picturesque beauty to recommend it. On the contrary, this tree seems to
be a great addition to a landscape: the meagreness of foliage, which
Gilpin considers one of its principal defects, giving to it, in our
opinion, an elegant appearance. He says that it is admired for its
polished bark; but he adds, the painter's eye pays little attention to
so trivial a circumstance, even when the tree is considered as a single
object. Its stem rises with perpendicular exactness; it rarely varies,
and its branches issue with equal formality from its sides. Opposed to
the wildness of other trees, the regularity of the Weymouth Pine has
sometimes its beauty. A few of its branches hanging from a mass of
heavier foliage, may appear light and feathery, while its spiry head may
often form an agreeable apex to a clump.
The Weymouth Pine is propagated from seed, which come up the first year,
and may be treated like those of the Scotch fir. The rate of growth,
except in good soil and in very favourable situations, is slower than
that of most European Pines. Nevertheless, in the climate of London, it
will attain the height of twelve feet in ten years from the seed. The
wood is white or very palish yellow, of a fine grain, soft, light, free
from knots, and easily wrought; it is also durable, and not very liable
to split when exposed to the sun: but it has little strength, gives a
feeble hold to nails, and sometimes swells from the humidity of the
atmosphere; while, from the very great diminution of the trunk from the
base to the summit, it is difficult to procure planks of any great
length and uniform diameter. The largest Weymouth Pine in this country
is at Kingston, in Somersetshire. In 1837 this tree was ninety-five feet
in height, with a trunk of three feet in diameter.
[Illustration: THE WHITEBEAM TREE.]
THE WHITEBEAM TREE.
[_Pyrus aria_.[X] Nat. Ord.--_Rosaceæ_; Linn.--_Icosand. Pentag._]
[X] _Generic characters._ _Calyx_ superior, monosepalous, 5-cleft.
_Petals_ 5. _Styles_ 2 to 5. Fruit a _pome_, 5-celled, each cell
2-seeded, cartilaginous.
The Whitebeam tree is a native of most parts of Europe, from Norway to
the Mediterranean Sea; and also of Siberia and Western Asia. It is to be
met with in every part of Britain, varying greatly in magnitude,
according to soil and situation. It seems to prefer chalky soils, or
limestone rocks; and also, according to Withering, loves dry hills and
open exposures, and nourishes either on gravel or clay. The Whitebeam
rises to the height of forty or fifty feet, with a straight, erect,
smooth trunk, and numerous branches, which for the most part tend
upwards, and form a round or oval head. The young shoots have a brown
bark, covered with a mealy down. The leaves are between two and three
inches long, and one and a half broad in the middle, oval, light green
above, and very white and downy beneath. The flowers, which appear in
May, are terminal, in large corymbs, two inches or more in diameter, and
they are succeeded by scarlet fruit.
Mr. Loudon says that, "as an ornamental tree, the Whitebeam has some
valuable properties. It is of a moderate size, and of a definite shape;
and thus, bearing a character of art, it is adapted for particular
situations, near works of art, where the violent contrast exhibited by
trees of picturesque forms would be inharmonious. In summer, when
clothed with leaves, it forms a compact green mass, till it is ruffled
by the wind, when it suddenly assumes a mealy whiteness. In the winter
season, the tree is attractive from its smooth branches and its large
green buds; which, from their size and colour, seem already prepared for
spring, and remind us of the approach of that delightful season. When
the tree is covered with its fruit, it is exceedingly ornamental."
[Illustration: Leaves, Flowers, and Fruit of _P. avium_.]
The Whitebeam may be raised from seed, which should be sown as soon as
the fruit is ripe; otherwise, if kept till spring, and then sown, they
will not come up till the spring following. The varieties may be
propagated by cuttings, or by layering; but they root, by both modes,
with great difficulty. Layers require to be made of the young wood, and
to remain attached to the stool for two years. The rate of growth, when
the tree is young, and in a good soil, is from eighteen to twenty-four
inches a year: after it has attained the height of fifteen or twenty
feet it grows much slower; but it is a tree of great duration. The roots
descend very deep, and spread very wide; and the head of the tree is
less affected by prevailing winds than almost any other. In the most
exposed situations, on the Highland mountains, this tree is seldom seen
above ten or fifteen feet high; but it is always stiff and erect. It
bears lopping, and permits the grass to grow under it.
The wood is hard and tough, and of a very close grain, and will take a
very high polish. It is much used for knife handles, wooden spoons,
axle-trees, walking-sticks, and tool-handles. Its principal use,
however, is for cogs for wheels in machinery.
