
nautical man pictures to himself our early
navigators, in their precarious though skin-
lined barks of birchen basket-work.

The antiquarian and the historian, as they
pass this tree, will have repassingin their minds
the events of ancient times, that have been
made known to us by the bark of the birch.
The military man sees in the birch, the tree
that afforded the old English warriors arrows,
bolts, and shafts; and our artillery-men behold
a wood whose charcoal gives them their com-

BIRCH. 129

bustible powder. The botanist, finding no-
thing but anthers in the catkins that so
securely protect the pollen until the female
flowers expose their stigmas in the spring, to
catch the impregnating dust which forms the
future forest, exclaims, with Thomson,

" Was every faltering tongue of man,
Almighty Father ! silent in thy praise.
Thy works themselves would raise a general voice;
Even in the depth of solitary woods,
By human foot untrod, proclaim thy power."

The physiological student, knowing how
abundantly this tree abounds in juices, says,

" Mark, too, the sap, that, ere its process ends,
In course alternate, rises or descends;
In active virtue, how its liquid power
Creates the wood, the leaf, the fruit, and flower,"

The vernal sap of these trees is well known
to have a saccharine quality; and from it the
forest housewife makes an agreeable and
wholesome wine. Pomona's bard says,

" Even afflictive birch,

Cursed by unlettered idle youth, distils
A limpid current from her wounded bark,
Profuse of nursing sap."

Loudon tells us, in the Encyclopaedia of
Gardening (page 189), that a birch-tree has
been known to yield, in the course of the

VOL. I. K

130 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

bleeding season, a quantity of sap equal to its
own weight. This sugary sap is obtained by
boring holes in the body of the tree, in the
beginning' of March, before the leaves shoot
out, and placing in the hole a fosset made of
an elder stick, with the pith taken out; set-
ting vessels, or hanging bladders to receive
the liquor. It is common to tap large trees
in four or five places at a time ; and a num-
ber of trees should be bored on the same
day, so as to afford a sufficient quantity of
juice in a short time ; for the sooner it is
boiled the better. It was formerly sweet-
ened with honey, but lately sugar has been
substituted to the proportion of from two
to four pounds to every gallon of liquor.
This is gently boiled as long as any scum
rises ; which is cleared as fast as it forms.
It is then put into a tub to cool, after which
it is tunned into a cask, and bunged up when
it has done working. It is ready for drinking
when a year old. This wine is said to be
aperitive, detersive, and cosmetic. Formerly,
when spice was more used in wines, cinna-
mon was added to birch wine.

It is thought that the trees are but little
injured by being thus perforated in the spring,
when the sap is ascending* Evelyn says he
observed a birch that had been for many

21

BIRCH. 131

years regularly tapped, which thrived and
grew to an unusual size for this kind of tree.

This tree, which some learned etymologists
think gave the name to Berkshire, should
have a place in all extensive shrubberies, or
plantations, from its picturesque appearance,
and from its being amongst the earliest trees
that regale us with its fragrant buds. Indeed,
this vernal perfume seems renewed after every
shower, and those birch-trees whose pliant
twigs are pendent, we consider more cheerful
and not less beautiful, than the weeping willow.

The timber of this tree is less valuable than
most others in our woods, yet it may, in cer-
tain situations, be turned to good account,
since it will grow to advantage upon land
where other timber will not thrive. Miller
says it loves a dry barren soil, where scarcely
any thing else will grow; and will thrive on
any sort of land, dry or wet, gravelly, sandy,
rocky, or boggy; and those barren heathy lands
which will scarcely bear grass. In Martyn's
edition of Miller, we are told that upon ground
which produced nothing but moss, these trees
have succeeded so well as to be fit to cut in
ten years after planting, when they have been
sold for near ten pounds the acre standing,
and the after produce has beeti considerably
increased; and as the woods near London

K 2

132 SYLVA FLORIPERA.

have been grubbed up, the value of these
plantations have been advanced in proportion.
For this reason, those persons who are pos-
sessed of such poor land, cannot employ it
better than by planting it with these trees, es-
pecially as the expense of doing it is not great.

The wood is used for packing-cases, turners'
ware, wooden shoes, and clogs ; also for gates
and rails. It likewise makes excellent char-
coal. The branches are woven into hurdles
for the shepherd, and the twigs are bound
into besoms for the housewife. The bark is
of great use in dyeing wool yellow, and par-
ticularly in fixing fugacious colours. The
Highlanders use it for making ropes for their
wells, whilst their tanners use it for tanning
leather ; and they sometimes burn the outer
rind instead of candles. The leaves afford
good fodder to horses, kine, sheep, and goats.
The seeds of the birch-tree are the favourite
food of the siskin, or fringilla spinus of Lin-
naeus, a bird of passage commonly called
Barley-bird in Sussex, because it visits that
county in the barley seed-time.

Old medical writers tell us that the leaves
of the birch-tree are good for the dropsy;
and that next to the juniper, the wood was
esteemed the best to burn in times of pesti-
lence and contagious distempers.

BIRCH. 133

Gerard says, the branches " serve well to
the decking up of houses and banquetting
roomes for places of pleasure, and beautifying
the streetes in the crosse or gang weeke, and
such like."* And Coles observes, in 1657,
that as he " rid through little Brickhill, in
Buckinghamshire, every signe post in the
town was bedecked with green birch."

* This was rogation week, which was called in the north
of England, gang week; from the ganging, or processions
then used, by the people's going to confession. The Bel-
gians call it cruis, or cross week, as it was also called in
some parts of England; because the cross was carried before
the priests in the processions made in that week. It is called
rogation week from rogo, to ask or pray; because on Mon-
day, Tuesday, and Wednesday, the litanies are sung, and
abstinence from flesh is enjoined by the church, not only by
a devout preparation , to the feast of Christ's glorious ascen-
sion and pentecost, but also to supplicate the blessing of
God on the fruits of the earth.

K 3

134

BIRD CHERRY.— PADUS.

Natural order ', Pomacece. Rosacece, Juss. A
genus of the Icosandria Monogynia class.

" Check the progress of thy vasty toil:

First choose thy objects from thy native soil,
Where, daily seen, they own thee for their lord,
And, born with thee, shall greater joy afford."

DELILLE.

THIS aboriginal of our woods possesses
beauties that should oftener secure it a situa-
tion in the shrubbery, and more frequently a
place in ornamental hedge rows; for at the
present day it is more uncommon in our
plantations than the flowering shrubs of Per-
sia, China, or America. Let us not, in our
admiration of exotic beauties, and love of
foreign talent, neglect our native plants, or
impoverish our national abilities. Too often
we see the well educated daughter of an
English clergyman, neglectedly drudging
through the yearly duties of a governess for
the paltry pittance of twenty pounds, whilst
the daughter of a Swiss peasant or a Parisian
perriwig-maker is caressed and rewarded
with from five to ten times the sum.

BIRD CHERRY. 135

The Latin name of Padus for this tree was
derived, according to Parkinson, from the
offensive smell of the wood; but we are more
disposed to think that the Romans named it
after their celebrated river Padus, now called
the Po. The berries are eagerly sought after
by the birds, and as the leaf slightly resem-
bles that of the cherry-tree, hence the name
of Bird-cherry. In Scotland it is called Hog-
berry. Linnaeus has united the bird cherry,
the apricot, the cherries, and the common and
Portugal laurels, with the plums. Miller
treated on them separately, under, padus,
armeniaca, cerasus, and prunus; uniting the
laurels with padus; Jussieu separates cerasus
and armeniaca from prunus ; and unites padus
and the laurels with the former: making the
difference to consist only in the fruit or drupe.
The French call it cerisier a grappes.

This pretty flowering shrub was much more
common in the time of Gerard than at pre-
sent. He tells us that in 1596 it grew wild in
the woods of Kent, where it was used as a
stock to graft cherries on, particularly the
Flanders cherry. This old author adds,
" This wilde tree groweth very plentifully in
the north of England, especially at a place
called Heggdale, neere unto Rosgill, in West-
merland, and in diners other places, about

K 4

136 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

Crosbie Ravenswaith, and there called heg-
berrie tree : it groweth likewise in Martome
Parke, fower miles from Blackburne, and in
Harward, neere thereunto ; in Lancashire
almost in euerie hedge." It is also a native of
most parts of Europe, in woods and hedges,
and is frequently to be seen in the northern
and temperate parts of Russia, and all Siberia,
and it is common to the woods of Scotland.

The bird cherry rises from ten to fifteen
feet in height, spreading its branches to a
considerable distance, which are covered with
a purplish bark. Neither its branches or
leaves are numerous, therefore almost any
plant will grow beneath it ; and we love to
see its stem rise out of a clump of juniper or
any dwarf evergreens over which its long
loose pendent bunches of white flowers hang
with peculiar airiness and grace in the months
of April and May. Its black fruit, which hang
in bunches like currants, have also a pleasing
effect in the month of August, and the yel-
lowish green of its ovate-lanceolate foliage is
not less pleasing when contrasted by darker
tints. Although the fruit is nauseous to the
taste, it gives an agreeable flavour to brandy,
and many persons add it for the same reason
to their made wines. The wood is tough and
smooth, and used for whip and knife handles.

BIRD CHERRY. 137

Linnaeus says, that sheep, goats, and swine,
eat the leaves, and that cows are fond of it,
but that horses refuse it.

The variety with red fruit, commonly called
the Cornish cherry, flowers two or three weeks
later, and is therefore not so desirable in the
shrubbery.

The bird cherry may be propagated by
layers, which should be performed in the
Autumn ; but the handsomest trees are raised
from seed, which should also be sown at
the same season upon a bed or border of good
ground. A wet soil is not congenial to this
tree.

Medical writers tell us that a decoction of
the berries is sometimes given with success
in the dysentery ; and Dale informs us that
in his time the fruit was used to hang about
the necks of children, as a cure for the epi-
lepsy. A strong decoction of the bark is used
by the Finland doctors, who have private
doors for private patients, and its beneficial
effects are corroborated by the testimony of
M. Broerland, in the Stockholm acts. He
directs six ounces of the dry, or eight of the
fresh bark to be boiled away in eight pints of
water to four: the dose is four ounces four
times a-day.

138

BLADDER SENNA. — COLUTEA.

Natural order. Papilionacecz, or Leguminosce.
A genus of the Diadelphia Decandrla class.

" Various trees their various fruits produce,

Some for delightful taste, and some for use;
Hence sprouting plants enrich the plain and wood,
For physic some, and some design'd for food."

" How useful all ! how all conspire to grace
Th* extended earth, and beautify her face !"

BLACKMOKE,

THE dramatic author seeks for singularity
of character to make his comedy amusing,
which at the same time acts like a foil to ren-
der his beauties more brilliant, whilst the in-
sipid novelist, who treats us only with lilies
and roses, sees them wither unnoticed for
want of contrast.

Thus we introduce the colutea arborescens
into our shrubbery, not so much for the
beauty of its dingy yellow papilionaceous blos-
soms, as for its curious inflated and transpa-
rent bladder-like legumes, which being slightly
suspended from the slender spray, have a
novel and odd effect between the winged
leaves of this plant, which are composed of

BLADDER SENNA. 139

four or five pairs of oval heart-shaped lobes,
placed opposite, and terminated by an odd
one.

Children find amusement in dancing on,
or pressing these little bladders between their
fingers, which make a considerable explosion
as the air escapes ; hence the French name
this shrub Baguenaudier, " fruit dans des
vessies rougeatres qu'on fait claquer par la
pression pour baguenauder, d'ou son nom."*

The Hortus Kewensis states from Lobel,
that this plant was first cultivated in England
in 1570, but on referring to the third part of
Turner's Herbal, which was printed in 1568,
we find that it was then common in this coun-
try. This author says, " There hath bene a
greate errour of late yeares amonges many
men, whiche haue thought that sene had ben
a tre, which groweth in manye places of
Englande." He then describes the true
senna, and adds, " The tre that they call sene
in England is colutea."

Gerard says, in his History of Plants of
1597, " Colutea, and sene, be so neere the one
vnto other in shape and shew, that the vn-
skilful herbarists haue deemed colutea to be the
right sene." He adds, " Colutea^ or bastard

* Pirolle.

140 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

sene, groweth in diuers gardens, and commeth
vp of seed ; it quickly commeth to perfection,
insomuch that if a stick thereof be broken off
and thrust into the grounde, it quickly taketh
roote, yea, although it be done in the middle
of sommer, as myselfe have often prooued ;
the which bring foorth flowers and fruite the
next yeere after."

Most writers on plants are of opinion that
the ancient Greek and Latin medical authors
were unacquainted with the true senna, and
that its virtues were made known to us by the
Arabians, who call it sena. The bladder or
false senna, colutea, is the xoXoursa of Theo-
phrastus, whose writings inform us that in the
neighbourhood of Athens it was used to fat-
ten sheep, which it greatly facilitated. We
are not aware that the experiment has ever
been made in this country, but the philoso-
pher's observation is worthy of notice to those
who have flocks on the downs, where it would
grow as well as furze if sown in the same
manner.

Parkinson, in "The garden of pleasant
Flowers," which he dedicated to Henrietta,
the beautiful queen of the unfortunate Charles
the First, tells us that the leaves of the bladder
senna are known to be a violent purgative

" and therefore let every one beware that they

20

BLADDER SENNA. 141

use not this instead of good sena, lest they
feel to their cost the force thereof;" but later
authors assure us that the leaves answer all
the purposes of senna, and Allioni has given
particular directions for the preparation of
them. The seeds, in a quantity of a dram
or two, excite vomiting.

This plant grows without culture in the
south of France, the warmer parts of Switzer-
land, and in Italy, especially on mount Vesu-
vius, where Mr. Ray found it even in the as-
cent to the crater, where there were scarcely
any other plants, and where

" the mountain shakes.

Burnt to its entrails ; while in thunder breaks
Its bursting sides ; torn from their native bed
The splintered rocks their smoky ruin spread."

DELILLE.

The foliage of this plant is of a greyish
green, and it will grow to the height of 10
or 15 feet in the shrubbery, where it is sel-
dom to be seen without some few blossoms
from May to November. The bladders are
in their beauty in September, but they do not
open to expose the double row of their in-
mates until October has ripened and black-
ened their little kidney-shaped seeds.

The pericarp of this fruit is not more deli-
cately thin than beautifully veined. The two

142 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

valves which form the legume, or bladder, are
so securely closed, as not even to allow the
confined air to escape. The upper side of
the valves is joined by two umbilical cords,
which first convey the impregnating farina
from the top of the pod to each of these little
vegetable eggs, after which their nourishment
enters the cord from the stem, until they
have acquired the power of becoming parents
to future shrubs.

The oriental bladder senna, colutea cruenta,
was discovered in the Levant by Tournefort,
whose method of classifying plants stood un-
rivalled until the labours of Linnaeus ap-
peared. This plant, which is now common
in the shrubbery, was cultivated by Miller in
1731. Its flowers are smaller than the com-
mon sort, and of a dark-red colour marked
with yellow.

The Levant colutea bears the name of Po-
cock's bladder senna, because the seeds were
first brought to England by the Rev. Dr.
Pocock, who gathered them in Turkey.

This shrub seldom grows more than six or
seven feet high ; the branches are very slen-
der, and much more pliant than those of the
common sort, and therefore it grows less
erect. It is also distinguished from the com-
mon sort by the leaves being composed of

BLADDER SENNA. 143

nine pairs of leaflets, which are much smaller.
It flowers also a month earlier, and the blos-
soms are of a brighter yellow, and there is a
succession of them till late in the Autumn,
on which account it is preferred in our shrub-
beries. Dr. Russell, who resided many years
at Aleppo, informs us that this shrub is very
common about that city. These plants are
all easily propagated by sowing their seeds in
the spring in a bed of common earth. The
plants raised from suckers are never so fine
as those produced from seed ; and Mr. Curtis
tells us (he says from experience) that a wet
soil is fatal to the common bladder senna.
Mr. Miller recommends the hanging of lobster
claws, or bowls of tobacco pipes, on these
shrubs, to entice the earwigs, who eat their
way into the bladders ; and thus housed de-
stroy the seed.

144

BOX-TREE. — BUXUS.

Natural order, Tricocctz. Euphorbia, Juss. A
genus of the Moncecia Tetrandria class.

u How goodly looks Cytorus, ever green*
With boxen groves."

DRYDEN'S Virgil, Geo. ii.

THIS tree, which so beautifully bedecks and
gives a vernal appearance to our Surrey hills
in the depth of winter, was called by the
Greeks Uvfa, from W^a, dense, thick ; St»
TO KVKvov TOV j>vXov, the timber being very
dense and close.

We consider the English name of this plant
to be a corruption of the Latin word buxus,
or from the Spanish box, and that it gave the
name of box to those little wooden cases
made by the turner, rather than derived its
own from these cases. This shrub certainly
gave the name of Box-hill to those delightful
downs near Dorking, in Surrey, and where
the shrub seems to have grown naturally, as
it is known to have abounded there long be-
fore the time that the Earl of Arundel retired
to that spot, and as it is stated, planted the
box.

BOX-TREE. 145

Evelyn did not neglect to visit this spot,
as we find by his diary, 27th July, 1655, where
he writes, " I went to Boxhill to see those
rare natural bowers, cabinets, and shady
walkes in the box copses." He also observes
that " at Mickleham there are goodly walkes,
and hills shaded with yew arid box, as render
the place extreamely agreeable^ it seeming
from these evergreens to be summer all the
winter." He tells us in his Silva that " these
trees rise naturally at Boxley, in Kent, in
abundance, and the county of Surry, giving
name to that chalky hill near the famous
Mole or Swallow."

This spot is still visited by the admirers of
beautiful scenery ; but in the time of Charles
the Second, before the inhabitants of the
court and the city of London were so well
acquainted with the baths of Neptune, the
neighbourhood of Boxhill and the waters of
the Mole were thought of sufficient efficacy,
and of a sufficient distance, to dissipate both
gloom and disease.

The box was formerly much more plen-
tiful in England than at present ; Boxwel,
in Coteswold, Gloucestershire, was named
from this tree ; and Gerard says (in the time
of Elizabeth), " It groweth upon sundry

VOL. I. L

J46 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

waste and barren hils in Englande." And
Parkinson tells us, in the time of Charles the
First, " that it is found with us in many woods,
and wood grounds." Woodward remarks it as
plentiful on the chalky hills near Dunstable.
It is also a native of most parts of Europe, as
well as of many parts of Asia, as about Mount
Caucasus, in Persia, China, Cochin-China, &c.,
and also in America. Pliny tells us that the
largest box-trees grew anciently in Corsica,
and in so great abundance that it caused the
honey of that island to be bitter. In Persia
the box-shrub grows to a considerable-sized
tree, and of so elegant a form, that the Per-
sian poets often compare their beautiful grown
women to these trees. Ghilan, one of the
Persian provinces, is remarkable for growing
great quantities of box-wood, on which ac-
count their caravans consist of horses, mules,
and cows ; for camels are not brought into
the province, because they have an extreme
fondness for box, which causes their imme-
diate death if they eat of it.

We believe box is the only European wood
that will sink in the water, and that is sold
by weight. Pliny observes, that it is as hard
to burn as iron, and that it will neither flame
nor burn clear ; nor can it be converted into
charcoal. He tells us that it was highly valued

BOX-TREE. 147

for its hardness and yellow colour ; and Virgil
says —

" Nor box, nor limes, without their use are made,
Smooth-grained, and proper for the turner's
Which curious hands may carve, and steel
invade."

made, N

's trade; (^
1 with ease (

From the Latin poets we learn that this
wood was then employed as at present, in
forming musical flutes. —

Si buxos inflare juvat. VIRGIL.

fc< If it pleases you to breathe into the box."

1 ' non illos carmina vocum,
JLongave multifori delect at tibia buxi. OVID.

" Neither does the melody of the voice, nor the long
pipe of many-holed box delight them."

The ancients, also, made combs of this
wood, as may be seen in Martial. In modern
times, Cowley has thus mentioned it : —

non ultima belli

Arma puellaris 5 laqueos luzc nectit amantum^
Et venatricis disponit retia formes.

And which is thus translated in the Silva: —

" box-combs bear no small part

In the militia of the female art ;

They tie the links which hold our gallants fast,

And spread the nets to which fond lovers haste."

Evelyn also states, that " It is of special use
for the turner, engraver, carver, mathema-

L 2

148 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

tical instrument -maker, comb and pipe or flute-
maker ; the roots for the inlayer, and cabinet-
maker," &c. It is still in great demand with
the turner for screws and numerous other
articles, as well as for making musical wind-
instruments. German flutes have been prin-
cipally formed from this hard and smooth
wood ; but the professors of that instrument
now prefer those that are made from the
cacao-tree, as they are not so subject to swell
by using as those made from box-wood ; which
swelling often causes a variation of half a
note, as after being played upon for a short
time the tone becomes sharper.

We do not find that the physicians of an-
cient days or modern times have used this
vegetable in medicine ; but the quacks of ig-
norant ages suffered nothing to escape them
by which they could impose on the credulous,
and in their works we find the virtues of the
box extolled for diseases that delicacy forbids
us to mention.

We perfectly agree with old Gerard, who
observes, " that it is more fit for dagger-hafts
than to make medicines ; though foolish em-
piricks and women leaches do minister it
against the apoplexy, and such diseases."

From Parkinson we learn that it was used
to change the hair to an auburn colour; and
in the ephemerides of the curious there is the

BOX-TREK. 149

following account of the efficacy of box- wood
in making hair grow : " A young woman in
Gunbery, in Lower Silesia, having had a ma-
lignant dysentery which occasioned the fall-
ing off of all her hair, was advised by a per-
son some time after her recovery (as her hair
was not likely to grow again of itself, her
head being then as bare as the hand) to wash
it all over with a decoction of box-wood, which
she readily did, without the addition of any
other drug. Hair of a chesnut colour grew
on her head, as she was told it would do ; but
having used no precaution to secure her face
and neck from the lotion, they became covered
with red hair to such a degree, that she
seemed but little different from an ape or a
monkey."

If this poor Silesian girl was actually thus
disfigured by the box, it was not more than
the box-tree itself has been disfigured in our
old gardens ; where, by the aid of shears, it
was metamorphosed into Harlequins and Co-
lumbines ; and even at present we sometimes
see the attempt of transforming it's branches
into vegetable peacocks and leafy urns, which
must be as offensive to Silvanus as it is to
nature. Pliny tells us, that jt was used in the
Roman gardens to divide them into squares,
&c., where it was kept thick by clipping. It

L 3

150 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

is now judiciously admitted into the pleasure-
grounds, as this evergreen will flourish under
the deepest shade, and will thrive in any soil
or exposure, although it is fond of a calcarious
soil, and a dry situation open to the sun. In
appearance it is but little inferior to the
myrtle, and therefore deserves a place in the
shrubbery, as a fore-ground evergreen. The
branches were in great request among our
ancestors for decorating their houses, and it is
still used to fill up spaces between exotic
plants that are let out by rout florists. We also
meet with it in our churches at Christmas ;
for the origin of which custom, see Holly.

Where box-trees are required, they should
be raised from seed, which should be sown
soon after it is ripe, in a shady border of light
loam or sand ; but it is generally propagated
by cuttings planted in the autumn, and kept
moist until they have taken root.

Dwarf box is increased by parting the roots
or planting the slips. The best time for
transplanting this shrub is October ; though
it may be removed almost at any time, ex-
cept summer, if it be taken up with a good
ball of earth.

BRAMBLE. — See Pomartum Britannicum.
4

151

BROOM. — SP ARTIUM.

Natural order, Papilionacece, or Leguminosce.
A genus of the Diadelphia Decandria class.

" the broom,

Yellow and bright as bullion unalloyed,
Her blossoms."

THIS shrub, whose rushy twigs are so gaily
decked with vegetable butterflies of flamy
gold, has caused much dispute amongst the
learned etymologists whether it be the Spar-
tium, ZTTagriov, of Dioscorides or not. The La-
tins called it genista, and their great natural
historian (Pliny) says that he was not able to
ascertain whether genista was the same as
Spartium or not ; but from what he has stated,
as well as from what the oldest Greek authors
have written, we are of opinion that the Spart
of the old Greeks was not the same as the
Spartium of later days. The first cordage
and ropes which the Greeks made for their
nautical vessels was formed of rushes, and their
word a-xpwog signifies equally a rush and a
rope ; but when they became acquainted with

L 4

SYLVA FLORIFERA.

Spain, where this rushy shrub grows in abun-
dance, particularly about Carthagena, cordage
was formed from those twigs, and most pro-
bably the broom was then first called Spartium
by the Greeks. The origin of its Latin name
genista, or genesta d genuum flexilitate, from
it's flexible nature; or, according to some,
quod facile generet, speciemque propagaret^
because it is easily increased, and with diffi-
culty destroyed in its natural situation.

The English name of this plant, which
Turner spelt " browme," has no resemblance
to any other language except the Dutch, who
call it brem.

" Even humble broom and osiers have their use,
And shade for sheep, and food for flocks produce;
Hedges for corn, and honey for the bees,
Besides the pleasing prospects of the trees."

The broom being thus recommended to us
.by the Prince of the Latin Poets, has a strong
claim to a situation in the shrubbery, particu-
larly the Spanish broom, Spartium junceum,
which was an inmate of our gardens prior to
1564, when Turner wrote his Herbal ; for he
says, " It came of late to us out of Spain."
Perhaps it was given to us by Spain, when
their king was a husband to a British queen;
and however slight such a gift might have

BROOM. 153

appeared at the time, it now shines more
ornamentally in the gardens of this country
than the brightest gem of the mines of the
New World could have done in the crown.

In favourable situations, the Spanish broom
approaches nearer to the size of a tree than
an humble shrub ; and as it continues in
blossom from July to October, it is a great
enlivener to Nature's universal green robe,
which at that season is but slightly spangled
with gay colours; therefore it may with great
advantage be planted so as to peep over the
sombre evergreens, like the rays of the sun
emerging from dense clouds. The common
broom, Spartium scoparium, may as judiciously
be placed at the foot of towering trees, where
it will shine as gay in the gloom as a gipsey's
fire in a forest.

The broom should also be planted in the
corners of fields, and in those hedgerows
which are seen from the shrubbery or the
dwelling; particularly where the view is caught
beneath or through the branches of trees, for
then the yellow field is seen as gaily inter-
changed with a variety that is as rich and as
pleasing as the tiara of emeralds and gold.

" Where the fond eye in sweet distraction strays,
Most pleased when most it knows not where to gaze !"

