small wands and switches, or somewhat larger, and such as have divers
hairy twigs, which are not to be disbranched, any more than their roots,
unless by a very discreet hand. Thus, a copse of Hazels being planted
about autumn, may be cut the next spring within three or four inches of
the ground, when new shoots will soon grow up in clusters, and in tufts
of fair poles of twenty, or sometimes thirty feet long. Evelyn, however,
recommends that these offsets should be allowed to grow two or three
years, until they have taken strong hold, when they may be cut close to
the very earth, the feeble ones especially. The rate of growth, under
favourable circumstances, is from one to two feet for the first two or
three years after planting; after which, if trained to a single stem,
the tree grows slower, attaining the height of about twelve feet in ten
years, and never growing much higher, unless drawn up by other trees. It
is seldom, however, allowed to grow to maturity, being usually cut down
before that period.
[Illustration: THE HOLLY-TREE.]
THE HOLLY-TREE.
[_Ilex._[H] Nat. Ord.--_Aquifoliaceæ_; Linn.--_Tetram. Tetrag._]
[H] _Ilex._ Calyx inferior, 4 or 5-toothed, persistent. Corolla rotate,
4 or 5-cleft. Stigmas 4, sessile, or nearly so; distinct or united.
Fruit a spherical berry, 4-celled, each cell 1-seeded. Flowers sometimes
polygamous.
Above all the evergreens which enrich our landscapes, there is none to
be compared to the common Holly, _I. aquifolium_. This was a favourite
plant with Evelyn. It grew spontaneously and luxuriantly near his own
residence in Surrey, in a vale anciently called Holmes' Dale, and famous
for the flight of the Danes; he expresses his wonder that Britons seek
so eagerly after foreign plants, and at a vast expense, while they
neglect the culture of this incomparable tree, whether it be cultivated
for utility or ornament. He speaks in raptures of it: "Is there under
heaven a more glorious and refreshing object of the kind, than an
impenetrable hedge, of about four hundred feet in length, nine feet
high, and five in diameter, which I can show in my gardens at Say's
Court, Deptford, at any time of the year, glittering with its armed and
varnished leaves; the taller standards at orderly distances, blushing
with their natural coral."
The leaves of the common Holly are ovate, acute, spinous, wavy, thorny,
and shining; the lower leaves being very spinous, while the upper ones,
especially on old trees, are entire. The flowers are white, appearing in
May, and the berries, which are red, ripen in September, and remain on
the tree all the winter.
Gilpin remarks that the Holly can hardly be called a tree, though it is
a large shrub, and a plant of singular beauty; but he cannot accord with
the learned naturalist (Evelyn) in the whole of his rapturous encomium
on his hedge at Say's Court. He recommends it, not as a hedge, but to be
planted in a forest, where, mixed with oak, or ash, or other trees of
the wood, it contributes to form the most beautiful scenes; blending
itself with the trunks and skeletons of the winter, or with the varied
greens of summer. And as far as an individual bush can be beautiful, the
Holly is extremely so. It has, besides, to recommend it, that it is
among the hardiest and stoutest plants of English growth. It thrives in
all soils, and in all situations. At Dungeness, in Kent, it flourishes
even among the pebbles of the beach. It abounds, more or less, in the
remains of all aboriginal forests, and perhaps, at present, it prevails
nowhere to a greater extent than in the remains of Needwood Forest, in
Staffordshire; there are likewise many fine trees in the New Forest, in
Hampshire. It is also abundant on the banks of the river Findhorn, in
Aberdeenshire; but it is not very common in Ireland, except about the
lakes of Killarney, where it attains a large size.
[Illustration: Leaves, Flowers, and Berries of _I. aquifolium._]
Why Gilpin should hesitate about considering the Holly a tree, we are at
a loss to conceive, as it grows to the height of thirty feet, and, under
cultivation, to sixty feet or upwards, and yields timber of considerable
value. Being the whitest of all hard woods, it is useful for inlaying,
especially under thin plates of ivory, rendering the latter more
conspicuous; and also for veneering. It is much used by the turner and
mathematical instrument maker, and for handles for the best riding-rods,
&c.
The Holly is a very valuable plant for fences; it is seldom attacked by
insects, and, if shorn, becomes so impenetrable that birds cannot obtain
access thereto to build their nests. On these accounts it is
particularly valuable to the farmer for hedges; the chief objection to
it for this purpose is, the slowness of its growth while young, and the
difficulty of transplanting the plants when grown to a moderate size.
