Hulme-Wild Fruits of the Country-Side
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THE WOBURN LIBRARY NATURAL HISTORY EDITED BY
HIS GRACE
THE DUKE OF BEDFORD,
K.G.
WILD FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
w
ILD FRUITS OF THE
COUNTRY-SIDE FIGURED AND DESCRIBED
F.
EDWARD HULME,
F.L.S.,
F.S.A.
author of "wayside sketches," "familiar wild flowers" "suggestions in floral design," mythland " "natural history lore and legend," etc., etc. '*
WITH THIRTY-SIX COLOURED PLATES BY THE AUTHOR
ROTMIICAL BABDSN
London: Paternoster
HUTCHINSON Row
t^_^
fmc
Gf
CO 1902
PRINTED BY HAZELL, WATSON AND VINEY, LD.
LONDON AND AYLESBURY
WoBURN
Abbey, 2ist July, 1902.
It
there are few
persons
who do
ledge of the processes and the enjoyment of country in
a
form
accurate,
is
at
once
the
has the taste, capacity, or
But
study of Natural History.
for the scientific
leisure
who
not every one
is
feel
that
some know-
products of Nature
life.
easily
object
not
To
supply this knowledge,
assimilated
of
the
increases
and
scientifically
Woburn
Series
of
who
has
Natural History. Each subject
will
made
it
his
special
as in
all
the
succeeding
himself, his
own
and the opinions
be treated by a writer
study.
Editor
on
contribute to the series.
In
volumes, has
those
not
this
the
volume, writer
attempted
who have been
therefore,
speaks for to
impose
asked
to
—
—
CONTENTS CHAPTER
—
I
PAGE
The Ideas associated with Autumn Often Pessimistic, but needlessly so Autumn the Period of Fruition The Infinite Variety of Nature Why Fruits thought of less Interest than Flowers The Hedgerows—Hawthorn or Whitethorn Worlidge's Mystery of Husbandry The May —-The Poets thereon Tree-worship Haws the Cross The Doctrine of Signatures The of Thorns Adam in Eden Buckthorn Gerard's Generall The Privet Traveller's Joy Historic of Plantes The Wild Roses of our Hedges — Hips The Sweet Briar Eglantine of the Poets— Bedeguar The Field Rose Drying Plants Hazel Powers of Divination The Squirrel's Hoard Nut-shells and their Occupants Keats on the Autumn Prognostications from Nuts —^Why we eat Almonds and Raisins— Culpeper in Defence of Nuts The Guelder-rose Snowball-tree
—
— —
—
—
—
—
— —
—
— —
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—Woody
—
—
—
Poisonous Berries Dry-beaten Folk Black Nightshade, or Petty Morel Hop The Vine of the North The Herbalist Lobel Willow-wolves The Ivy Its Great Variation Gerard thereupon Is Ivy harmful to Trees ? Shakein P"orm speare on Parasites The Poet's Crown Christmas Decorations Black Bryony Red-berried Bryony Bacon on Climbing Plants The Blackthorn Blackthorn Winter Sloe Tea Spindle-tree
Nightshade
Its
—
—
—
—
—
— Tree — The
Wayfaring
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
Foure Bookes of Husbandry
— —
—
— Parkinson's —
The Yew The Saturnalia Clipping Botanicum Dragons and Peacocks The English Archers— Churchyard Yews Dogwood Honeysuckle The Blackberry Dewberries CloudStone-bramble Raspberry Strawberry Mediaeval Preberries Barberry Bird-cherries The Cuckoo-pint or Wild scriptions Theafrunt
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
Arum
I
CHAPTER
II
— The Monarch Oak—Acorns as Food— OakThe Domesday Book — Oak Galls of mast for the Pigs — Panage Leonard's Forest Experiences Various Kinds — The Beech — or Name-carving — Beech-mast — The Hornbeam — The Scotch Trees of the Forest
in
St.
Fir,
—A
CONTENTS
vii
PAGE
Home— Cones, Pine-apples— The Larch Planted by the Million— Spanish Chestnut—As an Article of Food —Abnormal Cluster The Horse-Chestnut— A Central Asian Tree Pine— Its Mountain
—
— The
—
— The
Lady of the Woods Greenland's one Tree Silvery Bark— The Books of Numa— Witches' KnotsIts Attraction of Sap to Butterflies— The Birchen-rod— The "Village Schoolmistress "—The Ash— The "Venus of the Woods "—The Husbandman's Tree— Elizabethan Statute for the Preservation of Timber— Ash-keys— Peter-keys— Norden on Sussex Iron-furnaces —Shrew-ash—The Serpent's Antipathy— The Rowan, or Mountain Ash— Difference of Opinion on Floral Odours— The Witchen-tree— Service-berries Preservative from the Evil Eye The Service-tree The Great Sycamore— Biblical The Sycamore— Food— The as Maple—The False Plane— Sycamore-wine— Fungoid Growth on the Leaves Winged Fruits Distribution of Seeds of the Sycamore —The Maple— Maser-tree— The Plane— Its Peeling Bark— Town-tree— Irrigation with Wine The Holly The Saturnalia again— Tunbridge Ware— The Flail— The City of Tibur— " As Pliny Birch
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
saith
"-Bird-lime
99
CHAPTER Plants of the Moorland, the
fication—The
Meadow,
III
the Stream
Yellow Iris— Obedience
— Difficulty of Classi-
Nature to Law— The North American Plant—
in
Relief of Choler— The Touch-me-not— A The Alder— Amsterdam and Venice built thereon— The Gladdon, or Foetid Iris— The Elder- Its Value in Medicine— The Laciniated Variety— Bagpipes— The Bilberry— The Bleaberry The Cowberry, or Red Whortleberry— The Strawberry Tree— " A Fruyt of small Honor"— The Butcher's Broom—Thorn Apple— A Remedy for Asthma The Henbane— Skeletonising Leaves A Plant of Saturn -Influence of Stars on Human Life— The Writings of Matthiolus
—
—
—
—The Dvvale, or Deadly Nightshade— Its Virulent Properties— Atropine— The Juniper— The Biblical Tree so-called— Its Employment in Distillation— The Antidote of Mithridates— Mistletoe— Druidic Rites— Forbidden in Churches Parasitic— On what Trees
— — The Co7?ip!cat Httsbandtna7i — Pliny on Druidism — Mistletoe grow Mistletoe— Sir John Westminster — How growing Medicinal Value— The Cross-leaved Mistletoe— Colbatch on an Paley on Evidences of Design — The Columbine — What found
to
in
its
is
Grief— The Scarlet Poppy— Buttercups— The Parsnip— The Sylva Sylvanan of Bacon— Carrot, or Bird's-nest— Cranberries— The Bearberry- The CrowberryBroom— Shepherd's Needle Conclusion Indigenous Plant
?— A Symbol
—
of
162
—
LIST I.
II.
III.
IV.
V. VI.
VII. VIII. IX.
X. XI. XII. XIII.
XIV.
XV. XVI. XVII. XVIII. XIX.
.
OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Hawthorn — Cratirgus
FACING PAGE
oxyacantha
—Ligustrum vulgare Sweet Briar — Rosa rubiginosa Field Rose — Rosa arvensis Hazel— Corylus Avellaiia
6
Privet
14
20
.
22
26
.
Woody Nightshade — Snlanum Hop — Hunmlus Lupulus
Diilcajnara
— — Spindle-Tree — Euonyimis Ettropaus Yew, Taxus and Dogwood — Cornus snnguviea Blackberry —Riibus fniticosus Strawberry —Fragaria vesca Cuckoo-pint —Arum maculatiiin Oak — Qiiercus robur Beech —Fagus Black Bryony Tamus comtnunis Blackthorn Prumis spinosa
.
—
sylvatica
Scotch Pine Pinus sylvestris Spanish Chestnut Castanea
—
Horse Chestnut
—
vesca
—.Esailus hippocastamtm
....
I
TO
124
128 132
146
— — — — — — Thorn Apple—Datura Stramoniu DwALE Atropa Belladonna Mistletoe — Viscum album Columbine—Aquilegia vulgaris Parsnip — Pastinaca sativa Broom —Sarothaninus scoparius Shepherd's Needle — Scandix Pecten
164
.
170 172
.
ni
.
96 TOO
142
.
.
80 88
TlT)
XXIV. Holly Ilex agi/ifoliitfu XXV. Yellow Iris Iris pseudacorus XXVI. Alder Alnus glutinosa XXVII. Gladdon Iris fcctidissima XXVIII. Elder Sambuci/s nigra XXIX. Strawberry Tree Arbutus unedo
XXXIV. XXXV. XXXVI.
54 56 60
baccata,
—
XXXII. XXXIII.
5°
.
XX. Birch Betula alba XXI. Rowan—Pi'w^5 aucuparia XXII. Sycamore Acer pseudo-platanus XXIII. VhA^Y.— Plata mis orientalis
XXX. XXXI.
32
38
.
.
182
186 196 202
216 228 240 246
THE
fHOITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE CHAPTER
I
The Ideas associated with Autumn— Often Pessimistic, but needlessly soAutumn the Period of Fruition— The Infinite Variety of Nature— Why Fruits thought of less Interest than Flowers— The Hedgerows— Hawthorn or Whitethorn— Worlidge's Mystery of Husbandry—Th^ May— The Poets thereon— Tree-worship— Haws— The Cross of Thoms— Adam in £den—The Doctrine of Signatures— The Traveller's Joy— The PrivetBuckthorn— Gerard's Generall Historie of Plantes—1\\ft Wild Roses of our Hedges— Hips— The Sweet Briar— Eglantine of the Poets— Bedeguar— The Field Rose— Drying Plants— Hazel— Powers of Divination—The Squirrel's Hoard— Nut-shells and their Occupants— Keats on the Autumn— Prognostications from Nuts— Why we eat Almonds and Raisins-Culpeper in Defence of Nuts— The Guelder-roseSnowballtree— Woody Nightshade, Its poisonous Berries— Dry-beaten FolkBlack Nightshade, or Petty Morel— Hop— The Vine of the North— The Herbalist Lobel— Willow-wolves— The I\7— Its great Variation in
Form— Gerard thereupon— Is Ivy harmful to Trees ?— Shakespeare on Parasites— The Poet's Crown— Christmas Decorations— Black Red-berried
Blackthorn
Bryony— Bryony— Bacon on Climbing Plants— The BlackthornWinter— Sloe Tea— Spindle-tree— Wayfaring Tree— The
Foure Bookes of //usiafidfj—Paikinsoa's Theatrum Botanicum—The. Yew— The Saturnalia— Clipping Dragons and Peacocks— The English Archers— Churchyard Yews— Dogwood— Honeysuckle— The Blackberry —Dewberries— Cloud-berries— Stone-bramble— Raspberry— Strawberry —Mediaeval Prescriptions-Barberry- Bird-cherries— The Cuckoo-pint or Wild Arum.
THE are all
ideas
associated
with
often not altogether
inclined
to
be
Autumn, we
happy ones.
pessimistic the
If
are
we
thought suggests
afraid,
are at itself
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
2
that the gloriously long
over
last
now remains
that nothing
us but
to
Winter
ourselves in the icy grasp of
That
there
no
is
less
ripened
to
farmer have
alike
— harvest-mouse
—
when
and
in
of
the harvest-field, and
all
common
the days of harvest shall never
townman,
busy
bounty, and find yet
thinks
innumerable, the country steps,
who,
to in
who
end of time
fail.
home
his
in
by
and encircled by gas-lamps
kindly
pity
on
brother in
his
has but the lights of heaven to guide his
whom lieu
with
the
till
surrounded
chimney-pots
multitudinous
ploughboy,
blackbird,
squirrel,
share the
their mission
long labours
the
again the great promise fulfilled that
The
!
at last fulfilled
fruit,
culminated
the
and millionaire
a
to find
the season of glorious fruition,
when bud and blossom have and changed
we emerge
;
another and a brighter side goes without
is
Autumn
saying.
through
pass
to
certain season of dank discomfort until
at
come
inevitable period of decay has
that the
;
and sunny days of Summer are
pavements are
unknown, and
luxury
a
of the gong of the
electric-car,
has
to
be
content with music so old-fashioned as that poured forth
by the lark
as
he
circles
upward, ever upward, into the
we
great azure vault.
Living, as
years
purely rural,
in
a
district
ourselves did, for
we found
that
impression amongst our urban friends was that
be greatly envied for three months less
in the
greatly pitied for the remaining nine
failed to credit or
year the country
realise
life is
that
;
for twelve
many
the fixed
we were
year, to be
to
no
and they entirely
months
in
each
fuU of charm, the only stipulation
necessary to attain that result being that one should be in
sympathy with one's environment.
INTRODUCTORY One
great attraction of the rural
change that
is
no
to be dull,
there
gallery
going on around us call for
self-pity.
Nature
there
;
the
constant
really
no time
is is
In the clear,
sun, shining on the rime-
and herbage, turns the whole countryside
trees
and
into glittering fairyland, all
life
of subject.
frosty days of mid-winter the
covered
3
In Nature's great picture
infinite variety
is
'
with
instinct
is
sweet Springtide,
in the
the
life,
when
teem with
copses
primroses and wind-flowers, and the woodlands are carpeted
To
purple with innumerable hyacinths.
in
Summer
the glorious
melody of joy of the
birds,
life
no
sing with
with
aflame
and when everything
glorious
and
the
air is
full
is
instinct
of the
with the
and these halcyon days pass insensibly Into
;
less
laugh
when
days,
these succeed
the
days of Autumn, when the
golden harvest, and
foliage
valleys
woods
the
are
of the beech, the birch, or
the
maple, or clothed in crimson, or russet, or purple, with a
splendour indeed,
makes one's
that
a
broken reed
to depict
something of
colour-box
when one would endeavour
to these latter days
this
beauty and richness of
we
turn for inspiration for our pages, for subjects of our
tint.
It
is
illustrations. It
been suggested
has
find a wealth of
them
in
their
suggestion
question,
a
does
at
one
in the
persons will
flowers they see around
country rambles, the hedgerow
appears
to
starting-point all
care
to
be but a that
is
;
can
fruits
but such
mere begging of the
we cannot
argue out the
interest, for to the real lover
her works
many
expected to awaken a like regard
scarcely be a
interest
that while
accept.
more or
Nor less
of
of Nature the appreciation of
all-embracing, excluding
all
idea of deprecia-
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
4
tion, exalting
nothing
expense of anything
at the
seeing
else,
beauty and interest everywhere. In
the
catholicity
preference several
who have not reached this of sympathy, who cannot but admit a marked for glorious Summer over glowing Autumn, of
case
reasons have
those
no doubt influenced them
One
difference of appreciation.
mind
hedgerows,
they
are
possibly
only attainable by some prickles,
out
days as the flowers
proverbial regard.
philosophy
do, and that
the
it
They do
to be a
is
pleasure
meet with
absent
Another reason no doubt
not,
commonplace
a
is
thorns,
events not
at all
roadside flower.
and taken home
get picked
in the
probably
damage from
and projecting branches, and are
therefore,
found
of reach, or
risk of
little
so easily gathered as the
for
point that occurs to one's
that while the fruits are often to be
is
their
in
in
scant
atmosphere
that an
oi poetry and sentiment has gathered round flowers as a whole, and
on
some
an
in
especial
have not only not been thus
few cases been branded let
alone.
as
;
while fruits
;
have
idealised, but
in
not a
poisonous things to be severely
Early training has, beyond
answer for here
degree
all
doubt,
much
to
youngsters will put everything into their
mouths, and some berries are undoubtedly harmful.