154 SYLVA FLOR1FERA.

The Portugal broom, multiflorum, is as
pleasing by it's delicacy, as the Spanish broom
is enlivening by it's gaiety. This shrub, which
appears in May and June, clad like a virgin
bride in pearls, should be placed where it's
flexible rods are contrasted by broader foliage.
It forms one of the most elegant fore-grounds
to dark evergreens, and harmonizes well with
most flowering shrubs; for it's rushy spikes,
which seem rather studded with flakes of snow
than bedecked by Flora's hand, are too deli-
cate to offend by any neighbourhood, however
flaunting it may be, whilst it's graceful waving
bend so well accords with the chastity of it's
colour. The white flowering broom is now
considered as a hardy plant in our shrubbery ;
although no longer back than 1724, when
Miller published his first edition of the Gar-
dener's Dictionary, he writes in it, " The
" Spanish white broom is a very tender plant
" in England, and will seldom stand out the
" winter ; therefore it is cultivated in pots,
" and kept as bays, laurus tinus, myrtle, &c."

We have now two species of white flower-
ing broom. The first, we are told in the
Hortus Kewensis, was introduced by Mr.
Bentick, in 1690; but Parkinson speaks of
it familiarly in 1640, but does not say posi-

BROOM. 155

lively that it was or was not then cultivated
in England.

Clusius, the celebrated German botanist,
who with such indefatigable labour collected
the plants of Spain, Languedoc, England,
the Alps, Austria, some parts of Hungary,
and those about Frankfort, during the 16th
century, tells us, that he observed the white
single-seeded broom, monospermum, about
Cadiz, near the coast, flowering in February 9
and also abundantly in Arragon. Osbeck re-
marks, that it flourishes like willow bushes
along the shores of Spain, as far as the
flying sands reach, where scarcely any other
plant grows except the creeping restharrow.
The use of this species of broom is very
great in stopping the sand. It converts the
most barren spot into a fine odoriferous
garden by it's flowers, which continue a long
time. The leaves and young branches are
delicious food for goats. It serves to shelter
sheep, goats, and hogs, from the scorching
heat of the sun. The twigs are used for
tying bundles ; and all kinds of herbs that
are brought to market are fastened together
with them. The Spaniards call it retamas,
from the Arabic name rcetam. Forskahl tells
us, he found this plant in Arabia ; and Des>-
fontaines in Barbary, on the sandy coast.

156

SYLVA FLORIFERA.

The Spartium multiflorum is a native of
Portugal and Mount Atlas. It was first in-
troduced to this country by Mr. James
Gordon, about the year 1770. We have
now thirty distinct species of broom ; some
of which have several varieties, which we
shall pass unnoticed, excepting the Spanish
broom with double blossoms, which is very
unusual, in papilionaceous flowers.

The common broom is not deficient in it's
uses in rural economy and medicine. In most
country villages it is known to the housewife
as affording besoms for sweeping ; from
whence originated the name of " broom" for
those domestic cleansers. Ammianus Mar-
cellinus, a Roman historian of the fourth
century, relates, that in his time there
flourished at Rome the broom, which was
made use of to clean the place where the
nobility assembled; which presaged, says this
pagan author, that men, the very dregs of the
people, would be raised to the first ranks.

In the northern parts of Great Rritain it
serves for thatching cottages, corn, and hay
ricks; and it makes an excellent substitute
for reeds in fences or screens. In some parts
of Scotland, where coals and wood are scarce,
it is said whole fields are sown with it for fuel.
The branches are known to be capable of

3

BROOM. 157

tanning leather, and of being manufactured
into cordage or coarse cloth. Pliny tells us,
(Book xix. Chap. 2.) that the shepherds in
Spain clothed themselves with it, and covered
their dwellings with the branches ; made
themselves shoes with it ; and that it formed
their fuel and their torches ; and he affirms,
that no cordage is so durable in salt water as
that made from the fibres of the broom. He
states, that it rather improves in the water
than decays ; although, for dry purposes, it is
not so lasting as ropes made from hemp. It
appears to have been universally employed in*
his time for nautical purposes.

This author also tells us, (Book xix.
Chap. 1.) that in Asia, they steeped the
broom in water for ten days, to obtain the
fibres more easily ; of which they made their
fishing nets, because they endured the water
without rotting better than other nets.

It is well known how eagerly the inha-
bitants of the hive hunt for their sweets in
the gay blossoms of the broom ; which in
ancient times, when honey was the domes-
tic sweet, and sugar was only known as a
medicine, it was of the utmost importance,
as we have already noticed under the head of
Thyme ; but to which we shall add what

158 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

Pliny tells us (Book xxi. Chap. 12.) from his
own knowledge. — The inhabitants of Hos-
tilia, a town on the banks of the Po, when
they observed the food of the bees began to
fail, took the hives up in the night when the
bees were housed, and placed them in a kind
of boat or barge, which they rowed four or
five miles up the river, and in the morning
the bees went out and found flowers that had
not been robbed of their nectar; and this
they continued to do, until the bee-masters
perceived the boats sink to a certain depth by
the weight of the honey and wax thus col-
lected, when they were floated home to dis,
charge the treasure which these emblems of
industry had rifled from the bosom of Flora.
The peasants in Switzerland have a similar
practice to this day ; for in the spring of the
year they pack up their dairy implements,
and drive their large herds of cows up the
mountains, where they feed during the sum-
mer ; and the business of making cheese is con-
tinued in their challets or little huts until the
autumn, when the cattle is driven home, and
the cheese delivered to the proprietors. The
emigration to and return from the mountains is
equally looked forward to with pleasure. The
finest cow of each drove has the largest bell

BROOM. 159

attached to its neck, and ascends and descends
the mountains, decorated with chaplets and
wreaths of flowers.

It seems a day of rejoicing with the kine
as well as the peasants, for they express their
joy equally on their departure and return, by
loud and continued lowing.

The flower-buds of the broom, just before
they become yellow, are pickled in the man-
ner of capers, and eaten as such in sauce.
Many think them wholesome for the stomach,
and good against diseases of the spleen and
liver. Dr. James says, " Broom is an aperitive
and hepatic shrub, opening obstructions of
the liver and spleen ; and is very good for
the dropsy, when infused in common drink."
Dr. Mead relates the case of a dropsical pa-
tient who was cured by taking half a pint of a
decoction of green broom-tops, with a spoon-
ful of whole mustard-seed, every morning and
evening : the patient had been tapped three
times, and had tried the usual remedies be-
fore. An infusion of the seeds, drunk freely,
has been known to produce similar effects :
but we mu'st not infer from these cases that it
is an infallible remedy for every dropsical case.
We might as well expect the physician that
had cured a patient of this disorder should
restore to health every person that laboured

160 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

under the same complaint, and this would be
as unreasonable as it is unjust to condemn
the broom altogether. Dr. Withering tells
us that he knew the broom succeed in curing
one case that was truly deplorable ; but out
of a great number of cases, in which it had
a fair trial, this proved a single instance.
Dr. Cullen ordered half an ounce of fresh
broom-tops to be boiled in a pound of water,
till one half was consumed, and gave two
table spoonfuls of the decoction every hour
till it operated as a laxative ; repeating the
medicine every day, or every second day : by
which some dropsies have been cured.

Cordus observes that this plant smells like
the elder. This may be the cause why most
cattle reject it. We observe that flies avoid
both of these plants. Thompson alludes to
the fondness which kine show for broom
fields, which they frequent much during the
summer heat, probably for the sake of brush-
ing off the swarms of flies with its tough
yielding branches. In Guienne and Auvergne,
the people eat the blossoms of the broom in
salads ; and in this country the tender tops
have been used as a substitute for hops in
brewing.

We have seen some beautiful cabinet goods
veneered with this wood, which, when old,

BROOM. 161

obtains a sufficient size for that purpose, for
which it is a most ornamental material.

The species of broom we have noticed may
be raised by sowing the seeds in the spring in
common earth.

We have observed that the Spanish broom
grew to the greatest height where it had not
been transplanted. In one instance, where
we dropped the seed in a rich soil, it grew to
the size of a common laburnum in a few years,
and was little inferior to that tree in beauty,
and was ornamental to the shrubbery when
the yellow tresses of the laburnum had ceased
to shine.

The white flowering broom being more
tender, should have a warm and sheltered
situation.

Evelyn recommends the cultivation of
broom, and says, " This is another improve-
ment for barren grounds, and saver of more
substantial fuel : it may be sown English, or
(what is more sweet and beautiful,) the Spanish
with equal success. In the western parts of
France, and with us in Cornwall, it grows to
an incredible height."

VOL. i. M

162

CEDAR OF LEBANON. — PINUS CEDRUS.

Natural order, Coniferce. A genus of the
Moncecla Monadelplria class.

" Cedars here,

Coeval with the sky-crown'd mountain's self,
Spread wide their giant arms." MASON.

" No more the cedar to the turban bends ;
For us th' imperial tree from Lebanon descends."

ERE we repine at the losses which time and
circumstances have made in our fortunes or
our families, let us reflect on the history of the
country from whence this tree first sprung,
and we shall find our individual troubles and
changes diminish in the comparison as a grain
of sand to a mountain.

Lebanon is stripped of its forest, and the
first chosen People of God are driven from
their country ; the land of milk and honey is
become a desert ; and Christians are scorned
and persecuted on the spot where Christ
taught his blessed religion. The most splen-
did temple that human ingenuity ever erected
is " passed away, like the baseless fabric of a

21

CEDAR OF LEBANON. 163

vision," and this monument, which displayed
the power and the riches of the wisest mon-
arch that ever existed, has had its stones
turned into dust, and its gigantic beams of
cedar into ashes, that have flown before the
wind, "leaving not a wreck behind." The
biblical reader will form an idea of the an-
cient extent of the cedar forest, by the four-
score thousand hewers which Solomon sent to
hew the timber on Mount Lebanon, and it is
probable that from that time Mount Lebanon
never recovered the devastation then made,
for " he covered the temple with beams and
boards of cedar. And he built chambers
against it, which rested on the house with
timber of cedar. And the cedar of the house
within was carved with knops and open
flowers : all was cedar — there was no stone
seen. And he built the inner court with
three rows of hewed stone, and a row of cedar
beams."

Hiram also built many palaces for Solomon,
within and without the walls of Jerusalem,
all of which we may conclude were formed
of this favourite timber, for we read that " So-
lomon's house, also of the forest of Lebanon,
was covered with cedar upon the beams : and
the porch of judgment was covered with cedar
from one side of the floor to the other. And

M 2

164 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

the great court of his palace was with three
rows of hewed stones, and a row of cedar
beams."

At the same time, Solomon built a fleet of
merchant ships, at Tyre, which must also
have thinned the forest, both of fir and of
cedar. We observe Hiram's answer to So-
lomon is, " I will do all thy desire, concerning
timber of cedar, and concerning timber of fir."

Solomon, also, celebrated the cedar in his
writings which still remain ; although a vest-
ige of his gorgeous palaces is not to be
found.

" His countenance is as Lebanon, ex-
cellent as the cedars."

" The beams of our houses are cedar, and
our rafters of fir."

Josephus relates, that Solomon planted
cedars in Judea, and the Scripture says,
" he made cedars to be "as the sycamore
trees, that are in the vale, for abundance."
Evelyn says, " he doubtless tried many expe-
riments of this nature, none being more
kingly than that of planting for posterity."

From that time, it became a custom with
the Jews to plant a cedar when they had a
son born, and for a daughter a pine, which at
their marriage, was cut to form their nuptial
bed. The cedar was considered the symbol^

CEDAR OF LEBANON. 165

of constancy and purity, from its incorruptible
nature and constant verdure.

Nearly a thousand years after the time of
Israel's wise monarch, Virgil tells us —

" Yet Heaven their various plants for use designs,
For houses cedars, and for shipping pines."

We read that Sesostris, or Rameses, the
most celebrated of the ancient kings of Egypt,
built a vessel of cedar of two hundred and
eighty cubits, which was covered with gold,
both without and within. According to
Lenglet, this was about 600 years before the
building of Solomon's temple; but the exact-
epoch of Sesostris's reign seems uncertain, as
Dr. Blair makes it about 133 years later. We
are told, that during his reign of 59 years, he
extended his dominions, by conquest, over
Arabia, India, Persia, and Asia Minor. Thus
encircling both the gold and the cedars
within his grasp.

Amongst the wonders related as to the
durability of cedar wood, it is recorded, that
in the temple of Apollo, at Utica, a city of
Africa, on the coast of the Mediterranean,
which Cato's name has rendered celebrated,
there was found timber of near two thousand
years old ; and at Saguntum, in Spain, there
was, says Pliny, a temple consecrated to

M 3

166 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

Diana, which was stated to have been built
200 years before the destruction of Troy ;
and it contained a statue of the goddess
formed of cedar, which had been formerly
taken from the island of Zacynthus, now
called Zante, by the inhabitants, when they
formed the colony of Saguntus. It will be
recollected, that after enduring a siege of
eight months, the brave inhabitants of this
city, took the terrible resolution of burning
themselves with their effects, and the whole
city, rather than fall into the hands of Han-
nibal. The temple escaped the flames, as it
stood in a valley without the walls ; and the
cedar image of the goddess was considered
too sacred, even to be touched by Hannibal.

The timber which composed the celebrated
temple of Diana, at Ephesus, was of cedar.
This temple, which was reckoned one of the
seven wonders of the world, was 220 years in
building, and may be supposed to have
assisted greatly in thinning the forests of
Lebanon during that period.

This temple, where Diana was worshipped
with such awful solemnity, fell a sacrifice to
the flames, on the night that gave birth to
Alexander the Great, which was about 285
years before the temple at Jerusalem was
destroyed by that horrible trade which am-

CEDAR OF LEBANON. 167

bition and revenge deem an honourable pro-
fession, because they create and encourage it.

The ancients believed, that the wood of the
cedar of Lebanon was imperishable, and that
it had likewise the property of preserving
from corruption whatever it enclosed. They,
therefore, deposited their precious manu-
scripts in chests made of these trees, which
custom gave rise to a proverb, — to praise a
work, it was said, " It is worthy of being cased
in cedar."

The ancients also drew a juice from the
cedar, with which they smeared their books
and writings to preserve them from rotting,
which is alluded to by Horace ; by means of
which, it was, that Numa's books were so
wonderfully preserved, as its extreme bitter
would naturally keep them from worms. The
Egyptians used this extract of the cedar, with
other drugs, to embalm their dead bodies, be-
lieving it would make them incorruptible ;
and of the durability of these ancient mum-
mies, we have of late years seen extraordinary
instances.

" See lofty lebanon his head advance,

See nodding forests on the mountains dance."

POPE.

This sovereign of the forest appears to
have been indigenous to Mount I^ebanon
M 4

168 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

only, where its majestic beauties attracted the
admiration of the Psalmist, who celebrated its
spreading branches by his pen. " It is neither
travellers nor naturalists," says Madame de
Genlis, " who could have named the oak, the
king of trees. The rose will be in all
countries the queen of flowers ; but, amongst
trees, this honour belongs only to the ancient
and majestic cedar."

This noble tree has a dignity and a gene-
ral striking character of growth so peculiar to
itself, that no other tree can possibly be mis-
taken 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
most elegant as well as one of the most noble
objects of the vegetable kingdom.

The Latins called this tree Cedrus, from
the Greek Ke<!po£, the Arabians call it Serbin,
the Italians Cedro, the Spaniards Cedro, the
French Ccdre.

At what exact period, or by whom, this
superb tree was first introduced into this
country, is yet to be discoved. Gerard, Park-
inson, Johnson, and other old writers on this
subject, give us the history of the cedar, but

CEDAR OF LEBANON. 169

do not say that they had seen it in England.
Aiton makes its introduction as late as 1 683,
when two trees of this kind were planted in
the physic garden at Chelsea, but as these
trees were three feet high when planted, it
is most probable that others had been previ^
ously raised in this country. It is both re-
markable and remiss, that Miller should not
notice these trees in his first edition of the
Gardener's Dictionary, which was published in
1724, and which he compiled within the walls
that enclosed these celebrated trees.

Tradition, whose marvellous accounts some-
times want correctness, tells us that Queen
Elizabeth planted a cedar of Lebanon, on the
north side of Hendon Place, in Middlesex. If
the birth of this tree is incorrectly registered,
its death is truly recorded, for it was unfor-
tunately blown down by the hurricane that
happened on the new year's day, 1779. Its
height was seventy feet ; the diameter of the
branches was one hundred feet ; the circum-
ference of the trunk, seven feet above the
ground, was sixteen feet ; and at twelve feet
above the ground, where it began to branch
out, it measured twenty-one feet. This tree,
which was supposed to be 200 years old, was
perfectly sound, and thought not to have
reached its maturity.

170 / SYLVA FLOR1FERA.

At the Old Palace or Manor House, at En-
field, in Essex, there is a cedar known to be
about 156 years old, which must, therefore,
have been introduced prior to those in Chel-
sea Gardens : it was planted by Robert Uve-
dale, LL.D. who kept a school in the house.
This tree has suffered much by time and storms
particularly those of 1703 and 1793 ; but in July,
1821, it was sixty-four feet eight inches high,
and the length of timber was sixty-eight feet
and a half, the extent of the branches from
N. E. to S. W. eighty-seven feet.

There is also a cedar now growing at Hil-
lington, near Uxbridge, supposed to be about
120 years old : the height of it is fifty-three
feet ; the extent of the branches, from east
to west ninety-six, from north to south eighty-
nine feet; the circumference of the trunk
close to the ground, thirteen feet and a half;
seven feet above the ground, twelve feet and
a half; twelve feet above the ground, fourteen
feet eight inches; at the height of thirteen feet
and a half, just under the branches, fifteen
feet eight inches.

Archibald, Duke of Argyle, planted seve-
ral of these trees at Whitton, which grew to
an enormous size, and we now see them ex-
tending their horizontal branches in every
part of the country, that has possessed a lover

CEDAR OF LEBANON. 171

of the grandeur of vegetable nature. They
are extremely beautiful in the plantations
about Dorking. Where

" attractive is the woodland scene,

Diversified with trees of every growth."

In his travels, the antiquarian finds in every
country remarkable spots distinguished, and
memorable transactions stamped on the me-
mory by venerable trees, which cannot be
removed by the whim of men so easily as mo-
numents of marble, or statues of brass, which
often travel from their sacred abodes to where-
ever war drives or gold leads them. How
could we have ornamented our country more,
than by planting our highesthills with cedars, to
have commemorated the victories of the late
war ? The traveller would have had his mind
recalled to the battle of Trafalgar, and his
road pointed out by the plantation of the Nile;
they would have been glorious landmarks to
the British sailors, and lasting monuments of
their fame, whilst the interior hills should be
marked by these vegetable monuments of
military fame, that would console the peas-
ants who had lost their friends in war, and
rouse them to resent any attempt at invasion.
The only relic of Dr. James Sherard's
famous botanic garden at Eltham, so ele-

172 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

gantly displayed by Dillenius, is a cedar of
Lebanon, which, Lyson tells us, girths nine
feet, at three feet from the ground.

In the Fellows' Garden at Emmanuel College,
in Cambridge, on a lawn by the side of the
pond, is a cedar that was planted in the year
1730, by Professor John Martin, then a
member of that college.

The cedar of Lebanon, is now much more
common in this kingdom than on its ancient
birth-place; yet, we must not accuse the
Mahommedans of destroying these venerable
trees, as they almost consider it a sacrilege
to demolish a fine tree of any description.
Their greatest luxury seems to be that of re-
clining under the shade of a tree, to enjoy
their tobacco. It was remarked by Chardin,
at Ispahan, in the 17th century, that the re-
ligious Mahommedans chose rather to pray
under a very old tree, than in the neighbour-
ing mosque. " They devoutly reverence," says
he, " those trees which seem to have existed
during many ages, piously believing that the
holy men of former times had prayed and
meditated under their umbrageous shade."

The few cedars still remaining on Mount
Libanus are preserved with a religious strict-
ness. On the day of the Transfiguration, the
patriarch repairs in procession to these trees.

CEDAR OF LEBANON. 173

and celebrates a festival, called the feast of
cedars.

Considering whatever relates to a spot so
celebrated in holy writ, must be interesting
to most readers, we shall extract observations
from the works of those travellers who have
visited the mountains, that afforded trees so
valuable that Solomon gave cities to Hiram
in exchange for them. Ranwolff, who visited
Lebanon, in the year 1575, saw only twenty-
four trees and two old decayed ones. " We
found ourselves," says he, " upon the
highest point of the mountain, and saw
nothing higher, but only a small hill before
us, all covered over with snow; at the
bottom whereof the high cedar trees were
standing ; and though this hill hath in former
ages been quite covered over with cedars,
yet, they are since so decreased, that I could
tell no more than twenty-four that stood
round about in a circle ; and two others, the
branches whereof are quite decayed by age.
I also went about in this place to look out
for some young ones, but could find none at
all." Maundrell, who journeyed there on the
9th of May, 1696, could only reckon 16 large
trees, but he found several small ones. This
author says, " Having gone for three hours
across the plain of Tripoli, I arrived at the

174 SYLVA FLORIPERA.

foot of Libanus; and from thence, con-
tinually ascending, not without great fatigue,
came in four hours and a half to a small
village, called Eden, and in two hours and
a half more to the cedars. These noble trees
grow amongst the snow near the highest part
of Libanus, and are remarkable as well for
their own age and largeness, as for those fre-
quent allusions made to them in the word of
God. Here are some of them very old and
of prodigious bulk ; and others younger of a
smaller size; and the latter are very nu-
merous. I measured one of the largest, and
found it twelve yards six inches in girt, and
yet sound, and 37 yards in the spread of its
boughs. At about five or six yards from the
ground, it was divided into five limbs, each
of which was equal to a great tree." " What
Maundrell has related," says Mr. Miller, " was
confirmed to me by a worthy gentleman of
my acquaintance, who was there in the year
1720; with this difference only, that in
measuring the branches of the largest tree,
he found them to be twenty-two yards in
diameter. The traveller, Le Bruyn, counted
about thirty-five or thirty-six remaining on
Mount Libanus when he was there; and
would persuade us, it was not easy to reckon
•

CEDAR OF LEBANON. 175

their number, as is reported of the stones of
our Stonehenge, on Salisbury Plain.

Nature, who has not neglected to form her
lowest vegetable works suitable to the situa-
tions where they are scattered, has displayed,
in the formation of the cedar, a wisdom that
excites the admiration of all naturalists. This
noble tree sends forth the lower part of its
branches in an upward direction, to convey
the rain water by these slopes to the trunk,
and from thence to the roots; which other-
wise could not receive sufficient moisture,
whilst the extremities of the branches bend
downwards, that the snows, in the region of
which it takes delight to dwell, may slide
from its foliage. The cones of this stately
tree are endowed with a peculiar mode of
sheltering their parts of fructification, for at
their season of flowering they bend to the
earth ; but when they are fecundated, they
turn erect towards heaven, to mature their
seed ; and it is then a most beautiful object to
look down upon, as those must acknowledge
who have mounted the artificial hill in the
Jardin des Plantes, to behold the cedar which
Mons. Buffon planted below. The cedar is
placed, by Linnaeus, as well as the larch, in
the same genus with the firs and pines ; it

176 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

agrees with the former in its foliation, with
the latter in being evergreen.

It is pretended that these trees purify the
air by their effluvia : the wood, when made
into wardrobes or chests, certainly preserves
clothes from insects, which are generally
found to avoid perfumes and bitter wood.
We are told that its smell inspires worshippers
with a solemn awe, when used in wainscotting
churches or chapels. It may possibly have this
effect on the Hebrews and the Catholics, who
are accustomed to burn incense in their religi-
ous ceremonies ; and the Protestant, when he
meets with this timber in a place of worship,
naturally has his mind carried back to the
first temple that was erected to the true God.
" It is matter of surprise to me," says Miller,
" that this tree has not been more cultivated in
England, since it would be a great ornament
to barren bleak mountains, where few other
trees will grow so well, it being a native of
the coldest parts of Mount Libanus, where
the snow continues great part of the year.
From the observations I have made of the
trees now growing in England, I find that
such as have been planted in a strong, rich,
loamy earth, have made a poor progress, in
comparison with those which have grown
upon a stony meagre soil."

CEDAR OF LEBANON. 177

We have frequently seen this native of
Lebanon planted by those who could not have
read or recollected the Psalm, " They shall
spread their branches like the cedar tree."
For on the banks of the Thames it is fre-
quently seen as near the dwelling as to give
the idea of the good old-fashioned piece of
furniture, called a dumb-waiter; and it has
frequently had its branches lopped off to let
light into the eating-parlour ; although it is
known, that this tree suffers more by cutting
and lopping than most other resinous trees.
A court dress in a country fair is not a greater
burlesque than a cedar of Lebanon in a lawn
of forty feet, for the majesty of the tree de-
mands an open, if not an elevated situation :
its beauty consists in its formation, which is
lost when cramped in its growth. That it is
not particularly slow in its increase, will be
seen by the progress the cedars in Chelsea
gardens had made, which, in the year 1766,
" measured twelve feet and a half in girth, at
two feet above the ground, and their branches
extended more than twenty feet on every side
their trunks ; which branches, though they
were produced twelve or fourteen feet above
the surface, did at every termination hang
very near the ground, and thereby afford a

VOL. i. N

178 SYLVA FLOR1FERA.

goodly shade in the hottest season of the
year."

The cedar of Lebanus is now so well na-
turalized in this country, that the seeds not
only ripen but propagate themselves without
care or trouble, and it has been observed
that they produce and ripen their cones bet-
ter in hard winters, than in mild ones ; which
should induce us to plant them on those poor
cold hills, where but few other vegetables
would grow. Evelyn earnestly recommended
them to the planter's attention, and informs us,
that he received cones and seeds of the few
remaining trees on Libanus; and adds, " why
they should not thrive in old England, I know
not, save for want of industry and trial." It
is now ascertained that they will prosper in
this climate, as well as our native oak ; and
we hope they will spring up from these hints,
that future generations may see them more
frequently, for every age must increase the
reverence due to these celebrated trees.

CHESNUT. — See Pomarium Britanwcum.

179

CORNEL TREE, OR DOGWOOD.— CORNUS
SANGUINE A; AND

CORNELIAN CHERRY.— CORNUS
MASCULA.

Natural order, Stellate. Caprifolia, Juss.
A genus of the Tetrandria Monogynia class.

" His cornel spear

Ulysses wav'd, to rouse the savage war."

Odyssey, book xix.
" Fix'd in the wound th' Italian cornel stood."

JEneis.

IT is to the lines of these matchless poets
that we are indebted for much curious in-
formation relating to the use the ancients
made of the different trees and shrubs. Virgil

o

further informs us,

" The war from stubborn myrtle shafts receives ;
From cornels jav'lins; and the tougher yew
Receives the bending figure of a bow."

Georg. ii.

The Jfoeis informs us that the murder of
the youthful Polydore was discovered by the
shafts and lances with which he was slain

N 2

180 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

having taken root in his corpse, and sprung
into their native myrtles and cornels: —

" When Heaven had overturn'd the Trojan state,
And Priam's throne, by too severe a fate;
When ruin'd Troy became the Grecian's prey,
And Ilium's lofty towers in ashes lay;"

JEneas and his followers land in Thrace, where
they are about to offer a bull on Jove's impe-
rial altar —

" Not far, a rising hillock stood in view:

Sharp myrtles on the sides, and cornels grew.
There, while I went to crop the silvan scenes,
And shade our altar with their leafy greens,

. I pull'd a plant — with horror I relate
A prodigy so strange and full of fate —
The rooted fibres rose, and from the wound,
Black bloody drops distill'd upon the ground !
Mute and amaz'd, my hair with terror stood;

Fear shrunk my sinews, and congeal'd my blood."