Mr. Sang says, that Holly hedges are the best for making durable fences,
and afford the greatest degree of shelter, especially during the winter
months; no plant endures the shears better than the Holly; a hedge of it
may be carried to a great height, and consequently it is well fitted
for situations where strength and shelter are required; it luxuriates
most in a rich sandy loam, although there are few soils in which it will
not grow. After planting, the Holly makes but indifferent progress for a
few years; but after it becomes established in the ground, or about the
third or fourth year after planting, no fence whatever will outgrow the
Holly. "I have seen hedges," says Evelyn, "or stout walls, of Holly,
twenty feet high, kept upright, and the gilded sort budded low; and
in two or three places one above another, shorn and fashioned into
columns and pilasters, architecturally shaped, and at due distance;
than which nothing can possibly be more pleasant, the berry adorning the
intercolumniations with scarlet festoons and encarpa." The employment of
the Holly at Christmas for ornamenting churches and dwelling-houses, is
believed to have come down to us from the Druids, who made use of it in
their religious ceremonies. The name Holly is supposed to be a
corruption of the word _holy_, as Dr. Turner, one of the earliest
English writers on plants, calls it holy, and holy tree, which
appellation was probably given to it on account of its use in holy
places; the German name, Christdorn, the Danish name, Christorn, and the
Swedish name, Christtorn, seem to justify this conjecture. It is also
styled Holy in a carol written in its praise in the time of Henry VI.,
preserved in the Harleian MSS., No. 5396, and printed in Loudon's
_Arboretum_:
Nay, Ivy, nay, it shall not be I wys;
Let Holy hafe the maystry, as the maner ys,
Holy stond _in the halle_, fayre to behold;
Ivy stond _without the dore_; she is full sore a cold.
Holy and hys mery men they dansyn and they syng,
Ivy and hur maydenys they wepyn and they wryng.
Ivy hath a lybe; she laghtit with the cold,
So mot they all hafe that wyth Ivy hold.
Holy hath berys as red as any rose,
They foster the hunter, kepe him from the doo.
Ivy hath berys as black as any slo;
Ther com the oule and ete hym as she goo.
Holy hath byrdys, aful fayre flok,
The nyghtyngale, the poppyngy, the gayntyl laverok,
Good Ivy! what byrdys ast thou!
Non but the Howlet that "How! How!"
The disciples of Zoroaster believe that the sun never shadows the
Holly-tree; and there are still some followers of this king in Persia,
who throw water which has been in the bark of the Holly in the face of
new-born children. Southey, in a very elegant poem, which is printed in
the _Sentiment of Flowers_, in the article entitled Foresight, of which
quality the Holly is considered emblematical, has noticed the
circumstance of the lower leaves of large plants being spinous, while
the upper are entire.
[Illustration: THE HORNBEAM.]
THE HORNBEAM.
[_Carpinus_.[I] Nat. Ord.--_Amentiferæ_; Linn.--_Monoec. Polyan._]
[I] _Carpinus_. Barren catkin long, cylindrical. Scales roundish.
Stamens 5 to 14. Anther 1-celled. Fertile flower in a lax catkin. Scales
large, leaf-like, 3-lobed, 2-flowered. Styles 2. Nut ovate, 1-seeded.
The Common Hornbeam, _C. betulus_, is a native of England and Ireland,
and of the south of Scotland, and is also indigenous throughout the
greater part of Europe and western Asia, but not in Africa.
Picturesquely considered, the Hornbeam is very nearly allied to the
beech. When suffered to grow it will be like it, and attain to a great
height, with a fine straight trunk; it is very common in many parts of
England, but is rarely allowed to become a timber-tree, being generally
pollarded by the country people. It is, therefore, usually seen only in
clipped hedges, where it is very obedient to the knife, and, with a
little care, will never presume to appear out of form. It is excellent
for forming tall hedges, or screens, in nursery grounds or ornamental
gardens. That admirable _espalier_ hedge in the long middle walk of
Luxemburg garden at Paris (than which there is nothing more graceful),
is planted of this tree; and so is that cradle, or close walk, with that
perplexed canopy which covers the seat in her Majesty's garden at
Hampton Court; these hedges are tonsile, but where they are maintained
to fifteen or twenty feet in height (which is very frequent in the
places before mentioned), they are to be cut and kept in order with a
scythe of four feet long, and very little falcated; this is fixed on a
long sneed, or straight handle, and does wonderfully expedite the
trimming of these and the like hedges.
