. A description and history of vegetable substances, used in the arts, and in domestic economy . nto narrow slips, called , which,in the northern parts of Eui-ope, are plaited into ropes,and worked into mats. The mats in which flax andhemp are imported from the Baltic, and which, in thiscountry, are in constant use by gardeners for coveringplants from the weather, and tying them up, andalso for market aiul tool baskets, are made of bast,or the bark of the lime-tree. Though the lime be notso great a favourite in this country as it was in formertimes, it may very fairly be doubted whether t
. A description and history of vegetable substances, used in the arts, and in domestic economy . nto narrow slips, called , which,in the northern parts of Eui-ope, are plaited into ropes,and worked into mats. The mats in which flax andhemp are imported from the Baltic, and which, in thiscountry, are in constant use by gardeners for coveringplants from the weather, and tying them up, andalso for market aiul tool baskets, are made of bast,or the bark of the lime-tree. Though the lime be notso great a favourite in this country as it was in formertimes, it may very fairly be doubted whether the pop- u 122 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. lars, and other soft, fast-srrowing trees that have beensubstituted for it, are a chanoe for the better. Tliehme is not a tree for bleak and cold lands. It thrivesbest in rich loam, and in warm and rather moist situa-tions ; and thoui^h the average age to which it willgrow has not been accurately determined, yet, fromthe healthy nature of the tree, and the great size thatit has arrived at, it must be considerable—upwardsof a hundred years. Horse Horse Chesnut—JEsculus hippocastanum. The Common Horse Chesnut (^JEsculus hippocasta-mim) is a native of the northern or central parts ofAsia, from which it was introduced into Europe aboutthe middle of the sixteenth centui-y. Its progress canbe traced from parts of Northern Asia to Constan-tinople, thence to Vienna, and thence to Paris, wherethe first tree was planted in 1615. It is very beautifulin the arrangement of its branches, which give it theform of a paraboloid; in the shape of its leaves; and in THE HORSE CHESNUT, 123 Its pvratnkis of lar^e white flowers, delicately markedwith red and yellow. It o;rows very rapidly, and to a{Treat heiiiht ; but the timber is soft, spoiii^, and notdurable, and therefore of little value. It is white,but every way inferior to the lime, as it does not standthe tool, and almost any thing; will scratch it. It hassometimes been used by the turner, and
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