What
course, then, so simple on the part of the ignorant nurse as
to
save herself from
all
responsibility
wild berries in one sweeping denunciation
by including .-'
reason for this difference of appreciation, where is
that while
many
all
Yet another it
exists,
popular books have dealt more or
adequately with our Flora, and freely illustrated
it,
less
books
giving any great attention to the wild fruits of our land are
conspicuously absent,
and so attention
is
not
called
INTROD UCTOR V That
them.
to
this
than
attractive
fruits,
are
all
clear
We
alike."
more
were
flowers
the reply was at once forthcoming,
" Because flowers are so varied fruits
we had
influence
why
person
representative
fairly
a potent
on asking what we considered to be
demonstration, for a
is
5
in
trust
form and colour, while one of the results
that
of our present pleasant labours will be to demonstrate that this is a libel
and
a fallacy, that a privet-berry
are distinguishable the
and
a blackberry are not so identical in
but
that
which
and observation
practice
principal typical
in the simplest
us
to
tell
is
very simple
a
one, to deal with the
forms that one may reasonably expect to
way
—
caring but
them
to deal with
to send our readers
little
dictionary in a wild quest for six-syllabled words
to the
of weird appearance, but caring
much
the result of the
if
them
perusal of our pages be to so far interest to seek for themselves in the great
We
shall describe
increase our interest in
it
;
it
the plants of our hedgerows ;
as
may, we
and our subject
very naturally into three sections
of our woodlands
send
as to
Book of Nature.
not merely the fruit alone, but give
such details of the plant that bears
fall
beech-nut
form and colour enable
will
meet with during a country sojourn, and
to
a
which.
is
Our purpose
them
and an acorn
one from the other, that
;
:
will be
trust,
found
that dealing with
that occupied with the trees
and a third division, yet more compre-
hensive, that will concern itself with the Flora of the stream,
the breezy moorland, the
of botanical
and two.
interest
meadow, and generally any
outside
the
locale of
locality
chapters
one
THE FRUITS Of THE COUNTRY-SIDE
6
HAWTHORN
hedgerow we soon encounter the
our
Skirting, then,
(Cratcegus Oxyacantha).
hawthorn, the subject of our
first
illustration,
a
shrub of
abundant occurrence, well known, therefore, doubtiess to
most of our
readers, but scarcely to be omitted
While the hawthorn
may
be found
our
in
taking
we
forests,
familiar with
and that
may
from our
on that ground.
series
are
undoubtedly indigenous and
is
its
place
most of
amongst the other
this use
of
it
is
more
us, perhaps,
as a valuable material for
it
especially
making hedges,
of very considerable antiquity
name
be gathered from the fact that the Anglo-Saxon " hasg-thorn," the hedge-thorn.
for the plant
is
may
place,
claim a
as
it
specimens are on record, having
trunks with a circumference of ten fifty feet.
That
however, amongst British forest trees
must not be overlooked,
some
trees
The timber
Is
and
feet,
a
height of
of firm texture and capable
of taking a fine polish.
These old thorns, and some of them are known
to
have
been in existence over two centuries, are ordinarily very picturesque in appearance, as their stems are extraordinarily
contorted hillsides,
and interwoven, and we may often, on bleak find specimens of perhaps not
more than
ten or
twelve feet high, yet looking as venerable as forest trees centuries
old,
with their stems closely wreathed together
and thickly covered with grey
lichen.
Returning to our hedgerow, however, we find that
this
same freedom of interweaving of the branches makes the hawthorn of great value '
Seeing that
as a
We
hedge-maker.'
Fencing and Enclosing of Land
is
have but
most evident
a piece of the highest Improvement of Lands, and that
all
to
be
our Plantations
HAWTHORN
—
HAWTHORN to
contrast
it
for
moment
a
sometimes find introduced
7
with the elder, a plant
hedgerow, to
the
in
we
realise
Whatever our mission, blackberrying, if we can only find a place where the hawthorn
birdsnesting,
this.
or what not,
we
gives place to an elder-bush
shall
find the
more vulnerable than where the mass of
hedge much
closely gathered,
thorn-clothed branches of hawthorn bar our passage.
The hawthorn
to
contradistinction
it
blackthorn,
the
France the hawthorn
in
whitethorn
the
as
This name
ninth illustration. as
known
is
is
is
the
bianco
The name
spino.
lightness of
our
not confined to ourselves,
it
from
arises
is
known
the
as the
comparative
colour of the stem of the hawthorn as con-
trasted with that of the blackthorn, but the particularly
of
subject
in
the epine blanche^ in Spain
the Espino bianco, while in Italy
is
also,
happy
in
either case,
by no means black, while
names
are not
one of these stems being
the other has absolutely
no claim
to be considered white.
In
the
early
Summer
the
blossom,' and so another of
its
tree
is
a
mass of fragrant
popular names
is
the
May.
Fruits, and other Tillage are thereby secured from external which would otherwise lie open to the Cattle, and also subject to the lusts of vile persons, we are obliged to maintain a good Fence, if we expect an answerable success to our Labours. I shall therefore enquire And first, the VV'hitethom out the most proper Trees for that purpose it is raised either of Seeds or Plants is esteemed the best for fencing by Plants is the speediest way, but by Seeds, where the place will admit
of
Woods,
Injuries,
:
;
;
of delay, is less charge, and as successful, though
it
require longer time, they
come twelvemonth ere they spring out of the Earth but when they have past two or three years, they flourish to admiration. The Mystery of Husbandry Discovertd, 1675. Worlidge. There sawe I eke the fresh hauthorne being
till
the Spring
'
In white motley, that so swete doth smell, firre, and oke, with many a yong acorne.
Asshe,
And many
a tree
— The
mo
then
I
can
tell.
Complaint of the Blade ICm'ghi.— Chaucer.
;
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
8 It
was
in the
and to take
olden time employed to garland the maypole, a generally
honoured and conspicuous place
The
the festivities of May-day.
in
bursting of the leaf-buds,
from
transfiguring the plant in a few short days
its
Winter
condition of leafless stem to a mass of verdure, and thence
onward
to
the most
his
is
one of
characteristic indications that the long-looked-for
Spring has
up
vesture of snow-white blossoms,
its
really
at last
come.
Thus
Shepherd'' s Calendar^ writes
Spenser, in drawing
:
Seest thou not thilke same havvthorne studde How braggly it begins to budde And utter his tender head ?
While Thomson, hawthorn.
In
upon the whitening-
his Springs dwells
in
manner
like
Shakespeare
indicates
that
delightful time
When
wheat
green,
is
when hawthorn buds
and, with no less truth of observation,
appear,
tells, in
Kirig Lear,
how Through the sharp hawthorn blows the cold wind, for,
in
keenly
the
bleak days of Winter, the icy breezes whistle
enough
amid
branches,
leafless
its
and
though
Goldsmith pictures to us The hawthorn
bush, with seats beneath the shade For talking age and whispering lovers made,
it
yields,
when
it
has lost
its
mantling
of
foliage,
poor
screen indeed against the wintry blast, the driving snow.
The crimson
clustering berries
May that
these are oftentimes so
the tree at a
little
blossoms give place
we
figure
numerous
distance
is
in
our
later
on to the
illustration,
that the general
that
and
efi^ect
of
of a crimson spot in
HA WTHORN These
the landscape.
known
berries are
many kinds of
very popular with
in
Natural
his quaint
hips it
God's
" an observation of hawes and
that years of store
Providence,
;
and they ascribe Scripture
the
as
that,
it
of birds in such a
reach to the preservation
to
like
saith,
much more
reacheth even to the falling of a sparrow, and is
Bacon,
request.
it
do commonly portend cold winters
to
and supply
food, and as the
in great
History, declares
amongst country people
These haws
birds,
them with very welcome and abundant Winter draws on they become
name
haws, a
as
from Saxon times.
that has descended to us
are
9
season."
To
the ordinary
boy, as he
man
practically
is
woman
these
One
very strongly.
appeal
—we exclude the ordinary haws do not omnivorous —
or
hanker
does not
them,
after
or count the months round to their return, but they are
and
eatable, in
a
some
are occasionally eaten
In an old book open before us
that they are declared to be "
therefore the Swineherds
only wonder,
can
tudinous
ants
in
great
makes
size,
berries
are
ant-eater
to
in
his
face
article
of faith was that
unscathed
them." multi-
some
millions
these
feeling
of
little
satiety
consider as approaching his ideal.
hat was safe from
could
see
draws up on his
many of
produce that
forefathers believed that he
hawthorn
for
of those
the whale,
meal on, how
Hogge would
that the
Our
a
necessary
the
case
we
Hogges, and
for
do beat them down as
the
that
good food
tongue, or the animalcules that their
time of dearth, and
world they are even fermented into
parts of the
kind of wine.
One
in
all
who wore all
peril
heaven's artillery its
;
a piece of
of lightning,
and another
spiny stem was entwined Into
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
10
the thorny
This association with the
cross of Calvary.'
person of our
Lord was held
give
to
many
it
virtues,
preserving the wearer thereof, not merely from the perils
of the storm, but from ghostly visitants.
In
all
the wiles
many
and malevolence of
England
parts of rural
yet held an ill-omened thing to chop
and, with strange inconsequence,
a
gathering
it
its
To
of
possession."
our plants
literary association. festival all
evil
was deemed more potent than the good that
accrued from
Few of
is
held unlucky to bring
it is
blossoms into the house, unless, perchance, the
its
it
hawthorn down,
excel
the
Chaucer
tells
went forth into the
hawthorn us
how
in
for the
wealth
of
May-day
fields
fetch the flowres freshe,
and braunche and blome,
Fresh garlandes of the hawthorne
being
specially
The
sought.
month of Maie," and found delighted to dwell.
poet revelled in
old in
In one of his
a
it
" the
theme on which he
poems he
bids us
mark
The faire blooming of the hawthorne tree, Who, finely cloathed in a robe of white, Fills full the
wanton eye with May's
delight.
Then was our Lord yled into a gardyn, and there the Jewes scorned hym, and maden hjon a crown of the braunches of the Albiespyne, that is Whitethorn, that grew in the same gardyn, and settin yt vpon hys hed. Sir John Maundeville. ^ Many of the old beliefs concerning plants were passing strange. Googe tells us, for instance, in 577, that " Basyll is an hearbe that is vsed to be set for the excellent sauoure that it hath it is also good for the potte it is sowed in March and April and delighteth in sonny ground. Basyl is best watred at noone. Theophrastus sayth that it prospreth best when it is sowed with curses." What is to be the objective of these imprecations we do not learn, they should have some definite target, and it could scarcely be the plant itself. '
—
1
:
:
—
HAWTHORN we
In L' Allegro of Milton
And
Some
find the oft-quoted lines
every shepherd
Under
ii
tells his tale
the hawthorn in the dale,
prosaic souls have
ventured to
that
assert
this
proceeding -has absolutely nothing to do with the tender passion
mark
—
hawthorn was merely a convenient land-
that the
assemble
to
numbered them
— but
indeed
definitely
of
flock
his
we have
assigned
around while he
sheep
seen
that
Goldsmith very
hawthorn's
the
whispering lovers, while Burns, no
shade
to
his
" beneath the milk-
less,
white thorn " introduces us to a " youthful, loving, modest
who,
pair,"
thoughts,
whatever
are
apostrophising
and
all
eminent to the " sweetly scented thorn " writes
of " fragrant hawthorn,
Keats,
Scott,
;
gives
their
Moore,
sheep.
flowers,
its
of
subject
counting
not
certainly
May
engrossing
the
pre-
place
and Kirk White
snowy flowered."
Burns,
and many others of our poets have happy
reference in their works to the
charm of the
flower,
though
space will scarce permit quotation. curious to reflect
It is
how
these
May-day
celebrations,
the mirth, the music, the dancing around the gaily decorated
Maypole, brightly its
the
like
lighted
rejoicings
Christmas-tree
in
our homes around the
bearing
verdure, are survivals of pagan observance.
subject
of
abounding
Tree-Worship
We
interest.
in the sacred groves,
is
very
amidst
gifts
its
The whole
wonderful,
and
of
read in the Bible of the worship
and we find the sacred
tree an object
of adoration amongst the Chaldeans forty centuries before the
Christian era.
We
see
it
again
on the
slabs
from
the palace-temples of Nineveh and on the ancient buildings
of a
bygone
race
in
Mexico, while the Greeks sought
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
12
Druids of Britain and Gaul, amidst
their oracles, as did the
the oak groves.
show and
Ancient Persia, and ancient India, no
in their sculpture the veneration for the it
would appear
to be a
common
cult
less
sacred tree,
to
almost
all
forms of primitive religion the wide world over, and in
some mysterious way respondent and dependent on the Tree of Life
The by the
in the
fruit
Paradise of God.
of the hawthorn was held
earlier writers,
book Adam
delightful
we
thus
published
Powder of
seeds of the Berries being
given
generally held to be singular
much esteem
William Coles,
find
Eden,
in
1657, declaring that "the
in
good
or the
the Berries,
drink
to
for the
Wine,
in
and
drunk,
is
a
inward tormenting
paines,
grow on
prickles that
in
this
for the
which
faith
held
goodness to
by the
Tree."
by our forebears
Doctrine of Signatures.
and for
Pleurisy
also signified
is
This significance of the prickles lively
Wine
and the water thereof
Glasse,
Remedy
Soveraigne
is
in
an allusion to the
what
This belief was that
is
called
God
in
the
His
man, not only created herbs of healing for
the woes of suffering humanity, but also impressed
with a definite sign of their special service, so that
but
reverend
the
sufferer to
care see
and the
thoughtful
prompt
to
it
them
needed
observation to enable
guiding hand of Providence and
find the alleviation that he sought. prickles,
is
He
Dropsy."
also affirms that " the Flowers steeped three days in
afterwards distilled
year
the
in
his
in
wound, were
In the present case the a
reminder of the sharp
pains of disease that this plant could in consequence heal. Coles, therefore, declares elsewhere that " the distilled water
of the Flowers of hawthorne
is
not onely cooling, but drawing
TRA VELLER'S JOY for
also,
it
is
found by good experience that
and Spunges be wet
be there abiding, the
Thorne gives
many
or
draw them
Medicine for
a
other things do besydes,
Cloathes
any
to
have entered and
Splinters,
will notably
it
if
Water and applyed
in the said
whereinto Thornes,
place
13
forth, so that
own
its
pricking,
as
they be observed."
if
In the fourteenth century, or Decorated period, of Gothic architecture a great use was
made of
natural forms in the
wood and stone carvings, flooring tiles, and we find the hop, bryony, nut, oak, maple, amongst these the
other plants, and
hawthorn
the
of
cathedrals
often
is
rose,
and
foliage
fruit
Lincoln,
of
The
introduced.
beautifully
Winchester,
Exeter,
Thus and many
so forth.
Ely,
and
Wells, afford excellent examples of this use of one plant. Botanically the hawthorn
is
the Cratcegus Oxyacantha.
TRAVELLER'S JOY
(Clematis Vitalba)
Trailing for long distances over the hedges, and especially
found the " Traveller's Joy," a appreciation by the wayfarer. Like
in chalk districts, will be
name
suggestive of
its
the bindweed, hop, and divers other climbers that support
themselves by the aid of other plants,
of looking after
own
its
interests,
it
has a keen sense
throwing
its
stems and
leaves well forward into the air and sunlight at the expense
of
other
the
Clematis
The
Vitalba.
but supports tightly
hedgerow
itself
plants.
Traveller's
The Joy
scientific
has
very firmly by twisting
no its
name
is
tendrils,
leaf stems
round any practicable branch of hawthorn, or maple,
or guelder
rose,
or
whatever
else
may
be available " re-
compensing well the strength they borrow with the grace
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
14
they lend," as the poet hath
neighbours
though the views of
it,
hedgerow might be somewhat
in the
its
differently-
expressed, including such mere prose as aggression, suffoca-
and
tion,
such
whitish-green
flowers, a
succeeded
are
unpoetic
like
by the
and fragrant
in colour
fruits,
each
silvery-grey
pale
a
abundantly and
produced
From
attractive feature.
colour the plant
while
also
it is
These
colour.
form
very
a
in
odour,
and feathery clusters
are
and
noticeable
appearance and sometimes called " Old Man's Beard,"
is
known
that the Virgin
a long
clustering
botanically
fruit,
little
by
called an achene, being terminated
awn of
The
language.
their soft,
as "Virgin's
Mary, during
shelter beneath
fluffy
Bower," from an old legend
the flight into Egypt, found
shade from the noonday heat.
rest
and
The
plant lends itself very happily to covering and festoon-
ing
trellis-work,
if
we
and the clothing of our summer-house
When
so please.^
charm
its
gathered in the fruiting stage
for a long time,
and
retains
its
to our
hedgerow bouquet, no longer,
of
gatherings,
floral
Autumn, of like
of the beech, the deep .
'
men
—
a
as in
Summer,
from the wealth of
tree,
the
coral-
orange-yellow foliage
mass of beautiful and most varied colour.
which yeelds no
profit,
etc.,
in
Orchards and Gardens,
all
I
advise
rather then of Privet, or other rambling
but only for shade.
If
Cherry-trees, Plum-trees, or the like, there will be the
shade, and
the
purple-bronze of the guelder rose
As concerning Arbors, Seats, to make them of Fniit-trees,
stuffe,
selected
it
a notable addition
and crimson haws, of the
scarlet hips
of the spindle
fruits
sprays
now
but
is
the Fruits superadded.
All that
you make them of same advantage for
can be objected
is,
that
up then Pfivef, Virgine Bower, or the like, whereof arbors are commonly made. It is answered. Though Fruit-trees
Fruit-trees are longer in growing
are something longer
they
make
sufficient
in
Treatise of Fruit Trees,
some and bearing
covering an Arbor, then
amends
in their lasting
1657.
other things, yet fruits.