The leaves of the Hornbeam somewhat resemble those of the elm, but are
smoother; they are cordate, doubly serrate, pointed, plaited when young,
and have numerous parallel, transverse, hairy ribs; their colour is a
darkish green, changing to a russet brown in autumn, and they remain on
the tree, like those of the beech, till spring. The buds are rather long
and pointed. The flowers appear at the same time as the leaves. The male
catkins are loose, scaly, of a yellowish colour, and about two or three
inches long; the female catkins are much smaller, and, when young, are
covered with close brownish scales, which gradually increase, and form
unequally three-lobed, sharply serrated, veiny, dry, pale-green bracts,
each enveloping an angular nut, scarcely bigger than a grain of barley.
These nuts ripen in October, and fall with the capsules. The bark of the
Hornbeam is light-gray and smooth, and the wood very white, tough, and
strong. It is used for yokes, handles for tools, and cogs for
mill-wheels; it is also much valued by the turner. It is very
inflammable, and will burn like a candle, for which purpose it was
formerly employed. The inner bark is much used in the north of Europe
for dyeing yellow.
[Illustration: Leaves and Flowers of _C. betulus_.]
When raised from seed, the common Hornbeam acquires the usual magnitude
of the beech, to which, as before stated, it is similar in its
appearance. In the neighbourhood of London the rate of growth may be
considered from twelve to eighteen inches a-year for the first ten
years, and the tree will attain its full size in between fifty and sixty
years; its longevity may be considered as equal to that of the beech.
Hanbury says that this tree is peculiarly grateful to hares and rabbits;
and if so, the planting of it among other trees and shrubs might be the
means of saving them from being injured by these creatures. The Hornbeam
preserves itself from the butting of the deer, by its mode of throwing
out its branches; on this account it should be cultivated in parks, as
well as for its beauty and shelter. The regular growth of the Hornbeam
is referred to by Fawkes, in his _Bramham Park_:
Here spiry firs extend their lengthened ranks,
There violets blossom on the sunny banks;
Here Hornbeam hedges regularly grow,
There hawthorn whitens and wild roses blow.
The Hornbeam is recommended to be planted on cold, barren hills, as in
such situations it will flourish where few other trees will grow; it
also resists the winds much better than the generality of trees, and, at
the same time, it is not slow of growth. In such situations, Dr. Hunter
observes that he noticed some specimens nearly seventy feet high, having
large, noble stems, perfectly straight and sound.
There was a fine specimen of this tree at Bargoly, in Galloway, which
measured, in 1780, six feet two inches in circumference. It had twenty
feet of clear trunk, and was seventy feet high.
[Illustration: THE HORSE-CHESTNUT TREE.]
THE HORSE-CHESTNUT TREE.
[_Æsculus._ Nat. Ord.--_Æsculaceæ_; Linn.--_Heptan. Monog._]
The Common Horse-chestnut, _Æ. hippocastanum_, is supposed to be a
native of the north of India, and appears to have been introduced into
England about the year 1575. It is a tree of the largest size, with an
erect trunk and a pyramidal head. It forms its foliage generally in a
round mass, with little appearance of those breaks which are so much to
be admired, and which contribute to give an airiness and lightness, at
least a richness and variety, to the whole mass of foliage. This tree
is, however, chiefly admired for its flower, which in itself is
beautiful; but the whole tree together in flower is a glaring object,
totally unharmonious and unpicturesque. In some situations, indeed, and
amidst a profusion of other wood, a single Horse-chestnut or two in
bloom may be beautiful. As it forms an admirable shade, it may be of
use, too, in thickening distant scenery, or in screening an object at
hand; for there is no species of foliage, however heavy, nor any species
of bloom, however glaring, which may not be brought, by some proper
contrast, to produce a good effect. It is generally, however, considered
one of the most ornamental trees in our plantations. Evelyn styles it a
tree of singular beauty and use; and Miss Twamley, in her elegant
volume, the _Romance of Nature_, breaks into raptures in speaking of it.
"Few trees," she says, "are so magnificent in foliage as the
Horse-chestnut, with its large fan-like leaves, far more resembling
those of some tropical plant than the garb of a forest-tree in climes
like ours; but when these are crowned with its pyramids of flowers, so
splendid in their distant effect, and so exquisitely modelled and
pencilled when we gather and examine their fair forms--is it not then
the pride of the landscape? If the Oak--the true British Oak--be the
forest king, let us give him at least a partner in his majesty; and let
the Chestnut, whose noble head is crowned by the hand of spring with a
regal diadem, gemmed with myriads of pearly, and golden, and ruby
flowers, let her be queen of the woods in bonny England; and while we
listen to the musical hum of bees, as they load themselves with her
wealth of honey, we will fancy they are congratulating their noble and
generous friend on her new honours."