[Illustration: THE WILD BLACK CHERRY OR GEAN.]
THE WILD BLACK CHERRY OR GEAN.
[_Prunus Avium._[Y] Nat. Ord.--_Rosaceæ_; Linn.--_Icosand.
Monogy._]
[Y] _Generic character. Calyx_ inferior, 5-cleft. _Petals_ 5. _Drupe_
roundish, covered with bloom; the _stone_ furrowed at its inner edge.
The Cherry, in a wild state, is indigenous in Central Europe, and is
also found in Russia up to 56° N. lat. In England, it is met with in
woods and hedges; and is found apparently wild in Scotland and Ireland.
The Wild Cherry has grown in this country from fifty to eighty-five feet
in height. In cultivation, whether in woods or gardens, it may, in
point of general appearance, be included in these forms:--Large trees
with stout branches, and shoots proceeding from the main stem, nearly
horizontally; fastigiate trees, or with the branches appressed to the
stem, of a smaller size; and small trees with weak wood, and branches
divergent and drooping. The leaves vary so much in the cultivated
varieties, that it is impossible to characterise the sorts by them; but,
in general, those of the large trees are largest, and the lightest in
colour, and those of the slender-branched trees the smallest, and the
darkest in colour; the flowers are also largest on the large trees. The
specific characters of the Wild Black Cherry may be thus stated:--Leaves
drooping, oblong, obovate, pointed, serrated, somewhat pendant, slightly
pubescent on the under side, furnished with two glands at the base, and
downy beneath. Flowers white, in nearly sessile umbels, not numerous.
The colour of the fruit is a very deep, dark red, or black; the flesh is
of the same colour, small in quantity, austere and bitter before it
comes to maturity, and insipid when the fruit is perfectly ripe. The nut
is oval or ovate, like the fruit, firmly adhering to the flesh, and very
large in proportion to the fruit. The juice is mostly coloured: and the
skin does not separate from the flesh.
[Illustration: Leaves, Flowers, and Fruit of _P. Avium_.]
As a tree, the Wild Cherry is not only valuable for its timber, but for
the food which it supplies to birds, by increasing the number of which,
the insects which attack trees of every kind are materially kept down.
This is one reason why Cherry trees are generally encouraged in the
forests of France and Belgium: an additional reason, in Britain, is the
nourishment which they afford to singing birds, particularly to the
blackbird and thrush, and while any are to be found on the trees, they
may be said to convert them into musical bowers. As an ornamental tree
it is also worth cultivating, as it produces a profusion of flowers from
an early age, and at an early period of the year; these from their snowy
whiteness, contrast well with the blossom of the almond and the scarlet
thorn. Its foliage is also handsome, though rather too uniform and
unbroken to produce picturesque effect; in the autumn, when it assumes a
deep purplish-red colour, it gives a great richness to the landscape,
and contrasts well with the yellows and browns which predominate at that
season.
The Wild Cherry is also recommended for the copse, because it produces a
strong shoot, and will shoot forth from the roots as the elm, especially
if you fell lusty trees. In light ground it will increase to a goodly
tall tree, of which some have been known to attain the height of more
than eighty-five feet. Sir T. D. Lauder says, "It may very well be
called a forest-tree, seeing that in many parts of Scotland it is almost
as numerous, and propagates itself as fast as the birch; it grows,
moreover, to be a very handsome timber-tree, and the wood of it makes
very pretty furniture. In form, it is oftener graceful than grand; and
its foliage is rather too sparse to produce that tufty effect which
gives breadth of light and depth of shadow enough to please the
painter's eye. But on the cliffs of romantic rivers, such as the
Findhorn, and other Scottish streams of the same character, where it is
stinted of soil, it often shoots from the crevices of the rocks in very
picturesque forms; and the scarlet of its autumnal tint, when not in
excess, sometimes produces very brilliant touches in the landscape, when
the neighbouring trees happen to be in harmony with it;" and if "merely
considered as a natural object, nothing can be more splendid than its
appearance when covered with a full blow of flowers in spring, or more
gorgeous than the hue of its autumnal livery."
"The Cherry has always been a favourite tree with poets; the brilliant
red of the fruit, the whiteness and profusion of the blossoms, and the
vigorous growth of the tree, affording abundant similies. At Ely, in
Cambridgeshire, when the cherries are ripe, numbers of people repair, on
what they call Cherry Sunday, to the cherry orchards in the
neighbourhood; where, on the payment of 6_d._ each, they are allowed to
eat as many cherries as they choose. A similar fète is held at
Montmorency, in France. A festival is also celebrated annually at
Hamburg, called the Feast of the Cherries, during which troops of
children parade the streets with green boughs, ornamented with cherries.