—Austen's
PRIVET
PRIVET
PRIVET
IS
(LiGusTRUM Vulgare)
Noticeable from their sombre colour amongst the other
wild fruits of the
of
berries
the
countryside
Though
privet.
commonly found
so
really a wild plant
our hedgerows, the privet
is
home
copses, where
in
is
the
woods and
of some seven or eight
and
feet,
forms the subject of our second
The though
quite be
privet cannot
amounts
practically
it
on the stems
leaves remain
one, or the position dull
in this wild
an evergreen,
as
this,
since
most of the
until they are thrust off
When
the season
is
noticed in our illustration,
The
grow
leaves,
in pairs, are
to
the
horses
They
their edges.
so
taste,
or
cattle,
that
a hard
it
they offer
though we
are bitter
be
will
very simple
form, and have their margins one continuous line
no notching of
by the
exposed the foliage often assumes
bronze-colour.
or
purple
is
illustration.
classed
to
succeeding growth in Spring.
a
;
in
true
attains a height
it
found
is
it
its
most of Europe and throughout Western Asia.
state over It
of black
the clusters
are
there
;
in is
and astringent
no great temptation
sometimes find
to
sheep
and
IVIay
and
goats will nibble at them.
The
June, growing stems.
and
of the privet
flowers
They
not
white
are
altogether
one writer
in
agreeable
our own verdict, but that
are
found
in
of the upper
in dense clusters at the ends
calls
colour,
and have
odour.
Such
tastes proverbially differ,
them " sweet
scented
a
at
strong least
is
and we see blossoms,"
while another credits them with " possessing an agreeable fragrance." delightful
After these somewhat offensive or altogether flowers
succeed
the
berries,
and
these,
if
un-
6
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
1
by
molested
the
birds to
plant
throughout
thrushes,
blackbirds,
whom
other
the
Though
winter.
them
in
are naturally
most
noticeable, they
their
bright and rather raw green.
find
that
each
of
it
idea of a
to
one
are
berry
however true
two
contains
these
may
go upon, the
cells
is
it
commence we open
their career a
we
berry
ordinarily
a
in
broad
round thing
;
be as a general working principle
of the privet
fruit
heavy pressure the berries
will yield
some
most
are
One's
seeds.
When
in
the
or seed-chambers, and
globular even than most.
which
we
If
two
or
that
is
this
on
dense black stage, when they
familiar with
a
and
bull-finches,
they are acceptable, remain
more pronouncedly
is
bruised and submitted to
an
parts of the Continent
oil
of
fair quality,
becomes an
article
of commerce.
The privet in scientific garb is the Ligustrum vulgare. The genuine name is derived from the Latin word ligo, the long
bind,
to
up bundles, while the
it
called
is
specific
Why
ness of the plant.
not very clearly
stems
pliant
name
available
for tying
indicates the
common-
should be called privet does
it
By some of
appear.
prim,
being
the older writers
and primprint.
print,
suggested that the name prim has reference to
and orderly clipping
that
it
is
willing
we
has
meaning we must be equally ready
this
must
meaning
ancients
often
is
perforce
often
admit
obscure
that
or
mixed up the names
the
to undergo,
while a
been
has
It
neat
but
plant-name
every to
admit that
entirely
lost.
terribly,
thus
The in
the
middle ages the plant they called Ligustrum or privet was
what we now know centuries
back
the
as
the
primrose, and if
various names
were so
we go some interchanged,
BUCKTHORN from
defective
and
plants
knowledge
imperfect
translation,
other
17
that
causes,
becomes
it
of
often
the
quite
impossible to arrive at any safe conclusion as to the plant intended.
BUCKTHORN
(Rhamnus Catharticus)
Another common plant bearing black buckthorn.
This
is
found
abundantly throughout
the
levelling
branches
bear
branches
often
of
from
turnery section leaves
a
few,
while
a
sharp
spine.
hard,
and
bright
green
clear
but
alternate
arrangement on
the
axils spring rather large clusters
yellow blossoms
The
elliptical
in
They grow
and from
stems,
in
too small in
the arts.
colour,
their
of four-petalled greenish-
these will be found in
;
smaller
The wood
is
in
it
The main the
form, strongly veined, and deeply toothed. in
shears
sometimes used
is
of any extended value
of a
are
so.
in
density of texture,
its
be
to
hedge-cutter's
wild
not
in
and beyond
of
terminate is
copses fairly
really
the
the
is
but thrives best
country,
of some twelve feet or thorns
buckthorn
the
hedges and
in
growing
influence
a height
reaches
the
When
chalk districts.
berries
May
and June.
After the flowers have passed away they are succeeded
by numerous round
berries of shining surface, at first green,
but by September of a bluish-black colour as
large as
seeds.
a
When
pea,
and each
these berries are
contain a greenish pulp that taste,
a
and from
rather
holding a
contains
this
potent
pulp
is
is
these are about
four
smooth hard
bruised they are found to bitter
and nauseous to the
prepared the syrup of buckthorn,
and uncertain
place in
;
Though
medicine.
the pharmacopoeia,
it
is
long
used in
little
2
8
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
1
regular practice, but finds a
times
many
as
home
pharmacy, some-
in rustic
given as a dose.'
as twenty berries being
Lyte, in his translation of the Herbal of Dodon^eus quaintly declares that " they be not meete to be ministered but to
young and store of
money than
who doe
more
set
lives," preferring
their
rather
hedgerow drugs and old wives' prescriptions than to
to risk call
of the countrie,
lustie people
their
the trained
in
The
practitioner.
berries are
good
a
deal used in veterinary practice.
The
when gathered
berries
yellow dye, employed
is
if
then boiled with a
little
they be matured the
The
dyeing material.
a green
unripe state yield a
Turkey and Morocco
staining
for
and other purposes, but
leather result
in an
berries pressed
to painters in water-colour as sap-green. also as
some
little
these
in
tinctorial value, or at least
latter
days
and
alum make the pigment known
commercial
The stems have had
facilities
in the past,
and
enter-
prise bring to our shores the finest products of the world,
and the home-grown
A
them.
preparation of the stem, either as
powder or
in
repute as a tonic, and
application to inflamed eyes
or obstinate cutaneous
trouble
a decoction,
was once
but here again the resources of the world have
;
supplanted what is
compete with
cannot always
in
form of as an
article
may once have been good by
that which
better.
Botanically our plant
is
the
Rhamnus
catharticus,
the
' They are given being beaten into ponder from one dram to a dram and a halfe divers do number the berries, who give to strong bodies from fifteen to twenty or more but it is better to breake them and boile them Gerard, in fat flesh broth without salt, and to give the broth to drinke. Generall Historic of Plantes, 1633. The book passed through a great many :
;
—
editions
;
the date
we
assign
is
merely that on the title-page of our
own
copy.
SWEET BRIAR
19
word Rhamrius being derived from the Greek word the plant, while
the
name
specific
To
cathartic medicinal properties. is
of interest
bears testimony to
common
that
entomologists the plant
and
hybernates
gladden
some
in
our eyes
sheltered
and
spot,
of sunshine and increasing warmth tempts
SWEET BRIAR The
kinds
various
hedgerows
in the
no
blossoms, contribute
Autumn, when
their
of that
characteristic
most charming of of which Plate
wild
less
roses
to
our
deck
that
season
are
of
fruit
of the
year.
goodly company
is
the
in
welcome items and
foliage
so
One of
the
the sweet briar,
gives us an illustration in
III.
day
a
forth.
it
adornment
their
" hips "
of colour
this
when
to
with their fragrant and delicate
scarlet
wealth
the general
Summer,
comes out
(Rosa Rubiginosa)
of
Summer
is
butterfly,
in
bright Springtime,
the
in
This
sulphur-coloured
beautiful
though emerging from the chrysalis
which,
its
being the food-plant of the caterpillar of
as
Brimstone butterfly, the Gonopteryx rhamni.
the
in
growth of
allusion to the branching spreading
branch, in
for
its
fruiting
stage.
The
the
abundantly
are
leaves,
these
stems of the plant, and the under-surfaces of the
when
yield,
shrub
its
supplied
pressed,
is
on
The name
it
but
by the its
referring
poets.
origin to
the
is
An
glands,
the one that
is
specially
and
that gives
alternative
name
is
generally bestowed
has a poetic
very obscure, and
rather
small
the aromatic scent
best-known name.
the eglantine, and this
it,
with
if
prickly
we
ring about accept
nature
of
it
as
the
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
20
has a basis of very distinct prose indeed
plant,^
one's
clothes,
that carry very
to
The Spenser
suggestion of sentiment with them. upon a
is
the rose, but grows
is
the eglantine, but pricketh nere,'
plant was often
brere,
transplanted to the garden, thus
how
us
tells
to tear
lacerate one's fingers, being proceedings
little
Sweet Sweet
;
Art striving to compayre
With Nature
and
in
goodly bower of " wanton yvie " and other
this
plants, a place of
The
did an arber green dispred,
honour was bestowed on
fragrant Eglantine which spred
Her prickling armes, embrayled with roses red. Which daintie odours round about them threw And all within with flowres was garnished, That when wild Zephyrus amongst them blew.
;
Did breth out bounteous smels, and painted colours shew.
Chaucer, too, writes of one
"wanton
who
sat
embowered, not in
yvie," but in a cool recess of which " greene laurey
tree " was a notable feature, but which yielded also
A
delicious smell.
According
another passage in
In
the Leafe,
'
we
to the eglentere full well.
the
same poem,
'The
Flowre and
in old
French into the arrive by easy
find that
The Latin word
for a prickle
is
aculcus.
Softened
adjective aiglent, from aailentus, covered with prickles,
stages to aigleniier and the that
after the
England '
for centuries.
Spenser.
modern French
eglantier.
Norman Conquest French was Sonnet
26.
we
We
must remember
the language of culture in
SWEET.
i3b41AK.
SWEET BRIAR The greeu herbere With Sicamour was
The taste
set
and
21
eglatere,'
hips of the various roses are pleasantly sweet to the
and especially when mellowed by a
within
the
covering
outer
ensconced in a bed of soft
the hairs,
one-seeded
and
swallowed they prove most irritating
sometimes finds these Gerard,
forefathers.
when
it is
dishes,
as
little
if
but
frost,
carpels
lie
any of these be
to the
One
throat.
hips an item in the repasts of our
we
writes in
see,
"The
1633,
fruit
maketh most pleasant meats and banquetting
ripe
and
tarts
such-like
;
making wherof
the
I
commit
to the cunning cooke." As, however, he adds " and teeth to eat them in the rich man's mouth," it would
seem
show
to
that
even the best culinary
skill
the wealthy
command found them a little difficult to deal with. At all events, we have in these days of world-wide commerce so much greater choice of fruit than our ancestors that could
these
hips will probably
henceforth
handed over un-
be
grudgingly to the birds.
Conserve of roses figures
and refrigerant
acidulous for
other
medicines.
pulp of the
weight
of
fruit
white
sweetened pulp,
It
in the
it
is
is
pharmacopoeia
chiefly used
a
vehicle
by beating up
prepared
of the
dog-rose with
sugar.
In
is
three
and
Russia
after fermentation,
as
while
;
made
the
times
Sweden into
a
its
this
kind
of wine.
We flossy '
not infrequently find on the wild rose a curious
tuft
In like
of a
manner
dull
crimson
colour.
It
indeed
so
Barnfield, a less read poet, in his Affectionate Shepherd,
writes, I
is
would make cabinets
Sweet-smelling arbours
for thee,
made
my
love,
of Eglantine.
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
22
common rose.
It
a
is
puncture
the
within
name of
that one old
it
the dog-rose
the canker-
is
morbid growth, an excrescence produced by of an
On
insect.
and
several cavities
cutting
open we find
it
each of these a maggot.
in
This morbid development was by the older writers called bedeguar, and, like most other things, was held of medicinal value.
FIELD-ROSE The is
many
the subject of our fourth illustration,
field-rose,
somewhat
less
parts of
encountered.
(Rosa Arvensis)
common
than
England and Ireland In Scotland
freely seen.
less
flowers at a rather different period, for though there
time
common
when
to both
flowering together, the
plant
is
sometimes
bloom
field-rose
This
slender branches.
is
They
scent.
a
many so
feature
with
feet
marked
called the trailing dog-rose.
cluster together
of the dog-rose or sweet globular.
Another
a
than this and
earlier
trails
briar,
distinctive
its
that the
Its
are shining, prickles small, flowers white, and with
no
It is
the dog-rose and field-rose are
first is in
The
the second later.
in
abundantly to be
is
it
much
is
it
dog-rose, though
the
leaves
little
or
more than the blossoms and the
feature
is
fruit
that
is
nearly
the
calyx
segments which we see very markedly crowning the wild briar hip, fall off in the present plant, giving at once a very
A
different appearance.
to
our fourth will make
sweet briar the
R.
glance from our third illustration
is
dog-rose
in
the
this
point very
botanical parlance
R.
canina,
and
the the
evident.
Rosa
The
rubiginosa,
field-rose
the
arvensis.
Those who would
desire to dry plants, or at least their
FIELD ROSE.
HAZEL and flowers,
leaves to
between
specimens
them
dry weather, place
in
and then
blotting-paper,
heavy weight, being careful
to a
them
to arrange and display
should from time
some plants
first
place
They
sometimes adopted, and with
is
The
very well.
acts
it
the
natural manner.
a
in
in
submit
be examined and the blotting-
to time
Heat
changed.
paper
ordinarily not amenable
is
them
gather
should
treatment,
the
the fruit
as
23
plants
in this
case
should be arranged between sheets of blotting-paper, placed in a
broad
pan, covered over to a depth of about half
flat
an inch with dry sand and then put before the the oven if
Another method
be perfectly dried.
specimens should
to place the plants between blotting-paper and then
each
too
very gradually, and with the
individually, hot.
The
gradually.
It
of
essence
Though the hedges, we must
hazel
is
oak,
commonly met
so
the hedgerow,
trees,
the
far-spreading
in
our
it
may
really take
At
beech,
the
aspiring
the hands of the hedge-
has to share and share alike in the general lopping
and trimming, but when we it
with
not indeed in competition with
poplar, but a tree nevertheless.
where
word
not forget that, like the hawthorn and
rank as one of our
it
the
in
(CoRYLus Avellana)
some other denizens of
clipper
lies
iron not
well.
HAZEL
kingly
method
this
is
iron
takes time and patience, but the results often
come out very
the
or in
In three or four hours the
not too hot.
is
it
fire,
grows
as
Nature
find
wills
considerable height and girth.
it,
it it
in
woodland or copse,
may
attain to a very
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
24
The tree
is
flowers are developed in the early Spring while the
These
yet leafless.
selves,
grow
in clusters, the
them-
flowers, inconspicuous in
male flowers being grouped into
long, pendulous catkins, while the female blossoms are in
minute able,
tufts closely
adherent to the stems, and only notice-
from the crimson stigmas, two from each of the
The
flowers, that surround these clusters.
be
from our
seen
rounded
V.,
Plate
illustration,
more or
foliage
is
are
as
may and
large
form, having their outlines strongly serrated,
in
The
and the veining very conspicuous. are
leaves,
little
less
downy
becomes of
somewhat
a
When young
to the touch.
of a clear green, but
as
grows older
it
it
the
soon
As Autumn comes
colour.
dull
under-surfaces
on the leaves turn a good strong yellow and remain on the stems until the season
is
far
advanced.
The stems of the hazel are very pliable.^ Virgil, centuries They ago, commended them for binding other plants. are used
nowadays
for
weaving into hampers and baskets,
the
making of
up
into faggots they yield a very
hurdles, hoops for casks, and the like.
good
fuel for the
cottager,
making of
and they supply an excellent charcoal
for
gunpowder, the preparation of
beds, and so
The
tree will also
and, where the
may
filtering
the
Cut
forth.
give us walking-sticks or fishing-rods,
branches
are
sufficiently large,
be used in cabinet work, as
it
is
the
wood
beautifully mottled
and variegated.
The
ancient
'
Romans observed
the hazel with particular
Kate, like the hazel twig, Is straight
As
and
slender,
and as brown
in
hue
hazel nuts, and sweeter than the kernels.
— Taming of the Shrew.
HAZEL the Spring, drawing from
care in
for the harvest,
nut
year
is
and
good wheat
held- to
was employed
was thought
hand
it
indicate
the
hidden treasure or subterranean
Grasped
nutting "
demand
The hazel grows many districts in
in
is
at
an exclusively
all
for the fruit
is
ordinarily
each
from Spain,
in
small clusters
enlarged scales
The
scales,
and
nuts grow
united at their
These
lobed.
flowers in the boisterous days of March.
now
are the
protected
heretofore
that
The
supply.
