2008

ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART III.

among these hang certain triangled things, upon which are found knaps, or littlebuds of the bignesses of ciches, in which is contained the fruit or seed. Theroot is strong and thicke.” He adds, that “ it growes plentifully in North­ amptonshire , and in Kent, by Gravesend; where it is commonly taken for akinde of elme” (Herball , p. 1479.) : and concludes by saying that he con-siders it as a kind of elm himself; and that it is called, in England, horn-beam, hard-beam, or yoke-elm, and in some places, witch-hazel. It was alsosometimes called horse-beech. “ This tree,” says Parkinson , in his Theatreof Plants, “ hath found about as many names as there have been authors thathave written of it; but, by the judgment of the best, it is the Ostrya ofTheophrastus * which he describeth so plainly in his 3d booke and 10th chapter,that it is a wonder so many learned men as have called it otherwise, shouldnot better heede it; but, led by tradition or conceit, have rather taken it tobe any other thing than what it is. Pliny (lib. iii. c. xxii.) describeth it; butmaketh it like to Fraxinus , when he should rather have set Fagus ; for it noway resembleth the ash, but very much the beeche. Tragus taketh it to beOrnus; and saith that he cannot agree to Ruellius, who said that Ornus wasa species of Fraxinus . Matthiolus called it Carpinus . Dodonmus, in hisDutch book, maketh it his third kinde of elme, and doubteth if it be not theUlmus sylvestris of Pliny . Lugdunensis giveth us the figure of it for Ulmus attinia; but Cordus or Dalechampius, I take it, first tooke it be Ostrya.Gesner, in Hortis, calleth it Fagus sepiaria; L’Obel, Betulus; and Clusius ,Fagulus herbariorum.” {Parkinson's Theat. Bot., p. 1406.) Parkinson him-self calls it Ostrya. The author of An Old Thnft newly revived classes the“hornebeame” among the British timber trees. It “doth much,” he adds,“ resemble the beech tree in qualitie; and desireth the same kind of ground,husbanding, and dressing, as the beech tree doth ; but it is a more firme andso'lide kinde of wood.” (p. 59.) The hornbeam was always a favourite treefor forming hedges and labyrinths ; and, as these last appear to have been in-troduced at a very early period, it was, doubtless, among the first indigenoustrees planted for garden purposes. In the Retired Gardener, and in James’sGardening, both of which are translations of French works published duringthe reign of Louis XIV. , long details are given on the art of forming groves,labyrinths, alcoves, arcades, and “ various other devices ” of hornbeam; ofwhich, the author adds, “ Nature, of herself, hath provided enough for us tomake what compartments we please with it in our gardens.” (Ret. Gard., ii.p. 740.) . Evelyn speaks quite in raptures of the hornbeam hedges in thegarden of London and Wise at Brompton; and of “ the admirable espa-lier hedge in the long middle walk of the Luxembourg Garden at Paris (thanwhich nothing is more graceful), planted of this tree; and so is that cradle,or close walk, with the perplexed canopy, which lately covered the seat in HisMajesty’s garden at Hampton Court .” (Hunt. Evel.,i. p. 140.) With thedecline of the geometric style of planting, the lofty hedges and alleys withclipped sides, of hornbeam, fell into disrepute ; and the tree was chiefly usedto form garden and nursery hedges for shelter and for coppice-wood. In thepresent day, the tree is little used for either of these purposes; beech, orsome species of evergreen, being found to grow more rapidly as a hedge; andundergrowth of hornbeam only being planted in the worst soils.

Poeiical Allusions. The hornbeam does not appear to have been mentionedby Virgil , or any of the other Latin poets. It is also very seldom alluded toby any of either the French or English poets of the middle ages. Rapin, inhis Latin poem, entitled The Gardens, speaks of the use of this tree for laby-rinths ; —

Let beauteous hornbeams one fair part adorn ;

Another, cypresses with judgment shorn :

These mazy windings form a wilderness,

Which hornbeam hedges in trim neatness dress.

Along the alley sides their boughs expand :

Like verdant walls the firm espaliers stand ;

And, while the eyes their various forms delight,

To private walks and shady bowers invite.” Book ii.