* # * * . * *

" A groan, as of a troubled ghost, renew'd
My fright, and then these dreadful words ensued:
6 Why dost thou thus my bury'd body rend?
O ! spare the corpse of thy unhappy friend !
Spare to pollute thy pious hands with blood;
The tears distil not from the wounded wood;
But every drop this living tree contains
Is kindred blood, and ran in Trojan veins.
O ! fly from this unhospitable shore,
Warn'd by my fate — for I am Polydore!"1

, ^ celebi _____ '•!.!. ._ iau »f v:
second century, tells us there was a festival

CORNEL TREE. 181

celebrated in honour of Apollo, at Lacedemo-
nia, called Cornus, which was instituted to
appease that god, because the Greeks had in-
curred the displeasure of Apollo, by cutting
the cornel trees which grew in a consecrated
thicket, at Mount Ida*

Sacred woods and consecrated groves were
attached to most of the temples of the ancient
heathens, and this superstition was preserved a
long time after the fall of paganism. In ignorant
ages these woods were the terror of the timid,
the refuge of the crafty, and the grave of the
credulous. In their dreadful ceremonies (for
humanity forbids our calling them religious
customs), human sacrifices were offered in their
horrid worship. The ancient inhabitants of the
north had priests who followed this infamous
practice, until Christianity happily spread its
soft beams over these unhappily deluded
people.

Near the temple of Upsal, in Sweden, there
was a wood of this description, called the
Forest of Odin, which was generally full of
the dead bodies of victims, which at certain
seasons were taken down from the trees to be
burnt in honour of Thor, or the sun.

Leonard Rubenus, a German, who became
a priest in 1596, having received an order
from his superiors to go to Dorpat, a city of

N 3.

182 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

Livonia, found on his way the sacred wood of
the Esthonians, where there was a large pine
loaded with trophies. He was told that the
inhabitants of the country adored this tree ;
that women newly delivered brought offerings
there, and that the men refreshed its roots
with beer. Rubenus wished to cut down this
tree, to get rid of so ridiculous a superstition ;
but the Esthonians told him, that if he had
the temerity to pass under it, both himself
and his horse would be taken up in the air.
However, Rubenus cured them of this super-
stition, without violence to himself or his
horse ; and we hope that the present mode of
education will not only banish superstition,
but also all those cruel and ignorant animo-
sities which have, in different ages, so highly
disgraced both the catholic and the protestant
Christians.

But to return to the tree whose branches
afforded the ancient butchers javelins, as it now
furnishes the modern ones with skewers. The
Latin name of Cornus, is after the Greek
jcpaz/s/a; or from cornu, a horn; because the
wood is of a hard and horny nature. The
surname of Sanguinea was given to this shrub
from the beautiful red colour of its young
branches, which shine, during the winter
months, as beautifully as conspicuously, when

CORNEL TREE. 183

planted between laurels or other evergreens;
and although its small umbels make no very
gay appearance by their greenish-white petals,
which open in June, and often again in Octo-
ber, yet the variety of red, yellow, and umber
tints which its foliage affords in the autumn,
fully compensates for any want of splendour
in its blossoms.

The English names of this shrub, are
scarcely less numerous than the tints of its
leaves. It is often called female cornel,
to distinguish it from cornus mascula, and
hound's berry-tree, hound' s-tree, dog's berry-
tree, (because, says Parkinson, the fruit
is not even fit for the dogs); and, from
hence, it has the name of dogwood. It is
called prickwood, from its use in making
skewers. Gerard tells us, " that in the north
of England, it was known by the name of
gaten-tree and gater-tree."

The cornus sangulnea abounds in most
hedge-rows and copses, where the soil is of a
calcareous nature. It sends out abundance
of suckers, and as it branches out close to the
ground, it frequently propagates itself by
layers. The fruit may more properly be
styled an umbilicate drupe, than a berry. It
ripens in August, and is of a purple so dark,

N 4

184 SYLVA FLOllIFEltA.

as almost to approach to black. The pulp is
soft and bitter ; the stone is round and of a
bony substance, divided into two cells, each of
which contains a white kernel or seed. Our
nurserymen have introduced seven different
species of dogwood from America, which they
often engraft on the common dogwood. The
cornus alba is very similar to the common
cornel shrub, excepting that the fruit is white.
It is a common plant in all Siberia. The
seeds were first sent by Professor Am mann, of
Petersburg, to England; but it was first
discovered by Gmelin, and afterwards was
found by Messerschmidt, near Kamschatka.

" Our common dogwood," says Evelyn,
" is like the cornel for compactness, and is
made use of for cart timber and rustic in-
struments, for mill-cogs, spokes, bobins^ for
bone-lace, and the best of tooth-pickers and
butchers' skewers. Being hard and even, it is
fit also for the turner. In some countries
abroad, they extract an oil from the berries
for lamps, by boiling them in water and
pressing them."

In placing this shrub in the plantation, it
should be recollected, that it seldom exceeds
from ten to fifteen feet in height, and that its
leaves contrast well with any evergreens;

whilst its crimson sprays are not less orna-

20

CORNEL TREE. 185

mental during the winter months, particularly
when mixed with the common laurel.

The fruit of the cornus sanguined is very
bitter, styptic, and gives a pretty deep red
colour to blue paper.

The cornelian cherry, cornus mascula, is
now removed from the orchard to the shrub-
bery ; but in this latter situation, it is at
present so seldom seen, that many persons do
not even know that this beautifully trans-
parent fruit exists, which flourished in the ear-
liest English gardens, graced the deserts of
our forefathers, and furnished their dames
with fruit for tarts, rob, and marmalade.

Tusser, who wrote in Queen Mary's time,
calls them cornet plums. Gerard says, in
1596, " the male cornell-tree groweth in
most places of Germanie without manuring ;
it groweth not wilde in England; but yet
there be sundrie trees of them growing in
the gardens of such as loue rare and dainty
plants, whereof I haue a tree or two in my
garden."

Lord Bacon frequently speaks of them
amongst the fruits of his day, by the name of
cornelians.

Pliny speaks of this fruit in a manner that
induces us to think, that he considered it as
indigenous to Italy as well as Austria. He

186 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

describes this tree in the 40th chapter of his
16th book ; and says, he cannot rank it
amongst timber trees, as it does not arrive at
any great size ; but that the wood of this tree
was nearly equal to iron for making pins and
wedges to cleave wood. It was also used by the
Romans, for making spokes to their wheels.

The growth of the cornel tree, mascula, is
so slow, that it requires fifteen years to
attain ten feet in height ; from hence, its
wood is very hard. In the south of France
it is often used for props in the vineyards,
and also to make hoops for wine casks. The
finest trees of this kind which we have seen
in England, are at Cowfold, in Sussex, on aoi
estate belonging to John Wood, Esq. of
Chestham. One of these trees is in the garden
belonging to a farm called Walhurst, in the
occupation of Mrs. Dowlan ; the other is in
a garden of a neighbouring farm occupied by
Mr. West* These trees are the size of a
moderate cherry or apple tree ; and we con-
clude they are of a considerable age, as their
appearance has not altered much since we
have known them, which is upwards of thirty
years. They are abundant and regular bearers.

The flowers appear before the leaves, and
sometimes as early as the beginning of
February. They grow on umbels, of from

CORNEL THEE. 187

fifteen to thirty flowers each, of a small size
and yellowish colour, and therefore make no
great show ; but the fruit, which is a drupe
that ripens in August, has a very fine effect,
as it hangs like so many cornelian drops from
the branches ; and it is as transparent as the
stone of that name, or as the jelly of red
currants, and about the size and form of a
small olive.

The stone is oblong, pointed at one end,
and rather larger than a grain of wheat.
The pulp, which forms what is vulgarly called
the fruit, is less juicy than the cherry, but
more so than the plum. Its flavour is pe-
culiar ; but to some persons this sweet and
astringent taste is extremely agreeable. For-
merly, it was preserved and sold in the
shops as rob de cornis ; it was also pickled in
salt and water in its green state, as a sub-
stitute for olives ; and we find, from Pliny,
that the Romans had the same practice.

Dr. James says this fruit is cooling, drying,
and astringent, strengthens the stomach, and
is good in fevers ; especially if attended with
a diarrhoea. It gives as lively a red to blue
paper as alum ; which gives us room to think,
that it contains a salt analagous to it. An
electuary was formerly made of the strained
pulp for a dysentery.

188

CYPRESS TREE. — CUPRESSUS OF PLINY,

AND THE CYPARISSUS OF VlRGIL AND OviD.

Natural order. Conifer ce. A genus of the
Moncecia Monadelphia class.

" I was exalted like a cedar in Libanus, and as a cypress-
tree upon the mountains of Hermon."

Ecclesiasticus, xxiv. 13.

" Et toi, triste cypres,

Fidele ami des morts, protecteur de leur cendre,
Ta tige, chere au coeur melancholique et tendre,
Laisse la joie au myrte et la gloire au laurier.
Tu n'es point Parbre heureux de Pamant, du guerrier,
Je le sais; mais ton deuil compatit a nos peines."

THIS tree, which is the symbol of eternal
sorrow in all the civilized countries of Europe,
is also the funeral tree of the east, from the
Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea; and it is like-
wise dedicated to the dead from Mazender^n
to Constantinople, as well as to the utmost
bounds of China's fruitful shores.

If we look so far back as even to the destruc-
tion of Troy, we shall find

" In mournful pomp the matrons walk the round,
With baleful cypress and blue fillets crown'd,
With eyes dejected, and with hair unbound."

JEneis, Book iii.

. CYPRESS TREE. 189

• Fable informs us, that this emblem of grief
owes its name to Cyparissus, a beautiful youth,
who was the favourite of Apollo —

" Whose hand adapts with equal skill, the strings
To bows with which he kills, and harps to which he
sings."

Cyparissus having accidentally killed a favou-
rite stag of Apollo's,

" Much was the beast by Caea's youth caress'd,
But thou, sweet Cyparissus, lov'dst him best."

The youth could not be cured of his sorrow —

" Himself he would have slain through desp'rate grief.
What said not Phoebus, that might yield relief ?
To cease his mourning he the boy desir'd,
Or mourn no more than such a loss required.
But he incessant griev'd. At length addressed
To the superior powers a last request;
Praying, in expiation of his crime,
, ; . . Thenceforth to mourn to all succeeding time.

And now, of blood exhausted he appears —
Drain'd by a torrent of continual tears.
The fleshy colour in his body fades,
And a green tincture all his limbs invades.
From his fair head, where curling locks late hung,
A horrid bush, with bristled branches sprung;
Which, stiffening by degrees its stem extends,
Till to the starry skies the spire ascends.

Apollo sad look'd on, and sighing cry'd,
Then be for ever what thy pray'r imply'd :
Bemoan'd by me, in others grief excite,
Ai«i still pieoide at ev'ry fua'ral rite."

OVID, Book x.

190 SYLVA FLORTFERA.

Claudian tells us, in his admirable poem of
the Rape of Proserpine, that when Ceres de-
cided to travel over the earth in search of her
daughter, she hastened to Etna, to prepare
the torch which was to light her on the road
during the night; and that having rooted up
two gigantic cypresses, the goddess threw them
into the crater of that mount, which, being
inflamed by the sulphur, augmented the fires
of Etna; and from thence the ancients, we
presume, dedicated this tree to Pluto and
Proserpine. The Romans placed a branch of
the cypress tree before their dwellings when
any one died, which remained as long as the
corpse was in the house; and which it then
accompanied to the funeral pile, or the tomb.

Lucan, who wrote about the middle of the
first century, informs us that the cypress
was then only used at the funerals of persons
of distinction. He says,

Et non plebe'ios luctus testata Cupressus.
" And the cypress testifying no vulgar grief."

" The mournful cypress rises round,
Tap'ring from the burial ground." Lib. ii.

The Turks of the present day attend most
religiously to the planting of the cypress tree
at the tombs of their departed friends and re-

17

CYPRESS TREE. 191

latives ; and they are always careful to select
the upright variety, as the spreading cypress
would, in such situations, be the cause of great
sorrow to them, from their belief that when
the tree grows with a spiral point towards
heaven, it indicates that the soul of their
friend is ascended into the regions of bliss.
The Armenians are not allowed to plant a
cypress tree at the graves of their deceased
friends, but they are permitted to plant any
branching tree, as the apple, oak, or elm, &c.;
which, from it's crooked branches, indicates,
as the Mahommedans affirm, the impossi-
bility of the ascension of Christian souls.
When will reason ascend her universal throne !
Lady M. W. Montague mentions a cypress
tree in a garden at Kujuk Checkmedji,that was
converted to rather a singular use. "The house
and garden now belong," says her Ladyship,
" to&hogia, or schoolmaster, who teaches boys
here. I asked him to show me his own apart-
ment, and was surprised to see him point to a
tall cypress tree in his garden, on the top of
which was a place for a bed for himself, and a
little lower one for his wife and two children,
who slept there every night I was so much
diverted with the fancy," says Lady Mary,
" that I resolved to examine his nest nearer;
but going up fifty steps, I found I had still
fifty to go up, and then I must climb from

192 SYLVA FLOR1FERA.

branch to branch with some hazard of my
neck. I thought it therefore the best way to
come down again."

Cato wrote more on the cultivation of the
cypress than on that of any other tree ; and
he calls it a Tarentine tree ; but Pliny says,
that was from its being first planted in .that
neighbourhood, and that the isle of Candia is
its natural country; where, he says, when
the ground is ploughed up, the young plants
are sure to appear, and that in many parts of
that island, the cypress trees spring up with-
out culture; particularly on Mount Ida, on
which they grow to the very point, although
it is continually covered with snow. Hanway
says, some of the mountains near Reshd, in
Persia, are covered with cypress trees. Thus,
like the cedar, its birth-place is a cold bleak
mountain ; and, like that majestic tree, it
lives almost to eternity, and its timber seems
nearly imperishable. Sir W. Ouseley tells
us, in his travels, that " the beautiful and
venerable cypress of Fassa has been the boast
and ornament of that city for above a thou-
sand years." Pliny speaks of a cypress that
was planted when the foundation of Rome
was laid, and which fell, he says, through
careless neglect, on the last year of Nero's
reign. The same author tells us, the famous
statue of Vejovis, Jupiter, in the capitol, was

CYPRESS TREE. 193

made of cypress wood; and that when he
wrote it was perfectly sound, although it had
been dedicated and consecrated to the temple
since the second year of the foundation of
Rome. Theophrastus, who calls this tree
Kviraptlros, tells us, that the doors of the cele-
brated temple of Ephesus were formed of
this durable wood ; and every body knows
that the doors of St. Peter's church, at Rome,
were framed of cypress timber, which lasted
from Constantine to Pope Eugenius IV.'s
time, which was eleven hundred years, and
were then sound and entire, when the pope
took them down to change them for bronze
gates. The Egyptians kept their mummies
in chests of cypress wood ; and Thucydides,
a Greek historian, who wrote about 400 years
before the birth of Christ, tells that the
Athenians used to bury their heroes in coffins
formed of this timber ; and Aristocles, the
celebrated Athenian philosopher, (who was
called Plato, from the largeness of his
shoulders), and who flourished about the
same time with Thucydides, would have the
laws and sacred rites inscribed on tablets of
cypress wood in preference to brass.

The Babylonian history affirms, that the
lasting bridge, which Semiramis caused to be
built over the Euphrates, about 1960 before

VOL. i. o

194 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

the Christian era, was entirely formed of this
timber; and some learned writers, who do
not hesitate to go 389 years farther back, en-
deavour to prove, that the gopher mentioned
in Scripture as the wood of which the ark
was built, was no other than cypress, and
which is not confuted by other learned
authors; such as Isa, Vossius, and David
Kinchi, who will have gopher to signify only
resinous timber. Epiphanius, a bishop of
Salamis, who died A.D. 403, tells us, (Hseres,
lib. i.) some relics of the ark, circa campos
Sennaar, lasted even to his days ; and which
was judged to have been of cypress. It is
known, that at Crete this timber was em-
ployed in building the largest ships ; and
Virgil tells us, " that cypress provides for
keels of ships that scour the watery plains."
Aristobulus affirms, that the Assyrians made
shipping of this timber ; and so plentiful was
this tree about those parts of Assyria, where
the ark is conjectured to have been built,
that those vast armadas which Alexander the
Great caused to be equipped and sent out
from Babylon, consisted only of cypress. —
(Arrianus, Alex. lib. vii., and Strabo, lib. xvi.)
The ancients, who had great faith in bal-
samic scents, supposed therefore that the
cypress tree improved the air by its transpir-

9

'

CYPRESS TREE. 195

ation ; and on which account, the eastern
physicians sent all those who had pulmonic
disorders to the Isle of Candia, where these
trees abound ; and we are assured, that the
aromatic smell of this evergreen was found to
be a specific for the lungs. This subject de-
serves minute investigation, and the serious
opinions and consultations of those

" Men who suppress their feelings, but who feel
The painful symptoms they delight to heal."

It is clearly ascertained, that trees correct a
putrid bad air. It should, therefore, be our
study to find out those that do it most power-
fully; and having ourselves so often been
revived and refreshed by the natural per-
fumes of the garden and fields, we deem it
worthy the labours of medical students, to
learn how far aromatic and balsamic scents
may be good for those who are troubled with
weak lungs. We have no hesitation in say-
ing, it must be beneficial to hypochondriacs.
In making these observations, we hope the
learned Esculapians, whom we venerate as
much as we despise those

" Who to contention as to trade are led,

To whom dispute and strife are bliss and bread,"

will not deem us a disciple of those advertising

o S

196 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

quacks, who have the impudence to tell us,
they have

" Men snatched from graves, as they were dropping in,
Their lungs cough'd up, their bones pierc'd through

their skin :

Their liver all one schirrus, and the frame
Poison'd with evils which they dare not name ;
Men who spent all upon physician's fees,
Who never slept, nor had a moment's ease,
Are now as roaches sound, and all as brisk as bees."

" How strange to add, in this nefarious trade,
That men of parts are dupes by dunces made ! "

CRABBE.

By whom the cypress tree was first intro-
duced to England, and at what exact period,
we are not able to learn ; but it is probable,
that we are indebted for this celebrated tree
to some pious abbess, or holy fathers of Sion
Monastery, near Brentford, which is now be-
come Northumberland's ducal palace ; as Dr.
Turner tells us, in his Herbal of 1568, " it
groweth right plenteously in the gardine of
Sion." Gerard notices, in 1597, that " it
groweth likewise in diners places of Eng-
lande, where it hath beene planted, as at Sion,
a place near London, sometime a house of
nunnes ; it groweth also at Greenwich, and at
other places ; and likewise at Hampsteed, in
the garden of Master Waide, one of the

clarkes of hir majesties privy-counsell."

10

CYPRESS TREE. 197

• Evelyn says, in 1664, " the cypress tree was,
but within a few years past, reputed so tender
and nice a plant, that it was cultivated with
the greatest care, and to be found only amongst
the curious; whereas we see it now in every
garden, rising to as goodly a bulk and stature as
most which you shall find even in Italy itself.
For such I remember to have once seen in his
late Majesty's gardens at Theobalds, before
that princely seat was demolished." The au-
thor of the Sylva strongly recommends the
planting of this tree in England ; and of its
hardiness he says, " The March and April
winds (in the years 1663 and 1665), accompa-
nied with cruel frosts and cold blasts, for the
space of more than two months, night and day,
did not, amongst near a thousand cypresses
growing in my garden, kill above three or four,
which, for being very late cut to the quick,
(that is, the latter end of October), were raw
of their wounds, took cold, and gangreened."
From this and other recommendations of
Evelyn, we presume it became fashionable to
cultivate the cypress, for in 1706, when Lou-
don and Wise published " The Retired Gar-
dener," they say, " cypress was formerly
more in fashion than 'tis now; for we see in
some places whole alleys of it; but these
trees being apt to take but one sort of figure,

o 3

198 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

which is that of a pyramid, and the yew tree
and pieca being more proper for the variety
of forms of which they are susceptible, to
adorn gardens, cypress has lately been ne-
glected, and the other two trees been more
planted." Thus it is evident that the cypress
was driven out of the garden by the shears,
whose business it was to disfigure nature, by
transforming evergreens into urns, sugar-
loaves, extinguishers, and a thousand other
whimsical devices, as suited the taste of the
owner, or the ability of their gardeners, who
have not been improperly called evergreen
tailors. But the cypress may now safely re-
turn to its station in our plantations, since
the shears have left the grove, and are now as
busily employed in disfiguring the human
shape, as they were formerly in mutilating
vegetable beauties.

There is no part of ornamental planting
more difficult than the distribution of ever-
green trees, which are either the most perma-
nent beauties of the grove, or the most gloomy
features, accordingly as they are dispersed.
A plantation composed entirely of trees
that are not deciduous, has an aspect so
sombre, that the name of nevergreen may be
more properly applied to them than that of
evergreen ; yet they cheer our winter scenes
most beautifully when happily blended with

CYPRESS TREE. 199

those deciduous trees, whose colour and
character assimilate best with them. But we
are not admirers of that regularity and uni-
formity so often offensive to the eye in large
plantations, where there is no deviation from
the fir and the larch, unless where death has
made a gap, when you are treated with a larch
and a fir through hill and dale to the end of
the plantation.

The cypress seems admirably adapted to or-
nament those lawns which surround villas or
lodges built in the Grecian style, and per-
haps we have no tree that accords so well with
stone or stuccoed edifices as the cypress; and
even the temples of marble lose half their
effect if surrounded by other buildings instead
of being relieved by the foliage of trees. At
the present time, the burial hill of Pere-la-
chaise, near Paris, forms a most interesting
picture, as the numerous and various formed
monuments rise above the young arbores
vitae and cypresses, like a city of marble
emerging from a forest, and from which, a
friend observes, we may form a faint picture of
the beautiful appearance of Constantinople
from the Bosphorus; the hills on which that
city stands being intermixed with white build-
ings and green foliage, which forms a spectacle

not equalled in any other part of Europe.

o 4

200 SYLVA FL011IFERA.

We have two varieties of the common
eypress, sempervirem, the upright and the
spreading, which the ancients distinguished
as male and female trees; but the botanist will
know by the class in which these trees are
placed, that they are androgynous plants, viz.
having male and female flowers on the same
root. It appears that the ancients did not
consider the seed of a tree to be a fruit, unless
it was eatable; for Phocion, who was so cele-
brated in Athens for his private and public
virtues, remarked to a young man who spoke
with more vanity than good sense, "Young
man, thy discourse resembles the cypress; it is
large and lofty, and bears no fruit." What
would this Athenian, whose virtues were as
incorruptible as the cypress itself, say to some
of our modern speeches and publications?

When we plant the cypress in the shrubbery,
it should be correctly ascertained if it is the
spiral or the spreading variety; for the former
requires but a small space, and should be placed
behind those flowering shrubs whose extend-
ing branches require such an addition: whilst
the spreading cypress may wave its mournful
branches over the daisy-pied lawn, or form a
foreground to the pointed poplar. But it re-
quires considerable ingenuity to place the
cypress happily in our plantations; for in most

CYPRESS TREE. 201

situations its dark and slender head adds a
gloom rather than cheerfulness to the scene,
particularly in autumnal evenings; when either
the sun leaves its last streak, or the rising moon
sends a silvery stream of light down the dark
foliage, which gives additional sombre to the
shade, and a spectre-like appearance to the
imagination of the gloomy mind.

Mr. Miller says, " the spreading cypress is
by far the largest growing tree, and is the
most common timber in some parts of the
Levant. This, if planted upon a warm, sandy,
gravelly soil, will prosper wonderfully ; and
though the plants of this sort are not so finely
shaped as those of the first, yet they greatly
recompense for that defect by their vigorous
growth and strengthen resisting all weathers.
This tree is very proper to intermix with
evergreens of a second size next to pines and
firs, to form clumps, in which class it will
keep pace with the trees of the same line, and
be very handsome. Besides, the wood of
this tree is very valuable, when grown to a
size fit for planks, which I am convinced it
will do in as short a space as oaks ; therefore,
why should not this be cultivated for that pur-
pose, since there are many places in England
where the soil is of a sandy or gravelly nature,
and seldom produces any thing worthy culti-

202 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

vating? Now, in such places, these trees
will thrive wonderfully, and greatly add to the
pleasure of the owner while growing, and
afterwards render as much profit to his suc-
cessors, as perhaps the best plantation of
oaks."

Pliny tells us, that in Italy it was consi-
dered amongst their most profitable planta-
tions, and was generally cut for poles once
in every thirteen years, and that this fall was
called dos JUice, because the profit was
reckoned a sufficient marriage portion for a
daughter.

This timber is reckoned amongst the sono-
rous woods ; it is therefore used for harps,
violins, and other musical instruments, and it
is said that no wood is better calculated to re-
sist the ravages of the worm, &c.

The deciduous cypress tree, cupressus dis-
ticha, is a native of North America, and it
appears to have been introduced to this coun-
try by Mr. John Tradescant, of South Lam-
beth, where it was planted prior to 1640. We
have now two varieties of this species of
cypress.

Cupressus lusitanica, commonly called the
cedar of Goa, from whence it was first brought
to Portugal, and is therefore named the Por-
tugal cypress. We learn from Mr. Ray's let-

CYPRESS TREE. 203

ters, that this species of cypress was cultivated
in England as early as 1683, but it is not con-
sidered so hardy as the common cypress, and
is therefore less planted ; formerly there were
some of these trees growing in the Bishop of
London's garden, at Fulham, and there was
a fine tree of this species in the gardens of
the Duke of Richmond, at Goodwood, near
Chichester, which was killed by the frost
in 1740.

The arbor vitae leaved cypress, or white
cedar, cupressus thyoides, is a native of North
America, and Peter Collinson, Esq. had the
honour of giving it British soil in 1736. This
species grows naturally in China and Cochin-
China; it loves a strong moist soil, and
abounds in the swamps of New Jersey, and
some parts of Pennsylvania and New York.

" The May flower and the eglantine
May shade a brow less sad than mine :
But, lady, weave no wreath for me ;
Or weave it of the cypress tree."

However applicable these lines of the Scot-
tish bard may be to us, we would not wil-
lingly sow the seeds of melancholy in any
person's pleasure grounds, yet we must state
that all the different species of cypresses are
raised from seeds, which, Miller tells us, should
be sown early in the spring on a bed of warm,

204 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

dry, sandy earth, which must be levelled very
smooth, and the seeds scattered thereon
pretty thick, sifting the same light earth over
them half an inch thick. If the seeds are
sown upon a moderate hot bed, and the beds
covered with mats, they will come up much
sooner, and with greater certainty, than when
they are sown in the cold ground.