Italy,
of two or three together, and
deeply jagged and
bases and
much
home
surrounded by an envelope of
is
Asia,
immense, and thousands of bushels
supplement our
to
wild
pastime.
British
are brought each year to our shores
Syria
the
in
must not run away with the idea that " going
we
so that
lightly
by some occult power and
to turn
object sought.
over temperate Europe and
all
For centuries the
year.
springs, and to detect criminals.
thus
good
powers of divination, and
possess'
to discover
good or bad omens
it
a general belief that a
still
is
it
also -a
rod was
hazel it
25
the
little
This envelope
or enclosing cup, together with the nut therein, presently turns brown, a sign of approaching maturity of the nut, and
when are
freely
able
it
is
by the
fully ripe rustics
it
falls
called
out of
Such nuts
These nuts,
so
provided by the bounty of Nature, are not delectthe genus
to
boy alone, but supply
provender to several kinds of birds nuthatch
—
to pierce
are
that
the
armed with
woody
shells,
present
in view
feast,
and
still
—
sufficiently
them most
more
most welcome
as, for example,
while squirrels,
divers other small animals find a
this cup.
" slip-shucks."
invaluable
strong
the
beaks
notably,
and
acceptable for for
storage
of the coming days when the rich abundance of
—
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
26
Autumn will have given place to the dearth of Winter. We may sometimes find on cracking a nut open that in ^
of the kernel we had anticipated we are confronted by
lieu
and corpulent maggot
a stolid
him, would
crashed in upon
beetle that to entomologists
We
whole
known
we
matter
as
the nut-weevil.
may
be
Thus Gower,
symbol of worthlessness.
with
dealing
are
while the empty shell
nutshell,
not thus,
have become the
presently is
we had
if
declare, as an evidence of concentration,
sometimes
the
that
this,
;
lies
accepted in
his
a
in
as
the
Confessio
Amantis^ writes And so recorde I my lesson, And write in my memoriall What I to hir telle shall Right
But
the matter of
all
all
is
nis
my
tale,
worthe a nutte shale.
Shakespeare, seeing poetry and beauty everywhere, puts
even tells
discarded
a
us of swecet
nutshell
to
Queen Mab,
honoured the
for
service,
Queen of
he
Fairyland,
that
Her
How '
chariot
is
an empty hazel nut,
Made by
the joiner squirrel, or old grub.
Time out
of
mind the
fairies'
we but
delightful could
Season of mists and yellow
in
coach-makers.
some quiet woodland
fruitfulness,
Close bosom friend of the maturing sun. Conspiring with him how to load and bless With fruit the vines that round the thatch-caves run
;
To bend with apples the mossed cottage trees, And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core To swell the gourd, and plump the liazel shells With a sweet kernel to set budding more And still more, later flowers for the bees. Until they think warm days will never cease. ;
;
Keats.
HA.ZEL
HAZEL glade,
27
from the busy haunts of men, see
far
procession and
the
this stately
rumbling along
coach
nutshell
in
its
midst, while the hare-bells rang a joyous peal of welcome!
The
hazel
it
is
first
surmised that
nomenclature
botanic
in
is
The
Avellana.
of these names
the ancient
the plant from their
word
is
the
this
for a cap, the fruit in
a
hence the
name Avellana.
The French
our
while
;
Anglo-Saxon. hasselnod,
In
The power of
name,
popular
Germany
Holland the
in
and
Spanish avellanas^
the
it is
men have
the
call
hazel-nut,
is
pure
Denmark
was held
to exist in the
Thus an
old writer
as
the expert Kentish husband-
observed by the living things found
in
them
a
if
;
white
worme
like
a
gentill
or
;
magot,
then they prognosticate murren of beasts and cattell a
us
they finde an ant they foretell plenty of graine to
if
ensue
tells
broken assunder they doe foreshow
the sequell of the yeare,
as,
husk
hazelnoot.
divination, that
" being
that
to
Portuguese
the
the haselnusse, in
stems, was extended to the fruit also. aflirms
its
Pliny
came from Avella,
nuts avelines,
title
town of Campania,
that the best nuts
avellaas
and
centuries old,
Greeks gave
suggesting this idea of covering to them.
specific
Corylus
spider,
then
we
shall
like sicknesse to follow
learned also have
;
if
have a pestilence or some such-
These things the
amongst men.
noticed
and
observed,
for
Matthiolus,
writing upon Dioscoridcs, saith that " before they have an hole in
or a
them they containe
worme
worme, then
:
if
a
flie,
scarcitie
in
them
either a
then warre ensueth
of victuals
;
if
a
;
a spider,
if a
creeping
running spider,
then followeth great sicknesse and mortaiitie."
awe would
flie,
With what
the simple woodcutter regard so dire a presage
—
—
;
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
28
of the coming woe,
listening
and with
anticipation,
in
shivering dread, in the quiet sunny lane, to the march of the foe, or to the low
foodless, and, per-
the gentle breeze the rustling of the
chance, hearing in
wings of the
swift
moaning of the
vengeance
bringing
destroying angel
and desolation on the unconscious land. It
the
has for centuries been the custom to burn nuts on
Eve of All-Hallows, drawing omens and
foretelling
the future, but these observances have ordii:arily been of a
more or
less
festive character
Some
;
thus Burns
tells
how
merrj'-friendly countrie folks
Together did convene, To burn tlieir nuts e'en pon their stocks, ;
And haud
their Hallowe'en.
These blazing nuts were often used
as
love-charms,
their readiness to catch fire, the vigour of their crackling,
the
intensity
of
glowing
their
symptomatic of the depth
or
regarded
being
all
as
otherwise of the affection
they were employed to test
Two
hazel nuts
And
to each nut
threw into the flame,
I I
gave a sweetheart's
This, with the loudest bounce
we
name
sore amazed.
That, with a flame of brightest colour blazed
As blazed the
nut, so
may
;
thy passion grow,
For 'twas thy nut that did so brightly glow.
The
hazel nut yields an oil that
of
is
much
value for
the lubrication of delicate machinery, such as watch-work, the
works of
sewing machines, and
the
like.
Evelyn
declares that " these nuts, being fully ripe, and peeled in
warm
water,
make
to that our ladies
book, we
see, savs,
a
pudding very
little,
if at
all,
inferior,
old
medical
make of almonds."
One
and truly enough,
" nuts eaten alone
that
GUELDER ROSE in too great quantity are not
29
commended,
to be
for they
are said to be hard of digestion, yet if any one be so
taken with them that he cannot refrain from them,
is
may
the
and
qualifie the drynesse
of that
philosophy
him
them, so that the moisture of the
eat Raisons together with
one
much
let
This
of the other."
popular
almonds
dish,
dessert
clearly
bane and antidote producing together a very
raisins,
pleasant blend.
Culpeper,
we
note, in his Astrologo-Botanical Discourse
on Herbs, edition of 168
1, flies
markedly
so
general belief as to specially prescribe
pulmonary
for
in the face
Conscious of his departure from
trouble.
accepted practice he breaks out somewhat fiercely
vulgar
should
the
causeth
shortness
falser
Or,
?
so
can
errors
slanders
.''
I
or are men's tongues
:
another
that
tongues
in
they must
use.'
nuts
eating
nothing can
knew Tradition was
but never that
before,
—" Why
slander
he was
a friend
father
the
so given to slander
nuts too, to
nobody
is
so
mad
of
one
keep their
If any thing of the nut be stopping
the husks and shells, and
be
which strengthens the lungs
that
cause shortness of breath to
that
affirm
familiarly
of breath, than which
how
of
nuts as a medicine
as to eat
'tis
them,
and the red skin which covers the kernels, which you
may
easily pull off.
And
thus have
I
made an apology
for
nuts, which cannot speak for themselves."
GUELDER ROSE Beautiful alike in rose
(Viburnum Opulus)
Summer and
in
Autumn,
must be by no means disregarded
Nature's pageantry.
Seen
in
June
it
is
in
a
the guelder
our review of
mass of creamy-
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
30
blossom,
white
revisited
August or
in
September
bedecked with abundant clusters of ruddy in form,
from
berries, globular
These
and each containing a single seed.
in
clusters,
less
drooping, and
colour, those portions
of the bunch
their weight, are ordinarily
vary very greatly
more or
is
it
that enjoy the full sunlight being
much deeper
in tint
than
the rest, so that, alike in collective bunch and in individual berry,
we
get portions that are a deep crimson, contrasting
with others passing in
golden yellow. berries
gradations from this to a clear
all
When
more than
rather
become almost black and
fully
much of
lose
ripe
the
their original
attractiveness.
The guelder
rose
abundant
is
in
most coppices
and
skirting the margins of the woodlands, and not unfrequently
somewhat moist
finds a place in the hedgerows, a
seeming to
suit
it
a height, maybe, of
really a small tree, attaining
It is
best.
some twelve
has in the hedgerow to take
its
situation
feet or so,
but of necessity
share in the general levelling
down. In the large flower-heads of the wild guelder rose we find
two entirely
distinct
forms
blossoms
in the centre the
:
are closely clustered together, individually small, but perfect in
structure
much
ring that
corolla, is
The
to
least
tree
is
happy one.
If
we
herbalists,
are
a
a
is
flat,
It
is
ring of
disk-like, this outer
and
attractive feature, if not
the
lover of the quaint and
sometimes
was the standard name for
ago amongst the
to
stamen-less, pistil-less.
the conspicuous
the botanist, at
picturesque. it
while surrounding these there
larger flowers that are reduced
five-lobed
to
;
it
called the rose-elder
;
two or three hundred years
but the
name
is
not a very
content to view the trees at such
GUELDER ROSE a distance as to lose
detail the
all
31
and the guelder
elder
rose will appear of about the same
and
height,
are each
seen to be bearing rather large clusters of white flowers,
but
there
guelder
resemblance
all
rose
not
is
the least
in
of the elder
the
flowers
the
guelder rose, voila
The
ceases.
like
of the elder,
that
no similarity to those of
bear
The
tout.
leaves of the guelder
Autumn, and
rose turn a very rich crimson-purple in the
remain for some considerable time on the
The
snowball
shrubberies, with
its
met with
often
tree,
tree.
gardens
in
result,
all
are enlarged
of course, being that these garden
guelder roses, beautiful as they are, have not the
The but
is
In this, instead of merely
an outer ring of large and barren flowers,
charm of clustering
and
great globular masses of blossom,
a cultivated variety of our plant.
and barren, one
of the
foliage
fruit for
added
our delectation.^
berries of the wild guelder rose look fairly tempting,
if tasted
they are found to be bitter and no longer
Our
inviting.
older writers on plants were so accustomed
most wonderful healing properties
to ascribe the
everything they could
lay
hands
on,
that
it
is
to almost really
a
matter for wonder to find one of these venerable authorities declaring that " concerning the faculties of these, and the berries,
we
there
is
nothing found
in
any writer, neither can
downe anything hereof of our owne knowledge." In the botanical lists our tree is the Viburnum Opulus.
set
Virgil,
writing
many
a
century
ago,
often
incidentally
There come forth goodly floures of a white colour, and do grow thicke compact together in quantitie and bulke of a man's hand, or rather bigger, of great beauty, and sauoring like the floures of the Haw-thorne but in my gardens there growth not any fruit vpon this tree, nor in any other '
and
closely
;
place, for ought that
I
can vnderstand.
— Gerard,
1633,
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
32
mentioned plants reference to
Viburnum^ but
the
to
assign
English
satisfying
plant-names, and
we venture
If
poems, and amongst these we find
in his
it
not at
is
equivalents
the present case
his
was
so far as to say that perhaps his plant
far as
as
many of
to
one of these many.
is
the guelder rose, and that more probably travelled
possible
all
we
it
was not, we have
dare go in this direction.
who were
middle ages the monks,
In the
the great herbalists of
those days, ministering alike to the souls and bodies of men,
gave the Latinised name of Opulus to our
tree,
and
this
by the common people was corrupted
ople-tree,
the
name by which Gerard and other the
vulgar
for
declaring
as sweet,
that
to
refer
anything
else,
We
it.
on plants
in
have high authority
by any other name would be
rose
a
and our present
or
elder,
tongue
to
writers
plant,
a
is
whether we
call
ople or
it
charming acquisition
to
our
goodly store of woodland wealth of beauty.
WOODY NIGHTSHADE The
woody
nightshade,
next our attention. or
two points
as
we study
that
will its
It
probably
of our
flower,
or
made
a
once
and
its
in
these
notice
the way,
we
trust,
fellows are, to the best
In
all
cases
directly from Nature, and
berry,
our
attract
likeness will not,
presentments.
ability, true
have been
is it,
at
claims
VI. and one
Our assumption, by
likeness.
shock our readers, for
Dulcamara,
Solanum
figured on Plate
is
our representation
(Solanum Dulcamara)
pages
our studies
no
but
had
to
attract
leaf,
its
or
living
counterpart.
The
first
point
that
cannot
fail
notice
is
WOOUi NIGHTSHADE.
JVOOn Y NIGHTSHADE
7,^
the great variation of colour found in the berries of this plant
on
;
as
many
on from birth
travel
it
fruit, starting
through a
series
of gradations
becomes
finally
and these changes
a rich crimson,
and very interesting
We
to watch.
may
we take our colour box and and yellow together. From this blend we shall them better
realise
mix blue
of
The
are very subtle
perhaps
this variety
colours, maybe, as berries.
a bright clear green, goes
until
Even
maturity.
to
bunch we may often get
a single small
tint life
they
as
if
obtain a green that stands for stage one in the
of our berry.
we
If
history
life
gradually eliminate the blue the green
becomes yellower and yellower,
until
before us pure yellow pigment, and
stands presently
it
we now add
if
our yellow begins
a little
to turn
orange, and
even more and more orange as we add more
scarlet, until
vermilion to
this,
we have added
so
much
that all suggestion of the
orange disappears, and the the
see
of
fruit
in
same the
our eighth
interesting
black
result
variation
bryony,
the
and transition
plant
former
We
pure red.
is
may
in
we have
the
figured
illustration.
Another curious point that our sketch growth of the plant
is
the
peculiar
way
reveals in the in
which the
leaves persist in facing in one direction, while the clusters
of flowers,
mined
and
consequently of
One may
to face another.
of the woody nightshade, and
rampant
in
them
all.
fruit,
are equally deter-
gather a hundred pieces
this
strange
It is so ordinarily
sunlight,
that
The
generic
upwards towards
any deviation from a rule so
or custom so general, cannot
name
fail
Solatium
to be is
is
the habit of plants
to direct their leaves and their flowers alike the
perversity
salutary,
noticeable.
derived,
according 3
to
—
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
34
some
authorities,
from the Latin word Solamen^
to the medicinal value of
The
some of the
name Dulcamara
specific
Latin words
name
alternative popular
compounded from the two
for the plant
by the
are suggested
a piece of the
plants of the genus.
sweet, and amara, bitter
diilcis,
These names
is
stem
it
fact
and so an
;
the bitter-sweet.
is
one
that if
The monkish name, Amaradulcis^
afterwards sweet.
tastes
mouth, but
bitter in the
at first
is
in reference
places
matters in their proper order, while the botanical Dulcamara
does not.
The somewhat weak stems vary in colour from ashThey ordinarily force their way colour to dull purple. amongst the other and sturdier
plants
hedgerow
of the
The
or copse, finding amongst these a welcome support. leaves,
lower
the
grow
will be observed,
it
somewhat
being
ones
those higher on the
plant
depicted in our illustration.
The
while
alternately
egg
we
flowers are to be found that
before the later
transformed into
first
we have
fruits,
can ordinarily gather at the same time whichever
desire.
The
segments
corolla
that
deep purple a
heart-shaped,
have the form
during June, July, and August, so ones appear we have the
or
on the stem,
are
in
pure white.
are
to
bitter-sweet.
sharply back
turned
;
may sometimes
The
yellow
bright
those of the berries,
anthers
be found of the centre
in
The blossoms
are
similar
tomato, a near relative of the it
will
be
noted,
The Flowers come forth at the top and sides of standing many together upon short stalks, which consist '
and long
ordinarily
is
it
colour, but
The
we
divided into five very deeply cut
a very noticeable feature.^
form
in
is
and
the
are
not
Branches,
of five
narrow
violet-purple coloured leaves, with a long yellow Pointel in the
middle sticking
forth.
Adam
in Eden,
1657.
