Woodland Gleanings Part 17

[_Pinus_[W] _strobus_. Nat. Ord.--_Coniferae_; Linn.--_Monoec. Monan._]

[W] For the generic characters, see p. 207.

This Pine is a native of North America, growing in fertile soils, on the sides of hills, from Canada to Virginia. It was introduced about 1705, and was soon after planted in great quant.i.ties at Longleat, in Wilts.h.i.+re, the seat of Lord Weymouth, where the trees prospered amazingly, and whence the species received the name of the Weymouth Pine.

In America, in the state of Vermont, and near the commencement of the river St. Lawrence, this tree is found one hundred and eighty feet in height, with a straight trunk, from about four to seven feet in diameter. The trunk is generally free from branches for two-thirds or three-fourths of its height; the branches are short, and in whorls, or disposed in tiers one above another, nearly to the top, which consists of three or four upright branches, forming a small conical head. The bark, on young trees, is smooth, and even polished; but as the tree advances in age, it splits, and becomes rugged and gray, but does not fall off in scales like that of other Pines. The leaves are from three to four inches long, straight, upright, slender, soft, triquetrous, of a fine light bluish green, marked with silvery longitudinal channels; scabrous and inconspicuously serrated on the margin; spreading in summer, but in winter contracted, and lying close to the branches. The barren catkins are short, elliptic, racemose, pale purple, mixed with yellow, and turning red before they fall. The fertile catkins are ovate-cylindrical; erect, on short peduncles when young, but when full-grown pendulous, and from four to six inches long, slightly curved, and composed of thin smooth scales, rounded at the base, and partly covered with white resin, particularly on the tips of the scales; apex of the scales thick, and seeds oval, of a dull gray. The cones open to shed the seeds in October of the second year.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Foliage, Cones: Scale opened, with two winged Seeds of _P. strobus_.]

Gilpin is very severe upon this tree, and says that it has very little 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 princ.i.p.al 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 circ.u.mstance, 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 ma.s.s 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 Somersets.h.i.+re. In 1837 this tree was ninety-five feet in height, with a trunk of three feet in diameter.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE WHITEBEAM TREE.]

THE WHITEBEAM TREE.

[_Pyrus aria_.[X] Nat. Ord.--_Rosaceae_; 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 ma.s.s, till it is ruffled by the wind, when it suddenly a.s.sumes 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."

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 gra.s.s 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 princ.i.p.al use, however, is for cogs for wheels in machinery.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE WILD BLACK CHERRY OR GEAN.]

THE WILD BLACK CHERRY OR GEAN.

[_Prunus Avium._[Y] Nat. Ord.--_Rosaceae_; 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 p.u.b.escent 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 quant.i.ty, 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 a.s.sumes 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 l.u.s.ty 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 spa.r.s.e 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 Cambridges.h.i.+re, 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 fete 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 fete 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 gra.s.s to grow under it.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE WILD SERVICE-TREE.]

THE WILD SERVICE-TREE.

[_Pyrus[Z] torminalis._ Nat. Ord.--_Rosaceae_; 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 cl.u.s.ters of rich brown fruit do in autumn.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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.