Le Bon Jardinier, for 1822, recommends
the French nurseryman to sow the seeds in
pots, which are plunged into hot-beds, as these
pots can be removed into the orangery for
protection during the winter. Mr. Boutcher
recommends the same practice ; but we should
most decidedly prefer planting out not only
the cypress, but all other evergreens, that
have been reared in the hardiest manner that
their cultivation admits of, as they are in-
tended to decorate our walks and views in the
most inclement season of the year.

The green cones of the cypress, pounded and
mixed with leaven, were one of the external
remedies which the ancient physicians used
for scrofulous complaints. They also recom-
mended the leaves to be pounded and applied
to the wound made by the bite of serpents.

ELDER. — See Pomarium Britannicum.

205

ELM.— ULMUS.

Natural order, Scabrida, Amentacece, Juss.
genus of the Pentandria Digynia class.

ANCIENT fable tells us, that the vegetable
kingdom owes the birth of this tree to the
united melody of the lyre and the voice of
Orpheus, whose harmonious complaints for
the loss of Euridice gained him admittance
to the dominions of Pluto,

" Where, while the bard melodiously complains,
And to his lyre accords his vocal strains,
The very bloodless shades attention keep,
And, silent, seem compassionate to weep.
Ev'n Tantalus his flood unthirsty views,
Nor flies the stream, nor he the stream pursues?
Ixion's wond'ring wheel its whirl suspends,
And the voracious vulture, charm'd, attends.
No more the Belides their toil bemoan,
And Sisiphus, reclin'd, sits listening on his stone."

OVID.

On his return to earth, we are told by the
poet that he retired to a verdant hill, but
which was destitute of shade, where he no
sooner breathed his plaintive airs or struck his

206 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

sweet-resounding strings, than the elm and
other trees sprang up to give him shade.

" Themselves transplanting, all around they grow,
And various shades their various kinds bestow."

The elm as well as the cypress was a funeral
tree with the ancients of the eastern nations,
because they considered them as fruitless trees,
their seeds being disregarded by them. Homer
tells us in the Iliad, that Achilles raised a
monument to ^Etion, the father of Andro-
mache, around which elms were planted.

" Stern as he was, he yet rever'd the dead;
His radiant arms preserv'd from hostile spoil,
And laid him decent on the fun'ral pile;
Then rais'd a mountain where his bones were burn'd :
The mountain nymphs the rural tomb adorn'd,
Jove's sylvan daughters bade their elms bestow
A barren shade, and in his honour grow."

POPE.

The elm is also celebrated in the Iliad for
having formed a hasty bridge, over which
Achilles escaped the Xan thus, when that river,
by its overflowing, had put him in danger of
being carried away.*

The Greeks called this tree IlreAe*, Ptelea,
therefore, from whence the Latins derived

* See the Iliad, book xxi. This passage, descriptive of
the wrath and fury of a river god, is perhaps one of the
finest in the whole poem.

ELM. 207

their name of Ulmus, is uncertain ; but from it
the English name of Elm is evidently taken,
as well as that of the other European lan-
guages.

The imperial city of Ulm, in Germany,
owes its name to the great quantity of elm
trees with which its vicinity abounds ; and
the Doomsday book mentions nearly forty
places in this country which also took their
names from this tree, and from hence Dr.
Hunter conjectures that the elm is a native of
England. But in this opinion we do not coin-
cide with the learned Doctor ; for the admit-
ing that this tree was known in England as
early as the Saxon times, does not prove it
indigenous to the soil, so strongly as it is con-
futed by nature, which seldom permits it to
propagate its species in this country, accord-
ing to her common rules; whilst, in other
countries, where the seed falls, young plants
spring up as commonly as the oaks of Britain.
However plentifully a plant of any description
may be found in a country, we can never re-
concile our minds to consider it a native of
the soil where it does not spring freely from
seed. We cannot, therefore, agree with those
who affirm the elm to be a native plant, with-
out contradicting the rules of nature, in con-
sidering its parts of fructification and its fruit

208 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

as unnecessary organs of the tree ; and in
the works of the wise Creator nothing is found
wanting or superfluous, but all is beautiful
union and harmony.

We have already shown how careful the
Romans were in conveying the cherry tree
to this island, almost as soon as they had
procured it in Italy ; and it occupied their
earliest attention to enrich their own land by
such vegetable productions as the countries
which they visited or conquered afforded.
Nor did they seem more backward in beauti-
fying the nations subject to them in the same
proportion, and although there was a super-
abundance of timber in this country at the time
of their invasion, we know it consisted princi-
pally of oak, ash, beech, and birch, with some
minor trees; and every reader knows how
religiously the Romans adhered to the super-
stitious customs of their ancestors, and we all
know likewise how devoted most people are
to the customs and habits of their country.
It would not, therefore, be surprising or un-
likely that they should wish to plant the elm
on the graves of the heroes they lost in Bri-
tain. In all ages it has been found difficult to
change the habits of the lower classes of men,
and the Romans adopted particular trees for
particular purposes ; and we learn from Virgil

ELM. 209

that their husbandmen bent the young elms
whilst growing into the proper shape, for
their hurts, or plough-tail.

Continue in silvis magna vijlexa domatur

In burim, et curviformam accipit ulmus aratri.

Geor. i. 170. *

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

DRYDEN.

But, above all, they considered the elm as
the necessary support and friend of the vine ;
and their belief that a sympathy existed be-
tween plants was so great, that they seldom
planted one without the other. The gravest
of the Latin authors do not hesitate to style
the elm the husband to the vine ; and
Pliny observes, that that elm is a poor spouse
which does not support three wives. 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.

*

" 6 If that fair elm,' he cried, 6 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.' "

Tacitus states, that vineyards were planted
by the Romans in Britain. They would, there-
VOL. i. p

210 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

fore, naturally introduce the elm at the same
time ; which, being a tree of such easy propa-
gation, both from suckers and cuttings, a
single tree introduced by them, would . be
sufficient to stock the whole island in a
much shorter space than the time they had
possession of this country.

The learned author of the " Sylva" was of
opinion, that the elm was not indigenous to
England. " Some affirm," says Evelyn, " that
it was first brought out of Lombardy ; and
I have frequently doubted whether it be a
pure indigene or translatitious ; and not only
because I have hardly ever known any consi-
derable woods of them, but almost continu-
ally in tufts, hedge-rows, and mounds ; and
that Shropshire, and several other counties,
and rarely any beyond Stamford to Durham,
have any growing in many miles together."
Aubery informed Mr. Ray, that the elm was
not to be found north of Grantham or
Stamford.

At the present time, when ages have so
happily blended exotic and native beauties in
our woods, the elm is never seen in those
forests that keep their original character. It
seems to have followed cultivation and en-
closure, and is principally to be found in the
neighbourhood where the town has been

13

ELM. 21 1

reared ; or it marks the spot where the
village once stood ; and the rapid manner in
which this tree propagates itself in hedgerows
and on banks, by suckers from its far extend-
ing roots, will easily account for the quantity
now found in such situations. It must have
been a happy exchange for Britannia, when
she banished the wolf from her shores, and
received the elm into the bosom of her woods.
Our neighbouring shores are not yet entirely
free from these plunderers of the fold. It
was formerly the custom in France for the
hunters to suspend the skins of these animals
on their church-doors ; but in later times, an
elm was planted in their country church-
yards, on which these trophies were hung;
probably, with the idea, that they would deter
these ravenous animals from tearing the dead
bodies out of their graves, which was no un-
frequent occurrence, when hunger drove them
from the mountains or the forests. Long
after these kinds of offerings ceased to be
made, the custom of planting elms in front of
village churches was preserved ; and it is this
tree, which still graces their cities and towns
in their justly-boasted boulevards, under the
shade of which patient industry throws the
thread, and places the pin so accurately on
thfe cushion, warbling her native airs under

p 2

212 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

this verdant roof, as happily as the wealthy
dame, who, bedecked by the art of the humble
lace-maker, can sing or sigh under the gayest
dome of the proudest saloon.

English towns are strikingly deficient in
these agreeable avenues, whose shade renders
the summer promenade so agreeable, and
gives such cheerfulness to the entrance of
towns ; for there can be no sight more pleas-
ing to the traveller, than that of beholding
the humble stalls of the little fruit-merchants,
intermixed and overlooked by the knitting
grandmother or netting grandfather, with
here and there a seat occupied by the wounded
soldier ; nor is the fume of the sailor's pipe so
offensive in this situation, as at the chequered
door of the narrow street.

Spain owes her vistas, which are the pride
of Aranjuez, Casel del Campo, Madrid, and
other royal demesnes, to the union of its
Philip with Mary of England; as before that
period elms were not known in Spain, Philip
the Second having caused them to be taken
from England, and planted in his native land.
The elm is an aboriginal of Barbary, as well
as the south and south-east parts of Europe.
Linnaeus says, it is rarely to be found above
Helsing and Finland.

The elms of England are scarcely less re-

ELM. 213

hiarked for their age, bulk, and beauty, than
the British oaks, which form alike the world's
just wonder, the guard of friends, and the
scourge of foes. Mr. John Ray, the botanist,
mentions an elm which was felled in Sir
Walter Bagot's park, in Staffordshire, that
measured 120 feet in length, and was at the
stool seventeen feet in diameter. When sold,
its head alone produced forty-eight waggon-
loads of wood to burn, and its trunk, besides
sixteen blocks, furnished eight thousand six
hundred and sixty feet of planks ; its whole
mass was valued at ninety-seven tons.

Fcecundce frondibus ulmi. VIRGIL.

Fruitful in leaves the elm.

This quality in the elm, which ensures a
constant shade during the summer months,
has secured it a situation in most of the pub-
lic, as well as the royal, gardens of Europe.
Henry the Fourth of France planted an elm
in the Luxembourg gardens of Paris, which
stood until the late revolution in that country
levelled both tree and monarch to the dust.

" Nor could old age itself their pity reach,
No reverence to hoary barks they knew.",

Queen Elizabeth, who was contemporary
with Henri Quatre, it is said, planted an elm

p 3

214 SYLVA FLOKIFERA.

with her own hands at Chelsea, where she
spent a part of her early days in a palace be-
longing to her father. This elm stood at the
upper end of Church-lane, near the place
where the turnpike now is, and was a boun-
dary of the parish on the north side. It was
felled, to the great regret of the neighbour-
hood, on the eleventh of November, 1745,
and sold for a guinea, by the lord of the
manor, who was no other than the worthy Sir
Hans Sloane, which induces us to think that
the tree must have become dangerous, or a
nuisance to the road. It was 13 feet in cir-
cumference at bottom, and 6 feet 6 inches at
the height of 44 feet : before the hard frost
of 1739-40, which injured its top, it mea-
sured 110 feet from the ground. It was in
the year 1600 that Sir Francis Bacon planted
Gray's-inn walks with elms, eight of which
were standing in the middle of the last
century.

Under the shade of these trees many a vir-
tuous and worthy man studied for the good
of his country ; for

" Law was design'd to keep a state in peace ;
To punish robbery, that wrong might cease;
To be impregnable ; a constant fort,
To which the weak and injur'd might resort :
But now perverted minds its force employ,
Not to protect mankind, but to annoy ;

ELM. 215

And long as ammunition can be found,

Its lightning flashes, and its thunders sound."

CRABBE.

In modern times

The trader, farmer, butcher, taylor, all »

Bring up a son, Professionall ;

And then deal out their numerous writs,

To keep their cubs, whom this trade fits.

" Perhaps their numbers may in time confound
Their arts — as scorpions give themselves the wound."

The walk of elms at the north side of St.
James's Park, which once was the rendezvous
where courtly fashion and follies were dis-
played, and where now indigence and vice
have fixed their station, was planted in the
reign of Charles the Second ; some few of the
original trees were standing at the beginning
of the present century. If it be true that
trees have eyes and ears, how much must
these venerable elms have overlooked and
heard, and how fortunate will be the book-
seller who has the publication of these secrets,
which no doubt will shew —

" How creatures, nature meant should clean our streets,
Have purchased lands and mansions, parks and seats."

Martyn tells us, " Two elms at St. John's
College, Oxford, were sizeable trees in the
reign of Queen Mary ; and at Fulham, there

p 4

216 SYLVA FLO1UFE11A.

are, or were, some elms planted in the time
of King Edward the Sixth ; and one at Rich-
mond, said to be planted by a courtier, of
King Henry VIL whilst that king kept his
court there."

Madame de Genlis speaks of an elm of great
size in this country ; in the hollow trunk of
which she says a poor woman gave birth to
an infant, and where she afterwards resided
for a long time. This tree, which is a great
curiosity, is still standing in the village of
Crawley ; but as the parish is not willing to
be burthened with all the young elms that
might have been brought forth from the trunk
of this singular tree, the lord of the ma-
nor has very wisely put up a door to the en-
trance of this lying-in hospital, and which is
kept locked, except upon particular occasions,
when the neighbours meet to enjoy their pipe,
and tell old tales in the cavity of this elm,
that is capable of containing a party of more
than a dozen. The interior of this tree is
paved with bricks, and in other respects made
comfortable for those that it embarks.

In our plantations we find but few trees
that excel the elm in height or beauty, parti-
cularly when it stands singly and meets a fa-
vourable soil. Its foliage then forms grand
masses of light and shade in a manner so pe-

ELM. 217

culiar to itself, that we might almost fancy it
a clump of green clouds, which sometimes
obscure, and sometimes admit the light,
showing branches distinct from the leafy-
clouds, which again support other masses of
foliage, that forms a group of harmony not
excelled in any other majestic tree.

" Thus when we view a well-proportioned dome,
(The world's just wonder, and even thine, O Rome !)
No single parts unequally surprise,
All comes united to th' admiring eyes :
No monstrous height, or breadth, or length appear ;
The whole at once is bold and regular."

POPE.

A few detached elms before clumps of
pines or firs, add greatly to the beauty of the
plantation, as the extreme softness of the
colour of the elm leaves in the spring, and the
delicate manner in which they seem sprinkled
over the branches, have a delightful effect.

" No numbers can the varying robe express,
While each new day presents a different dress."

The autumn changes the full green foliage
of the elm to a yellow or ochre colour, which
enlivens the dark tints ,of the fir, scarce less
agreeably than its juvenile shades. This tree
varies exceedingly in the colour of its foliage,
as well as in the size of its leaves, by the least
change of soil. Thus we often see two neigh-

218 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

bouring elms, whose roots have run into dif-
ferent strata, forming almost a different variety
of this tree.

Linnaeus considered all the European elms
as making only one species, whilst Ray and
Goody er describe four ; but modern botanists
distinguish only two species, and consider the
other kinds as varieties of these. The com-
mon elm, ulmus campestris, gives out its flowers
generally about the end of March, which are
monopetalous, and bell-shaped, closely thrust
together on the twigs or branches. They
make so little show, that they would scarcely
be perceptible were they not to make their
appearance before the leaves come out. This
species of elm does not flower until it has
acquired considerable size and height. The
seeds, which are not much unlike the garden
arach seed in size and form, generally fall
about the time the leaves come out, and few
of them hang to ripen. The leaves are what
botanists denominate doubly serrate, that is,
with small teeth upon each of the large ones,
like some descriptions of saws. The elm leaf
is rough and harsh on both sides, and the leaf
is remarkable for having the principal nerve
not quite in the middle; therefore the branch-
ing nerves are longeron one side than theother.

The btoadJeaved elm, Wich elm, or Wych

ELM. 219

hazel, ulmus montana, suspends its flowers on
longer peduncles, and more loosely spread
out than those of the foregoing elm; and it
likewise blossoms when younger than the
common sort. The trunk of this kind of elm
soon divides into long, wide-spreading, winged
branches, but it seldom rises so high as the
common elm. This kind is hardy enough to
climb the steeps, and flourish in the remotest
Highlands of Scotland.

" The Wich elm," says Mr. Gilpin, in his
Forest Scenery, " is perhaps generally more
picturesque than the common sort, as it hangs
more negligently; though, at the same time,
with this negligence, it loses in a good degree
that happy surface for catching masses of
light, which we admire in the common elm."

The Dutch elm, ulmus suberosa. This
variety was brought from Holland at the
beginning of King William's reign. The
leaves of this elm are large, but the timber is
of a very inferior quality to our common elm.

Of the American elms cultivated in this
country, the Hortus Kewensis notices three
varieties; the first of which was introduced
or planted by Mr. James Gordon, in 1752,
who also cultivated the hornbeam-leaved elm,
in 1760, which is also a native of North Ame-
rica, as well as the drooping elm, which takes

220 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

its name from the pendant position of its
branches, and is also distinguished by its
smooth oblong leaves.

Columella tells us, that the Romans fed
their cattle with the leaves of the elm ; for
which purpose, Evelyn says, they are not to
be despised ; for being suffered to dry in the
sun, on the branches, and the spray stripped
off about the end of August, these he directs
to be placed in a dry barn, and says, when
hay .and fodder is dear, they are of great ser-
vice, and that the cattle will eat them in pre-
ference to oats, and thrive exceedingly well
with them. But since the introduction of
clover, and other exotic grasses and plants so
abundantly into our fields, the trees are but
rarely robbed of their verdure to feed our
cattle : yet we are surprised not to see the
fallen leaves collected in the autumn, since
every gardener . knows that no manure is
superior to decayed leaves.

We learn from the plays of M. Accius
Plautus, that elm twigs were anciently used
as instruments of castigation ; for this comic
poet speaks of a rogue who had been chastised
so often, that he had wasted all the elms in
the country, in rods and cudgels.

Elm timber is in great esteem for pipes
that are constantly underground ; and it is in-

ELM. 221

calculable what a quantity of these trees were
swallowed by the numberless streets of our
monstrous capital before iron pipes were
placed in its stomach; and which, together
with substituting that metal instead of elm
for our last habitations, must be the means of
making elm timber more plentiful for other
purposes.

Captain Woodroofe's Journal informs us,
that the greater part of the Persian vessels
are built of elm timber, which abounds in the
province of Peribazar.

Evelyn says in his Sylva, " Elm timber is of
singular use ; especially where it may lie con-
tinually dry, or wet, in extremes ; therefore,
proper for water-works, mills, the ladles and
soles of the wheels, pipes, pumps, aqueducts,
pales, ship-planks beneath the water-line, &c.
&c. A second-rate charcoal is made from this
wood, and rails and gates of elm, thin sawed,
are not so apt to rive as oak."

It has scarcely any superior for kirbs of
coppers, feather edge, and weather boards ;
but it does not without difficulty admit the
nail, without boring. His Grace the Duke
of Devonshire planted 54,143 young elms on
his estates between the years 1816 and 1819.

It was much more common formerly than
at present in the southern counties of Eng-
land, for weather boarding the sides of barns,

222 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

stables, and even dwelling-houses for the far-
mers ; but many of these were exchanged for
buildings of brick and stone, during the long
war, which dazzled all eyes with a deceptive
prosperity, whilst it ate away the substance of
the country like a polypus in the flesh.

Medical writers have not been sparing of
their commendations of the virtues of the
elm, every part of which, from the root to the
leaf, was esteemed a sovereign remedy for
some complaint ; but our space will not allow
us to publish all the secrets of Theophrastus,
Dioscorides, Galen, Pliny, Matthiolus, Bau-
hine, Ray, and a long list of other writers,
who have recorded the cures performed by
means of the elm. We fear that a greater
number of their patients were boxed up in
the planks of this tree, than were cured by
its bark.

The elm leaves are often found with blis-
ters on them, occasioned by the pricking of
insects, and include a viscous juice, called elm
water, which we should not have mentioned
as being good for recent wounds and bruises,
but we find the fair sex of former days used it
to wound mankind, as an old writer assures us
that it was with this wash that they " bright-
ened the skin of their faces, and made their
countenances so amiable."

All the varieties of the elm may be raised

ELM. 223

from seeds, or propagated by layers or suckers
taken from the roots of the old trees. We
have lately seen elms of a considerable size
transplanted, but they seldom make much
new wood ; and younger trees soon produce
a better shade, and outrun the older plants,
particularly if little trenches be dug near the
roots to hold the rain water, that will greatly
facilitate their growing in dry summers, and
retain their verdure much longer. We ob-
served this practice and its advantages in
many new-formed boulevards and plantations
of elms in the vicinity of Paris, where this
tree is not less a favorite than in the environs
of London, as the following beautiful lines
of Gresset will shew : —

Feuillage antique et venerable,
Temple des bergers de ces lieux,
Orme heureux, monument durable
De la pauvrete respectable,
Et des amours de leurs ai'eux ;
O toi ! qui depuis la duree
De trente lustres revolus,
Couvres de ton ombre sacree
Leurs danses, leurs jeux ingenus ;
Sur ces bords, depuis ta jeunesse
Jusqu'a cette verte vieillesse,
Vis-tu jamais changer leurs moeurs,
Et leur felicite premiere
Fuir devant la fausse lumiere,
De mille brillantes erreurs ?
Non. Chez cette race fidele,

224 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

Tu vois encor ce pur flambeau
De 1'innocence naturelle,
Que tu voyois briller chez elle,
Lorsque tu n'etois qu'arbrisseau.
Et pour bien peindre la memoire
De ces mortels qui font plante,
Tu nous oflfres pour leur histoire,
Les moeurs de leur posterite.
Triomphe, regne sur les ages,
Echappe toujours aux ravages
D'Eole, du fer et des ans ;
Fleuris jusqu'au dernier printemps,
Et dure autant que ces rivages.
Au chene, au cedre fastueux,
Laisse les tristes avantages
D'orner des palais somptueux ;
Les lambris couvrent de faux sages,
Tes rameaux couvrent des heureux.

FIR-TREE. — PINUS.

Natural order, Conifer CB. A genus of the
Moncecia Monadelphia class.

" Yon verdant pines, that midst the winter smile,
Offspring of Scotia or Virginia's soil,
The world's extremes within their branches join'd,
To either hemisphere convey thy mind."

DELILLE.

— — " Towering firs in conic forms arise,
And with a pointed spear divide the skies."

PRIOR.

IT is not only in the countries of the north,
but also on the summits of eastern mountains,
that the fir and the pine-tree rear their heads
without the aid of man. We have already
noticed, that the forests of Lebanon were
composed of firs as well as cedars. " I will
do," said Hiram to Solomon, " all thy desire,
concerning timber of cedar and timber of fir."

The allwise Providence, who scattered the
palms over the torrid zone, giving the cocoa-
tree to the sea-shore, and the date to desert

VOL. I. Q

226 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

rocks and sands, has with the same wisdom
allotted the fir and the pine their dominion
on those bleak and elevated mountains, which
attract the snows to their summits, in order
that the valleys may be refreshed by their
descending streams.

Every part of these trees displays infinite
wisdom in their formation, which is so pecu-
liarly adapted to their native mountains. The
resinous juices, with which their trunks and
branches abound, defy the rigour of the frost
to congeal the sap, whilst the filiform nature
of the leaves of these evergreen trees are not
less happily adapted for resistance to the im-
petuosity of the winds, that beat with such
violence on elevated situations. As these
trees were designed by nature for perpetual
winter, their foliage possesses the farther
advantage of reverberating the heat, like the
hair of animals.

The Swedish naturalists have observed
that the fattest pines are to be found on the
dryest and most sandy regions of Norway ;
and Mathiola, in his useful commentary on
Dioscorides, informs us that there is no sub-
stance more proper than the charcoal of those
trees for prompt melting the 'iron minerals,
in the vicinity of which they peculiarly thrive.
The closeness of their foliage shelters the

FIR-TREE. 227

mountaineer from the snow, whilst their
branches furnish him with fuel and torches.

The fruit or seed of these trees is so
wonderfully protected by the formation of
their cones, against the inclemency of the
weather, that man evidently first borrowed
from them the idea of placing shingles, tiles,
and slates to the roofs of his dwellings.

From the class Moncecia, in which these
trees are placed, the botanist will know that
they produce male and female flowers se-
parately, but on the same tree. The male
flowers are so productive of farina, that it has
sometimes been carried away by the winds,
in such quantities, as to alarm the ignorant
with the notion of its raining brimstone.
Clouds of this yellow dust may often be seen
hovering around these trees in the spring,
when the stigmas are ready to receive this
fructifying powder.

The ancient Persians paid great attention
to the natural history of plants, and often
used them in allegory, both in writing and
speaking. Herodotus relates that Darius
sent word to the Greeks of Ionia, who were
laying waste the country, that if they did not
give over their depredations, he would treat
them like pines. The Greeks, who by this
time had become infected with wit, and had

Q 2

228 SYLVA FLOPJFERA.

proportionally began to lose sight of nature,
did not comprehend the meaning of this ;
but, upon enquiry, they discovered that
Darius meant they should understand it to be
his resolution utterly to exterminate them ;
for the pine-tree once cut down shoots out
again no more.

It is scarcely possible to behold the dark
towering pine and fir, without having our
thoughts carried back to very early ages, and
also our reflections; for these trees remind
us of from what small beginnings great events
often take birth.

These trees were dedicated to Diana, the
immaculate virgin,, who was supposed to pre-
side over hunting. She was represented by
the moon, because the light of the moon was
propitious to huntsmen, for spreading their
nets and other toils to entrap the game. The
sports of the field were thought to be un-
favourable to Venus, and were therefore
more sacred to Diana. In the forest, the
pine-tree was naturally made the rendezvous
for the followers of the chase. The hunts-
man then suspended the head of a wolf on
the branches of the pine or fir, to secure the
protection of the chaste goddess. In time,
the whole skin was displayed on it ; and as in
that age, like the present time, there were

Flit-TKEE. 229

persons ready to turn this superstition to some
account, they built a chapel for this goddess,
where was offered not only a wolf's skin, but
whole carcasses of sheep likewise, as a secu-
rity to the rest of the flock from the jaws of
the wolf. As offerings multiplied, the at-
tendance on the chapel increased ; the huntsr
men attracted pilgrims to the altar of pines,
and the pilgrims allured dealers of necessaries
to the spot. Thus, a town sprang up around
the chapel, naturally filled with crafty and
credulous persons. At length, oracles were
announced and victories predicted ; for which,
generals and kings sent magnificent presents,
until one of the chapels became a temple of
such vast size and magnificence, as to be
deemed one of the seven wonders of the
world. It was this temple which is men-
tioned in the Acts of the Apostles, by selling
silver models of which, the silversmiths of
Ephesus made such great profit ; and which
they were in danger of losing by the intro-
duction of Christianity. They, therefore,
excited a furious tumult against its first
preachers, whose principles were too pure,
and full of charity and humanity, to be at
first understood by the heathens; whose
priests, no doubt, knew that fear has greater
influence over the human mind, in general,

Q 3

230 SYLVA FLORIFERA,

than confidence. Thus, at Tauris, the wor-
ship of Diana, was converted into one of
terror, by having human sacrifices offered up
to her ; thus, transforming, what was in simple
times intended to benefit mankind, into a
curse, by the craft of those who perverted
simple prayers to the profit of themselves,
a temple and a city, where imposts were not
only levied to support the priests, but all
strangers landing there, or driven on their
shores by storms, were cruelly immolated.