The original of this fète is said to be as follows:--In 1432, when the
city of Hamburg was besieged by the Hussites, one of the citizens, named
Wolf, proposed that all the children in the city, between seven and
fourteen years of age, should be clad in mourning, and sent as
suppliants to the enemy. Procopius Nasus, chief of the Hussites, was so
much moved by this spectacle, that he not only promised to spare the
city, but regaled the young suppliants with cherries and other fruits;
and the children returned crowned with leaves, shouting 'Victory!' and
holding boughs laden with cherries in their hands."--_Loudon._
The Common Wild Cherry is almost always raised from seed; but, as the
roots throw up suckers in great abundance, these suckers might be
employed for the same purpose. When plants are to be raised from seed,
the cherries should be gathered when fully ripe and sown immediately
with the flesh on, and covered with about an inch of light mould. The
strongest plants, at the end of the next season, will be about eighteen
inches in height; these may be drawn out from among the smaller plants,
and transplanted into nursery rows, from whence they will, in another
season, be fit to be transferred to the plantations, or to be grafted or
budded. It will grow in any soil or situation, neither too wet nor
entirely a strong clay. It stands less in need of shelter than any other
fruit-bearing tree whatever, and for surrounding kitchen gardens, to
form a screen against high winds. Dr. Withering observes that it thrives
best when unmixed with other trees; that it bears pruning, and suffers
the grass to grow under it.
[Illustration: THE WILD SERVICE-TREE.]
THE WILD SERVICE-TREE.
[_Pyrus[Z] torminalis._ Nat. Ord.--_Rosaceæ_; Linn.--_Icosand. Pentag._]
[Z] For the generic characters, see p. 243.
The Common Wild Service-tree is a native of various parts of Europe,
from Germany to the Mediterranean, and of the south of Russia, and
Western Asia. It is found in woods and hedges in the middle and south of
England, but not in Scotland or Ireland. It generally grows in strong
clayey soils.
This tree grows to the height of forty or fifty feet, spreading at the
top into many branches, and forming a large head. The branches are well
clad with leaves, and are covered when young with a purplish bark, with
white spots. The leaves are on pretty long foot-stalks, and are nearly
four inches in length and three in breadth in the middle, simple,
somewhat cordate, serrate, seven-lobed, bright green on the upper side,
and woolly underneath. The flowers are white, in large, terminal, downy
panicles; they appear in May, and are succeeded by roundish compressed
fruit, similar in appearance to large haws, and ripen late in autumn,
when they are brown. If kept till they are soft, in the same way as
medlars, they have an agreeable acid flavour.
The Service-tree gives the husbandman an early presage of the
approaching spring, by putting forth its adorned buds; and it ventures
to peep out even in the severest seasons. As an ornamental tree, its
large green buds strongly recommend it in the winter and spring; as its
fine large-lobed leaves do in summer, and its large and numerous
clusters of rich brown fruit do in autumn.
[Illustration: Leaves, Flowers, and Fruit of _P. torminalis_.]
The best mode of propagating the Service-tree is by suckers. Of these it
puts forth a goodly number: and it may also be budded with great
improvement. It prospers best in good stiff ground, of a nature rather
cold than hot; for where the soil is too dry, it will not yield well.
This tree may either be grafted on itself, or on the white thorn and
quince. To this may be added the Mespilus, or medlar, being a very hard
wood, and of which very beautiful walking-sticks are sometimes made. The
timber of the Service-tree is useful for the joiner, and it has
occasionally been used for wainscoting rooms. It is also used for bows,
pulleys, screws, mill and other spindles; for goads to drive oxen with;
for pistol and gun-stocks; and for most of the purposes for which the
wild pear-tree is serviceable. It is valued by the turner in the
manufacture of various curiosities, having a very delicate grain, which
makes a showy appearance; and it is very durable. When rubbed over with
well-boiled linseed oil, it is an admirable imitation of ebony, or
almost any Indian wood.
One of the finest specimens of the Service-tree in England is said to be
at Arley Hall, near Bewdley. This tree is fifty-four feet six inches
high; the diameter of the trunk, at a foot from the ground, is three
feet six inches; and that of the head is fifty-eight feet eight inches.
[Illustration: THE WILLOW-TREE.]
THE WILLOW-TREE.