The leaves of the Horse-chestnut are large, of a deep green colour,
fine, and palmated, and appear very early in the spring; it is naturally
uniform in its growth. In the spring it produces long spikes, with
beautiful flowers white and variegated, generally in such number as to
cover the whole tree, and to give it the appearance of one gigantic
bouquet. No flowering shrub is rendered more gay by its blossoms than
this tall tree; thus it combines beauty with grandeur, in a degree
superior to any other vegetable of these climates. In Howitt's _Forest
Minstrel_, we find the following poetical allusion:
For in its honour prodigal nature weaves
A princely vestment, and profusely showers,
O'er its green masses of broad palmy leaves,
Ten thousand waxen pyramidal flowers;
And gay and gracefully its head it heaves
Into the air, and monarch-like it towers.
The buds of this tree, before they shoot out leaves, become turgid and
large, so that they have a good effect to the eye long before the leaves
appear; and it is peculiar to the Horse-chestnut, that as soon as the
leading shoot is come out of the bud, it continues to grow so fast as to
be able to form its whole summer's shoot in about three weeks' or a
month's time: after this it grows little or nothing more in length, but
thickens, and becomes strong and woody, and forms the buds for the next
year's shoot; the leaves are blunt, spear-shaped, and serrated, growing
by sevens on one stalk, the middle one longest. The flowers are in full
blossom about May, and, on fine trees, make a pleasing appearance; they
continue in bloom for a month or more.
[Illustration: (Leaves, Flowers, and Nuts of _Æ. hippocastanum_)]
In June that Chestnut shot its blossomed spires
Of silver upward 'mid the foliage dark;
As if some sylvan deity had hung
Its dim umbrageousness with votive wreaths.
Thus, Mr. Moir's Horse-chestnut put forth its bloom in June. The fruit
ripens about the end of September or the beginning of October.
We quote the following singular fact from the _Magazine of Natural
History_:--"The downy interior of the Horse-chestnut buds are: protected
from the wet by a covering of a gummy substance. Miss Kent says, 'that
we cannot have a better specimen of the early formation of plants in
their bud than in that of the Horse-chestnut.' A celebrated German
naturalist detached from this tree, in the winter season, a flower bud
not larger than a pea, and first took off the external covering, which
he found consisted of seventeen scales; having removed these scales, and
the down which formed the internal covering of the bud, he discovered
four branch leaves surrounding a spike of flowers, the latter of which
was so distinctly visible, that, with the aid of a microscope, he not
only counted sixty-eight flowers, but could discern the pollen of the
stamens, and perceive that some were opaque and some transparent. This
experiment may be tried by any one, as the flowers may be perceived with
a common magnifying glass; but as detaching the scales requires care, it
would be advisable for an unpractised student to gather the bud in
early spring, when the sun is just beginning to melt away the gum with
which the scales are sealed together."
The Horse-chestnut is extremely well adapted to parks, not only because
it grows to a large size and forms a beautiful regular head, thereby
becoming a pleasing object at a distance, but also on account of the
quantity of nuts it yields, which are excellent food for deer, so that
where great numbers of deer are kept, the planting of these trees in
abundance is to be recommended. It is also very suitable for avenues, or
walks, though it has been objected that its leaves fall early in the
autumn. This must be admitted; yet we think it fully compensates for the
loss by the exhibition of its light-brown nuts, some on the ground, some
ready to fall, and others just peeping out of their cells. The finest
avenue of these trees in England is that at Bushy Park.
There are many fine specimens of this tree in various parts of the
country. In Suffolk, at Finborough Hall, one, eighty years planted, is
one hundred feet high; the diameter of its trunk, at one foot from the
ground, is five feet. In the church-yard at Bolton-on-Dearne, in
Yorkshire, there are some fine specimens; one sixty-six feet high, and
two feet eight inches in diameter at the ground; and another sixty-eight
feet high, and two feet six inches in diameter. But the largest in
Britain is said to be at Trocton, in Lincolnshire, fifty-nine feet high.