Garlands of pine leaves were awarded to
the victors in the combats and sacred games of
the Isthmia, which were celebrated by the
Greeks every fifth year, and observed and
held so sacred and inviolable, that even a
public calamity could not prevent the cele-
bration. These festivals received their name
from the isthmus of Corinth, where they were
observed as early as 1326 years before the
Christian era ; and when Corinth was de-
stroyed by Mummius*, the Roman general,
the games were observed with the usual so-
lemnity, and the Sicyonians were entrusted

* Mummius, when he sent the precious statues and ex-
quisite paintings of the Grecian artists to Rome from
Corinth, threatened the masters of the vessels which con-
veyed them, that if their cargoes were injured or destroyed
they should furnish new articles at their own expense.

FIR-THEE.

with the superintendence, which had been
before one of the privileges of the ruined
Corinthians.

The fir was also dedicated to Pan as the
god of huntsmen ; and from his supposed
residence being in those woods that are situ-
ated on rugged mountains, where the pine and
fir-tree love to dwell.

The fir-tree was also sacred to Cybele, the
wife of Saturn ; hence Atys is generally re-
presented as being supported by a fir-tree.
The cones of the fir-tree were employed in
the mysteries of Cybele, where even the
priests were the first to indulge in the un-
bounded licentiousness and obscenities which
prevailed in this festival.

The cones of the fir-tree were also offered
up to Bacchus, and were likewise to be seen
on the altars of jEsculapius.

Most of the temples of antiquity had their
sacred groves or forests attached to them,
where those abominable rites were often cele-
brated with the most horrible indecencies
and terrible sacrifices. Cinnis, or Cercyon,
was surnamed the bender of pines, because he
tied his victims to the tops of two pines,
which he bent down, and which, when he suf-
fered them to rise again, tore the unfortunate
wretch to pieces-

Q 4

232 SYLVA FLORIPERA.

How can we sufficiently admire those
sacred writers, who forbid the sacrifices of
these detestable groves and abominable idols,
but have made them the spots for quiet con-
templation and calm reflection ? Lord Thur-
low says —

<; The forest is to me the sweetest college

Of any, that the outward world can show.
Lacking professors, yet most rich in knowledge,
For vile profession is to virtue foe.

Wisdom doth here in all its branches grow,

Preaching in stones, and from the senseless wood,

Brawls in the brooks, and, wheresoe'er we go,
The tongueless lecture still is understood."

Pliny tells us that neither the fir or pine
grew naturally in the vicinity of Rome. This
author observes that the best timber of this
kind grew on the Alps and Apennines,
from which circumstance we presume these
mountains derived their names, as the Alps
are frequently called Alpine mountains.

Pliny says likewise that there are excellent
firs in France, Corsica, Bithynia, Pontus, and
Macedonia ; those which grew in Arcadia,
he states, were not so good, but the worst
grew on Mount Parnassus.

It is a remark of Caesar's, in his Commen-
taries, that during his stay in Britain, he did
not see a fir-tree. At what exact period it

FIR-TREE. 233

was first given to us by the Scotch is uncer-
tain ; but it now beautifies the English hills
as much as the union has benefited the Scot-
tish people ; and it appears to us that we have
as good a claim to the fir as the land of
thistles.

Turner only notices what the ancient au-
thors have written on these trees ; nor does
Gerard state that the fir was cultivated in
England in his time ; but from his account of
this tree, we may claim it as a native of some
counties in England, unless the Scotch have a
claim prior to the deluge, or the formation
of the Roman roads in England, in which
case, with all our love for our rights, we shall
cheerfully cede the fir-tree, pinus sylvestris, to
our Highland friends.

Gerard says, " The Firre trees growe vpon
high mountains, in many woods in Germanie
and Bohemia, in which it commethdowne often-
times into the valleies: they are found, likewise,
in Pruse, Pomerania, Liefeland, Russia, and
especially in Norway ; where I have seene
the goodliest trees in the worlde of this kinde,
growing vpon the rockie and craggie moun-
taines, almost without any earth about them,
or any other thing, sauing a little moss about
the rootes, which thrust themselues heere and
there into the chinkes and cranies of the

234 SYLVA FLORIFEHA.

rockes, and therefore are easily cast downe
with any extreme gale of winde. I haue
seehe these trees growing in Cheshire, Staf-
fordshire, and Lancashire, where they grew
in great plentie, as is reported, before Noah's
floud ; but then being ouerturned, and ouer-
whelmed haue lien since in the mosses and
waterie moorish grounds, very fresh and
sound vntill this day ; and so full of a resin-
ous substance, that they burne like a torch
or linke, and the inhabitants of those coun-
tries do call it Firre wood, and fire woode
vnto this day." From this it seems probable
that we have given name to this tree, as it has
no similitude to that of any other language,
and it seems that its various names have been
derived from the uses it was put to in Gerard's
time, who calls it Firre tree (fire tree), Mast
tree, and Deale tree.

Martyn says in his edition of Miller, " As
to the immense forests of fir or pine discovered
under ground, in various parts of these king-
doms, they were probably the Pinus sylvestris
or Scotch pine : for the subterraneous cones
which I have seen, evidently belonged to this
species." Had Caesar seen more of England,
he no doubt would have seen fir-trees in
many parts of the country, as they have been
found in many situations, where the Romans

FIR-TREE. 235

had thrown them down to form a basis to
their roads in mosses and bogs. Mr. Whit-
aker says in his History of Manchester, " I
have now in my possession two pieces of tried
genuine fir, that were bedded with the remains
of a birch-tree, one yard and a half in the
mossy soil, and three yards under the crown
of the Roman gravel ; and it has also been
very recently dug up, by myself, under the
roots of the road over Failsworth Moss."

This tree is not peculiar to Scotland or
England alone, as it is common in many
parts of Europe, and Mr. Duhamel mentions
his having received cones of this species of
fir-tree from St. Domingo. The wood of this
fir is the red or yellow deal, which is the most
durable of any of the kinds yet known.

The Scotch fir is known from other species,
by the leaves which issue from a white trun-
cated little sheath, in pairs ; they are linear,
acuminate, quite entire, striated, convex on
one side, and flat on the other, from an inch
and a half to two inches in length, of a grey-
ish green.

The cones are small, pyramidal, and end in
narrow points ; they are of a light colour, and
the seeds are small. The scales of the male
catkins roll back at top, and are feathered.

In favourable soils and situations, this tree

236 SYLVA FLOHIFERA.

grows to the height of eighty feet, with a
straight trunk. The bark is of a brownish
colour and full of crevices. It is known by
experience, that we have scarcely any soil .so
bad, or exposure so bleak, where this tree will
not live ; but when planted upon clayey soils,
the timber is not of so good a quality, or the
tree so long lived, nor does this species of fir
stand the sea air so well as some other kinds,
particularly the Pinaster.

Nature is the only pruner that should touch
the fir-tree, as the lower branches gradually
decay, from the root to the top, leaving no
knot or blemish ; and the time for felling these
trees is kn9wn to be when all the branches are
dead, except those at the very top. If a fir-tree,
whilst in a vigorous state of growth, be much
pruned, it will be reduced to premature old
age, by the escape of its inflammatory juices.

The fir-tree is not calculated to stand in a
small shrubbery ; it belongs to a bolder style
of scenery, and should be planted so as to
give height to our hills, and variety to our
views, where

" Trees unnumber'd rise,
Beautiful in various dyes:
The gloomy pine, the poplar blue,
The yellow beech, the sable yew,
The slender fir, that taper grows,
The sturdy oak with broad spread boughs."

DYER.

FIR-TREE. 237

In extensive shrubberies, on hilly situa-
tions, the fir-tree may sometimes be both
usefully and ornamentally employed, as a
back ground to shelter the more delicate
trees, whose lighter foliage will also shine
with more splendour by the contrast. When
the walks wind near or through the planta-
tions of firs, we should do well to take a hint
from Shenstone, who says,

" Not a pine in my grove is there seen,

But with tendrils of woodbine is bound ;
Not a beech's more beautiful green,
But a sweet-brier entwines it around."

But this hardy offspring of bleak and snowy
mountains seems intended for utility more
than beauty, and we would, therefore, recom-
mend it to be planted for profit rather than
pleasure, for few trees have been applied to
more uses than this. From the time of So-
lomon to the present day, it has formed raf-
ters to the houses of our cities, and masts to
the vessels of our navy.

Dant utile lignum

Navigiis Pinus. Georg. ii.

" The useful pine for ships. "

Its resinous and durable quality has recom-
mended it for numberless domestic purposes,
in modern as well as ancient times ; when, if
we can rely on poetical accounts, it was used
by the Greeks in the formation of the cele-

238 JSYLVA FLORIFERA.

brated horse which Sinon prevailed on the
Trojans to admit into their city, and which
caused its overthrow.

" The Grecian chiefs for many years in vain
Attacking Troy, yet being repulsed again,
At last a horse of mountain size contrived
By Pallas' art, that moved and seem'd alive ;
For ribs were massy planks of Firs inlaid,
And a report throughout their camp they spread
That for their safe return, avow they'd made;
But in the hollow of the vast machine
They had convey'd choice troops of armed men."

LAUDERDALE.

The advantages that have arisen from the
forming large plantations of the Scotch fir in
the northern parts of Scotland, have not been
confined alone to the profit obtained upon
the timber, which has been such as fully to
satisfy the owners, but it has rendered some
of the barest moors, the bleakest and most
inhospitable situations, habitable, and thus as
it were, extended the bounds of these domi-
nions ; for with these plantations, dwellings
have sprung up, and land, which thirty years
ago was not considered worth twopence per
acre, now, in many instances, lets from ten
to thirty shillings per Scotch acre.

In the neighbourhood of these large plant-
ations, houses can be reared at little ex-
pence, which induces settlers to make their
dwellings in these spots, where they can ob-

16

FIR-TREE. 239

tain timber, not only for building, but also to
form good fences to their gardens and fields?
and fuel for their hearth, whilst cutting and
manufacturing the wood furnishes employ-
ment to many. Hence the population is
augmented, and a demand for land, which is
soon brought into a state for cultivating hardy
plants.

The leaves and branches of the Scotch fir
afford a very wholesome nourishment to cat-
tle and sheep, which is no small consideration
in mountainous countries, where the snow
lies sometimes upon the ground for many
weeks together. The resinous roots are dug
out of the ground in many parts of the high-
lands of Scotland, and being divided into
small splinters, are used by the inhabitants
instead of candles. The fishermen make
ropes of the inner bark, and hard necessity
has taught the Laplanders and Kamschatdales
to convert it into bread. To effect this, in
spring they strip off the outer bark carefully
from the fairest trees, and collect the soft
white succulent interior bark, and dry it in
the shade. When they have occasion to use
it, they first toast it at the fire, then grind it
into powder, which they steep in warm water
.tp take off the resinous taste ; it is then formed
into thin cakes, baked, and eaten with as

240 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

much thankfulness, or more, than the poor
of this country would accept oaten cakes or
brown wheaten bread.

Linnaeus remarks, that the bark of the fir-
tree so prepared will fatten swine ; which is
an observation that may be worthy the atten-
tion of the Highlander. It is said that the
boys in Sweden frequently peel off the bark
of this tree in the spring, and eat it raw with
much pleasure.

It is from the trunk and branches of the fir
and pine trees that tar and pitch are obtained.
Thus we take not only their body, but their
very blood for the formation and security of
our shipping. It is curious, says Pliny, that
those trees, which are so much sought after
for nautical affairs, should delight to dwell on
the highest mountains, as if they fled from the
sea, through fear of the waters. Burgundy
pitch and turpentine are also procured from
these trees, which are so extremely resinous,
that if not evacuated of their juice, they often
swell and burst. The juice, as it issues from
the tree, is received in trenches made in the
earth, and afterwards freed of its grosser im-
purities by colature through wicker baskets.

The common turpentine is about the con-
sistency of honey, of an opake, brownish-
white colour ; it dissolves in rectified spirits,

SILVER FIR-TREE. 241

and its use in medicines is as well known to
the apothecary, as to the house-painter as a
drier. Nor is the rosin which oozes from
these trees better known to the scrapers of
catgut than to the manufacturers of salves
and ointments ; and as Orpheus set the trees
in motion by his melodious strains, so has
this tree in return assisted mankind to make
the merry movement " on light fantastic
toe." This favourite tree of Pan lends its aid
also in giving breath and tone to the solemn
sounds of the organ's harmonious voice. Thus
the gay and the grave are equally indebted to
this tree of the mountain, in whose branches,
says the Psalmist, " the heron loves to build
her nest."

THE SILVER FIR-TREE. —Pinus Picea.

THIS noble tree is surnamed Picea, or Pitch-
tree, from the quantity of tenacious juice or
gum which its trunk yields; and which, in
ship-building is so well known by the name of
pitch. We call it the Silver Fir, from the
colour of its leaves on the under side, which
have a white line running lengthwise on each
side of the midrib, and as these leaves are

VOL, I. R

242 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

shorter and broader than those of other firs
and pines, and likewise set much thicker
on the spray, it has a beautiful silvery appear-
ance when the under side is viewed, or when
the wind turns the branches from the eye,
whilst the upper surface is of the brightest
and handsomest green of all the species of fir.

The silver fir throws off its lower branches
as it acquires age, leaving its bark smooth and
delicate. It grows perfectly upright, and to
a great height, carrying all its foliage at the
top, like the palm. We have lately seen two

trees of this kind in the Hare garden of

Sargeson, Esq. near Cuckfield, which, for size
and beauty are not exceeded by any trees of
this kind in the kingdom. The cones of this
fir are of considerable size and beauty. Tour-
nefort tells us in his travels that he has re-
ceived cones of this fir from mount Olympus,
upwards of a foot in length.

The pinus picea is a native of Switzerland
and Germany, Dauphine, Austria, Siberia,
mount Caucasus, &c. Evelyn is the earliest
author who notices the tree in this country.
He tells us, in 1663, that there were then two
silver firs growing in Harefield Park, Middle-
sex, belonging to Mr. Serjeant Newdigate,
that were planted there in 1603, at two years'
growth from the seed, the biggest of which

SILVER FIR-TREE. 243

was eighty-one feet high, and thirteen feet
in circumference below ; the length, so far as
it is timber, that is, to six inches square,
seventy-three feet ; in the middle, seventeen
inches square, and containing 146 feet of
good timber, which it acquired in about sixty-
three years.

It has been observed in Ireland, that no
tree grows speedily to so large a size as the
silver fir ; some of forty years growth, in a
wet clay, on a rock, measuring twelve feet
in circumference, at the ground, and seven
feet and a half at five feet high. It is known
to be excellent timber for boat-building and
Mr. Young tells us of a gentleman in Hamp-
shire, who floored his library with silver fir,
fresh cut down, and the boards did not con-
tract in the least.

In forming plantations, our first care should
be to attend to the nature of the soil, and
then select those trees which thrive best on
the kind of food we are about to offer them ;
for they are all, says Delille,

" In secret channels fed,

From root to trunk the wandering sap is led;
Thence through the boughs its liquid virtue sends,
Till in the leaves its rising effort ends."

" I have seen," says Martyn, " some fine
trees of this sort of fir, which grew upon natural

R 2

244 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

bogs, where, by extending their roots, they had
drained the ground to a considerable distance
round them." " It is in vain," says Mr. Bou-
cher, " to plant the silver fir in hot, dry, or
rocky situations, where it commonly loses the
top shoots,andtheunder branches soon become
ragged. The largest and most flourishing trees
are seen on sour, heavy, obstinate clay ; and
though for ten or twelve years they do not
advance so fast as several other firs and pines,
yet in twenty they will outgrow them all.
They should not be too close, but require a
free circulation of air; whilst the Scotch fir,
which thrives in a different soil and situation,
prospers best when planted thick ; for it is
observed, that until the branches intermingle
and mutually support each other, the trees
never begin to advance with vigour. These
plantations generally require thinning from
about the tenth to the fourteenth year after
planting."

The Dutch have made many a vain attempt
to make the fir grow at the Cape of Good
Hope, in order to find a supply of ship-masts,
which sell at a high price in India ; but in
England we can find a tree that will grow in
every soil we possess, and often to great ad-
vantage. In a little work entitled Practical
Economy, we are told that in the year 1758,

SILVER FIR-TREE. 245

ninety-two fir-trees were planted upon a piece
of ground, about three quarters of an acre in
extent. The land was waste and poor: no
extra expense was incurred, and no attention
was paid to the young trees. In 1813 they
were cut down, and yielded ninety tons of
timber, then worth 41. per ton, giving a round
sum of 360/. which was equal to a rent of
61. Ws. during the intervening fifty-five
years.

We have often regretted that the trustees
of public roads cannot be induced to plant
the waste ground which often borders the
turnpike with trees, which would greatly or-
nament the country, accommodate the tra-
veller by shade and shelter, and in time be
the means of lowering the toll.

The balm of Gilead fir, pinus balsamea, is so
called, because the turpentine which is ob-
tained from the wounds of this tree, is similar
to the true balm of Gilead, for which it is
sometimes sold. The buds and leaves of this
tree are also very fragrant, which induces us
to give it a situation in the shrubbery. It is
a native of North America, and was growing
in the Bishop of London's garden, at Fulham,
as long back as 1696; but it does not ge-
nerally arrive at any considerable size in this
country. The finest specimens, we are told,

R 3

246 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

are at Woburn Abbey, in Bedfordshire, the
seat of His Grace the Duke of Bedford. It
requires a sheltered situation and a good deep
soil. The leaves are coloured, like those of
the silver fir, but wider and blunter, and
disposed on each side along the branches
like the teeth of a comb ; but in a double
row, the upper one shorter than the under.
Underneath, they are marked with a double
glaucous line, and each has eight rows of
white dots. The cones of this fir are small
and of a roundish shape.

The hemlock fir, pinus Canadensis, is also a
native of North America. It was first intro-
duced into English pleasure-grounds by Peter
Collinson, Esq., in the year 1736. It is a
beautiful but delicate tree, requiring a good
soil and a warm sheltered situation. Mr.
Boucher says, it would be improved by
tying its leading shoot to a stake annually as
it advances. It is not found to thrive well in
any part of England, nor in many parts of
America; though, in other parts of that
continent, it grows to be a very large tree.

247

FURZE. — ULEX. — GORSE OR WHIN.

Natural order, Papilionacece or Leguminosce.
A genus of the Diadelphia Decandrla class.

" The common, overgrown with fern, and rough
With prickly gorse, that shapeless and deform'd,
And dangerous to the touch, has yet its bloom,
And decks itself with ornaments of gold,
Yields no unpleasing ramble : there the turf
Smells fresh, and rich in odoriferous herbs."

COWPER.

THIS British beauty too rarely occupies a
spot in the English shrubbery, where its
yellow flowers would shine as conspicuous in
the dreary month of November, and scarcely
less ornamental than the gay laburnum of
May and June ; and which it as greatly excels
in perfume, as in the duration of its flowering,
which is generally from the end of March,
until the end of December; and even the
remaining months, are not without some
sprinkling of these papilionaceous flowers;
and from which the rustics remark, that love

R 4

248 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

goes out of fashion, when the furze is out of
blossom.

This plant, which is as singular by its
chevaux-de-frise branches, as enlivening by its
golden colour, is only to be found in tem-
perate climates. Provence is its boundary
to the south, and it reaches neither Sweden
nor Russia towards the north. Linnaeus
lamented that he could hardly preserve it
alive in a greenhouse; and so rare is it in
many parts of Germany, that Dillenius, their
botanist, was in a perfect ecstasy, when he first
visited England, and saw our commons co-
vered with the gay flowers of the furze-bush.

" The sight is pleased,

The scent regaled, each odoriferous leaf,
Each opening blossom, freely breathes abroad
Its gratitude, and thanks him with its sweets !"

Gerard tells us, that he was " desired by
diners earnest letters," to send seeds of our
common furze and broom to Dantzick,
Brunswick, and Poland, where the plants
were most curiously kept in their fairest
gardens.

The furze-bush is the favourite nestling
bush of one of our feathered warblers, which
did not escape the sweet poet of the seasons.

" Nor are the linnets, o'er the flowering furze
Pour'd oat profusely, silent."

FURZE. 249

How many situations have we seen, where
the hedge-rows might be relieved of their
sameness, and a cheerful variety given to the
view, by simply scattering a few clumps of
furze-seed at unequal distances ;

— " Affording prospect sweet

To human ken ;

the yellow fields

Gaily interchanged, with rich variety
Pleasing, as when an emerald green, enchased
In flamy gold, from the bright mass acquires
A nobler hue, more delicate to sight."

In the shrubbery, it should be placed at a
distance from the walks; and where it is
viewed between or beneath evergreen-trees,
it has the best effect. In these situations, it
often grows to a considerable height, and
forms an admirable shelter to more delicate
plants.

Although the furze-bush is sometimes quite
cut off by severe frost, yet it springs up again
from the root with additional beauty ; and it
has the quality of enduring the sea-breeze,
which it seems to delight in, as we have
found it in flower at all seasons of the year in
such situations, and often so near to the
edge of the water, as to have its roots washed
by the advancing waves. These are situa-
tions, also, where it should be cultivated

250 SYLVA FLORIFE11A.

particularly by those who have dwellings near
the shore, as the ocean is seen with ad-
ditional advantage, when viewed over these
yellow-clad shrubs.

The furze is generally considered to be the
£jut£&tf£ (scorpius) of Theophrastus, and the
Ulex of Pliny, which was a shrub, the ashes of
which were used as a lie for separating gold
from the substances with which it was mixed.
In later times it was evidently thought to be
a species of broom, as Dodonseus, Bauhinus,
Tragus, Lobel, and other writers style it
Genista spinosa (thorny broom).

Gerard says, " There be diuers sorts of
prickley broome, called in our English toong
by sundry names, according to the speech of
the countrey people where they do growe;
in some places Furzes, in Others Whinnes and
Gorsse, and of some Prickley Broome." This
author adds, " We haue in our barren grounds
of the north parts of England another sort of
furze, bringing foorth the like prickly thornes
that the others haue ; the onely difference
consisting in the colour of the flowers ; for
the others bring foorth yellowe flowers, and
those of this plant are as white as snowe."
He calls this plant Genista spinosa Jlore albo.

Parkinson says, in 1640, "In the north
parts of this land I heare that in divers places,
13

FURZE. 251

the furse, or gorse bushes as they call them,
beare very white flowers, differing in nothing
else from them that bear yellow, for they are
often seene both growing together in one
ground."

As we have neither seen or heard of this
variety in modern times, we fear it has be-
come extinct ; and that it was merely a va-
riety caused by the seed falling into some
peculiar spot of soil, which had become more
delicate than the natural plant.

Furze is not without its uses in rural eco-
nomy ; but time which civilizes one country,
and throws others back into barbarity, changes
also the habits of men so effectually, that
what is deemed a blessing in one age, is al-
most considered a curse in the next. In this
kingdom, where we now descend into the
bowels of the earth and scoop out its stratas
of sulphureous inflammable fossils, for our
domestic fuel and manufactory fires, the furze-
bush is less regarded than formerly, and more
particularly since the improvement of our
roads and the increase of our canals has ren-
dered the conveyance of coals so easy to all
parts of the country, that it is now generally
vised by the agriculturist in burning lime,
which was formerly done by furze-bushes
only. No longer back than the time of

252 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

Charles the Second, we are told by Evelyn,
that the cultivation of the common furze was
as profitable in Herefordshire, on their poor
land, as the best wheat land in England. He
adds, that " in Devonshire (the seat of the
best husbands in the world) they sow on
their worst land, well plowed, the seeds of
the rankest furze, which, in four or five years,
becomes a rich wood : no provender, as we
say, makes horses so hardy as the young tops
of these furzes ; no other wood so thick, nor
more excellent fuel. The young and tender
tops of furze, being a little bruised, and given
to a lean horse," he tells us, " will strangely
recover and plump him." M. Pirolle informs
us in Le Bon Jardinier for 1822, that in many
parts of France, particularly Normandy, the
furze-bush is ground or bruised in a cider-
mill, and given to their horses with advan-
tage. Goats, kine, and sheep, as well as horses,
feed upon the tender tops of furze with plea-
sure. It is at present much less sown for
hedges than it was some years back, because
it was found to become naked at bottom,
which might be prevented by keeping it cut
in the same manner as the quick-set. On
very poor hungry gravel or sandy land this
crop may still be turned to profit, as the
country house-wife will give a price for the

FURZE. 253

furze faggot, which heats her oven, and
supplies her with excellent ashes for her lie.
During the height of agricultural prosperity,
it was principally sown as a cover for game,
for which it is admirably adapted ; and it is
with great pleasure we see it employed for this
purpose in poor lands, as we are no less an
advocate for the increase and preservation of
game, than we are desirous to see the game
laws new modelled and justly administered;
for surely what a gentleman rears with ex-
pence, and preserves with care on his own
estates, ought to be as decidedly his own as
the deer in his park, or the poultry in his
yard. But at present it is his to shoot, but
not his to dispose of; he dares not send it to
the open market to benefit himself, or to gra-
tify the public, who do, and ever will, esteem it
hard that laws should forbid them to eat such
wholesome food as they have a desire for, and
money to purchase. We admit that a quali-
fied person is allowed to make presents of
game, but we cannot ask our licensed friends
for a brace of birds without giving them the
idea that we think ourselves neglected ; and
few would wish to give, or conceive such an
idea.

It is not long since the physicians of Paris
forbad a most interesting invalid of our family

254 SYLVA FLORTFERA.

to take any animal food excepting partridges,
which were recommended as a daily diet.
These were easily obtained, so long as we
remained not only in that city, but in all the
country towns likewise; but the moment we
arrived in an English town, this comfort was
forbidden, unless we would either condescend
to beg, or risk the penalty of offended laws.

We feel satisfied that if game were allowed
to be as publicly sold as venison, we should
in a few years hear no more of poachers than
we now hear of deer-stealers.

The number of poachers, who, at the pre-
sent time, fill our prisons, is a national dis-
grace, whilst their terrible boldness and infa-
mous acts would be revolting to the most
uncivilised nations ; but as long as luxury
demands, and the laws forbid, the regular
supply of this kind of food, so long will there
be found men to pursue the nefarious trade
of poachers. We hear of no poachers on the
continent, where game is publicly sold ; and it
would be hardly more unreasonable to banish
mutton from our shambles for fear of creating
sheep-stealers.

At the time when the luxury of the patri-
cians was undermining the safety of the Roman
empire, the plebeians were prohibited by law
from eating artichokes, which were then con-

FURZE. 255

sidered a dainty for man, although Pliny con-
sidered it the natural food of the ass.

Botanists divide the furze into two species,
Ulex Europ&us, the common large kind, and
Ulex nanus, the dwarf furze, with decumbent
branches, and spines horizontal, or partly de-
flexed. Dr. Witherington thus distinguishes
the two species. In the common one, the
corolla is longer than the calyx, and the thorns
longer than the corolla. In the dwarf furze
the corolla is as long as the calyx, and the
thorns are shorter than the corolla.