WOODY NIGHTSHADE globular
form,
in
but
considerably
are
the
form
Each contains numerous
seeds.
than
length
The we
width,
plant
certainly
common
by
repute
1790, declares
in
dog
in less than three
Dr. Duval asserted that he
a
gave sixty to a dog without any appreciable clearly
remark
that slightly threadbare
:
"
Who
shall decide
doctors (and their canine patients) disagree
undoubted doctors
— noxious we
—
recorded
of their
and even
fatal
cases
old writer,
see,
divers
is
?
to
when
There
"
berries,
are
not the
One
on children.
says that " the Berries
of Bittersweet
Joynt of the
that
Country people, who are most subject thereunto, for
the
from high
The
or dry beaten."
not
quite
places
clear
of the
curing
another says that the " iuyce
is
This
trubled with a Felon hath been found by
be very successful
fallen
the
effects
stamped with rusty Bacon, applyd Finger that
results.
opportunity to introduce, with variation,
one's
is
ovate.
very poisonous, and
is
Woodville, writing
on the contrary,
but,
;
their
in
termed
technically
that thirty of these berries killed a
hours
greater
should not advise any one to lunch off the
One Dr.
berries.
35
is
good
same "
;
to
while
for those that haue
and haue beene thereby bruised,
condition
to us, but
of one
dry beaten
thus
we imagine
that
though
it
seems here an alternative to being merely bruised, the two conditions
are practically
skin be not broken one it
would be
wound.
the
may
less advisable to
As none of our
that,
quite
recently
fact,
if
the
apply this " iuyce," but that
do so
in the case
of the point
will not, in its result, affect the bills
Until
in
readers will apply
in either case, the discussion
and
same,
the decoction
is
of an open it,
probably,
merely academic,
of mortality. of the stems has
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
36
found a recognised place
the pharmacopoeia, as a
in
remedy
for cutaneous ailments or for rheumatic trouble, as as three
day having been administered
pints a
and partly on the idiosyncrasy of the be rather
causing
is
"
best left alone.
that
its
convulsive
Germany neck when they
removth "Witchcrafts both
it
but that Swiming in the
Head
in
no
is
in
Head,
the
in
as
and
twitchings,
to turne round as if they were bewitched,
they say
recorded
The Sheepherds
Swiming
a
would appear
is
about their Cattle's
it
with
troubled
recipient,
plant
a
palpitation,
doe use to hang are
and
uncertain,
nausea,
syncope,
them
;
depending partly perhaps on the mode of preparation,
effects,
to
much
but
causing
and therefore
Men
and Beasts,
of Witchcraft,
effect
but proceeds from a Naturall Cause, for which this Plant is
a specifick
as
it
whatsoever, being
distempers that
Remedy,
is
for
svdaine
such-like
hung about
not farre from the Head."
is
all
the Neck, and
This, at
events,
all
is
not so dangerous a remedy as the decoction, and some of
who
our readers try
it,
suffer
though we
garlanded,
from vertigo might be willing to
imagine
May-day, might
on
perhaps
unless
thus
appearance,
one's
be-
lead
to
considerable and pointed comment.
Our
quotation
delightful
old
runs as follows
The History of
book. :
"
from Adam
The
Adam
in
title-page in
Eden, an is
very
altogether
quaint and
Eden, or Nature's Paradise.
Plants, Fruits, Herbs, and Flowers.
the places
With
Names, whether Greek, Latin, or English where they grow their Descriptions and Kinds
several
their
their
is
;
times of flourishing
several
Signatures,
ticular
Physical
and decreasing
Anatomical Vertues
;
;
;
as
also
their
appropriations,
and
par-
Together
;
with
necessary
BLACK NIGHTSHADE
37
Observations on the Seasons of Planting and gathering of
our English Simples, with Directions in
a
Compositions
their
or
that
and
all
other
ingenuous
that Apothecaries, Practitioners,
on
English Bodies,
emergent and sudden occasions com-
pleatly furnish themselves with cheap, easie,
Cures for any part of the Body that the Herbarists greater benifit there
English
Table
another
more
is
in
edition
the year
that
is
nigrum,
its
it
is
is
in
common
are globular
action
of
the
woody
of rambling for yards over the
form to those of
in considerable clusters
its
relative
content to remain humbly on the ground, while
It is a
turning a
nomenclature the
botanical
in
its
big brother, are
annual weed on cultivated ground,
springing up on the margins of
these
(Solanum Nigrum)
very near
a
instead
flowers, similar in
white.
title-page.
came under our notice was published
nightshade,
nightshade, but
hedges
noble
a
1657.
black
Solanum
With
;
By William
Work.
indeed
BLACK NIGHTSHADE The
For
of the Diseases, and their
particular Table
This
ill-afFected.
is
names of Simples
of the several
Herbarist."
and wholesome
annexed a Latin and
Cures, treated of in this so necessary
The
may
Fields and Gardens, best agreeing with our
from our own
Coles,
work of such
Arts of Physick
the
are so clearly laid open,
and Chirurgerie
them
to preserve
A
otherwise.
Refined and Useful Method
Chirurgions,
how
fields.
The
flowers
grow
and are succeeded by the berries form,
at first
green,
;
but ultimately
The plant is more powerful in dense black. than the woody nightshade, and possesses potent
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
38
While used
narcotic properties. its effects
are too uncertain to
times in cutaneous trouble,
at
make
at all a safe application.'
it
where three children
Orfila records a case
the berries,
eat
and were promptly seized with giddiness and convulsions and unpleasant
taste
that
the
We
them.
these
many
children than are
thus far from in
From
three died very quickly.
all
berries
others,
temptation
occasionally find
are
to turn
the
the
;
at
all
plant bearing
remain
normal black
Some
freely
berries
not
so, ;
such
writers suggest
nightshade, wherever seen, should be ex-
black
terminated
to
and so they are preserved of indulging
cases are, however, very exceptional.
that the
attractive
less
not only begin by being green, but
showing an inclination
;
their dull black colour
but
this
is
a
counsel of perfection that, in
the case of a plant so abundant, will never be attained to,
nor indeed does one see
why
it
should be, a
plan being to allow the plant itself foolish
enough
to
meddle with
it,
to
much
simpler
exterminate those
and thus enable them
to serve as awful warnings to the rest of us.
HOP Tapestrying the the
hedgerow
of the hop.
trees
(HUMULUS LUPULUS)
hedges and ascending the
may
trunks
of
often be found the graceful festoons
Charming
as
is
it
in itself
it
makes
a very
While Gerard in his Gencrall History of Plantcs commends it as being good against " divers ailments, he adds " Notwithstanding that it hath these vertues, yet it is not ahvaies good that it should be applied vnto these infirmities, for that many times there hapneth more dangers by applying of these remedies than of the disease it selfe. They are not of such esteeme that we should long insist vpon them, especially seeing wee are furnished '
"
:
with such store of medicines lesse harmefull, yet seruing the same purpose."
A
sufficiently strong hint to let
it
alone.
HOP
HOP bad neighbour, for
39
dense masses of foliage and numerous
its
tough and twining stems go
towards choking the general
far
One may
mass of undergrowth.
observe this very clearly
Winter, when, the hop having died down, we may see
in
thin the hedge at that point has become.
how ragged and
Extending, as the
does, over
plant
greater
the
of
part
England and having every appearance of being thoroughly at home, it is yet a very doubtful point whether the
hop be and
may
this
been cultivated,
long
hops of our hedgerows are
of plants introduced centuries ago.
really the descendants
However
has
It
probable that the
is
it
indigenous.
truly
be,
there
no doubt that the con-
is
entirely favourable
to
ditions
here
that
long ago determined to stay with us.
it
The
so
are
root
well-being
and each Spring throws up
perennial,
is
its
a
These, by the way, are sometimes
vigorous mass of shoots.
gathered and boiled and are said to be equal in flavour to
They
asparagus.
highly
are
to
is
under cultivation,
remove some of
cuttings
an
are
very
develop
it
acceptable
quickly
The
of
article
they are
;
are
not at
These lobed are
all
leaves
of considerable
unlike are
size,
leaves
The
diet.
flexible,
grow
in pairs
vine-leaves
ordinarily
illustration
one of
The
type.
the
in
stems
slightly
and
are
and these
general form.
lower
ones
and
and we regret that the limited
dimensions of our this
in
and these
tough,
either heart-shaped or with three or five lobes, latter
see,
becomes necessary each Spring
superabundant shoots,
the
angular, far-reaching.
we
In the hop gardens, where the
Bryant's Flora Dietetica. plant
commended,
leaves,
forbid our introduction of
whatever their shape, are
deeply toothed at their margins, very prominently veined,
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
40
and decidedly rough, almost prickly,
hop the
called the
Vitis
primarily because
north,
Lobel
texture.
in
^
Septentrionalium, the vine of the it
supplied the northern
nations
with their beer, as the, southerners found in the vine the source of their wine, but probably the vine-like foliage and far-spreading growth of the hop had
some
influence
little
too in the choice of his name.
The
flowers of the
hop
are
what are
called dioecious, the
male flowers being on one plant, the female on another.
The male
flowers are small and of a greenish-white
them
plant bearing
The
Jack-hop.
is
in rustic parlance
sometimes
;
the
called a
female flowers are stowed carefully away
in large cylindrical or
ovoid heads or catkins that are con-
spicuous from their closely packed broad enveloping scales
This
or bracts.
the state of things represented in our
is
At
drawing, Plate VIII. will
be found nestled two
flowering season
time
the base of each of these scales little
pistillate flowers.
over, and to this
is
we may
After the
July or August, this mass of overlapping
in
some
assign
scales,
often called a cone, continues to increase in size, and this it
does very rapidly.
It is
these matured cones that
form
the hops of commerce, though to get these in perfection the plant
is
placed under cultivation.
our reference to the duration a
little
'
vague, but
Lobel,
bom
may
much
1538,
was
appear that
flowering
we have found by experience
at Lisle in
search of them over
of the
It
time
that
is
much
a great lover of plants, travelling in
of France, Switzerland, Italy, and Germany.
He
England and added much to the knowledge of our plants. Many of these he cultivated in his garden at Hackney. He was a physician, and of such repute that James L appointed him in this capacity to his Royal person. He finally settled down in England, dying in London in also visited
the year l6j6.
—
HOP
41
depends upon the season and the flowers do appear they last but
young cones
of a bright green
are
They
mature they become brown.
and
when
especially
at
to
of
principle
peculiar
a
bitter
colour, but
the
The they
as
are of a fragrant odour,
owing
the taste,
somewhat
and are
bruised,
all
harsh and astringent
When
locality.
very short time.
a
which
presence
to the
termed
is
by
the
analysts lupulin.
Botanically
generic
name,
upon
plant flourishes
who
authority,
from the
it
but this idea
;
Hamulus
the
is
Lupulus.
is
rich soil
difficult
more any tion
quite scouted by another
declares that as the plant without external
Latin word for
the
soil,
it
humus.
derives It
is
decide which of these two explanations
to
The
unsatisfactory.
special richness
may
which the
in
^
support could only grow along the ground,
name from
be
Its
been affirmed by one authority, has
has
it
bestowed
been
hop
the
the
in
really
the
is
Latin word does not emphasise soil,
while the second explana-
by saying that
paralleled
its
a
if
did
sailor
not go to sea he would be a landsman, and therefore In
any case we may a
perception
call
him one.
of taking
care
to
the ground.
Lupulus was
for the hop, and
'
Tusser,
in
we
has far too fine
itself
the expense
at
ever found rambling
other things
be
of
The hop
find
it
at
helplessly
one time the
officinal
over
name
so called in monastery records.
Meete
plot for a
Make
thereof account, as of jewell of gold.
hopyard once found as
is
June's Husbandrie.
told,
Elsewhere he says and mixed with clay. Is naughtie for hops any manor of way Or if it be mingled with rubbish and stone,
Ground
of
grauellie, sandie,
;
For driness and barrennes,
let
it
alone.
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
42
The meaning of
word
the
very obscure.
is
suggested
that
salictarius,
meaning willow-wolf, and
this
the plant
is
from the tenacity with which
Hop
Pliny
contrary, ever, if
he so called
that
the
to
in willows
we must
cock-and-bull story, and
it
willows.
on the
;
be not a particularly good wolf-story,
it
Lupus
the
How-
prefers something considerably stouter.
it
excellent
called
clung
it
has certainly no special delight
has been
It
it
accept
is
an
it
on
that footing.
The
hops
ripened
sometimes
are
country into pillows, as they are
gathered
the
in
held to promote sleep.
This use of them came into great prominence when they
and with
prescribed,
year
is
found
restful
sleep,
1787.
producing
benefit,
It
to
King George
medical practice
in
hops exercise
the
in the
III.,
besides
that,
considerable
soothing influence over the nerves, allay pain, reduce the pulse,
and give
Extractum
One the
old
Lupuli
we
author,
Flowres
hold
all
that,
far
strong
into
in
the
year
plant in England, but
experiment.
be produced
of
while it
some is,
as
beer, a poison itself. fibres
stout
cloth,
of the hop stem
cordage,
and coarse
offered
by the
Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and
Society for the
the
in
Though premiums were
packing-paper.
" ;
from being an antidote,
Sweden and Norway the
Commerce
our pharmacopoeia.
declares that " the Decoction
see,
an important constituent
made
in
drunk any deadly poyson
will to-day say
In
place
and
and Tops are given with good successe to
those that have
are
Tinctura,
Infusum,
steadiness.
it
at a
It
1760,
little
was, in
cheaper
the utilisation
for
of the
success seems to have attended fact,
rate,
found that hemp could
and that
it
was of much
IVY more
value
various
the
for
43
purposes
trade
were
that
then suggested.
The
hop,
alike
in
cultivated
damage from mildew, and
greatly exposed to
of
and
wild
its
is
the assaults
insects.
IVY
We that
naturally
so
Autumn
with
that
(Hedera Helix) the
associate
of
idea
fruit-bearing
somewhat of a shock
is
it
two things,
the
after
not
are
all,
at
find
to
necessarily
all
Fruiting follows naturally upon
of time.
identical in point
flowering, and at no great interval from is,
state,
it
the sequence
;
indeed, practically immediate, though the earlier stages
of transition from fully-developed flowers to fully-matured fruit
may
be
not
flowering
season
be developed September,
visible.
October,
in
either
but
its
be
or
plant has
a
succeeding
the
one of those
gifts
Nature that we value the more because they come dark chilly days of frost-bound Winter, when of
floral
is
the
Ivy.
in
the
woods
interest
primrose
swarthy passed
with set
its
quaint
its
delicate
reapers
manner
like
cut
stick
out to gather
berries or
in
hyacinth
the
golden
ken
wheat,
our
of well-filled
special harvest
nuts
in
the
plant
a
a
the
ere
the
and each
has
before
and provided with
the
throws up
capsules, long
months
of
much
seed-chambers,
three-lobed
five-pointed
away from our
hooked
the
in
so
Such
of necessity lost to us.
is
In
its
not
certainly
will
fruit
the preceding
in
assuredly
will
therefore,
If,
we,
armed
goodly basket,
of luscious black-
shortening
days of
September.
Ivy
in
the hands of the gardeners has been developed
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
44
many marked
into a great
and form of the
size
and so forth
varieties, differing greatly in the
but even the
;
of their colour,
leaves, the variation
common
wild ivy plant of our
hedgerows and old walls exhibits a great difference in the
form of
its
and of very
simple
heart-shaped
outline,
small
times
other
at
sometimes very large
foliage, the leaves being
and acutely
So striking
seven-pointed.
is
this
or
three-,
is
still
difference that
supported by wall or
of the lobed type, but when
its
tree,
even
or
five-,
long considered to indicate two quite distinct kinds.^ the ivy
and
ovate,
it
was
While
the leaves are
support serves
it
no
farther,
the branches shorten and form into large heads bearing
ovate undivided leaves, and at the ends of these branches flower
the
These
clusters.
flowers
spherical masses, each flower stem of the
from one
common
of a pale green.
The
centre.
They
their nectaries, and, flowering in
when
little else is
of
multitudes
to '
ago,
available,
form
insects,
from
are
small and
of honey in
store
October and November,
a great centre
the
of attraction
Red Admiral
lordly
Gerard, for instance, writing some two hundred and seventy years states, as beyond cavil, " there be two kiades of luy," and then,
however, proceeds to add yet another, the plant as
in
group springing
flowers
contain ample
arranged
are
the Virginian
Creeper.