Loudon says this is a most magnificent tree, with immense branches
extending over the space of three hundred and five feet, in
circumference; and the branches are so large as to require props, so
that at a little distance it looks like an Indian banyan tree.
The Horse-chestnut is propagated from the nut, of which a sufficient
quantity should be gathered as they fall from the trees, and soon
afterwards either sown or mixed up with earth, until the spring;
because, if exposed to the atmosphere, they will lose their germinating
power in a month. After being transplanted into the nursery, and having
there attained a sufficient size, the young trees must be taken out with
care, the great side shoots and bruised parts of the roots lopped off,
and then planted in large holes, level with the surface of the ground at
the top of their roots, the fibres being all spread and lapped in the
fine mould, and the turf also worked to the bottom: October is the best
season for this work. Like most other trees, this delights in good fat
land, but it will grow exceedingly well on clayey and marly grounds;
large trees have been known to look luxuriant and healthy in very cold
barren earth. It will attain a very large size in a few years.
The timber of this tree is not very valuable, especially where great
strength is required, nor will it bear exposure to the air. It is,
however, of some use to the turner, and also serviceable for flooring,
linings to carts, &c. Du Hamel recommends it as suitable for
water-pipes, which are kept constantly underground. The fruit is of a
farinaceous quality, but so bitter as to be useless for food. Goats,
sheep, and deer are said to be very fond of them; the bark has
considerable astringency, and may be used for tanning leather. A
decoction of the rind will dye the hair of a golden hue.
[Illustration: THE LARCH-TREE.]
THE LARCH-TREE.
[_Abies Larix._[J] Nat. Ord.--_Coniferæ_; Linn.--_Monoec.
Monand._]
[J] Abies Larix. _Lind._ Pinnis L. _Linn._ L. Europæa. Lond.
The Larch claims the Alps and Apennines for its native country, where it
thrives in higher regions of the air than any known tree of its large
bulk, hanging over rocks and precipices which have never been trod by
human feet. It is often felled by the Alpine peasant, to fall athwart
some yawning chasm, where it affords an awful passage from cliff to
cliff, while the roaring cataract below, is only seen in surges of
vapour.
The Larch is first mentioned as growing in England in 1629, but it did
not become plentiful in nurseries until 1759. It is stated, in the
_Transactions of the Highland Society_ (vol. xi. p. 169), that it was
first planted as a forest-tree at Goodwood, the seat of the Duke of
Richmond, near Chichester; but it was not until after 1784, on the
Society of Arts offering gold medals and premiums for its cultivation,
that it became generally planted. The following are some of the largest
numbers of trees planted about that time by the respective parties:--The
Bishop of Llandaff, 48,500, on the high grounds near Ambleside, in
Westmoreland; W. Mellish, Esq. of Blythe, 47,500; George Wright, Esq. of
Gildingwells, 11,573; and the late Earl of Fife, 181,813, in the county
of Moray, in Scotland. The same spirit for planting this tree has
continued to the present time, wherever the land has not been thought
more valuable for other purposes. In 1820 the Society for promoting
Arts, &c., presented his Grace the Duke of Devonshire with the gold
medal, for planting 1,981,065 forest-trees, 980,128 of which were Larch.
Of the introduction of the Larch into Scotland, it is stated by
Headrick, in his _Survey of Forfarshire_: "It is generally supposed that
Larches were brought into Scotland by one of the Dukes of Athol; but I
saw three Larches of extraordinary size and age, in the garden near the
mansion-house of Lockhart of Lee, on the northern banks of the Clyde, a
few miles below Lanark. The stems and branches were so much covered with
lichens, that they hardly exhibited any signs of life or vegetation.
The account I heard of them was, that they were brought there by the
celebrated Lockhart of Lee (who had been ambassador from Cromwell to
France), soon after the restoration of Charles II. (about 1660). After
Cromwell's death, thinking himself unsafe on account of having served
the usurper, he retired for some time into the territories of Venice; he
there observed the great use the Venetians made of Larches in
ship-building, in piles for buildings, in the construction of their
houses, and for other purposes; and when he returned home, he brought a
great number of large plants, in pots, in order to try if they could be
gradually made to endure the climate of Scotland. He nursed his plants
in hot-houses, and in a greenhouse, sheltered from the cold, until they
all died except the three alluded to. These, in desperation, he planted
in the warmest and best sheltered part of his garden, where they
attained an extraordinary height and growth."
[Illustration: Foliage, Catkins; immature and perfect Cones; and Scale
opened showing the Seeds of L. Europæa.]