CHAP. CV11.

platana'ceve. pla'tanus.

2047

notice of the picturesque eye. “ The Occidental plane has a very picturesquestem. It is smooth, and of a light ash-colour, and has the property ofthrowing off its bark in scales; thus naturally cleansing itself, at least itslarger boughs, from moss and other parasitical encumbrances. This wouldbe no recommendation of it in a picturesque light, if the removal of theseencumbrances did not substitute as great a beauty in their room. Thesescales are very irregular, falling off sometimes in one part, and sometimes inanother; and, as the under bark is, immediately after its excoriation, of alighter hue than the upper, it offers to the pencil those smart touches whichhave so much effect in painting. These flakes, however, would be morebeautiful if they fell off in a circular form, instead of a perpendicular one:they would correspond and unite better with the circular form of the bole.No tree forms a more pleasing shade than the Occidental plane. It is full-leaved ; and its leaf is large, smooth, of a fine texture, and seldom injured byinsects. Its lower branches, shooting horizontally, soon take a direction tothe ground ; and the spray seems more sedulous than that of any tree wehave, by twisting about in various forms, to fill up every little vacuity withshade. At the same time, it must be owned, the twisting of its branches is adisadvantage to this tree, as we have just observed it is to the beech, when itis stripped of its leaves and reduced to a skeleton. It has not the naturalappearance which the spray of the oak, and that of many other trees, discoverin winter; nor, indeed, does its foliage, from the largeness of the leaf, and themode of its growth, make the most picturesque appearance in summer. Oneof the finest Occidental planes I am acquainted with stands in my own gardenat Vicar’s Hill; where its boughs, feathering to the ground, form a canopy ofabove 50 ft. in diameter. The Oriental plane is a tree nearly of the same kind,only its leaf is more palmated; nor has it so great a disposition to overshadowthe ground as the Occidental plane; at least, I never saw any in our climateform so noble a shade, though in the East it is esteemed among the mostshady and most magnificent of trees.” (Rem. on For. Seen ., vol. i. p. 53.)

Soil, Situation, Propagation, $c. What has been said on these subjects asapplicable to P. orientalis is equally so to this species; the chief differencebeing, that P. occidentalis strikes very readily from cuttings, and is much morelike the willow, in requiring, when it is intended to attain a large size, to be§ planted near water. It is sometimes raised from seeds imported from America.

I A great many plants were raised in this way by Mr. Cobbett, from 1826 to

; 1830. The seed is imported in the globular catkins, or balls, which Cobbett

' broke to pieces by rubbing them with the hand to separate the down or

j wool, as he calls it, from the seeds. The latter, being sifted out of the

wool, he soaked in lukewarm water for 48 hours ; he then “ took the seeds* out of the water, and mixed them with finely sifted fresh earth, 10 gallons; of earth to one gallon of seeds; put the mixture upon a smooth place on

\ the bare ground ; turned and remixed the heap every day for four or five

I days, keeping it covered with a mat whenever the turning and mixing was not

| going on; and as soon as a root began to appear here and there, sowed the

i seeds upon a bed of sifted earth, mixed with the sifted mould, just as they

1 came out of the heap.” ( Woodlands , J 473.) The seeds received no other

covering than the mould with which they were mixed: they were wateredevery evening with a fine-rosed watering-pot; and securely shaded from thesun by mats, kept from touching the ground by hoops. These mats were re-moved every evening about an hour after sunset, and were put on again in themorning by sunrise. In about a week, most of the seeds had germinated, andin a short time afterwards the seed leaves appeared. Being gradually inuredto the sunshine, till they were hardy enough to be exposed during the whole| of the day, by the month of October their growth was finished, and the

l wood ripe; and next summer they were fit to transplant into nursery lines.

i As the Occidental plane is very tender when young, Mr. Cobbett did not com-

■ mence his operations with the seed till April; and, consequently, his plants

were small in October; but, by sowing in frames in February, as is the prac-

6 a