Naturalists observe, that the pods of the
furze open with the warmth of the sun, and
that the seeds are cast out by an elastic
spring to a great distance all around, where
they soon vegetate.

The furze is an excellent shelter, where the
seeds of forest trees, such as acorns, beech-
masts, chesnuts, &c. are planted; as this
thorny shrub will secure them until they grow
up, when the trees will starve and destroy
their early protectors.

" And what more noble than the vernal furze,
With golden baskets hung? Approach it not,
For ev'ry blossom has a troop of swords
Drawn to defend it. ' Tis the treasury
Of fays and fairies. Here they nightly meet,
Each with a burnish'd kingcup in his hand,
And quaff the subtile ether,"

HURDIS.

256

GUELDER ROSE. —VIBURNUM
OPULUS.

Natural order, Dumosce Caprifolia, Juss. In
the wild state it is a genus of the Pentandria
Trigynia class.

" The snow-ball which eclipses
The white bosom of Venus."

THIS offspring of accident or cultivation,
which Vertumnus presents to our shrubbery,
to harmonize with the elegant lilac, and group
with the gay. laburnum, holds a conspicuous
situation in the regions of Flora,

" Throwing up into the darkest gloom

Of neighbouring cypress, or more sable yew,
Her silver globes, light as the foamy surf
That the wind severs from the broken wave."

This native shrub often rises to the height
of eighteen or twenty feet, clothing itself with
a light green foliage, lobed in a similar man-
ner to that of the maple-tree, and decorating
its grey irregular branches with clusters of
abortive flowers, resembling the works of the
finest chisel upon the purest alabaster ; parti-

GUELDER ROSE. 257

in the months of May and June,
when they exhibit themselves on the glitter-
ing green foliage, forming a most agreeable
picture.

Gerard, who has left us engravings of this
neutral flowering shrub, calls it Sambucus
Rosea, the Rose Elder* This excellent author
says, " The Sambucus palustris, the water
elder, groweth by running streames and water-
courses, and in hedges, by moist ditch sides.
The rose elder groweth in gardens, and the
flowers are there doubled, by art, as it is
thought." We learn from this account that
it was not then, 1596, considered either rare
or new. He says further, " In my garden
there groweth not any fruit vpon this tree,
nor in any other place, whereof as yet I
haue any vnderstanding or knowledge;" to
which he adds, " it is an hedge-tree ; the
Dutch call it Gheldersche Roose, in English
Gelders Rose, and Rose Elder." Thus it
appears we borrowed the inelegant name of
Guelder Rose from the Dutch, to whom we
would have it returned ; being better pleased
with the appellation of snowball, which its
extreme whiteness and globular form resem-
ble. This name is also conformable to the
Schneeball of the Germans, and Boule de Neige
of the French.
VOL. i. s

258 SYLVA FLORIFEKA.

The Dutch name it Guelder, after Guelder-
land, from whence they first procured it, as
the additional sche (from) denotes. The gene-
ric name Viburnum is thought to be from vieo,
to bind; because some species of these shrubs
have twigs, fit for bands. Aiton notices
twelve different species of viburnum, some of
which have numerous varieties.

It rarely occurs, that flowers growing in
their natural state and habits, become double ;
and when this adventitious circumstance takes
place, it arises principally from an excess of
nourishment, from the effect of cultivation, or
of some occurrence of natural circumstances
analogous to it. It is one of the principal
objects of the florist, to double the petals of
flowers as much as possible, because great
rarity is more sought after than pure beauty ;
and in general estimation, the beauty of a
flower is augmented in proportion to the
number of its petals ; but the botanist turns
from such flowers with disappointment, be-
cause he sees one of their parts unduly aug-
mented, to the diminution or total exclusion
of some of the rest ; for the anomaly most
generally consists in the multiplications of
the divisions of the corolla, by the conversion
of parts of the stamens into petals ; but in
the guelder rose, the corollas are increased,

GUELDER ROSE. 259

to the utter exclusion of both stigma and
stamina; hence, this plant cannot produce
seed, but as it is easily propagated by layers
or cuttings, as well as by suckers, this variety
is kept perfect. In its natural uncultivated
state, this shrub produces its .flowers on
cymes, the inner ones of which are perfect
flowers ; but those in the margin of the cyme
are abortive, and merely consist of a large,
irregular, flat petal, without any organ of fruc-
tification.

The guelder rose or snowball-tree, loves a
moist soil ; where it not only grows more
rapidly than in dry situations, but produces
more numerous and larger globes of its pale
petals. Emblematically, this flower is used
to represent the winter of age.

s 2

260

HAWTHORN, OR WHITE THORN.—
CRAT^EGUS.

Natural order, Pomacece. Rosacece, Juss. A
genus of the Icosandria Digynia class.

" Now let me sit beneath the whitening thorn,
And mark thy spreading tints steal o'er the dale :
And watch with patient eye
Thy fair unfolding charms."

MRS. BARBAULD*

" Gives not the hawthorn-bush a sweeter shade
To shepherds, looking on their silly sheep,
Than doth a rich embroidered canopy
To kings, that fear their subjects' treachery !
O ! yes, it doth ; a thousand fold it doth."

SHAKSPEARE,

" And every shepherd tells his tale
Under the hawthorn in the dale."

MILTON.

THE garland of Flora does not possess a
more charming blossom than this British
hedge beauty; nor do the most luxurious
spices of Asia, give a more grateful perfume

HAWTHORN*

than this flowering shrub, which covers its
thorns with petals as white

" As when the piercing blasts of Boreas blow,
And scatter o'er the fields the driving snow."

" Now the air

Is rich in fragrance ! fragrance exquisite
As new mown hay !"

" Then, solitude, 'tis thine in every gale
To hear celestial breathings ; from each hill
To quaff the balmy essence of the breeze ;
To mark, in every magic change of scene,
The grand diversities of nature's laws,
Yet find in all the ever-present God !
Whose power, sublime, with equal wonder moves
In the small floweret bursting from the earth,
As in the sphere-crown'd eagle's towering wing !"

MRS. ROBINSON.

It is said, that the hawthorn flowers, not
only regale the spirits by their odour, but
that they have the power also of counteract-
ing poison. It has been made the happy
emblem of hope, because the young and
beautiful Athenian girls brought branches of
hawthorn flowers, to decorate their com-
panions and friends on their wedding-day;
whilst they carried large boughs of it to the
altar. The altar of Hymen was lighted with
torches made of the wood of this tree, and it
formed also the flambeaux which lighted the

s 3

262 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

nuptial chamber. The Romans had, also,
bedecked themselves with branches of haw-
thorn, when they seized the Sabine women ;
and it was, therefore, used by them in the
fasces nuptiarum.

Diodorus, a Sicilian historian, who flourish-
ed about forty-four years before the Christian
era, tells us, that the Troglodites, when they
interred the corpse of their friends or parents,
tied branches of hawthorn to their bodies ;
and then, laughing, strewed the body first
with the branches of this shrub, and after-
wards with stones, until it was covered.
These simple people considered death as the
morning of life, where they should never
separate. Happy hope ! which gave the Trog-
lodites immortality, and the Grecian youths
fond marriages ; may you likewise, ever be the
prop of the afflicted, and of those whose friends

— — — " When they once perceive
The least rub in your fortune, fall away
Like water from ye, never found again
But when they mean to sink ye."

Religion, which was given to bless mankind
with cheerfulness and hope, has always been
converted by the crafty, in ignorant ages, into
rods of terror and torches of superstition ;
and they did not fail to seize on the haw-

13

HAWTHOKN. 263

thorn-bush, as an instrument with which they
might impose on the credulous; thus, in
some parts of France, the country people
affirm to you in good faith, that the hawthorn
groans and sighs on the evening of Good
Friday ; and on this superstition, they have
made it the emblem of lamentation. There
are others, who gravely adorn their hats with
a bunch of hawthorn, in the belief, that
during a storm, the thunder will not dare to
reach them from respect to their head-dress.
It is also related, that on the morning follow-
ing the horrible massacre of St. Bartholomew
a hawthorn was seen to blossom in the
church-yard of St. Innocent, in Paris, which
is now converted into the hall or great
market. It is hardly necessary to state, how
differently the two parties interpreted this
phenomenon.

We have also our Glastonbury thorn stories,
to match those of our neighbours. Sanctified
deceit affirmed, that this thorn was the iden-
tical staff of Joseph of Arimathea, the coun-
sellor, who buried Christ; who, according to
the tradition of the abbey of Glastonbury,
attended by twelve companions came over
into Britain, and founded, in honour of the
blessed Virgin, the first Christian church in
this island. As a proof of his mission, he is

s 4

264 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

said to have stuck his staff into the ground,
which immediately shot forth and blossomed ;
and the vulgar for a long time believed that this
tree blossomed annually on Christmas day.

The Glastonbury thorn is a variety of the
common white thorn, oxyacaniha^ which blos-
soms in the winter about January or Febru-
ary, and sometimes even as early as Christ-
mas.

Dioscorides names this shrub 'Q£u*iuw0ai
(oxyacantha), whilst Theophrastus writes it
Kparouyog, or Kpotrcuyuv, which is supposed
to be derived from xparof, which signifies
strength. It appears to be the spina and
spina appendix of Pliny.

The fruit of this bush are called haws, from
whence the name of Hawthorn, which some
suppose to be from the German hagedorn,
the Danish hagetorn, the Swedish hagtorn, or
the Dutch hage.

It is often called white thorn from the co-
lour of the flower-petals, and May-bush from
its blossoms appearing in that month, and
which were more noticed in old times before
the country was embellished with so many
early-blowing exotic shrubs ; for on the fes-
tival of Flora, on the first of May, our
ancestors never failed decorating with it the
May-pole, which was permanently fixed in or

HAWTHORN. 265

near every town and village in the kingdom,
and the boldest youth climbed to fix the gar-
land of flowers on the top, whilst others less
courageous, hung festoons and wreaths of
flowers through the garland, or twined them
around the pole,

" To fetche the flowers fresh, and branch and blome ;
And namely, hauthorn brought both page and gromea
With fresh garlandes, party bleu and white :
And then rejoysen in hir grete delite."

CHAUCER.

A king and queen were then elected, who
regulated the entertainment, and settled dis-
putes ; the former was distinguished by an
oaken wreath, and the latter by one of haw-
thorn : when dancing and other rural sports
took place in honour of the goddess. This rus-
tic amusement was evidently introduced by the
Romans, as we see in it the remains of their
ancient games, Floralia, that were instituted in
Rome as early as the time of Romulus, and
which the Phoceans and Sabines observed
even in earlier days. As Rome became de-
generated, this feast was turned into scenes
of the most unbounded licentiousness; and
it is related that Cato wished once to be pre-
sent at the celebration, but when he saw that
the deference for his presence interrupted
the feast, he retired, not choosing to behold

OF THE

UNIVERSITY

266 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

the indelicate spectacles about to take place
in public. This behaviour so captivated the
degenerate Romans, that the venerable sen-
ator was treated with the most uncommon
applause as he retired, which shows that vir-
tue and modesty are always respected even
by vice itself.

At the present time there is not a door at
Athens, that is not crowned with a garland
of flowers on the 1st of May ; and the youth
of both sexes, with the elasticity of spirits so
characteristic of a Greek, forget, or brave,
their Turkish masters, while, with guitars in
their hands and crowns upon their heads,*

" They lead the dance in honour of the May."

The French have given the elegantly ap-
propriate name of Aubepine to this flowering
thorn, which means the morning of the year,
as aube expresses the white, or twilight,
before sun-rise. Passerat, a French poet,
compares these flowers to the dangers of
love.

Belle fleur d'Eglantier, belle fleur d' Aubepine,
Desirant vous cueillir, bien souvent on s'epine ;
Qui desire, en amour, cueillir de belles fleurs,
II n'y cueille souvent que regrets et que pleurs.

* Douglas's Ess. on the Ancient and Modern Greeks.

HAWTHORN. 267

In the French language it is also called
Spine blanche ; in Spanish, Espino bianco ; in
Italian, JBiancospino, which names are all ana-
logous to our white thorn.

Religious devotees call it the noble thorn,
from a belief that it was this thorn which
formed the crown of Christ.

The hawthorn branches are scarce less
gaily besprinkled by Flora in the spring, than
adorned by Pomona in the autumn, who nou-
rishes the feathered choristers with these
scarlet haws ; and on this account we would
have in our shrubbery

" berry-bearing thorns.

That feed the thrush."

And none should omit

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

The double-blossomed hawthorn is cer-
tainly one of the greatest ornaments of our
pleasure-grounds, whether it be kept as a
shrub, or trained as a tree. There are two
large trees of this description on the lawn be-
fore Warwick-house, at Worthing, whose im-
penetrable shade defies the beams of Sol,
when he darts his fiercest rays.

Some of the double varieties are of a fine
lake colour, others are white at their first ap-

268 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

pearance, and change to a faint red as they
decay. The double blossoms are less fragrant
than the common variety, which reminds us,
says a French writer, of those young females
who fear not to change their simple apparel
for a more gaudy dress, which adds nothing
to their attractions.

The foliage of the hawthorn is of the most
agreeable medium green, and so highly po-
lished, that the white flowers are reflected on
their shining surfaces.

In husbandry, these shrubs are called
quicksets ; and when kept well cut, they form
hedges scarcely less impregnable than those
composed of holly. The clipping of hedges
and trimming of trees, must certainly be ad-
vantageous to the farmer, although it adds
nothing to the beauty of rural scenery.
Crabbe observes,

*

" We prune our hedges, prime our slender trees,
And nothing looks untutor'd and at ease."

These verdant walls are greatly improved
in appearance, when an occasional branch is
suffered to grow in shape of a tree, above the
shorn hedge. Hawthorn hedges appear to
have come into use about the time of Charles
the Second, as Evelyn observes in his Sylva,
" I have been told of a gentleman who has

HAWTHORN. 269

fctmsiderably improved his revenue, by sowing
haws only, and raising nurseries of quicksets,
which he sells by the hundred, far and near.
This is a commendable industry, and any
neglected corners of ground will fit this plan-
tation."

The seed of the hawthorn seldom vegetates
until the second year ; but if turkeys be fed
with these haws, and their dung planted in
drills, the young plants appear above ground
the first year. Mr. Boutcher says, the haws
should remain on the bushes till the end of
October, when they become blackish. "If
you do not sow them immediately, as soon as
they are gathered, spread them on an airy
floor for five or six weeks, till the seeds are
dry and firm ; then plunge them into water,
and divest them wholly of their pulp, by rub-
bing them between your hands with a little
sand ; spread them again on the loft three or
four days, till quite dry; mix them with fine
loose sandy mould, in quantity not less than
the bulk of the seeds, and lay them in a heap
against a south wall, covering them over three
or four inches deep, with soil of the same
quality as that with which they are mixed.
If you do not sow them in the spring, in this
situation let them remain till the second
spring, as the seeds, if sown, will not appear

270 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

the first year. That the berries may be as
equally mixed with the soil as possible, turn
over the heaps once in two months, blending
the covering with the seeds, and at every
turning give them a fresh covering, in tlie
winter months. They should be sown the
first dry weather in February, or the begin-
ning of March. Separate them from the
loose soil in which they were mixed, with a
wire sieve. The ground should be good, dry,
fresh land, well prepared; and the seeds beat
down with the back of a spade, and then
covered about half an inch thick with mould;
or they may be dropped in drills about eight
inches apart."

The yellow-berried hawthorn, which was
originally brought from Virginia, has a double
recommendation to the shrubbery, as it

" Smiles in the bud, and glistens in the flower;"

for its buds are of a fine yellow in the spring,
and its fruit, which is the colour of pure gold,
or Seville oranges, hang on the branches
nearly the whole winter, giving great gaiety to
the plantation ; and it is generally very pro-
ductive of haws.

Evergreens should never be planted with-
out a few of these shrubs being intermixed, to
enliven them in the winter months. The

HAWTHORN. 271

variety of the common hawthorn which bears
large oblong haws of a bright scarlet colour,
should also be planted for effect in winter;
as its red fruit is often seen shining through
the snow-bedecked branches with peculiar
beauty. But the lovers of nature will always
find charms in plants. Philips writes to the
Earl of Dorset, from Copenhagen,

" Soon as the silent shades of night withdrew,
The ruddy morn disclosed at once to view
The face of nature in a rich disguise,
And brighten'd every object to my eyes;
For every shrub, and every blade of grass
And every pointed thorn seem'd wrought in glass ;
In pearls and rubies rich the hawthorns show,
While through the ice the crimson berries glow."

It has often created our suprise that men
who expend large sums of money in forming
gardens of pleasure, and much time in select-
ing plants, should bestow no time or atten-
tion on botany, which would add so materi-
ally to the gratification which flowers give
them ; for without some slight knowledge of
this science, they cannot enjoy the works of
nature, because they do not know where to
look, or the utility of what they look at. The
botanist looks into the flowers of the haw-
thorn not only to observe the stigma and to
count the chives which surround it ; but he

272 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

observes the shape of the five petals, whose
concave forms protect the pollen, and mature
it by acting as reflectors. He then sees them
bend over their chives, and rest their heads of
pollen on the stigma, which has some attractive
power not yet defined. He is delighted at the
regularity and order with which they dis-
charge their prolific powder, and retire back
to give place to other chives, until the whole
have performed their office without confusion.
He knows then that the petals have dis-
charged their part towards the formation of
the future plant, and he sees them given to
the wind without regret ; because he knows it
is necessary for the young fruit to enjoy the
juices of the plant, without its being spent
any longer on the petals. Thus,

" The garden yields

A soft amusement, an humane delight,"

not enjoyed by others, who say,

" But our attractions are a stronger sort,
The earliest dainties and the oldest port."

The hawthorn is peculiarly adapted for small
lawns or paddocks, where larger trees cannot
be. admitted. When standing singly, it often
reaches to the height of twenty-five or thirty
feet, with a trunk from four to eight feet in

HAWTHORN. 273

circumference. The wood is tough and good
for the turner's use, being but little inferior to
box. Combs were formerly made of this
wood, particularly from the root. A decoc-
tion of the bark yields a yellow dye ; and with
copperas is used to dye black. Not only the
birds, but the peasants in many countries, eat
the haws, and in Kamschatka they are fer-
mented into wine.

A variety of the common hawthorn, Cratce-
gus oxyacantha, has been discovered in a
hedge near Bampton, Oxfordshire, which
produces white berries.

HAZEL. — See Pomarium Britanmcum.

VOL. I.

HEATH.— ERICA.

Natural order, Bicornes. Ericce, Juss. A genus
of the Octandria Monogynia class.

— " Heath, and rugged thorn,
Shew the sad image of a soil forlorn."

DELILLE.

DR. ANDERSON affirms, that wherever heath
abounds, there is generated, by the rotting of
the plant, a peculiar black earth, that is not
only of itself sterile, but has a powerful ten-
dency to make any other soil unfertile. But
however our native plants may be affected by
this earth, it is clearly known that we cannot
cultivate with success many of the exotic beau-
ties that now grace the shrubbery without
giving them this soil, so congenial to their
nature, nor can we succeed in raising our
native heaths without giving them their native
mould.

Theophrastus calls this plant, Epe/xij (ereike) ;
from ep/xtt, or i$siKw,frango, to break; from its

HEATH. 275

supposed quality of breaking the stone in the
bladder. The English name of Heath is evi-
dently derived from the German Heide, though
some think it is from the Latin Erica. In
some parts of England it is called Ling, from
the Danish Lyng. In Scotland it is called
Hather and Heather. Their Poet of nature
says,

" The moorcock springs, on whirring wings,
Among the blooming heather."

These undershrubs, or miniature trees, be-
neath whose roots the jumping rabbit loves to
burrow, enliven the dreary common by their
violet bells, or empurple the forest-bank by
their numerous corollas, which are often hap-
pil}- harmonized by the cheerful broom.

" A heath's green wild lay pleasant to his view,

With shrubs and field-flowers deck'd, of varied hue;
There hawthorns tall their silver bloom disclosed,
Here flexile broom's bright yellow interposed."

The foliage of the heath is evergreen, and of
various and beautiful shapes, which, on inspec-
tion, is found as pleasing as its singular blos-
soms. It is made the emblem of solitude in
the language of flowers; and thus, when the
fond swain presents his mistress with a bou-
quet of heath and pansies, she understands his

T 2

276 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

heart would be at ease, if his solitude were
blessed by her society. Other flowers carry
the expression of "Think of me in solitude;"
and a hundred other woeful speeches are thus
silently told. To such a pitch of perfection
is this language carried by lovers in the East,
that they employ even the different shades
to describe the different degrees of their
passions.

Although the Cupid-pierced of our country
generally explain the nature of their wounds
by vocal or ocular language, yet we are desi-
rous to meet the Erica in the shrubbery ; for

" E'en the wild heath displays its purple dyes,"

and that to considerable advantage in many
situations, filling up spaces between the walk
and higher shrubs ; and where the grounds are
extensive and hilly, little clumps, let into the
lawn, with a sprinkling of thyme, give a natu-
ral appearance and perfume to the spot. This
genus of plants was entirely neglected in orna-
mental grounds until their beautiful relatives
arrived from the Cape of Good Hope and
other parts of the globe, to embellish our
crystal gardens, where,

" Unconscious of a less propitious clime,
May bloom exotic beauty, warm and snug,
While the winds whistle and the snows descend."

HEATH. 277

The diminutive size of these plants, their
extreme beauty and great variety, fit them
better for the green -house than most other
plants. Our collectors have now about four
hundred species of heath, of such various co-
lours and forms, as to defy the pen in descrip-
tion ; for some species present us with little
wax-like flowers, others with pendent pearls ;
some are garnished with coralline beads,
whilst others seem to mimic the golden
trumpet, or tempting berries, or porcelain of
bell or bottle shape ; some remind us of Lilli-
putian trees, bedecked with Turkish turbans
in miniature ; some have their slender spray
hung with globes like alabaster, or flowers of
the cowslip form : nor are their colours less
varied than their shape; whilst the foliage is
equally beautiful in its apparent imitation of
all the mountainous trees from the Scottish
fir to Lebanon's boasted cedar, through all
the tribe of pine, spruce, and larch, tamarisk,
juniper, arbor vitse, mournful cypress, and
funeral yew. Stages for these plants should
be made to imitate rocky mountains, and the
effect would be a living landscape in minia-
ture. A favourable spot should be selected
in the shrubbery, and planted with native
heaths, amongst which the exotic kinds could
be placed during the favourable season of the

T 3

278 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

year. On the cultivation of foreign heaths,
we shall only observe, that it depends more
on care than art.

The British Botanist admits but of four dis-
tinct native species of heath, each of which
has its variety ; and almost every part of
Europe abounds with this denoter of a poor
soil. It is common in all the temperate parts
of the vast Russian empire ; and although it
is only regarded for making brooms in warm
climates, the inhabitants of the bleak and
barren mountains of Scotland, and other
northern countries, make it subservient to a
great variety of purposes. The poorer inha-
bitants cover their huts or cabins with it instead
of thatch, and it is often used to form the walls
of their dwellings, by laying it alternately
with a cement of earth.

It often forms the bed of the hardy High-
lander. In most of the western isles they dyc^
their yarn of a yellow colour, by boiling it
in water with the green tops and flowers of
this plant ; and woollen cloth, boiled in alum
water, and afterwards in a strong decoction of
the tops, comes out a fine orange colour. In
some of these islands they tan their leather in
a strong decoction of it. They also use it in
brewing their ale, in the proportion of one
part malt to two of the young tops of
14

HEATH. 279

heath. Boethius relates that this liquor was
much used by the Picts. The cottagers of
heathy commons cut the turf with the heath
on it, and after drying it, stack it for the fuel
of their hearth and their oven. Bees collect
largely both honey and wax from the flowers
of the heath, but it is generally of a dark co-
lour. Grouse feed principally on the seeds
of the wild heath, for the seed-vessels are
formed so as to protect the seeds for a whole
year.

Cattle are not fond of heath, although goats
and sheep will sometimes eat the tender
shoots.

T 4

280

HOLLY.— ILEX.

Natural order, Dumosce. Rhamni, Juss. A
genus of the Tetrandria Tetragynia class*

" Sing heigh ho ! the holly, the holly."

SHAKSPEARE.

" No tree in all the grove but has its charms,
Though each its hue peculiar ; paler some,
Some glossy-leaved, and shining in the sun."

THE Greeks named this tree 'A^p/a (agria) ;
which is supposed to be derived from ciypw,
immitis, from its being armed with prickles.

The admirers of Virgil's Pastorals will be
reminded of the poetical contentions of Co-
rydon and Thyrsis, when the ilex meets their
view.

" Beneath a holm, repaired two jolly swains :
Their sheep and goats together grazed the plains."

DRYDEN.

French naturalists have made the holly
the emblem of foresight, because, they say,
that the foresight of nature is admirably ex-
emplified in this beautiful tree, which, when
growing in its natural forest, protects itself by

HOLLY. 281

numerous leaves bristling with thorns, until it
arrives to about the height of ten feet, when
the leaves cease to be thorny, and are per-
fectly smooth and even, because it has no
longer occasion to arm itself against an ene-
my who cannot reach higher ; but we revere
the holly branch with its spiny and highly
varnished foliage, which reflects its coral
berries, as an emblem that foretells the fes-
tival of Christmas, and the season when Eng-
lish hospitality shines in roast beef, turkeys,
and the national pudding.

Tradition says, that the first Christian
church in Britain was built of boughs ; and
that the disciples adopted the plan, as more
likely to attract the notice of the people,
because the heathens built their temples in
that manner, probably to imitate the temples
of Saturn, which were always under the oak.

The great feast of Saturn was held in De-
cember ; and as the oaks of this country were
then without leaves, the^ priests obliged the
people to bring in boughs and sprigs of
evergreens ; and Christians, on the twenty-
fifth of the same month did the like ; from
whence originated the present custom of
placing holly and other evergreens in our
churches and houses, to show the feast of
Christmas is arrived.

282 SYLVA FLOR1FERA.

This tree appears to have been formerly
called Hulver, by which name it is still known
in Norfolk, and Holme, in the southern
counties ; as appears by the name it has
given to many places where it grows na-
turally, as the Holmwood between Horsham
and Dorking. Mr. Evelyn says, that the vale
near his house, in Surry, was anciently called
Holmesdale. We presume, the name of
Holly is a corruption of the word holy, as
Dr. Turner, our earliest writer on plants, calls
it IpOlg and !J)Olg^fr£0; which appellation was
given it, most probably, from its being used
in holy places. It has a great variety of
names in Germany, amongst which is Christ-
dorn ; in Danish, it is also called Chirstorn,
and in Swedish Christtorn, amongst other
appellations ; from whence it appears, that it
is considered a holy plant by certain classes
in those countries.

The disciples of Zoroaster believe, that the
sun never shadows the holly-tree. There are
still some followers of this king of the magi
to be found in the wilds of Persia, and some
parts of India ; who, when a child is born,
throw in its face water which has been put in
the bark of a holly-tree.