The
reference
is
we
all
know now-a-days we may
so interesting that
though the plant can claim no place within the limits There is kept for nouelties sake in diuers gardens a Virginian, by some, though vnfitly, termed a Vine, being indeed an luy. The stalkes of this grow to a great heighth, if they be planted nigh anything
venture to quote
of our title-page.
that
may
it,
"
sustaine or beare them vp
:
and they take
first
hold by certaine
small tendrels vpon what body soeuer they grow, whether stone, boords, bricke, yea glasse, and that so firmely that often times they will bring pieces
you plucke them off. The leaues are large, consisting of more particular leaues, each of them being long, and deeply notched about the edges, so that they somewhat resemble those of the Chesnut tree." with them
if
foure, five, or
IVY the
to
midge,
lowliest
45
flocking
all
the
to
welcome
banquet.
The wood
of the ivy
and porous and of no
soft
is
great value, though the stems sometimes arrive at a very considerable
undisturbed
in
main
the
When
bulk.
may
been
long
has
some old ruined building
of
possession
stems
plant
the
found
be
often
yard
a
in
cir-
cumference.
The about
smooth
berries are
as large
and of
a pea,
as
to the touch, globose in form,
slight suggestion of purple in
them
This sombre
it.
more conspicuous when
the
things, including the ivy foliage a
mantle of
These
snow.
a dense black that has a
in a itself,
berries
heavy Winter most are resting beneath are
borne
profusion, and are a most
welcome provision
and
they
especially
gathered in
coming
all
his fruit,
items in the menu
and
them,
to
but
many
species
eagerly flocking to the attractive repast. again, a
them,
not
its
driving
though bitter
are
seem
specially
may be found The birds owe,
to the ivy for the valuable
when concealment its
snow and
acrid,
strongly
is
sought
at nesting-
snug recesses shield them amidst the fierce
slightly succulent
and
The
dense masses of evergreen foliage afford
only
but when
time,
and
deep debt of gratitude that
shelter
enemies,
have been consumed.
other
has
and other delectable
black-caps, missel-thrushes, and wood-pigeons partial
farmer
feathered friends and
berries
great
in
for the birds,
do when the
pears, wheat,
of his
other wild
the
as
makes
tint
wintry
when
winds.
quite ripe,
These
have no attraction to the emetic
in
their
action
berries,
being somewhat
human if
he
biped,
be
injudicious as to venture on experimenting with them.
so
—
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
46 It
think,
has long been a problem whether the ivy that
and rightly
when we
picturesque
so
so,
see
ascending a tree-trunk, was inflicting injury upon or
and
not,
the
on husbandry,
was
impression
general
mantling was hurtful.
Tusser,
in
its
it
host
such
that
quaint
his
we
a
book
old
says, Let luy be
killed,
Else tree will be spilled,
This
spilling
rhyme, and probably
if
get
merely a
is
we
read the last
to
the
of the
presented itself to the old writer.
Where
we
we
matter
shall
as
it
Elsewhere he writes
:
luie imbraceth the tree verie sore
addle no more.
Kill luie, or else tree will
If for " addle "
the exigencies of
as " spoilt "
word
prose
plain
to
sacrifice
substitute
" add on
"
we
get the meaning,
that the tree too tightly swathed in the grip of the ivy
unable to grow healthily, and cannot increase
its
bulk.
is
The
old idea was that the ivy was a parasite, stealing nourishment
by
its
rootlets
seems to be
from the
really
so-called rootlets
tree that
embraced,^ but there
it
no more reason to suppose that these
on the stems rob the
of
tree
its
vitality,
than that sweet-peas or other tendril-bearing flowers rob
may be found which may arise, and
of their life-juices any plants to which they In each case the mischief
clinging.
which sometimes does that
'
arises
Ivy hath
from a thick
arise,
is
over-pressure,
wooddy Trunk
or
mechanical,
from
the
the
denial
Body sometimes
mischief
of
air,
as big as one's
arm, usually climbing up Trees, and by the small Roots it sendeth into them, draweth nourishment from them, many times to their bane and utter ruin.
Adam
in Eden, 1657.
——
IFV sunshine,
light,
mistletoe
as
a
good
a
is
of
share
fair
make
that
influences
47
for
a
illustration
of a
and
rain,
ivy honestly draws
The
nourishment from
its
crampons
so-called roots, for which
the
are
multitudinous
little
hands that
not develop these crampons, because
them
it
but the
a better
is
grasp
has no
name,
and take it
does
work
for
to do.
This belief
the parasitic nature of the ivy, and the
in
morals that could be deduced from asset in
how
it,
mother Earth.
If the ivy be found on the ground
possession.
The
parasitic plant, feeding
does on the apple or other tree that bears
it
such-like
well-being.
plant's
were a most valuable
the storehouse of the earlier poets.
Shakespeare, greatest of
Adriana,
it,
in
puts into the
all,
We
recall
mouth of
the Comedy of Errors, the words aught possess thee from me, it is dross, Usurping ivy, brier, or idle moss. Who all, for want of pruning, with intrusion, Infect thy sap, and live on thy confusion. If
It will
how
be recalled, too,
Prospero, in the Tempest,
describing the wickedness of Sebastian, pictures his ingrati-
tude to
the bitter words
his benefactor in
He was The
ivy
And
suck'd
which had hid
my
Ivy possesses great
my
verdure out
time of cases where ivy stems
the crampons are
;
and
it
to
on't.
and we hear from time to
vitality,
and yet the plant appears drastic treatment
princely trunk
have been sawn through
be none the worse for such
has been suggested that, though
ordinarily but
means of
fixing
the ivy
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
48
to the wall, they as true
a
may
drawing
roots,
these untoward circumstances act
in
moisture from the wall,
sufficient
mossy old tree-trunk and from the plant to
enable the
to
live.
vitality,
and ultimately destroys the
delay in the process
may
may
this
ground does
to the
cutting off of direct access
orchid fashion,
air,
However
be more or
affect the
The
of the plant.
life
the
be,
but symptoms
less,
No
of decay presently appear and the ivy ultimately dies.
one can have wandered much encountering trees clothed leaves, the result of the
in
in a
woodland or copse without
brown wrapping of dead ivy
woodman's billhook having severed
these ivy stems near the ground.
Ivy
is
often held to be obviously injurious to
old tree that, ivy-clad,
many
In the course of luxuriance
is
of growth,
showing
no proof
that the
years the ivy has attained to great
and
has
enclosed
monarch of the
;
its
young
uninvited guest.
having yet
trees,
When
trunk and
the
but there
is
in
forest, at last yielding
to the inevitable law of Nature, has had
by
fine
symptoms of decay.
at last
taken possession of the larger branches this
some
end hastened
its
is
where
make,
suffer
mischief arises
much growth
to
from the constriction of the encircling stems. Bacchus
is
ordinarily ivy-crowned
;
while he was yet
an infant he was concealed from the wrath of Juno beneath sprays of ivy, and the plant was dedicated to
sequence.
and
is
It
grows very
abundant
at
freely in
young couple
in the
of the binding
tie
rite
in
con-
Greece and Asia Minor,
Nyssa, the early
the ancient Greek marriage
him
home of
Bacchus.
the priest presented
At the
temple with an ivy branch, a symbol
upon which they had entered.
A
crown
of ivy was bestowed also on Apollo, and on the poets, his
;
—
;
IVY
Horace, Virgil, and other ancient writers refer to
servants.
and are themselves thus reported
this,
"
A
plant
rare old
for example, in
decay
and
Dartmoor,
his
fallen
greatness,
"spirit-chilling green,"
crowned.
as
but our modern
the ivy green,"
is
poets do not ordinarily receive
its
49
with favour, Carrington,
it
associates
clothing
and
old
the
hails
as
it
Cowper
plant, sacred to desolation," while
entirely with
it
a
tells
ruins
with
"cheerless
how
it
Clings to word and stone,
And
With Barton
hides the ruin that
is
it
an
feeds upon.
it
emblem of
persistence in the
midst of evanescence. changes not as seasons flow,
It
In changeless, silent course along
Spring finds outlives
It
it
verdant, leaves
it
so,
Summer's song.
Autumn, no wan nor russet
stain
Upon its deathless glory flings And Winter o'er it sweeps in vain With tempest on his wings. Charles de Guise,
Cardinal of Lorraine, chose
device a pyramid, the most indestructible of
and,
clothing
with
it
Te stante virebo, "
The
ivy
is
placed beneath
While you stand
I
it
as
his
buildings,
the
motto
shall flourish."
intimately associated with the festivities of
Christmas, the
ease
festooned making the home.
ivy,
all
The
it
with which
it
can be garlanded and
very welcome in
the
adornment of
black berries of the ivy contrast admirably
with the scarlet fruit of the holly and the pale wan berries
of the mistletoe. at " our joyful'st
Withers, in his Juvenilia, pictures feast "
all
hearts are aglow,
how
how
" Eache
4
—
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
so
roome with
how
yvie leaves
and every post with holly,"
drest,
is
such a time
at
Without the door
And
for cold,
if
We'll bury
And evermore be
For centuries
it
hap
lie,
to die.
Christmas pye
in a
it
sorrow
let
it
merry.
was the custom
to
hang an ivy bough
over the tavern door, as a sign of the business carried
Hence our
within.
old proverb,
"
on
good wine needs no
bush," and the French rendering, " «//« vin qui se vend bien, il ne faut point de lierre " but indeed this custom and ;
the proverbs based on
go back beyond the Christian
it
BLACK BRYONY The
(Tamus Communis)
subject of our next illustration, Plate VIII.,
That
black bryony, the 'Tamus communis. black bryony seems to
common
These two
plants,
The itself
roses, or
many
feet
;
As
is
promptly encountered
;
they are not, for instance, like
amongst
its
long twining and trailing
the
hedgerow
plants, asserting
" There bee some Plants," Bacon
still
upwards, and can support them-
the greatest Part of Trees and Plants
about other Trees, or ;
name, have
in
be some Other, that Creeps along the Ground
selves
as Vines,
in
two species of buttercup.
with great vigour.
declares, " that shoot
selves
there should be a
though somewhat similar
black bryony throws
stems for
the
red-berried bryony or Bryonica dioica.
no botanical relationship
two kinds of
is
suggest that there must be some
other bryony as well, and this the equally
era.
Props, and
cannot
Ivy, Briar, Bryony,
;
;
There
Or Winde
support them-
Woodbines, Hops,
I Bl-ACK iSKYOXy
BLACK BRYONY The
Climatis, Camomill, etc.
moue vpwards
(naturally) fast,
maketh
it
the weight
;
fight for
sturdy
its
withal,
the climbing plants
Bacon was
The
it
in
very
variety
of yellow and brown
it
evidence.
in the
Autumn
Summer,
In the
fruit-clusters,
result
is
low-growing has
that
to
amongst
The
sage
of a very
large,
and
shining
in
veined,
Autumn, when
and
tints,
Beautiful it is still
in
more
and when we add
attire,
Sylva
very prominently
noticeable feature in the hedgerows,
garb
his
the
changes from sombre green to a great
is
in
Swift
erudite than usual.
polished
colour,
foliage
much
a
plant
byrony are
very numerous on the stems. fading,
all
land, ever got
less
little
black
heart-shape,
dark green
surface,
common
point a
at this
a
befits
in
impossible to divine.
is
leaves of the
pronounced
as
vp too
not support
will
Chamomile,
the
on open
life
which
Staike,
Plants
all
Sap put
the
if
So declareth Bacon
how
though
yet
plant,
for that
is,
therefore these latter Sort are
and Hasty Commers." Sylvarum,
But
:
slender
a
And
cause
51
its
its
becomes
very
a
long festoons being
dark glossy green
attractive in its brilliant to this the
long
line
of
themselves greatly varied in colour, the total
charming.
very
The
large
tuberous
roots
are
possessed of an acrid pulp that suggested their use to our forefathers as
may
a
stimulating plaster, and the young stems
be eaten like asparagus.
The
flowers are small and
greenish in colour, the stamen-bearing flowers being on one plant and the pistillate flowers on another, hence
every black bryony we see that
is
berry-bearing.
berries,
though
a state
of things arising from their more or
to
attractive to the eye
maturity, do
not
strike
one
from
as
it is
not
These
their varied colours, less
approach
very tempting.
This
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
52
unwholesome appearance
by experience,
in quite justified
as
they are raw and acrid and entirely undesirable as an item in one's dietary.
RED-BERRIED BRYONY As both
(Bryonia Dioica)
bryony bear red
species of
berries, to call
one
of them by way of distinction the red-berried bryony does not strike one as being a particularly happy idea, and so
we
though much more seldom,
occasionally,
find
called
it
white bryony in strong contradiction to black bryony.
In
each plant the roots are very large, and in the case of one
The
of them white and in the other black.
up
throws
rough
slightly
The each
a large to
number of
having,
borne,
at
long
a
herbaceous stems,
slender,
and
touch,
the
leaves are large,
climbing
and five-lobed, rough of
base
the
tendril.
spiral
white bryony
vigorously.
in texture,
which
on
the
stem
The
flowers
are
and is
it
dioecious,
the males being on one plant, and the females on another,
The
small and of whitish-green colour.
many-seeded berry about but ultimately passing plant
is
called
the
fruit
as large as a pea,
is
a globose,
green
at first,
The
through yellow to crimson.
Bryony from
the
Greek
bryo,
to
grow
up, in allusion to the vigorous growth of the annual shoots.
By some
old writers
it
charming plant to
trail
of one's garden.
We
own garden
is
called
White Vine.
It
is
a
over any fencing in an odd corner
have had
for years, as
it
it,
and enjoyed
it
in
comes up each Spring
our as
a
matter of course, needs no attention, and only asks to be let alone.
The odour of the
berries
on crushing them
is
somewhat
—
BLACKTHORN nauseous and the
The
an acrid juice.
The
insipid.
taste
root' of the
odour, and a nauseous
taste,
53
abounds with
plant
bryony has
and, though
it
a disagreeable
has been a
deal used in medicine, has very poisonous qualities.
good has
It
been employed in asthma, hysteria, epilepsy, lumbago, and other
of suffering humanity, but several cases are on
ills
the text-books
record
in
death
has
from
supervened
Tincture of bryonia
being used
and medical transactions where
still
improper
administration.
holds a place in modern medicine,
advantageously in
pleurisy and
inflammation
of the lungs. The earlier physicians made great use of " The iuyce of the root," says one venerable authority, " being pressed out in the Spring and drunke with
the plant.
mead
or
honied water draweth forth
falling sicknesse,
spots which
swimming of the
come of
'-'Dropsie,
braine, black
leprie "
stripes,
choler."
were
all
and blew
attacked by
the administration of bryony.
BLACKTHORN The
Prunus
Blackthorn,
fruiting stage in Plate IX.
conspicuous feature
(Prunus Communis)
in
is
in
communis,
depicted
in
its
the early Springtime a very
the hedgerows and
copses,
as
it
is
then thickly covered over with a wealth of pure snow-white
The
blossoms. localities
flowering period varies naturally in varying
and conditions of growth, but may be taken
as
about the beginning of March to the middle of April. '
The
roote
is
very greate, long and thicke, growing deepe in
tlie
earth,
of a whitish yellow colour, extreame bitter, and altogether of an unpleasant
The Queenes chiefe Surgion Mr. William Godorons, a very curious and learned gentleman shewed me a root hereof, that waied halfe an hundred weight, and of the bignesse of a childe of a yeere old. -Gerard.
taste.
—
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
54
The
blackthorn
so called to distinguish
is
whitethorn, or hawthorn, the subject of our It
is
known
also
hints as to
one quite
the
as
show
illustrations will
is
from the
first illustration.
reference
our two
to
no need of any
special
Autumn, and between them in
distinguishing the two plants In
point of distinction
sufficient
the Spring
A
sloe.
that there
it
is
that,
while they are both a mass of white
blossom, in the blackthorn the flowers come out while there are few or no leaves, while in the hawthorn the foliage
Burns, in the touching
well out before the flowers appear.
lament of
Mary Queen of
is
very happily on
Scots, dwells
the approach of Spring
Now
blooms the
lily
by the bank,
The primrose down the brae The hawthorn's budding in the ;
And
The
distinction in time
truthfully given.
unfold
thorn
its
is
milk-white
is
between the two plants
While the hawthorn
leaves in the
glen,
the slae.
most sheltered
is
is
but beginning to black-
positions, the
already one sheet of blossom, so that in thinking of
the tree the one mental picture that arises to the poet's is
the profusion of
its
flowers,
While
the flowers
no
visible leaves,
blossom—
stems, but just one sheet of slae."
very
of the
no
" milk-white
mind
visible Is
the
hawthorn are strongly
fragrant, those of the blackthorn are quite Inodorous.
