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7 inches. Mrs. Childe tells me that in the hot summer of 1905 flowers were pro- duced by this tree.
At Belshill, near Belford, Northumberland, the property of Sir W. Church, Bart., there is a fine tree in a sheltered situation which measures 70 feet by 9 feet 10 inches, and looks healthy, though it is believed to be over 100 years old.
In Scotland we have not seen or heard of any trees, though there is no doubt it would grow well in the south and west, where the climate is much better than at Belshill.
There are two trees at Glasnevin, one 50 feet and the other, a remarkably fine one, 61 feet in girth (Plate 249). Both are 9 feet in girth, and divide at 10 feet up into numerous branches.
A tree’ at Verriéres, near Paris, is 70 feet in height and 8 feet in girth.
There is a large tree in the grounds of the Petit Trianon at Versailles, about 90 feet by 10 to 12 feet, which appears to be grafted on the roots of an elm, and Mr. Hickel informed me that most of the older trees in France were so grown.
This species? is represented in the United States at Woodlands, Philadelphia, where there are growing in a cemetery a few low bushy trees, with short trunks, 4 feet in diameter, and numerous erect branches.
Timber
According to Scharrer the wood is homogeneous, prettily veined, very tough and flexible, does not crack and warp, takes a fine polish, and is very durable even when placed in wet situations. It is very suitable for cabinet-work and carriage-building. The native name of the tree, dzelkwa, signifies “stone-wood,” so-called on account of the hardness of the timber, into which nails are driven with difficulty.
The younger Michaux, who examined a tree cut down at Paris in 1820, states that the sapwood is white, and the heartwood reddish in colour, the latter being heavier and stronger than that of elm, while even the sapwood equalled the ash in strength and elasticity.
A plank of this wood cut from a tree which grew at Boynton, in Yorkshire, was given me by Sir Charles Strickland, and resembles the wood of the Japanese species in texture and colour. Mrs. Baldwyn Childe has also sent me a specimen of it from a branch of her tree. Though unknown in the trade, and, as far as I can learn, never cut for export, I believe that this wood would prove valuable for making furniture if it could be obtained at a reasonable price. (H.J.E.)
1 Hortus Vilmorinianus, 52 (1906).
2 Garden and Forest, x. 488 (1897).