CHAP. CV.

CORYLa'cEjE. ca'rpinus.

2011

put into prepared ground, and treated as for the ckarmitte ; adding:—“ That thehornbeam may grow to your liking, you must dig it four times a year, inMarch, May, July, and September. According as it comes up, you shouldkeep it sheared, that it may grow in the form of an even palisade; and whenit is of a good height, you make use of a hook. If the palisade runs veryhigh, you should get a cart made on purpose; and the man who shears itgets up in it, and is drawn by one or two horses, according as the workmanadvances in his work.” {Ibid.) A star consisted of five broad paths, with grassin the middle, and gravel on each side, cut through a wood of hornbeam, andradiating from a round grass-plot, surrounded by a ring of gravel. The woodwas generally formed entirely of hornbeam; but sometimes the wood was ofother trees, and only the avenues or alleys were lined by high hedges or pa-lisades of hornbeam. The goose-foot may shortly be described as half astar; three walks or alleys, corresponding to the three large ribs in the footof a web-footed fowl, radiating from one side of an oval or circle. “ A laby-rinth,” says the author of the Retired Gardener, “ is a place cut into severalwindings, set off with hornbeam, to divide them one from another. In greatgardens, we often meet with them, and the most valuable are always thosethat wind most; as that of Versailles, the contrivance of which has been won-derfully liked by all that have seen it. The palisades of which labyrinthsought to be composed should be 10 ft., 12 ft., or 15 ft. high : some there areno higher than one can lean on, but they are not the finest. The walks of alabyrinth ought to be kept rolled, and the hornbeams in them sheared in theshape of half-moons.” {Ibid., p. 743.) “ Bosquets, or groves, are so calledfrom bouquet, a nosegay; and I believe that gardeners never meant anythingelse by giving this term to this compartment, which is a sort of green knot,formed by the branches and leaves of trees that compose it, placed in rowsopposite to each other. A grove, in this sense, is a plot of ground more orless, as you think fit, enclosed in palisades of hornbeam; the middle of it filledwith tall trees, as elms or the like, the tops of which make the tuft or plume.At the foot of these elms, which should grow along the palisades at regulardistances, other little wild trees should be planted ; and the tuft that will bythis means be found in the inside will resemble that of a copse. There areseveral ways of drawing out these groves; some in regular forms, the plotsbeing answerable to one another; and some in irregular, or the meer effect offancy.” {Ibid., p. 744.) The paths in these groves were of gravel, well rolled,and kept very smooth ; or of grass, well rolled, and closely shaven, “ after themanner of green plots.” The author of the Retired Gardener then adds: “Ihave named a great many sorts of compartments in which hornbeam is madeuse of; yet, methinks, none of them look so beautiful and magnificent as agallery with arches.” He then gives long details for executing this work; butwhat we have already extracted will suffice to give an idea of the use that wasmade of the hornbeam in geometric gardening.

Soil and Situation. The hornbeam will succeed in any soil not too warmand dry. It is naturally found on cold, hard, clayey soils, in exposed situa-tions ; but it attains its largest dimensions on plains, in loams, or clays thatare not too rich. On chalk it will not thrive, in which respect it is directlythe reverse of the beech.

Propagation and Culture. The seeds of the hornbeam ripen in October;and they are produced freely in England, but seldom in Scotland ; the bunches,or cones, as they are called, which contain them, should be gathered by hand,when the nuts are ready to drop out; or they may be left on the tree till theydrop ; when, though a part of the seed will have fallen out, there will, in allprobability, be enough left for future use, the tree being at present but very spar-ingly propagated in Europe . The nuts separate readily from their envelopes ;and, if they are sown immediately, many of them will come up the followingspring, and all of them the second spring. If they are preserved in dry sand,or in their husks, and sown the following spring, they will come up a yearafterwards: the usual covering is f in. The plants may remain in the seed-