[_Salix_[AA] Nat. Ord.--_Amentiferæ_; Linn.--_Dioec. Diand._]
[AA] _Generic characters._ _Catkins_ oblong, imbricated all round, with
oblong scales. _Perianth_ none. _Stamens_ 1-5. Fruit a 1-celled follicle
with 1-2 glands at its base.
The willow tribes that ever weep,
Hang drooping o'er the glassy-bosom'd wave.
Bidlake.
The Willows are chiefly natives of the colder parts of the temperate
regions of the northern hemisphere. More than two hundred species of
this genus have been described by botanists, of which sixty-six are
considered indigenous in this country. These are subdivided into
scientific and economic groups. The economic groups are:--for growing as
timber-trees, for coppice-wood, for hoops, for basket-rods, for hedges,
and for ornamental trees or shrubs.
The Babylonian or Weeping Willow, _S. Babylonica_, the portrait of which
heads this article, is the most picturesque and beautiful tree of this
genus. It is a native of Asia, on the banks of the Euphrates, near
Babylon, whence its name; and also of China, and other parts of Asia;
and of Egypt, and other parts of the north of Africa. It is said to have
been introduced into England by the poet Pope, who planted it in his
garden at Twickenham, where it was known until about 1800 as "Pope's
Willow;" but it was more probably brought to Europe by the botanist
Tournefort, before 1700. Of the Weeping Willow, Miller says, "It grows
to a considerable size. I have one in my view whilst I am writing, which
is four and a half feet in circumference at three feet above the ground,
and is at least thirty feet in height; the age is thirty-four years.
This tree is remarkable, and generally esteemed for its long slender
pendulous branches, which give it a peculiar character, and render it a
beautiful object on the margin of streams or pools. The leaves are
minutely and sharply serrate, smooth on both sides, glaucous underneath,
with the midrib whitish; on short petioles. Stipules, when present,
roundish or semilunar, and very small; but more frequently wanting, and
then in their stead a glandular dot on each side. Catkins axillary,
small, oblong; in the barren the filaments longer than the scale, with
two ovate erect glands fastened to the base; the fertile on two-leafed
peduncles, scarcely longer than half an inch."
The light airy spray of the Weeping Willow is pendent. The shape of its
leaf is conformable to the pensile character of the tree; and its spray,
which is lighter than that of the poplar, is more easily put into motion
by a breath of air. The Weeping Willow, however, is not adapted to
sublime subjects; but the associations which are awakened in conjunction
with it, by that very beautiful psalm, "By the waters of Babylon we sat
down and wept, when we remembered thee, O Sion! as for our harps, we
hanged them up upon the Willows,"--are of themselves sufficient to
impart to it an interest in every human breast touched by the sublime
strains of the Psalmist.
On the Willow thy harp is suspended,
O Salem! its sound shall be free;
And the hour when thy glories were ended,
But left me that token of thee.
And ne'er shall its soft notes be blended,
With the voice of the spoiler by me.
Byron.
Gilpin says we do not employ the Willow to screen the broken buttresses
and Gothic windows of an abbey, nor to overshadow the battlements of a
ruined castle. These offices it resigns to the oak, whose dignity can
support them. The Weeping Willow seeks a humbler scene--some romantic
foot-path bridge, which it half conceals, or some glassy pool, over
which it hangs its streaming foliage,
--and dips
Its pendent boughs, stooping, as if to drink.
In these situations it appears in character, and to advantage.
No poet ever mentions the Weeping Willow but in connection with sad and
melancholy thoughts. Burns, in his "Braes of Yarrow," thus sings:
Take off, take off these bridal weeds,
And crown my careful head with Willow.
Prior alludes to the afflicted daughters of Israel:
Afflicted Israel shall sit weeping down,
Their harps upon the neighbouring Willows hung.
And Dr. Booker refers to the same pathetic scene:
Silent their harps (each cord unstrung)
On pendent Willow branches hung.
The Willow is generally found growing on the borders of small streams or
rivers. The Sacred writers almost constantly refer to this natural
habit. Thus in Job we read:
The shady trees cover him with their shadows; the Willows of the
brook compass him about (xl. 22).
And again, Isaiah, in two places, speaks of its connection with the
brook:
That which they have laid up, shall they carry away to the brook of
the Willows (xv. 7).
They shall spring up as among the grass, as Willows by the
water-courses (xliv. 4).
And Ezekiel refers to this habit of the Willow:
He took also of the seed of the land, and placed it by great
waters, and set it as a Willow-tree (xvii. 5).
And in referring to profane authors, we find Milton speaking of
--the rushy-fringed bank
Where grows the Willow.