Pliny tells us, that Tiburtus built the city
of Tibur, near three holly-trees, over which

HOLLY. 283

he had observed the flight of birds that pointed
out the spot whereon the gods had fixed for
its erection ; and that these trees were stand-
ing in his own time, and must, therefore,
have been upwards of 1,200 years old. He
also tells us, that there was a holly-tree then
growing near the Vatican, in Rome, on which
was fixed a plate of brass, with an inscription
engraven in Tuscan letters ; and that this
tree was older than Rome itself, which must
have been then more than 800 years (book xvi.
chap. 44.). This author notices a holly-tree,
in Tusculum, the trunk of which measured
thirty-five feet in circumference, and which
sent out ten branches of such magnitude that
each might pass for a tree ; he says, this
single tree alone resembled a small wood.

The holly grows to a considerable size,
even as a timber tree , in this country, when
permitted to stand. Cole tells us, in his
" Paradise of Plants," that he knew a tree of
this kind which grew in an orchard ; and the
owner, he says, " cut it down, and caused it
to be sawed into boards, and made himself
thereof a coffin ; and if I mistake not, left
enough to make his wife one also. Both the
parties were very corpulent ; and, therefore,
you may imagine the tree could not be
small."

284 SYLVA FLORIFEKA.

Bradley mentions, that he has seen holly-
trees sixty feet in height, at a place called
Holly-walk, near Frensham, in Surry. Dr.
Withering says, that on the north of the
Wrekin, in Shropshire, the holly-trees grow
to a large size, and they are very common in
the Chiltern division of Buckinghamshire.
We have also observed it growing abundantly
in some parts of St. Leonard's Forest, in
Sussex, particularly in the neighbourhood of
Handcross. We presume that many noble
trees of holly would be seen in this country,
but for the practice of cutting all the finest
young plants to make coachmen's whips,
thus leaving only the crooked branches or
suckers to form shrubs.

The holly, when it stands detached and
is left to nature, forms one of the most beau-
tiful evergreen trees that this or any other
country produces ; its pyramidal form, its
immoveable foliage, its bright deep-green
colour, and brilliant vermilion berries, con-
trast happily with almost every tree and shrub
which the forest or the grove affords.

In the shrubbery these trees have a good
effect, when judiciously placed ; and although
we prefer the common holly in general, we
recommend the variegated kinds as great en-
liveners to dark evergreens, as the yew, cy-

HOLLY. 285

press, &c. They should have the box, or
some dwarf shrub in front, and a dark back-
ground, whilst the common variety should be
mixed with gayer neighbours ; and the pale
tints of the larch, which tower above its head,
harmonize as well with this tree as does the
waving birch or tremulous asp.

The variety with yellow berries was found
wild near Walder Castle, as also at Wiston?
near Buers, in Suffolk ; it is a very ornamen-
tal tree in the shrubbery, as its berries at a
distance carry the appearance of blossoms
from the month of October to March.

Our nurserymen now offer us nearly fifty
varieties of this plant, all of which may be
propagated by grafting on a stock of the com-
mon sort. The most curious variety is that
known by the name of Hedgehog holly, from
its leaves being defended in all directions by
thorns ; this kind grows naturally in Canada;
and Mr. Miller considered it a distinct spe-
cies, and says it continues its natural charac-
ter when raised from seeds. It was first
planted in the Bishop of London's Garden, at
Fullham, in the time of Compton, by Mr.
George London, who is supposed to have in-
troduced it from France. This ingenious
nurseryman says, in his " Retired Gardener,"
1706- " We have great variety of hollies

286 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

in England, and have brought them to more
perfection than they are in any other part of
the world."

Amongst the kinds of holly which we no-
ticed in the Jardin des Plantes, at Paris, we
were most pleased with a variety, with a very
small pointed leaf, named Aquifolium serratum,
and a second, with a very broad leaf, quite
free from spines, which was called Ilex
balearica.

Columella seems to have recommended the
holly to the Romans, as a proper fence for
gardens. In his tenth book he says,

" And let such grounds with walls or prickly hedge,
Thick set, surrounded be, and well secured;
Not pervious to the cattle, nor the thief."

Evelyn tells us, that his garden at Say's
Court was surrounded with an impregnable
hedge of about four hundred feet in length, nine
feet high, and five in diameter ; " It mocks,"
says this worthy author, " the rudest assaults
of the weather, beasts, or hedge-breakers ;"
and it was almost the only thing belonging to
his garden that was not destroyed by the Czar
of Muscovy. Mr. Evelyn had lent his house
to Peter the Great, in order that he might be
near the Dock-yard at Deptford, during his
stay in England j and we are told that this im-

HOLLY. 287

perial shipwright was so fond of being driven
in a wheelbarrow over the box edgings and the
parterres of the author of the Sylva, that they
were entirely destroyed ; " which" says he, " I
can shew in my now ruined gardens at Say's
Court (thanks to the Czar). "

Mr. Evelyn was evidently a good Christian,
but he appears to have overlooked the pas-
sage in Scripture, which says,

" Put not your faith in princes;"

for it does not appear that the Emperor
of Russia made him the least recompence for
the devastation he committed, both in the
garden and the mansion ; and he certainly was
an unrewarded slave to Charles the Second.

Mr. Evelyn informs us, that Lord Dacres
had a Park in Sussex, environed with a holly-
hedge, so as to keep in any game ; and he
adds, " I have seen hedges, or, if you will,
stout walls of holly twenty feet in height, kept
upright, and the gilded sort budded low, and
in two or three places one above another,
shorn and fashioned into columns and pilasters,
architectonially shaped, and at due distance ;
than which, nothing can possibly be more
pleasant, the berry adorning the intercolum-
niations with scarlet festoons and encarpa."

At the time this author flourished, land-
scape gardening did not exist, and all the gar-

288 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

dens of Europe were laid out on geometrical
principles, therefore, these shorn hedges .were
well adapted to the formal and gloomy dig-
nity of the gardens of that age of avenues,
right angles, and octagons ; yet we are of opi-
nion with Mr. London, that this style is not
altogether to be condemned, it is well adapted
to the Palace of Versailles and of the Thuil-
leries, and all edifices which unite formality
with splendour.

Few trees are better adapted for the lawn
than the holly, as the colour, either of the
darkest or the most silvered, contrast equally
well with the turf, and when

" The cherish'd fields

Put on their winter robe of purest white,"

It shines still more conspicuous ; for the
snows glide off the slippery leaves, as if dis-
solved by the fiery colour of its fruit, around
which the feathered tribe crowd to claim the
boon which nature has provided for them
when other food is buried deep beneath the
fleecy waters.

The holly, which forms a verdant pavilion
for the chirping tribe, protecting them from the
inclemency of the stormy season, forms also a
snare for their destruction ; for the fowler ob-
tains a viscid substance from the bark of this

HOLLY.

289

tree, which he prepares into birdlime, and
thus entangles his prey.

This tree, which loves a cold loamy soil
and a sheltered situation, will thrive also
where the south-west sea-blasts cut most
other trees as if mown with a scythe, nor
does it refuse to grow on gravel, chalk, or
rocky land ; and we have often seen it thrive
upon brick earth, as well as upon dry hot
sand and sterile heathy commons ; thus ac-
commodating itself to almost every soil and
situation in the kingdom. Grouping itself
with the yellow-broom or furze, it shines un-
rivalled in the vegetable kingdom, parti-
cularly in the month of February. The
holly is valuable as well as ornamental. The
timber is the whitest of all the hard woods; and
therefore preferred by the turner and engraver
to most others, as well as by the cabinet-
maker, when fashion permits the inlaying of
coloured woods. It is often dyed black to
imitate ebony ; and it has long been in great
demand at Tunbridge, in Kent, where it is
manufactured into numerous fancy articles.

Deer feed upon the leaves in winter, and
sheep browse upon it to their advantage.

Like the hawthorn, the holly sends forth
its white flowers in May, and its berries, like
the haws of the thorn, hang on the branches

VOL. i. u

290 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

all the winter, and remain in the earth two
years before they germinate; unless when
they have passed through the stomach of
fowls, when they vegetate the first year. We
have, therefore, only to give them a similar
fermentation by art, which nature gives them
in the body of birds, to enable us to raise
young plants in one year instead of two.
For this purpose, we are recommended to
take a bushel of bran, and to mix it with the
seeds in a tub or earthen vessel, and wet it
with soft water, and let it remain undisturbed
for ten days, when it will begin to ferment.
It must be sprinkled occasionally with warm
water to keep it moist, and in about thirty or
forty days the heat of the moistened bran
will put the berries into a state of vegetation
fit for sowing in about a week after the fer-
mentation has commenced.

March is the best season for sowing this
seed, which may also be treated according to
the direction given for raising hawthorns.
September is the proper season for transplant-
ing young hollies; but in cold or moist soils,
they may be planted safely in the spring.

Mr. Evelyn says, he has raised hedges four
feet high in four years, from seedlings taken
out of the woods. This should induce us to
make more frequent trials of raising fences of

HOLLY. 291

this prickly plant ; and, particularly, on hilly
situations, where it would afford shelter to the
shepherd and his flock, against either ex-
cessive heat or piercing storms.

Old medical writers tell us, that the ripe
berries are relaxing, and astringent when
dried ; but it is not our intention to recom-
mend the robbing of the feathered tribe, to
the injury of the sons of JEsculapius, and,
perhaps, of our constitutions at the same
time ; nor would we willingly be deemed cre-
dulous, in noticing the old customs of our
forefathers, who trusted to a branch of holly
for their defence against witchcraft ; but this
precaution has become unnecessary, since old
ladies have lost their charming powers, and
the spells of the youthful fair are too agree-
able to be driven from us by a rod of holly.

The Hex Vomitoria, commonly called the
South-sea Tea, or Evergreen Cassine, is a na-
tive of West Florida, Carolina, and some of
the warmer parts of Virginia, and principally
found on the sea-coast. This species of holly
was cultivated in England as long back as
1700, but the severe winter of 1739 des-
troyed most of the plants ; but it has since
been raised from seeds, and is found to resist
the cold of our winters without protection,
excepting that of neighbouring shrubs. It

u L2

292 SYLVA FLOR1FERA.

rises to the height of ten or twelve feet, the
flowers are produced in close whorls at the
joints of the branches, near the footstalks of
the leaves ; they are of a white colour, and
the fruit is a red berry, similar to the common
holly. The tea, made by an infusion of these
leaves, is almost the only physic used by the
natives of some parts of the New World.

At a certain time of the year these people
come in droves, from a distance of some hun-
dred miles, to the coast, for the leaves of this;
tree ; when they make a fire OB the ground,
over which they place a vessel of water, and
throw into it a large quantity of these leaves.
Thfcy then seat themselves round the fire,,
and take large draughts of the infusion until
it operates aa an emetic. In this manner
they continue to physic themselves for two or
three days ; and when their stomachs are
sufficiently cleansed, every one takes a bundle
of the branches with him to his habitation.

293

HONEYSUCKLE, OR WOODBINE. — LONI-
CERA PERICLYMENUJVL

Natural order, Aggregate. Caprifolia, Juss.
A germs of the Pentandria Monogynia class.

Copious of flowers, the woodbine, pale and wan,
But well compensating her sickly looks
With never cloying odours, early and late."

• " Or the woodbine wild,

That loves to hang, on barren boughs remote?
Her wreaths of flowery perfume/'

MASON.

THE Greeks named this vine
and the modern Greeks call it* Ut^rXoKotc. It
received the generic name of Lonicera, as a
compliment from Plumier to Adam Lonicer,
a physician at Frankfort. We name it Wood-
bine, because it winds itself as it were in wed-
lock to every tree and shrub in its neighbour-
hood, which it graces by its well attired

u 3

294 SYLVA FLOKIFEItA.

branches in return for the support it borrows;
from hence it is styled the Bond of Love.

" The woodbines mix in am'rous play,
And breath their fragrant lives away."

In the time of Edward the Third, it appears
to have been emblematical of true love, as
Chaucer, the father of English poetry, says,

" And tho that were chapelets, on hir hede,
Of fresh wodebind, be such as never were
To love untrue, in word, in thought, ne dede ;
But ay stedfast ; ne for plesance ne fere,
Tho that they shulde hir hertes all to tere,
Woud never flit, but ever were stedfast,
Till that hir lives there assunder brast."

This climbing plant always turns from east
to west, and so firmly does it hold its sup-
po'rter in embrace, that we often see young
trees and branches indented like a screw by
the .pressure. As the gentle Desdemona
•clurig to the dark warrior, so have we seen
the delicate and supple stalks of the wood-
bine endeavour to embrace the trunk of the
sturdy oak, and in the bold attempt it is often
seen thrown off to perish on the ground,
unless taught by humbler shrubs, who seem
proud to display the flowery festoons which
the monarch of our woods had rejected.
So have we ^eeii modern Desdemonas turn

HONEYSUCKLE. 295

from support within their reach, aspiring to
climb by means too large for their grasp ;
they have been drawn up, in weak hopes* by
a slight hold, which the first winds severed
throwing them to the earth, too feeble to
catch the most lowly plant.

We love to see shrubs " o'er-canopied with
luscious woodbine," but in the oak of the
foi'est its beauties wither in the shade of its
too grand supporter.

The name of Honeysuckle, we presume,
was given to this plant, from the trick of
children, who draw out the trumpet-shaped
corollas from the calix, to suck the honey from
the nectary.

This flower has what is termed a tubulose
nectary, and the sweet liquid laying at the
bottom is secure from the reach of the in-
dustrious bee ; but the hawk-moth, a species
of the sphinx, hovers over these flowers in the
evening, and with its long tongue extracts the
honey from the very bottom of the flower.
Other insects that have not the advantage of
so lengthened a tongue, tap the tubes of the
flower, by making a puncture towards the
bottom, and then revel in the luxurious sweet.

The nectary of a flower is that part of the
blossom which contains a liquid honey, and
we are inclined to think that this saccharine

u 4

296 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

juice is distilled from the plant, and conveyed
to the nectary, for the double purpose of giv-
ing nourishment to the parts of fructification
and decomposition to the farina,

" These, nature's works, the curious mind employ,
Inspire a soothing melancholy joy."

The woodbine has a light and elegant, but
negligent air, better calculated to ornament
rural groves than to embellish stately gardens,
and a more suitable climber for the rustic
porch than the modern portico. Cunning-
ham has given it to the Cottage of Content.

" Green rushes were strew'd on her floor,
Her casement sweet woodbines crept wantonly round.
And deck'd the sod seats at her door."

The perfume of the honeysuckle being of
the most agreeable kind, it should be fre-
quently met with in the shrubbery ; when
planted near the fore-ground it ought to be
kept cut as a shrub, which, as well as giving
neatness, ensures a succession of flowers. In
the wilderness walks, it should have liberty
to climb the trees, and hang its wreaths from
.branch to branch ; and where the ivy gives
verdure to the bare trunk, there should the
woodbine display its blossoms and shed its
odours ; as also over the rural arbours of the

HONEYSUCKLE. 297

present day, as it did o'er those of Shak-
speare's.

" Beatrice, who e'en now

Is couched in the woodbine coverture."

Much Ado.

The nurserymen of this country now offer
us eighteen distinct species of the lonicera,
besides many varieties of the common wood-
bine. The Dutch honeysuckle, Lonicera
Belgica, may be trained with a stem, and
formed into a head like a tree ; the flowers of
this variety are of a reddish colour on their out-
sides, and yellowish within, of a very delightful
odour. There are two varieties of the Dutch
honeysuckle, one of which is called the Long-
blowing, as it blossoms in June, July, and Au-
gust ; the other succeeds it, and is therefore
called the Late Red-blowing Honeysuckle, L.
serotina. Both of these should be planted in
considerable quantities. The latter kind has
only been introduced about a century ; for in
1715 it was esteemed a great curiosity, and is
supposed to have been first brought to this
country by the Flemish florists, who were
then in the habit of coming over annually
with plants for sale.

The Virginia trumpet honeysuckle, Loni-
cera sempervirens, was cultivated in this
country by John Tradescant, jun. as long back

298 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

as 1656, and although it is without odour, it
is a desirable evergreen climber, the bright
scarlet flowers being so ornamental from May
to August. This kind of honeysuckle requires
a south aspect, and a sheltered situation. The
branches being weak and rambling, it is gene-
rally trained to a wall; but it has a better
effect when its branches are interwoven with
the cypress, or any other evergreen, which will
shelter it, from the north, and support its gay
trumpets to advantage.

The common honeysuckles will grow in
almost any soil or situation, and there are few
inmates of the shrubbery more desirable than
these odoriferous stragglers, which perfume
the air to a great distance, particularly in the
morning and evening. They are easily propa-
gated, either by layers or cuttings; but the
latter are preferred. The cuttings should
have four joints, three of which should be
buried in the earth, and the fourth above the
surface, from which the shoots are produced.
September is the best month for planting the
woodbine cuttings. How greatly would our
hedges be improved by a few cuttings being
stuck in the ground ; how little the trouble,
the expence none, — but the delightful air
would well repay the labour.

We should have passed over the medicinal

HONEYSUCKLE. 299

qualities of this plant, had we not accidentally
opened the work of a student in physic, who
flourished in London, in the year 1681; and
as we conclude it is but little known to the
students of 1823, we extract it for the sole
purpose of benefiting the faculty — by a laugh.
This learned ^Esculapian author says, under
the head 6 Woodbind,' " It is a plant so
common, that every one that hath eyes knows
them; and he that hath none cannot read
a description if I should write it. Doctor
Tradition, that grand introducer of errors,
that hater of truth, that lover of folly, and
that mortal foe to Doctor Reason, hath
taught the common people to use the leaves
of flowers of this plant in mouth waters ; and
by long continuance of time hath so grounded
it in the brains of the vulgar, that you cannot
beat it out with a beetle. All mouth waters
ought to be cooling and drying, but honey-
suckles are cleansing, consuming, and digest-
ing, and therefore no ways fit for inflamma-
tions : Thus Doctor Reason. And, if you
please* we will leave Doctor Reason awhile,
and come to Doctor Experience, a learned
gentleman, and his brother. Take a leaf and
chew it in your mouth, and you will quickly
find it likelier to cause a sore mouth, or throat,
than to cure it. It is an herb of Mercury,

300 SYLVA FLOR1FERA.

and appropriated to the lungs; the celestial
Crab claims dominion over it, neither is it a
foe to the Lion : if the lungs be afflicted by
Jupiter, this is your cure."

In later days, wisdom has shone equally con-
spicuous in one of the physicians of the cele-
brated Johanna Southcott.

" There was a time, when we beheld the quack,
On public stage, the licensed tribe attack;
He made his labour'd speech with poor parade,
And then a laughing zany lent him aid;
But now our quacks are gamesters, and they play,
With craft and skill, to ruin and betray :
With monstrous promise they delude the mind,
And thrive on all that tortures human kind.
Void of all honour, avaricious, rash,
The daring tribe compound their boasted trash."

CRABBE.

The leaves of the woodbine are the favour-
ite food of the goat, hence the French have
named this plant, Chevre-feuitte (Goat's-leaf.)

301

HORNBEAM, OR HARDBEAM-TREE.
— CARPINUS.

Natural order, Amentacece. jBalaniferce, Juss,
A genus of the Moncecia Polyandria class.

" Art thrives most

Where commerce has enrich'd the busy coast.
He catches all improvements in his flight,
Spreads foreign wonders in his country's sight."

COWPER.

THE introduction of so many exotic trees
and shrubs within this last century has ba-
nished some of our native plants from the
grove, but fashion, who reigns with arbitrary
power in these dominions, has entirely swept
away the hornbeam, which composed the
labyrinth, the maze, the alleys, the verdant
galleries, arcades, porticoes and arches of our
forefathers; and which formed the leafy walls
that divided their stately gardens into stars,
goose-foot avenues, and devices as numerous
as geometrical figures are various. These
have all been banished with the hornbeam,
which taste has outlawed from the modern
plantation for having so long usurped a pre-

302 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

cedency in the groves of our ancestors ; and it
is now deemed high treason, in the statutes
alamode, to name either this tree or a right
angle in the dominions of a modern British
gardener.

" Say, shall we muse along yon arching shades,
Whose awful gloom no brightening ray pervades ?"

The clipping of trees, we are told by Mar-
tial, was first introduced by Cneius Matius, a
friend of Augustus ; and in the account which
Pliny the younger gives of his Tusculan gar-
dens, we read that the trees were planted to
form circles and semicircles, and that the box-
trees were cut with shears, so as to form ani-
mals, obelisks — and even the name of Pliny
was represented in verdant box. This style of
laying out gardens seems to have been followed
on a larger scale by Le Notre, who planned the
celebrated gardens of Versailles, which cost
Louis XIV. between eight and nine hundred
thousand pounds sterling; and which are well
calculated to display courtly pomp, arid that
kind of magnificent revelry which this monarch
indulged in. But to us this heavy grandeur
appears more gloomy than the thickest forest,
excepting when the alleys and walks are
crowded with company, and the waterworks
in full action; then every beholder must be

HORNBEAM. 303

struck with the splendour of the scene, which
the dress of the French ladies is particularly
calculated to improve; for the gaiety of their
costume relieves the sombre appearance of
the trained hornbeam and clipped elm. Their
light gauze, gay ribbons, feathers and flowers,
substitute blossoms; for whilst one seems to
display a basket of roses on her head, others
carry nodding tyruses of lilac, or waving
laburnum ; and with the mixture of poppies,
nasturtiums, and sunflowers, with which they
are bedecked, you forget that the trees are
without blossom; for here you see the gay
rank of scarlet soldiers, and there files of green
elms; here waves the winged leaves of the
acacia, there bows the no less pliable head of the
courtier; here dances the jet d'eau in air, there
drops to the earth the well-taught curtseying
belle; here monsters spout out water to cool
the air, while flattery as abundantly sends forth
her streams to refresh the vain, in one spot
we see the proud officer flaunting round the
brazen image of Venus, whilst the opposite
angle shows the sentimental dame reclining
on the pedestal of Mars or Jupiter. Agricola,
a German author, says, this scene gave him a
foretaste of Paradise. But when we left it,
and entered that part of the gardens which
has been lately laid out in the style of an

304 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

English shrubbery, we felt as much relieved as
one who escapes from the drawing-room on
court days to his own domestic hearth.

" For many a floweret blossoms there, to bless
The gentle loveliness whose charms imbue
Its border."

Bradley, who flourished in this country when
the hornbeam was in its highest estimation,
says, *' Versailles, is the sum of every thing
that has been done in gardening." The
gardens of the Tuilleries and the Champs
Elysees were modelled after the gardens at
Versailles, and the taste soon reached this
country. Evelyn, in his discourse on the
hornbeam-tree, says, " That admirable espalier
hedge, in the long middle walk of the Lux-
emburgh garden at Paris, than which there is
nothing more graceful, is planted of this tree ;
and so was that cradle, or close walk, with
that perplex canopy which lately covered the
seat in his Majesty's garden at Hampton
Court." This author speaks in terms of
ecstasy of the clipped hedges at Old Brompton
Park, then occupied by London and Wise,
two eminent nurserymen of that age of clip-
ping arid cutting.

Lord Bacon seems to have been the first
who tried to reform the national taste : " I

HORNBEAM. 305

do not like," says this great man, " images
cut out of juniper or other garden stuff; they
are for children ; and as for the making knots
or figures, with divers coloured earths, they
be but toys."

G. Mason considers the efficacy of Veru-
lam's ideas to have been the introduction of
classical landscapes, which banished the tree
whose birth and parentage we are about to
relate. Its education and death having
already been noticed, we shall extract what
Gerard has registered as to its name and
early residence in these kingdoms. He says,
" The hornbeame-tree is called in Greeke
Zu^/ar, which is as if you should say coniugalis,
or belonging to the yoke, because it serueth
well to make Qyi'a, of; in Latin Juga, yokes,
wherewith oxen are yoked together, which
are also, euen at this time, made thereof in
our owne countrie; and, therefore, may be
Englished yoke elme. It is called of some
Carpinus, and Zugia; it is also called Betulus^
as if it were a kind of birch ; but myselfe
better like that it should be one of the
elmes. The hornbeame-tree groweth plen-
tifully in Northamptonshire; also in Kent,
by Gravesend, where it is commonly taken
for a kind of elme. In English, it is called
VOL. i. x

306 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

Hornbeame, Hardbeame, Yoke elme, and in
some places Witch hasell."

The generic name of this tree is derived
from carpere (to crop) ; and the English name
of Hardbeam and Hornbeam, from the hard
and horny nature of the wood when old. It
is sometimes called the Horse-beech, from the
resemblance of the leaf.

The French call this tree Charme and
Charmille ; and most of the cabinets and di-
visions of their great gardens are formed of
these trees.

It is very common in many parts of Eng-
land; but is rarely suffered to grow to a
timber tree, being generally pollarded by the
country people : but Dr. Hunter says, he has
seen some of these trees in woods upon a cold
stiff clay, that have been nearly seventy feet
high, with large noble stems, perfectly straight
and sound.

Its propagation is recommended on cold
barren hills, and in such situations where few
other trees will prosper ; and it is found to
resist the winds better than most other
timber; nor is it slow in growth: but it is
recommended to raise it from seed, upon
the same soil and situation that it is in-
tended to be planted on. The seeds should
be sown in the autumn, soon after they are

HORNBEAM. 307

ripe ; for if they be kept out of the ground
until the spring, the plants will not come up
till the following year.

The foliage of the hornbeam is very
similar to that of the elm, strongly nerved
and of a bright green ; it begins to expand
about the end of March, and it often re-
mains on the branches until the spring, thus
forming an excellent shelter for more tender
trees. The flowers are in full blossom about
the end of April : the male flowers are dis-
posed in a cylindric ament, and hang like the
catkins of the hazel ; the female flowers or
ament arise from a leafy calix, but having an
appearance like a young hazel-nut ; and from
whence, and its catkins, it has been called
Wych-hazel : but the female flowers are also
disposed in a long ament, which gives them
a nearer resemblance to hops ; and on which
account, one variety is called the Hop Horn-
beam, Carpinus Ostrya, or Orientalis. This
variety was first cultivated in England, in
1739. It was first observed in Italy, and is
very common in Germany, growing with the
common hornbeam.

The Virginian flowering hornbeam, C. Ame-
ricana, was first introduced in 1812. Lin-
naeus observes, that the timber of the
hornbeam is very white ; and tough, and

x 2

308 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

harder even than that of the hawthorn, and
capable of supporting great weights. He also
tells us, that the inner bark is much used in
dyeing wool yellow.

The hornbeam, by its mode of throwing
out its branches, preserves itself well from the
buttings of deer ; so that clumps of this tree
are proper in parks, both on account of their
beauty and shelter*

309

JASMINE. — JASMINUM.1

Natural order, Sepiarice. Jasminece, Juss. A
genus of the Diandria Monogynia class.

