death and sorrow, probably because it was said to produce a narcotic stupor in those who slept beneath

its shade, and sometimes to occasion death. Hence all poetical allusions are of a mournful character. The SPINDLE-TREE1 flourishes in woods upon a 1 Euonymus Europaus.

chalky soil, and is common in Kentish woods, although as a small straggling bush. The curious quadrangular fruits are rose-coloured or whitish, splitting at the top in a cruciate manner, and exhibiting the orange-coated seeds. The English name of Prick-wood alludes to the employment of the wood for toothpicks and skewers, which were formerly called "pricks." In some of the Scottish woods the trees abound, and are of a larger size than in England. In Forfarshire they may be seen from twenty-five to thirty-five feet in height, with trunks a foot and upwards in diameter. In Germany the wood is still said to be used for making spindles, whence originated the name of "spindelbaum," or spindle-tree; but, besides this, the sticks are bored, and used as shanks for the earthenware tobaccopipes so universally in use amongst the Germans.

The GUELDER ROSE,1 and its companion the Mealy Guelder Rose,2 mingle in the undergrowth of woods on the south side of London, apparently preferring a chalky soil. In its wild condition the former does not produce the round white clusters of abortive flowers, resembling a snowball, which are the ornament of the cultivated variety, but the smaller and irregular tufts really produced are fertile towards the centre. The mealy Guelder Rose is very conspicuous in the autumn and winter, when the large flat clusters of bright red berries are nodding and bending beneath their own weight. The young twigs and large elliptical leaves on the underside are

Viburnum Opulus.

2 Viburnum Lantana.

covered with a dense coating of stellate hairs, which give the shrub a hoary or mealy appearance. The Dutch are said to have named this the Geldersche Roose, because they had it from Guelderland.

The BUCKTHORN is almost exclusively a hedge. plant, but the Alder Buckthorn2 is not uncommon in some woods, although totally absent from others. It is certainly local in its distribution. There are several species of Rhamnus, or buckthorn, more or less cultivated, but the above are the only kinds we have seen in woods. All of these contain a large amount of colouring matter, both in the bark and the berries, so that both are employed in dyeing. The yellow berries, or Turkey berries, imported into this country from the Levant, as a dye, are produced by two kinds of Rhamnus, which do not fruit here. The small, greenish-white flowers of this shrub are said to be particularly grateful to bees; the name of frangula is said to be applied to it because of the brittleness of its branches, but why it should be called the alder buckthorn is not so clear, as it does not resemble the alder in any feature.

The BOX-TREE3 was formerly much more common with us than now. In the time of Gerarde it was said to grow upon sundry waste and barren hills in England. And Parkinson states that in the time of Charles I. it was found with us in many woods. Boxwell, in Gloucestershire, was so named from the box; and Box-hill had its origin from the same plant.

1 Rhamnus catharticus.

2 Rhamnus frangula.

3 Buxus sempervirens.

The neighbourhood of Dorking is still beautified by extensive shrubberies of box. In many parts of Asia the box, which is a slow-growing tree, attains a considerable size, and, as yet, its wood has been unequalled for wood-engraving, for which purpose it is very extensively employed. Virgil says,

"Nor box, nor limes, without their use are made,

Smooth-grain'd and proper for the turner's trade,

Which curious hands may carve, and steel with ease invade." The BIRD-CHERRY is not uncommon in the Scottish woods, although by no means common in England. Gerarde says that in 1596 it grew wild in the woods of Kent, where it was used as a stock to graft cherries on. It is still to be met with scattered over the Kentish woods. This is a native of most parts of Europe, and is plentiful in Northern Russia. Birds are very fond of its berries, hence its name of Bird-cherry, and its Latin name of padus was probably applied by the Romans after the river Padus, the ancient name of the Po.

The SERVICE2 is sometimes found in woods; but this is not the true service-tree, which is very rare in Britain. The wild service is still to be seen in the woods on the north side of London, where it was noted as growing more than a century ago.

The WHITE BEAN-TREE is more common than the wild service, with its large ovate, doubly-toothed leaves, white and woolly on the under surface. It seems to prefer a chalky or limestone soil, but is

Pyrus aria.
2 Prunus padus.

• Pyrus torminalis.

found scattered over a great portion of the country. This tree appears to have been known to the country people all over Europe, for in every nation it has its

own popular name.

The white beam is simply the "white tree," beam being the Saxon, as baum is now the German word for "tree." In Germany this is