An anonymous writer, too, mentions
The thirsty Salix bending o'er the stream,
Its boughs as banners waving to the breeze.
The pastoral poet Rowe places his despairing Shepherd under Silken
Willows. Thus he sings--(we will give the chorus in the first verse, and
not repeat it, as it would occupy too much space):
To the brook and the Willow that heard him complain,
Ah, Willow, Willow;
Poor Colin sat weeping, and told them his pain;
Ah, Willow, Willow; ah, Willow, Willow.
Sweet stream, he cry'd sadly, I'll teach thee to flow,
And the waters shall rise to the brink with my woe.
All restless and painful poor Amoret lies,
And counts the sad moments of time as it flies.
To the nymph my heart loves, ye soft slumbers repair,
Spread your downy wings o'er her, and make her your care.
Dear brook, were thy chance near her pillow to creep,
Perhaps thy soft murmurs might lull her to sleep.
Let me be kept waking, my eyes never close,
So the sleep that I lose brings my fair-one repose.
But if I am doom'd to be wretched indeed;
If the loss of my dear-one, my love is decreed;
If no more my sad heart by those eyes shall be cheered;
If the voice of my warbler no more shall be heard;
Believe me, thou fair-one; thou dear-one believe,
Few sighs to thy loss, and few tears will I give.
One fate to thy Colin and thee shall be ty'd,
And soon lay thy shepherd close by thy cold side.
Then run, gentle brook; and to lose thyself, haste;
Fade thou, too, my Willow; this verse is my last.
Chatterton, in one of his songs, has the following lines:
Mie love ys dedde,
Gon to ys deathe-bedde,
Al under the Wyllowe-tree.
In Ovid we read of
A hollow vale, where watery torrents gush,
Sinks in the plain; the osier, and the rush,
The marshy sedge and bending Willow nod
Their trailing foliage o'er its oozy sod.
And Churchill speaks of
The Willow weeping o'er the fatal wave,
Where many a lover finds a watery grave.
Shakspeare introduces it in Hamlet, where he describes the place of
Ophelia's death:
There is a Willow grows ascant the brook,
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream;
There with fantastic garlands did she make,
Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples,
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,
But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them:
There on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds
Clambering to hang, an envious silver broke;
When down her weedy trophies and herself
Fell in the weeping brook.
The Willows that attain the size of trees of the first and second rank,
and that produce valuable timber, are the four following:--The Crack
Willow, the Russell Willow, the Huntingdon Willow, and the Goat Willow.
[Illustration: Leaves and Catkins of _S. fragilis_.]
The Crack or Red-wood Willow, _S. fragilis_, is a tall bushy tree,
sometimes growing from eighty to ninety feet in height, with the
branches set on obliquely, somewhat crossing each other, not continued
in a straight line outwards from the trunk; by which character it may be
readily distinguished even in winter. The branches are round, very
smooth, "and so brittle at the base, in spring, that with the slightest
blow they start from the trunk," whence the name of Crack Willow. Its
leaves are ovate-lanceolate, pointed, serrated throughout, very
glabrous. Foot-stalks glandular, ovary ovate, abrupt, nearly sessile,
glabrous. Bracts oblong, about equal to the stamens and pistils. Stigmas
cloven, longer than the style.
The Russell or Bedford Willow, _S. Russelliana_, is frequently found
from eighty to ninety feet in height. It is more handsome than _S.
fragilis_ in its mode of growth, as well as altogether of a lighter or
brighter hue. The branches are long, straight, and slender, not angular
in their insertion, like those of _S. fragilis_. The leaves are
lanceolate, tapering at each end, serrated throughout, and very
glabrous. Foot-stalks, glandular or leafy. Ovary tapering; stalked,
longer than the bracts. Style as long as the stigma. Dr. Johnson's
favourite Willow, at Lichfield, was of this species. In 1781, the trunk
of this tree rose to the height of nearly nine feet, and then divided
into fifteen large ascending branches, which, in any numerous and
crowded subdivisions, spread at the top in a circular form, not unlike
the appearance of a shady oak, inclining a little towards the east. The
circumference of the trunk at the bottom was nearly sixteen feet; in
the middle about twelve feet; and thirteen feet at the top, immediately
below the branches. The entire height of the tree was forty-nine feet;
and the circumference of the branches, at their extremities, upwards of
two hundred feet, overshadowing a plane not far short of four thousand
feet. This species was first brought into notice for its valuable
properties as a timber-tree, by the late Duke of Bedford; whence its
name.