" The jasmine, throwing wide her elegant sweets,
The deep dark green of whose unvarnished leaf
Makes more conspicuous, and illumines more
The bright profusion of her scattered stars."

COWPER.

THIS sweet emblem of amiability is always
acceptable wherever we meet it. It graces
alike the lowly casement of the lone widow,
and the proud parterre of the rich and gay ;
the bosom of the village lass, and the oriental
vase of the saloon. Its modesty pleases, and
its fragrance charms, in all situations ; like
those whose happy dispositions and amiable
manners seem to make them the bond of
society, by the grace and facility with which
they accommodate themselves to all situations
and circumstances. The pretty face of the
jasmine flower is only surpassed in loveliness,
by the fair whose countenance is brightened
by amiability.

x 3

310 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

" And brfdes, as delicate and fair

As the white jasmine flowers they wear,
Hath Yemen in her blissful clime."

T. MOORE.

The common jasmine, Officinale, which grows
naturally at Malabar, is registered in the
Hortus Kewensis as a native of the South of
Europe ; but we are opinion that it did not
leave the East until the taking of Constanti-
nople by the Turks, whose fondness for flow-
ers would induce them to transport it to the
land they conquered in 1453. It certainly
would not have passed unnoticed by Pliny
and other ancient authors, had it either
grown naturally, or been introduced to that
country previous to their time. Dioscorides
is the only Greek author that notices it ; and
as he has given no description of the plant or
flower, but only tells us that the Persians ob-
tained an oil from a white flower, with which
they perfumed their apartments during their
repasts, it is probable he only became ac-
quainted with the oil of jasmine during his
attendance as physician on Antony and Cleo-
patra, in Egypt, whose unbounded luxury
would naturally call this essence from the land
of odours. This author calls it laa-ftivw, from
I'ov (viola], and oa-^vt (odor], on account of its
fragrance ; and from whence the name of Jas-

14

JASMINE. 311

mine has been copied by all European lan-
guages. In early days this was mutilated by
the English into Gethsamine, Jesemin, and
Jasme. It is also the Jasmin, as well as Kajan,
and Zambach of the Arabians. At what time
this agreeable plant first perfumed the British
atmosphere is uncertain : Mr. Aiton says, in
1548 ; but we consider it to have been much
longer acquainted with our soil, as Dr. Tur-
ner calls it our comen lefemtne in his work,

part of which was printed in 1557 ; and it ap-
pears to have been so common in the time of
Gerard, as to have been thought a native
plant by some persons. This excellent au-
thor says, " Gelsemine is fostered in gar-
dens, and is vsed for arbors, and to couer
banquetting houses in gardens ; it groweth
not wilde in England, that I can vnderstande
of, though master Lyte be of another opi-
nion : the white jasmine is common in most
places of Englande."

If we may believe a Tuscan tale, we owe
our thanks to Cupid for the distribution of
this pretty shrub. We are told that a Duke
of Tuscany was the first possessor of it in
Europe, and he was so jealously fearful lest
others should enjoy what he alone wished to
possess, that strict injunctions were given to

x 4

312 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

his gardener not to give a slip, nor so much
as a single flower, to any person. To this
command the gardener would have been

d3

faithful, had not the god of love wounded
him by the sparkling eyes of a fair but por-
tionless peasant, whose want of a little dowry
and his poverty alone kept them from the
hymeneal altar. On the birth-day of his
mistress, the gardener presented her with a
nosegay ; and to render the bouquet more ac-
ceptable, he ornamented it with a branch of
jasmine. The P over a .Figlia wishing to pre-
serve the bloom of this new flower, put it into
fresh earth ; and the branch remained green
all the year, and in the following spring it
grew, and was covered with flowers ; and it
flourished and multiplied so much under the
hand of the fair nymph's cultivation, that she
was able to amass a little fortune from the sale
of the precious gift which love had made her ;
when, with a sprig of jasmine in her breast,
she bestowed her hand and her wealth on the
happy gardener of her heart. And the Tuscan
girls, to this day* preserve the remembrance
of this adventure, by invariably wearing a
nosegay of jasmine on their wedding-day ;
and they have a proverb, which says, that a
young girl, worthy of wearing this nosegay,

JASMINE. 313

is rich enough to make the fortune of a good
husband. *

Let us then cultivate more abundantly what
love has scattered so happily ; for the supple
and pliant branches of the jasmine accommo-
date themselves to numerous situations in the
shrubbery.

" Here jasmines spread the silver flower,
To deck the wall, or weave the bower."

COTTON.

They should be woven into the trellised
arch or alcove, climb the; palisades, rest on
the branches of the broad-leafed laurel,
cover the dead wall, and run gaily wild
over the shrubs of the wilderness walks ;
whilst, obedient to the scissors of the gardener,
they are formed into bushy shrubs and little
trees for the near approach to the dwelling,
where in the morning and evening their
star-topped tubes send forth a shower of
odours that embalm, refresh, and purify the
surrounding air.

" Many a perfume breathed

From plants that wake when others sleep,
From timid jasmine buds, that keep

* As this story is told of a Grand Duke of Tuscany, in
1699, we conclude it was the Goa jasmine, and not the
common sort.

314 SYLVA FLOIUFERA,

Their odour to themselves all day,
But, when the suri-light dies away.
Let the delicious secret out
To every breeze that roams about."

T. MOORE.

" Then how serene ! when in your favourite room,
Gales from your jasmines soothe the evening gloom."

CRABBE.

From the tube of this eastern flower the
bee extracts its most exquisite honey ; and the
painted butterfly is never seen to more ad-
vantage, than when resting on the delicate
petals of the white jasmine.

When the jasmine was first introduced into
France, it was thought to require all the heat
they could give it ; it next occupied a place in
the orangery, and at length exposed to the
open garden, where it thrives as freely as a
native plant, and still holds the situation of a
favourite with the Parisian belles, and is al-
ways the most saleable bouquet that les dames
de la hatte bring to their gay market.

We have often been astonished that our
cottagers, who possess little gardens, should
not cultivate flowers for sale, particularly the
jasmine, which is so hardy and so easily pro-
pagated; and with which they might even form
their fences, or suffer it to run over their
hedges, without taking away any part of their
potatoe ground.

JASMINE. 315

In the market they would find one bunch
of jasmine flowers would bring them as much
money as three cabbages or a bunch of tur-
nips.— As long back as the time of Charles the
Second, Evelyn says, " Were it as much em-
ployed for nosegays, &c., with us, as it is in
Italy and France, they might make money
enough of the flowers ; one sorry tree in Paris,
where they abound, has been worth to a poor
woman near a pistole a year." And at the pre-
sent time a great deal of money is made by
the nurserymen in that neighbourhood, who
trim them up with ahead on a single stem, and
then pot them, and send them to the flower-
market covered with blossoms, where they
soon find customers amongst those who are
wise enough to prefer familiar beauty to costly
rarity ; and you see it there flourishing equally
in the cobbler's window and the palace bal-
cony. The Turks cultivate the jasmine for
the sake of the branches, of which the tubes
of their summer tobacco-pipes are as invari-
ably made, as those for the winter are formed
of the cherry-tree.

As the jasmine does not ripen its seed in
our climate, it is increased by laying down
the branches, which take root in one year ;
which may then be cut from the old stock, and
planted where they are to remain. It is also

316 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

propagated by cuttings, which should be
planted early in the autumn, and the earth
covered with sand, ashes, or sawdust, to keep
the frost from entering the ground.

In situations where it is necessary to prune
this plant, it must never be done until the
end of March, or when the frost is past. It
should also be observed, that the flowers are
always produced at the extremity of the same
year's shoots, which are often cut off in the
summer, by those who are ignorant of its na-
ture ; and thus the plant is deprived of the
power of treating us with its fragrant flowers.

The common yellow jasmine, J.fruticans9
is a native of the South of Europe; yet it did
not reach this country so early as the white
jasmine, as Gerard tells us, in 1597, that it
had not then been seen in this country ; and
Mr. Martyn is therefore mistaken in his state-
ment, that it was cultivated by Gerard in
that year.

Parkinson tells us, in 1629, that the yellow
jasmine " will well abide in our London gar-
dens, and any where else."

This shrub is easily increased by suckers or
layers; but being deficient of odour, it is
much less cultivated than formerly. Sheep
eat the leaves and young branches of this
shrub with great avidity.

JASMINE. 317

The Italian yellow jasmine, J. humile, pro-
duces larger flowers than the common yellow
jasmine, and is therefore preferred in the
shrubbery ; where it requires a south aspect
and sheltered situation. It was first cultiva-
ted with us in 1730, but its native soil still
remains unknown ; it acquired its name from
being sent out of Italy with oranges, trees, &c.

This kind is generally propagated by bud-
ding, or inarching it upon the common yellow
sort, as these plants are more hardy than
those raised by layers.

We shall pass over the more tender spe-
cies of jasmines, which are the inmates of
the conservatory; only observing, that the
florist cannot bestow his labour on a more
delightful genus of plants. We now reckon
eleven distinct species of jasmines, besides
varieties of several of them.

The ancients employed the berries of the
jasmine in their pretended divinations ; and
the oil obtained from the flowers was used in
the baths of females.

318

JUD AS-TREE. — CERCIS.

Natural order, Lomentacece. Leguminosce, Juss.
A genus of the Decandria Monogynia class.

" And where Judaea's tree its bloom expands
Of purple hue, to fancy's eye it shows
The fertile banks where hallow'd Jordan flows."

DELILLE.

IF this tree possessed no other recommend-
ation to a situation in the shrubbery, than
that of being the identical species of tree on
which Judas Iscariot hanged himself, we
would have passed it over in neglect,
however we might have been condemned by
those credulous devotees who often believe
the absurdities which have had no other
birth than that given to them by their own
lunatic brain.

Gerard, who is less given to superstitious
stories than most authors of his day, says,
" This is the tree whereon Judas did hang
himselfe ; and not upon the elder-tree, as it is
said." At that period, it had no other Latin

JUDAS-TREE. 319

name than that of Arbor Judce ; and Parkinson
observes, in 1640, that " we have no other
English name to call it by than Judas-tree,
until some other can impose a more apt for
it." We have been told of an impudent
fellow, who makes money by christening the
fruit-trees of other nurserymen with names of
his own ; and thus, not only passing off the
offspring of others' industry for his own
progeny, but creating a second name for
every apple and pear that leaves his marshy
grounds. We are most desirous to see this
handsome tree more frequent in our plant-
ations ; and sooner than it should be lost for
want of a name, we would beg one from the
Castilians, who call it Arbold Amor (Tree of
Love). The French name it Arbre de Judee.
It is, therefore, probable that we received
both the tree and its name from that country,
where they have now bestowed a second
name on it; viz. Gainier, from the likeness
the pods bear to the sheath of a knife : but as
the common shape of their knives differs so
materially from those of our own country,
their sheaths would not suit us ; therefore, we
object to their new appellation for this tree,
and henceforward call it Tree of Love, with a
hope that it will oftener flourish by the Tree
of Life.

320 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

This tree reaches about the same height as
the laburnum ; with which, and the guelder
rose, it makes an admirable group, ais its
papilionaceous flowers, being of a rich purple,
contrast delightfully with the gold colour of
the one, and the snowy balls of the other.
Its flowers appear in May, before the leaves
have fully expanded ; and they come out of
the old branches, and often from the stem of
the tree, in large clusters. It is also a de-
sirable neighbour for the hawthorn, flowering
at the same time, and blending purple with
silver in the happiest manner. The foliage
is scarcely less ornamental than the flowers, as
its form and colour are peculiar to this tree
alone ; the leaflets being reniform and alter-
nately pinnate, of a pale bluish-green on the
upper surface, and sea-green underneath. And
it is observed, that they are never injured by
insects ; but the birds are fond of the flowers,
and often destroy them when fully open.
The bark on the branches is of a purplish
brown, and the branches grow alternately,
like the leaves. The French gardeners often
prune and shorten the branches, which renders
the tree more productive of flowers. It
loves a light soil and a sunny situation ; and
grows so freely in the South of France, Spain,
and Italy, as to be considered a native of

10

JUDAS-TREE. 321

these places by modern travellers, although
the ancients do not appear to have noticed
it. It grows naturally in Japan, and was cul-
tivated by Gerard, at Holborn, in 1596, who
does not mention it as a rare tree ; therefore
its introduction to this country most pro-
bably was much earlier than his time.

The flowers of the Judas-tree are fre-
quently eaten in salads, from their having an
agreeable poignancy. The wodd of this tree
is beautifully veined with black and green ;
and, as it takes a fine polish, it would be an
acquisition to the cabinet-maker. There are
varieties of this tree with white flowers, and
also with flesh-coloured blossoms, but they
have not the beauty of the bright purple
kind ; and we possess so few trees that yield
a purple or blue flower, that it should be
cultivated more particularly on that account.

These plants are propagated, by sowing
their seeds upon a moderately hot bed, to-
wards the latter end of March, or in a warm
sunny border ; and the young plants require
a slight protection from the frosts of the
following winter.

We have introduced a species of this tree
from North America, called the Canada Judas-
tree, Cercis canadensis. It is also named the
Red bud-tree, from the colour of the flower-

VOL. I. Y

322 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

buds in the spring ; but this tree is not so or*
namental, either by its flowers or foliage as
our favourite tree of love. The latter species
was introduced in 1730, The young branches
are said to dye wool of a very fine nankeen
colour.

323

IVY. — HEDERA HELIX,

Natural order, Hederacete. Caprifolia, Juss.
A genus of the Pentandria Monogynia class.

" I love the ivy-mantled tower,

Rock'd by the storms of thousand years."

THIS symbol of a generous friendship
attaches itself generally to the wretched.

«* Thus stands an aged elm, in ivy bound,
Thus youthful ivy clasps an elm around."

PARNELL*

And often when death itself has smitten its
protector, it restores to him again the honours
of the forest or the shrubbery, where he lives
no longer, by decorating his sapless branches
with festoons of undecaying verdure and gar-
lands of winter flowers. It seems to cling
closer to the trunk, screening its death-struck
supporter by its glossy foliage, as if to prevent
the fatal blow of the axe.

In this situation the black-headed yellow-
hammer loves to nestle, giving cheerfulness to
the shade by its bright plumage.

Y 2

324 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

The ivy so much revered by the ancient
bacchanalians, was called by the Greeks Kicra-og
and KITTOG (kisms and kittus), from an infant boy
of that name, whom it is pretended that the
god of wine transformed into this plant. The
Athenians called Bacchus himself Kittus.
According to Pliny, he was the first that wore
a crown, and this crown %was composed of
ivy. Silenus the demi-god, who became the
foster-father of Bacchus, is also represented as
wearing a coronet of ivy, as may be seen in
an antique statue (No. 468), in the Louvre, at
Paris. We are told that Silenus was crowned
with, and wore a wreath of flowers. This
mistake, we presume, has originated from the
ivy leaves being formed into rosets, and a clus-
ter of ivy berries placed in the centre of each,
with which his temples are surrounded, and
which, in diminutive-sized antique groups of
bacchanalians, can only be distinguished from
flowers by close inspection, and comparison
with those on a larger scale.

At the marriage ceremonies of the Greeks,
when the young couple arrived at the temple,
the priest presented them with a branch of ivy,
symbolical of the tie which should unite them;
and the omission of which, at the wedding of
Proserpine, was said to cause the Cocytus to
flow only with waves of tears.

IVY.

325

The metamorphosis of Acetes's mariners
into dolphins, and his vessel into a forest, by
Bacchus, is too elegantly described by Ovid
not to be recalled to mind when we see this
climber ascending lofty trees.

" The mighty miracle that did ensue.
Although it seems beyond belief, is true.
The vessel, fix'd and rooted in the flood,
Unmoved by all the beating billows, stood;

' In vain the mariners would plough the main
With sails unfurl'd, and strike their oars in vain;
Around their oars a twining ivy cleaves,
And climbs the mast, and hides the cords in leaves 1
The sails are covered with a cheerful green,
And berries in the fruitful canvass seen ;
Amidst the waves a sudden forest rears
Its verdant head, and a new spring appears-."

Some ancient writers would have us believe
that the ivy was first brought into Greece by
Bacchus, from Thebes, which is said to Imve
been the birth-place of the jolly god.

Alexander the Great, who could transplant
whole nations with eas6, could not, it is said,
with all his efforts, make the ivy of Greece
grow in the vicinity of Babylon. It is related
that when he visited the mountain where
Bacchus was supposed to have been brought
up, that his army saw the ivy for the first
time since they had left Macedonia, to over-*

Y 3

326 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

run the east ; and that at the sight of this
plant, which recalled the endearing remem-
brance of their country, they immediately
began to make themselves crowns of its
branches, and to sing hymns in honour of
Bacchus.

Pliny tells us that when Alexander returned
from India, all his soldiers wore chaplets of
ivy on their heads ; and it is generally supposed
that the too frequent libations which the son
of Philip made to the god of wine, caused his
early visit to the shades of Pluto.

Crowns of ivy were consecrated to Apollo
before the metamorphosis of Daphne into a
bay-tree, and Virgil says,

" Fierce tigers Daphnis taught the yoke to bear,
And first with curling ivy dress'd the spear."

Past. iv.

The ivy, which of old crowned alike the brow
and the bowl of Bacchus, has been ingeniously
used, in later times, to represent faithful friend-
ship; and a sprig of this plant, with the
pathetic device, " I die where I attach myself,"
cannot fail of being understood, as well as one
which was adopted by the friend who fol-
lowed the fortunes of an elevated exile, whose
device was ivy entwining a felled tree, sur-
rounded by the motto, " his fall cannot de-
tach me."

IVY. 327

It is recorded that Ptolemy Philopater
ordered the figure of a leaf of ivy to be im-
printed on the Jews who forsook their religion.
When this heathen monarch visited Jerusa-
lem, the Jews forcibly prevented his entering
their temple ; for which insolence the tyrant
determined to extirpate the whole nation, and
ordered an immense number of Jews to be
exposed in a plain, and trodden under the
feet of elephants ; but, by a supernatural
instinct, the generous animals turned their
fury not on those who had been devoted to
death, but upon the Egyptian spectators. This
circumstance terrified Philopater, and caused
him to behave with more than common kind-
ness to a nation that he had so lately devoted
to destruction, and on which account, we pre-
sume, he upheld their religion.

It is to be feared that we should be taken
for a nation of bacchanalians, were all those
who have dissented from the church to dis-
tinguish themselves by a sprig of ivy on their
forehead.

We presume that the ancients merely se-
lected the ivy, as emblematical of youth and
freshness, to represent Bacchus who is thus
described by Ovid:

" Opheltes heard my summons, and with joy
Brought to the shore a soft and lovely boy,

Y 4

328 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

With more than female sweetness in his look,
Whom, straggling in the neighboring fields he took.
With fumes of wine the little captive glows,
And nods with sleep, and staggers as he goes.'*

It is but natural to ^suppose that the god
who presided over their wine should be a
favourite image, and that they should there-
fore hold the ivy in superstitious reverence.
It was pretended by them that a cup formed
of the wood of ivy, would prove the purity of
wine, which, by means of its pores, would con-
sume the wine, and leave the rejected water
in the vase, free from mixture.

It is singular that the ancients should select
a crown for the god of wine from a plant to
which the wine is said to have so strong an
antipathy.

" The prudent will observe what passions reign
In various plants (for not to man alone,
But all the wide creation, nature gave
Love and aversion). Everlasting hate
The vine to ivy bears."

It is easy to make ourselves acquainted with
those supposed antipathies of plants, as by
attending to nature we should find, that two
climbing plants cannot well exist on the same
spot ; their roots being of a similar nature,
would defraud each other of their natural
nourishment, and the prop which they seek

IVY. 329

to climb would be overpowered, and the vine
would perish in the continual shade of the
ivy ; therefore, the one has been wisely or-
dained to flourish in the sun, and the other
to grace the shade. Man cannot, therefore,
bring together with advantage what has been
separated by the Creator in infinite wisdom.

Plants are often extolled or condemned, as
they are brought forward by celebrity or kept
back by caprice. We introduce varieties
whose virtues are undiscovered ; and suffer
others to languish uncultivated on the bosom
of the desert, whose beauties or qualities
have not been sanctioned by the hand of
fashion.

The fate of man is similar. An accidental
circumstance often sets mediocrity of talent
upon a tottering pinnacle ; whilst superior
ability decays unseen and unknown in a
neglected shade, or a single accident of
fortune keeps him from the society he was
ordained to ornament. Like the ivy, he can
exist when he has fallen ; but, like this plant,
he produces neither flowers nor fruit, unless
supported to a height above the level of
lowly herbs.

Of the virtues of ivy little is known. Some
pretend that it prevents intoxication ; and
hence it entwined the brow of Bacchus to

330 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

keep off the fumes of wine. Cato directs
that it should be given to cattle when other
fodder is scarce ; and we have known it given
to sheep with apparent advantage, at a season
when the snow had buried other green food.
The ivy is, as generally as improperly,
styled a parasitical plant. We consider it
merely a fixing climber, and that parasitical
plants are such, as not only subsist entirely
on the juices of the branches of other trees,
but which have no situation allotted them on
the earth, as the misletoe and several others.
The ivy draws its nourishment from the
earth, as well as the oak or the elm to which
it clings. The filaments which it sends forth
from its branches are merely grapples, by
which it fixes itself to the uneven part of the
bark of trees or stone buildings ; and that it
receives no nourishment from these supposed
roots is evident^ ^or if the roots which enter
the earth be destroyed, the plant will decay
notwithstanding the numerous fixtures it has
made, but not so when trailing on the earth ;
then these filaments, become roots like other
plants that are propagated by layers, and it
can be separated from the parent plant with-
out danger. The Bignonia radicans, Ash-
leaved trumpet flower, adheres to buildings and
trees by numerous thready fibres in the same

IVY. 331

manner as the ivy; but this elegant North
American climber has never been considered
a parasitical plant. It is true, that the ivy is
often known to fix its root in the decayed
trunk of a tree or in the crevices of old
buildings, but other plants do the same. We
have found a hazel-tree growing on the top
of a church tower at Henfield, in Sussex ; an
apple-tree on the leads of Romsey church, in
Hampshire ; a Scotch fir on a stone building
called Gog and Magog, near Petworth ; and
we have gathered flowers of the valley, which
were growing out of the crevices on the
highest pinnacle of the church of St. Sulpice
at Paris. These were all offsprings of accident
and not parasitical plants.

That ivy must injure young growing tim-
ber by confining its trunk too closely, and by
also drawing the same juices, is probable and
generally admitted ; but in some situations it
has secured timber also by preserving the
trunk from those severe frosts, which by con-
gealing the sap and causing it to expand, often
split the body of the tree, and thus render
the timber only fit for fire-wood* We are not
without instances of trees having actually pe*
rished when they have been stripped of this
protecting leaf, and suddenly exposed to cold*

In ancient times such a circumstance would

332 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

have been accounted for by telling us that
the sympathy was such as to cause the death
of the tree through grief.

The ivy was not a favourite plant with
Pliny. He says it injures plants wherever it
adheres, that it breaks sepulchres of stone,
and undermines city walls ; but with all our
attachment to this great naturalist, we shall
recommend it to the shrubbery, with the cau-
tion, however, of not planting it so as to
overrun the walls of the dwelling, where it
will cause damp, and create litter by the nu-
merous insects that will seek its shelter. We
would rather that the shrubbery should ap-
pear green from the dwelling, than that the
house should be seen clothed in that colour
from the walks. There are certain styles of
building which admit it better than others ;
but we prefer even the Norman tower and
the Gothic arch when unadorned with this
climber, which breaks the harmony of the
parts, and gives it too much the appearance
pf a clipped hedge, which is particularly
conspicuous in the south front of Arundel
Castle, which stands on a bold eminence sur-
rounded by noble trees, and therefore is in-
jured in its boldness by the ivy that has been
added with so much care.
^Ruined towers, broken archways, and un-

IVY. 333

inhabited monasteries, are the works of man,
with which it should be blended. It is also
an admirable cover for walls and other fences
which surround the shrubbery ; and it may
be properly used to ornament the lodges
where the mansion is either in the castle or
Gothic style.

We have often seen it give a picturesque
appearance to cottages ; but we also prefer
to see a white cottage through the branches
of green trees, than to look on a green-clad
cottage in a naked plain. Plantations within
view of the mansion, or the walks that
surround it, are generally laid out more
for effect than with an idea of the pro-
fit to be derived from the timber ; and in
such situations, particularly where evergreens
do not abound, the ivy may be cultivated so
as to add considerably to the beauty of the
prospect, and even within the boundaries of the
shrubbery, where other evergreens have been
destroyed by the drip or shade of lofty trees,
which should always form a back-ground,
the ivy may be suffered both to cover the
surface and climb the trunks to great advan-
tage. When trained to a stake, and suffered to
form a head, it becomes one of the most or-
namental of all the evergreens ; for the sin-
gular complication of its pliable branches, and

334 SYLVA FLORIFERA.

the vivid green of its foliage, together with its
black clusters of berries, form a mass of
beauty that is exceeded by few exotic plants.
There is a singular character to be observed
in the natural history of the ivy : it never
produces flowers whilst trailing on the
ground, but when it can climb to display its
simple umbels, it flowers amply, and pro-
duces fruit abundantly ; and so long as it can
find support upwards, its stalks remain slen-
der and flexible, but when it has reached to
the top of its support, they shorten and be-
come woody, and the top becomes bushy like
a tree. Its leaves also take a different shape.
They are no longer lobed as at first, but as-
sume a more oval shape, and expand to a
larger size : thus the plant seems to prune its
branches when it would be no longer safe to
ramble, and to spend its superfluous sap in
enlarging its leaves.

Its principal time of flowering is in Octo-
ber ; and the bees and flies seem to know that
it is one of the last offerings that Flora will
make them, by the eagerness with which they
buzz around it.

The berries are not perfect before Febru-
ary, nor ripe before April ; but between these
months, the wood-pigeon, the thrush, and the
blackbird feast on the fruit continually.

IVY. 335

The ivy is found wild in most parts of
Europe ; but Linnaeus observes, that it is by
no means common in Sweden; Kalm remarks,
that he never saw the common ivy in North
America, excepting in one instance, against
a stone building, which was most probably
brought from Europe, and planted there. Ac-
cording to Thunberg, it is found in Japan ;
but he observes, that its leaves are never
lobed there as with us.

Our nurserymen furnish us with a variety
with white or silver striped leaves, and ano-
ther with yellowish leaves, both of which mav
be ornamentally employed.

Modern practice has abandoned the use of
this plant in medicine, but it is not long since
the leaves were in use, to put over issues to
keep them cool and free from inflammation.
Pliny enumerates the various disorders for
which it was anciently used ; but he remarks,
that in physic, the ivy is both doubtful and
dangerous. A decoction of ivy leaves was for-
merly used to dye the hair of the head black,
which was a colour the ancients seemed as
anxious to possess as our modern grandmamas
are to retain flaxen locks.

The roots of the ivy are used by leather-
cutters to whet their knives upon.

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