The attaining
blackthorn, if a height
left alone, will
of some
excellent hedge material, as
grow
twelve feet it
throws out
Into a small tree,
or
so.
a great
It
Is
an
mass of
angular branches, well armed with spines, that interlace and
form an impenetrable
The
barrier.
dried leaves are sometimes gathered by the cottagers
BLACKTHORN
—
BLACKTHORN Some
as a substitute for tea. tities
while ago large quan-
little
were gathered and dried
55
commercial speculation,
as a
over four million pounds of them being sold but
it
one year
in
;
was found that they were being so largely used to
sophisticate
Excise
the
that
tea
took
authorities
alarm,
and the manufacture came to an abrupt end.
The wood of the blackthorn is very hard and tough it occasionally made into walking-sticks, and in some circles ;
is
of society a good blackthorn shillelah
considered fully
is
equal, for strengthening an argument, to a crab-tree cudgel.
The bark
astringent,
is
and has been found advantageous
as
a febrifuge.
The
fruit, as
our illustration shows,
is
globular or sHghtly
when
ovoid, in colour purple almost to blackness, but,
beautiful violet-coloured bloom.
covered with a
though
be
it
to
the eye,
on
found
is
it
ripe,
Inviting
tasting to
be
so harsh that one has no inclination to repeat the experience,
though
after
what of
a
touch of mellowing frost
biting
this
gathered by the country folk
make them
or
them makes if
a
a
little
that
The
society.
good marking-ink sulphate
are
loses
some-
at
this
season
they either preserve them
:
a beverage
into
able favour in rustic
and
They
acridity.
it
of iron
is
held in
juice for
be
consider-
from
expressed
linen
or
added to
woollen, it,
it
has
complete permanence.^ In excavating the baths at the a great
'
The
many
fruit stones
were found
in iEgypt, very
in
vsed
hard to
and
city
of Silchester
in a drain
;
amongst
and all other issues of blood, which is a thornie tree growing be gotten, and of a decre price, albeit our plums of
iuice of sloes doth stop the lask
and may very well
Roman
flix,
in stead of .'\catia,
this countrie are equal vnto
it
in vertues."
Gerard.
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
56
these were those of the cherry, damson,
These
were evidently taken to
fruits
and blackthorn.
assist in
whiling away
the time at the baths, the great meeting-place of the citizens
and if
and daughters, and one can only
their wives
Roman
our
berries,
is
it
lunch
could
predecessors
that
feel
blackthorn
off
one testimonial the more to their indomitable
pluck and perseverance.
Not only do our hedges and woodlands plums, but apples, pears, and cherries no
who know
difficulty in recognising their wild prototypes.
Though an
the Spindle
to
a
ordinarily
in
copse
May.
as
of
height
attains
their
during
developes
it
and
its
its
it
is
in
the
form
fruit in
foliage of great
Nature would have over twenty
and hedge
Summer
Spring and
shrub,
attractive,
Growing
richness of tint.
The The
tree
one of the most beautiful,
into
and colour being highly
bush.
(Euonymus Europ^us)
inconspicuous
entirely
Autumn
it
describe
these fruits in their cultivated forms will find
SPINDLE-TREE
is
To
less.
any length would appear unnecessary, as those
these at
no
yield us wild
it
to grow,
more
but
feet,
more than a
little
greenish-white, four-petalled flowers expand in
They have
lance-shaped leaves grow in pairs.
margins minutely notched, and are throughout the
Summer of
a
somewhat
they change to a
brilliant
depicted the plant in
its
dull green,
but
in
the
We
bronze-red or purple.
Autumn
bravery
in
our
Autumn have
illustration,
Plate X.
The wood of grain.
It
the
larger branches
was originally much
in
is
hard and of
demand
for
fine
making
SPINDLE-TREE spindles, hence the popular English
name on
manner
like
in
is
Germany
in
57
name of
the
the tree.
It
Spindelbaum, and
its
most of the other European languages
in
same reference to the use of the
the
is
based
tree.
In September the curious pendant four-celled seed-vessels
They
are ripened.
remain on the lost
all
them
find
are
ordinarily of a bright rosy
of a waxen texture, but
pink, and
beautiful
unmolested, long after the tree has
They
leaves.
its
are produced in great abundance, and
trees, if
pure
They
white.
we may
occasionally
of very
are
and
quaint
form, and when fully ripe open out and show
One
within their cup the brilliant orange-coloured seeds.
of the French names of the plant
the Bonnet de fretre,
is
in
obvious allusion to the similarity in form of the fruit
to
the biretta,
the head-dress
Romish Church and
worn by the within
imitators
their
priests
the
of the
Anglican
fold.
The
generic
name of
the plant
is
derived from
Euonyme,
the mother of the Furies, in allusion to the possibilities of
up within
evil stored
violently
poisonous
gay
its
The
exterior.
One
the
Continent that has
its
is
expressed from
use in manufactures.
the spindle tree occasionally transferred
finds
garden and shrubbery
one wonders,
in
:
though
mankind, are eaten by thrushes,
to
blackbirds, and other birds, and an oil
them on
seeds,
it
view of
is
its
to
the
a very easy tree to rear,
and
great attractiveness, that
it
is
not more often found amongst other shrubs in cultivation.
Though
the
specific
name Europaus would seem
specially identify the plant with it is
this
to
quarter of the world,
found not only throughout Europe, but also in Western
Asia and North Africa.
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY -SIDE
58
WAYFARING-TREE
We
may
(Viburnum Lantana)
occasionally find in our hedgerows and copse-
lands the wayfaring-tree, a large and freely branching shrub
A
or small tree.
very characteristic feature by which
be readily identified contrasted with
from the
arises
soft meal-like
upper stems and the especially
well
particularly grey appearance as
its
is
neighbours round about
its
foliage.
down It
is
This
it.
effect
that clothes alike the that prospers
a plant
chalk and limestone districts, and
in
can
it
it
is
there found abundantly.
The
leaves
They
pairs.
about four inches long and grow in
are
very roundly ovate
are
of the leaf
on the lower
while
and
somewhat
is
consequence
in
reticulated veining
on the lower
this
The upper
downy covering
In the
Autumn
Quaker-like
their
yet thicker,
is
The
effect.
very prominent
a
is
surface
and velvety to the touch,
yet greyer in
surface.
change
leaves
soft
form, and have
in
on their margins a line of small teeth.
strongly
feature, especially
these greyish-green
garb
one
for
of
rich
crimson red.
The
flowers
are
small,
and white
colour,
in
the five
large
anthers being very conspicuous in their midst, and
they
grow
in
dense
clusters
of
about
Unlike those of the Guelder Rose,
diameter.
each flower of the wayfaring-tree
relation,
inches
three
noble outer ring of barren blossoms that
a
in
very near
perfect, the
is
we
see in the
guelder rose being absent.
The strong
first
green, and then
and
finally
berries are at
red
and they
in
may
colour,
often be
found
at
turn a good
become purplish-black, the
same time, and on
WAYFARING-TREE same
the
Each contains one
these varying tints.
in
tree,
59
seed.
The bark
so
is
indicates
its
" Foure
Bookes
acrid
service
in
to
as
In the
medical treatment.
rustic
Husbandry
of
and thus
a blister,
raise
Conradus
by
collected
Herebachius, 'newely Englished and increased by Barnabe Googe, Esquire," we read that " Nature hath appoynted
remedyes and
in
redynesse
a
of
subteltie
man
for
is
to be solde
ye
in
craft
and bought,
mean time every poore man
remedyes growing
men would make
the
medicines from Hierusalem, and
their
out of Turkic, whyle hath the ryght
but
for gaine hath devised Apothecaries
Shoppes, in which a man's Lyfe
where they fetche
diseases,
al
Gardens
theyr
in
his
theyr
Garden
for
:
Physitions
yf the
Physicions craft would soone decay."
The bark
who pursues
bird-catcher, in defiance,
furnishes a very efficient bird-lime to the village his craft;. more or less,
Birds Protection Acts, close times, and the like
sympathy for
the local
we
his
work,
deriving
;
its
secure in
strength
from the feeling that too often regards every bird farmer's
fear,
or possibly in ignorance, of the various Small
natural
enemy, to be trapped,
shot,
or
as the
poisoned
without mercy.
One the
old
plant,
writer, puzzled
breaks
that as this tree
into is
to
account for the name of
ponderous humour,
so often
ever on the way, and
found
therefore a
wayfarer.
is
a
more reasonable explanation would appear
its
declares
in the roadside hedge,
it
is
and
to
be
But that
grey foliage, looking as though covered with roadside
dust, suggests the wayfarer toiling travel-stained along the
highway.
It
is
sometimes by the older herbalists called
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
6o
mealy-bush, a name sufficiently descriptive
covering,
we,
If
the whitten-tree.
into
this
translate
still
is
mind whitened-tree, we
not
name
for
word derived from
the
declares
Parkinson, in
bundels
branches thereof,"
Thealrum Botanicim} "are so
his
withall, that they serve better for
tough and strong to tye
yet older
"The
pliant.
or
grey
this shall
A
the lithy-tree, lithy being a
Anglo-Saxon word for
or sometimes
bearing in
be going far wrong, we imagine. it
;
any other thing
withall,
or
to
bands
make
together the gates of fields, than either
wreathes to hold
withy or any other the like."
Though to the plants
counter shall
the
not
YEW
(Taxus Baccata)
at
a
yew
why
;
we may
To
we conjure up
at
unpopular,
most of
addition
desirable
or
popular
of the hedgerow,"
presently see.
picture
all
why
occasionally en-
imdesirable,
we
however, the mental
us,
the thought of the yew
is
not a
lowly hedge-plant, but a venerable and far-reaching tree, densely branched, not of any great height, maybe, but of an
Yew-trees when young
aspect suggestive of great antiquity.
are often rather acutely pyramidal, but as they
they expand, until presently '
"Collected by the
many
we
find
grow older
them round, or almost
yeares travaile, industry and experience in this
subject by John Parkinson, apothecary of
London and
the King's Herbarist.
Published by the King's Majestyes especiall priviledge " 1640. 2 In the formal gardens of our ancestors the yew is very frequently seen, as it bears cutting well, and is an evergreen. At Wrest, in Bedfordshire,
one
may
see a hedge of
it
twenty
ten feet thick and sixty yards long.
or stalely
It is
and near Calne
these living walls.
is
one that
is
needless, however, to particularise,
we suppose, will home standing in the midst
as every county in England, hall
feet high,
furnish
of
its
its
fine
old ancestral
parterres environed
by
YEW AND DOGWOOD
1
y£lV They
headed.
flat,
more than about
are rarely
though that
high,
6
Harlington,
at
the
typical in
by
tallest
England, attains to an altitude of fifty-eight
thirty feet far
in
In
feet.
a
yew-tree the numerous branches spread boldly out
more or
the lower ones being nearly
less radiate fashion,
or quite horizontal, or even pendulous.
The yew
indigenous to these
is
Briton, growing in in the
south.
It
prefers
caring
generation of its
less
and mountainous
wild, rocky,
calcareous
stiff
soil,
but
thrives
under
battling for centuries against the roaring
;
nothing for
men
heat or
cold
generation after
;
passing away, and each gazing on
The
imperturbable fixedness and endurance. at
districts
north and west, and on the great downlands of the
other conditions gales,
a genuine ancient
isles,
home throughout Europe,
flourishing
tree
in
it
no
is
on the slopes
of the Vosges, the Jura range, the Pyrenees, the Alps, and
home,
the Apennines, equally at
the
Himalaya,
in
and the Philippines, and on the
Japan
mountains of Canada and the United
The trunk of an
States.
old yew-tree becomes wonderfully split
and contorted, while
its
bark,
dark brown
rough and cracked, peeling away very layer being cast
in grain
the tough and stubborn yew, and
weapons, while
commended
it
a
made from
its
wood.
is
in
commends its
it
for
tenacity
and amongst the long-buried
remains of great Nineveh are unearthed objects
upper
the
Virgil repeatedly
long year before his day
to the Assyrians,
is
The wood
and beautifully mottled
shades of reddish-orange and dark brown.
many
colour,
in
easily,
off and renewed each year.
very hard and compact
calls it
Caucasus and on
too, in the
It
in
this
has been used
our day a
good
deal for wood-inlay, spoons, cups, axle-trees, cogs for mill-
——
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
62
wheels, and the like, and as an alternative to
wood
the service of the
decay makes
common The
in his
book on
yew
yew
are
resisting
pumps, and
piles,
declares
of the
for
it
New
be
to
Forest
of iron.
will outlast a post
leaves of the
boxwood
power of
trees,
woodmen
saying amongst the
that a post of
Its
very valuable for
also
Gilpin,
fencing.
a
it
engraver.
small,
linear,
of a sombre
green, numerous, glossy, evergreen, arranged in two opposite
ranks or
on the stems.
series
The distinguish'd yew is ever seen, Unchanged bis branch, and permanent
The
sombre
character
of
the
Prior.
his green.
becomes
foliage
very
marked when contrasted with the surrounding foliage of when a large mass or grove of yew-trees is
other trees, or a
feature
in
landscape.
the
Scott
writes
of a " dismal
grove of sable yew," the trees appearing almost black by contrast with their environment
Autumn,
to
on the
seizes
;
same
and Hood,
" Mournful cypress and dark yew."
The same
Ode
his
in
and
feature
writes
of
trees
of
ill-omen reappear in the lines of Harte, where, in describing
some scene of mountain
desolation, he tells
Dark cypresses the
And gloomy
Yew
as a
is,
skirting sides adorned.
yew-trees wliich for ever mourned.
hedge material has many advantages,
a dense screen,
and
is
ancestors
they not
it
makes
evergreen, bears clipping excellently well,
practically, everlasting
are vitiated
how
by one
;
fatal defect
used the leaves as only killed
but
all
these
good
qualities
—
its
,a
vermifuge, but found that
the patient's
poisonous nature.
unwelcome
guests,
Our but
the patient as well, and this was held by the patient to so
—
VEIF
63
remedy went out of
far militate against their use that the
Horses, cows, or deer,
fashion.
clippings, or nibbling thin,
is
hares, it
quickly
all
and rabbits have
would appear
most
to be
with
other
and
food,
fatal
giving
when
of
that
all
;
To
horses
but a Professor
by mixing yew-leaves
compound
the
the grass
enough, goats,
immunity/
a complete
Wiborg, of Copenhagen, found
leaves
curiously
while,
die,
yew
picking up
either
the green
at
careful
in
proportion, one could gradually increase the proportion of
yew without cattle
when food too much
was
that
owing
to severe weather or other cause,
short,
is
taken at one time.
Wiborg
we never
of poisons
While such experiments
are very interesting, and
make them,
desirous to
felt
great risk both with horses and
be that, under sudden temptation,
to
is
as those of Dr.
often
The
danger.
would appear
cared
quite
we have
the practical difficulty
to
investigate
the action
on our own horse or cow, and
or the like
there was a certain delicacy in asking one's neighbour for
of
loan
the
hedgerow
some
his
trees,
It will
!
the hawthorn,
like
many
be observed that, while
have
their foliage
in
seasons almost destroyed by caterpillars or other small
depredators, nothing attacks the yew-leaves. '
While we should naturally imagine
all it will is
be poisonous
all
round, a
little
that
if
a
thing
be poisonous
investigation soon
by no means the case, the same plant being deadly poison to another. That which proves
shows to
at
that this
one creature,
innocuous and acceptable
Strong poison unto me, another loves,
And And
eats, kills
and
lives.
Tlius hemlock juice prevails,
a man, but fattens goats
and
quails.
Creech, Lucretius.
Sheep if
will eat
hemlock with impunity, but
if
a cat nibbles
you, gentle reader, with a turn for investigation,
that parsley
is
delectable,
your example, your
and
to
bird's faith in
be eaten with you costs it its
full life.
it,
show your
dies,
it
and
pet parrot
impunity, and
it
follows
—
—
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
64
So deadly has the yew been reputed to be that beneath
shade was
Its
held
full
form of
vigour long before the Christian
declares, bringing
"
have not only
I
Gerard,
that not one time but
many
without any hurt
also,
the
applies
11.,
skill
in
epithet
him by Holland yugh
fearefull to
remembered making
at
and
all,
the
to
fatal "
poisonous nature, but to
bows yew against
who
thy State.
in the first
century
declares, in the quaint translation
in the reign
of Queen
when
Witches
the
of
Elizabeth — " The
looke upon, a cursed tree "
that
their
its
Mundi, written
Pliny, in his Historia era,
:
their
double-fatal
of the Christian
" doubly
archery of those bend
Of
1633,
Shakespeare, in King
times."
yew, referring not alone to the deadly
in
of experiment
under the shadow thereof, but
slept
amongst the branches Richard
the test
This
at least,
era.
however, writing his General Historic of Plants the matter to
to sleep
suicide.^
some two thousand years
belief has flourished for
being in
a
in
and
;
it
will
be
Macbeth were
gruesome mixture of eye of newt and
toe
of frog, wool of bat and tongue of dog, adder's fork and
blindworm's sting, and such-like untempting ingredients, they did not forget to throw into the horrible mess some
of yew.
slips
The yew was
always regarded as something
decidedly uncanny.
The '
yew
flowers of the
The Yew
is
beast
Wheresoever ;
it
grows
the very lying under
Botanologia 1664.
found in March
hot and dry, having such attraction that
place subject to poysonous vapours
them.
will be
its
its
if
;
they
planted near a
very branches will draw and imbibe
is both dangerous and deadly to man and branches has been found hurtful. Turner,
it
YE W dioecious, the pistillate
are
and staminate flowers not being
found upon the same shrub or
trees bearing the
for
and
it
pistillate
centuries
after
on the under
will be realised
that only the
type of flower will
to study plants, so that
making two
which only tree, if
it
Yew
and the " Taxus tantum
berries,"
Of
floures."
the
bearing Acornes
:
"
Yew
the
Jiorens,
he says
first
we
distinct species of yew,
the " Ta.xiis glandifera bacciferaque, the
and
be berry-
was not comprehended
fact
men began
find Gerard, for instance,
the
for
This physiological
bearing.
They grow from
tree.
must be searched
bases of the leaves, and surfaces of the stems,
65
seemes
It
this
were not hindred by cold weather, would alwaies
have Acornes and Berries on him, for he hath alwaies
little
buds, which so soone as the Spring yeelds but a reasonable heate, they
growe
into the
forme of Acornes
beginning of August, seldome before, you
and from that time
turned into ripe
berries,
or a
you may
little after,
berries."
Of
see
about the
:
shall
them
finde
Christmasse,
till
on him both Acornes and red
the second he writes
beareth floures and no berries,
:
"
The Yew, which
like the other in
is
timber, barke, and leaves, but at the beginning of
only
trunke,
Nouember,
or before, this tree doth beginne to be very thicke set or
fraught on the lower side or part of the twigs with small
round buds, verie neere and
as big,
Radish seede, and do so continue the middle of Februarie,
when
all
and of the colour of the Winter,
till
about
they open at the top, sending
forth one small sharpe pointall, garnished towards the top
with
many
shall
beate or throw stones
little
dusty
of Februarie, or a
and
fly
from
things
like floures
into this tree
good space
these
floures
after,
an
;
and
about
there
if
you
the
end
proceed
will
aboundance
of 5
dustie
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
66
smoke." the
as
These This
pollen.
equally
see
and
anthers,
"dusty
little
" dustie
the
smoke
of " dustie
abundance
on shaking
strikingly
we
things"
recognise dispersed
the
"
smoke
stamen-
of
a festoon
may
we
"
bearing hop.
The
fruit
of the yew
imbedded
in a
of things
we have
pulpy and berry-like cup.
This
and rather mawkishly sweet to the
when compressed,
The
taste.
be found from about September onward. in
moderation without danger
and others eagerly indulge are very partial to
yew on
it
;
of a curiously
scarlet in colour,
is
texture, mucilaginous or glutinous
:
in
partly
the state
is
figured in our drawing of the
This outer cup
Plate XI.
waxy
a hard nut-like seed
is
fruit
may
It
will
be eaten
missel-thrushes, blackbirds, the
feast,
and wasps
also
human beings it is only the may be eaten, the central nut
but with
mucilaginous envelope that
being injurious, and in any considerable quantity deadly.
Gerard's use of the word acorn,
it
will
be readily perceived,
was suggested by the appearance of the central nut in
the
midst of
of the yew particular sees,
its
encircling
cup.
Wordsworth speaks
but one
does
see
that
in
them one hardly
disparagement
suggested,
is
so that this great Nature poet notwithstanding,
yew
about time to assert very definitely that the baleful, dismal,
gloomy,
cheerless,
all
guest, self-reliant, needing
asking of us no attention, and rewarding us its
living verdure, attractive at
is
all
times,
seems not a
melan-
these epithets
and many more such have been bestowed upon
welcome and sturdy
it
unsocial, sullen,
choly, pensive, and funereal tree, though
with
What
as "decked with unrejoicing berries."
form of rejoicing he missed
rising
it,
but a
no petting, at
all
times
and especially
—
V£IV so
when
in
form, beautiful
67
branches bear their coral-like berries, beautiful
its
in
contrasting charmingly
and
colour,
with the dark green foliage.
Like
yew
the
and other evergreen
holly, ivy, laurustinus,
demand
in
is
the glad Christmas season,
at
days
was
it
both
and of the home,' and
for the decoration of the church
pre-Reformation
plants,
in
these northern
latitudes
used on Palm Sunday as a substitute for the real palm
The
processions.
in
in
willow was also used, and so both that
and the yew became called palms, a name that the former retains
still
in
particular species
seeing that
its
parts
of
sallow,
is
bearing
the its
unfortunately, loses one great attraction,
berries part
provocation.
when
country
the
most employed, the
The yew,
catkins.
slight
many
company from the stem
at
but
In some parts of England they hold
that
yew must have no
will
be a death in the family before the end of the year.
place in dressing the home, or there
Such a gruesome
belief, happily,
generally held, or
we should
When yew
is
And many
could not have been very
not find Herrick singing
out then birch comes
in,
flowers beside,
Both of a fresh and fragrant kin To honour Whitsuntide.
Our houses
ancestors had a pleasant custom of decking their
all
through the Winter and Spring, and had a regular
sequence, the
'
holly being succeeded
This verdant adornment was
in its origin
by the box, the box
long pre-Christian, the
decorating their houses with green boughs during the Saturnalia.
If,
Romans however,
object to the idea of this Pagan precedent, we can find another in the Jewish use of such signs of rejoicing in their Feast of Tabernacles. It must in all ages have been a most natural form of rejoicing.
we
:
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
68
by the yew, and that
turn, as
in
we
by the
see,
birch,
succeeding verses, that we need not quote, carrying on the order.
floral
yew was
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the
held in high esteem in the stately gardens of that period,
not merely as a fence and a protection from the wind, but for the ease with which
could be clipped into
it
sorts
all
of fantastic shapes, as peacocks, dragons, pyramids. refers to this as a
custom
day
his
in
Pliny
Lord Bacon,
also.
with his wonted good sense, protested against this practice,
and says like
in
one of his essays
images cut out
But
and
in
his strictures
Mary
the reign of William and
sort of thing
my
do not
part,
and other garden stuff
juniper
in
they be for children."
"I, for
:
Yet
was all-pervading.
had no influence, the taste for
on the
later
this
ridicule
of Addison and Pope was brought to bear on the practice,
and
it
things,
As
presently passed out of fashion.
there
is
between
happy medium, and
cannot
it
be
most other
a golden mean, a
extremes
the
in
denied
that
a
certain
formal clipping and stately rigidity of line harmonised well
with these
fine
old
Tudor mansions, with
their geometric
flower-beds, statuary, fountains, terraces, and noble flights
of
steps.
In the language of the botanist baccata.
The second of
to berry-bearing, but
The common name, say a suggestion in the it
the
yew,
—from
spelling of the
these
is
first
the
yew
is
a corruption
is
Taxiis
by no means so
—or
very great
shall
The
the Celtic /w, green.
word
the
is
names has obvious reference
;
we
clear.
rather
variation
we have
seen
given as yweu, eow, iw, ewe, eugh, whe, eu, ew, ewgh,
yugh, yeugh, yewe, yowe, and even iuu, and
this
by no
YE 11^ means exhausts the
In
list.^
69 if
fact,
our readers
will
fix
upon the most outrageous orthography they can imagine, doubtless time and due research would make its discovery possible in
When
some old volume.
yew furnished
the
the
long
bow, the weapon
so formidable in the skilled hands of our English archers,
the weapon that gained for England the proud victories
of Crecy, and Poictiers,
and Agincourt,
growth and
its
preservation were of essential national importance, so that statute
was passed
statute
after
Even
keep unimpaired the supply.
by no
means
and while the exportation of yew was
strictly
aid
victory.
and
at
held
potent
ground, and so
forbidden,
bow long
Field was
a
its
sufficient,
to
after the introduction
of gunpowder, villainous saltpetre, the long
to
reigns
succeeding
in
its
late
Flodden
as
The home
importation was
length
supply
was
encouraged
in
every
way,
was made obligatory that merchants
it
abroad should bring back not only the wine, or or furs, or whatever cargo formed their lading, but
trading silk,
with these a certain amount of suitable yew wood for the making of bows. Roger Ascham, in his quaint Toxophilus, declares
that
"As
for
dothe prove them to all
things
is
elme,
wych, and ashe, experience
be but meane for bowes
;
ewe of
that whereof perfite shootinge would have a
bo we made." All
who
Englishmen '
So
far as
were
physically shaft
may
popler and lindes
faire.
eughen bow
a
fit
were,
for
send.
Spencer.
Fyn
evv,
Chaucer.
The warlike yewgh, by which, more than the lance, The strong-armed English spirits conquered France. Sir Thomas Browne.
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
70
generations, required to exercise the art of shooting, and
was on public holidays the great
Edward
III.
would,
proclamation
all
instructed
the art of shooting, forbidding
do not
of stones, hand ball,"
etc., a
plays which
like
vain
failed to
warlike
" learn
to
and exercise
and singular that they
all
any manner apply themselves to the throwing
after
who
it
no other, and by royal
in fact, recognise
were
The
recreation.
long
being given of " such-
list
have no profit
Those
them."
in
command had no
obey the king's
alternative
but imprisonment during the king's pleasure.
Every man
was required to have a bow, and with
wended
way with
in
King
the
in
Imperial
the
thinking
become
respect
of
zeal
defence.
vast
could
responsibilities,
and patriotism of our
a nation in
of a
to
men to take Would that we, a
their
great
nowadays,
forefathers, and,
which every
rifle
man was
and proficient
King Edward
in
use.
its
we think
III.,
familiar with the
With
the playing-fields of
Eton
well-worn
The
remark.
—
if,
won on
indeed, he ever heard
victory,
was
however,
and not to the lookers-on.
There
all
monarch did
that
not perhaps sufficiently realise that Waterloo was
players,
skill
of " sport " and vain plays without profit,
less
handling
king issued such
able-bodied
all
fit
national
race,
emulate
after
were needful to maintain the English
as
archery, and to
place
his
neighbours to the butts that were built in
his
the outskirts of every town.
commands
this he
is
to
that
the
considerable
moral and physical difference between struggling for one's side
on the
football
field,
and being
one of forty thousand mill hands, or the
enclosure,
roaring
their
in these latter
colliers,
approbation
who surround
or yelling
disgust at the play in which they take no part.
days
their
—
YEW Many
yew-trees are
noble
a great
number
yards.
Why
us that
production of
once needed
some
;
be so
should
this
that their
resting-place
silent
all
they were planted there to
that
branches might
make
or driving
or what else might
hail,
while others
bows
mar
tell
humanity
laid
;
beneath their shade,
there
no
is
definite
all
the
that
the
each and
Some would have
immortality.
this
sun,
us that as they stand unmoved, genera-
was sacred to the Druids and
though of
fierce
the funeral rites
they, clad in unchanging verdure, are to
yew-tree
England
far-spreading
their
welcome defence against
a
tion after generation of
emblem of
that
sombre shade might solemnise of the days of mourning and
some
;
an unsolved problem.
is
those long
all
the thoughts and remind the
and of these
existence,
in
be found in our old country church-
will
Some would persuade assist in the
71
it
disciples,
their
evidence, and that the
churches, raising their buildings on
founders of Christian
the sites of the temples of the older faith, yet left the old trees standing.
Judging by modern
feeling,
would seem
it
most improbable that the new shrines should be reared on ground soaked with the blood of the victims of such awful the
cruelty as
Druidic
but perhaps other
It
all
may
religious
evil there
sites
to have fostered
;
distinctly
the victory of the Cross.
be
replied
significance
to
the
;
known
might be held to more
once
destruction inevitable
are
other manners, and such dehberate
men
occupation of the old
show to
rites
at
by
the
but this
may
adherents is
that
disciples
to
if
the
trees
had a
of Druidism, their
Christianity
not necessarily so.
be something of good, and
would
be
Even we assume
in things
if
and the assumption has been made, though apparently on
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
72
no just foundation
—
a symbol of immortality, there
The
to destroy them.
naturally find
Druids the yew-trees were
that to the
would be
teachers of the
little
new
or no reason
would
beliefs
well to avoid drastic and unnecessary changes
it
matters not essentials, which could be retained without
in
sacrifice
and they might
of principle,
not
unreasonably
decide that where the old teaching could be engrafted into the new,
its
however,
is
symbols need
Cudham
old
trees,
more than
finds
any symbolic
In
All
one
one would
purpose
In
some
though
yew-tree,
appear
this,
sufficient.
churchyard, for instance, there are two noble
Hemelsfield
at
three,
Aberystwith
at
eleven.
of these venerable trees are clearly of immense
While many
Domesday Book and long prior to the Norman
and known, from reference
age,
no molestation.
the merest theory, the vaguest surmise.
churchyards one for
suffer
other ancient records, to date
in
Conquest, one must not too hastily assume Druidic origin round.
all
churchyards are to be seen
In several
looking trees of which the actual date of planting
The yew
really
grows somewhat rapidly
these earlier days being an
The and
wild
churchyard the '
tombs 111
Britain
seem
poets
to vilify the
on
odd century or two. have
entered
some mountain That the
tree.
clearly
into
tree
slope,
a
not the fault of the
is
conspiracy it
but
growing
only
as
a
found amidst
should be
Lowe's altogether excellent monograph on the
and Ireland
noble-
known.
in its earlier days,
yew, not apparently having seen
free
is
to
is
yew
at
all,
yet
Yew-trees of Great
a very striking illustration of this,
a tree that
was
planted in the churchyard of Boughton, near Faversham, on the authority of the parish Register, in the year 1695, having feet
feet
from the ground of nearly ten
and nine inches,
in 1897.
feet, or, to
now
a girth of trunk at three
be absolutely accurate, nine
——
y£I!^
man
because some it
found
being
for
Fletcher
denounces
such
amidst
!
yew,"
while
roundly
Blair
the
as
it
man denounces surroundings With
there, another
it
" dismal
the
is
it
planted
73
Cheerless, unsocial plant, that cares to dwell 'Midst skulls and cofSns, epitaphs, and
Moir
dark, sepulchral yew-trees stand
O'er
many
writing
Stanley,
;
how
points out
Yon
and
worms
a level grave
in
1551,
;
upon
strewn
wishes
his
" dismall grave " such offerings as " forsaken cypresse and
Dryden,
sad yewe."
yew," and
in like
would be easy enough
it
same lugubrious
in the
The good of the
folk of
fine old
its
own
It
is
manner,
in
its
through
mourner
much more
are doubly
proud
stands in their churchyard
;
for
association with Charles Dickens.
Oliver
m
Twist,
describes the journey of Sykes
night
to quote
Sunbury-on-Thames
yew which
mentioned
the "
strain.
and for
sake,
calls it
Sunbury on
the
chapter
which
and Oliver one Winter's
way
their
to
Chertsey on a
burglarious expedition.
"
As
they passed Sunbury Church," says Dickens, " the
clock struck seven.
window into
There was a
opposite, which streamed across the road
more sombre shadow
beneath far off,
light in the ferry-house
it.
There was
a
a
sound of
dull
and the leaves of the old
night wind.
It
seemed
like
and threw
dark yew-tree with graves falling water not
tree stirred gently
quiet
in
the
music for the repose
of the dead."
One
hesitated to dismiss consideration of the
yew with
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
74
mournful
ideas so
as those of
of such
but a passage
poets,
Dickens leaves nought
tJb
DOGWOOD
company of
the worshipful pathetic
beauty
this
as
of
be desired.
(CoRNUs Sanguinea)
Companioning the
yew spray on Plate XI. will be of Dogwood, Cornus sanguinea^ a shrub or
found a piece
small tree that grows in the hedges, and
home on
at
the chalk.
being
downlands,
particular piece
plateau round
have the
seen
we
figure
in
it
it.
It
in
ever
;
some
The
it.
we
but
soil
good charcoal
especially
largely
is
It
it.
again
in
as
grown
admits of
vigorously as
a feature of great commercial value.
is
in
fact
the
sanguinea
adjective
the plant in
is
in
cause
the
of
signifying
Autumn
deep-red colour of
and
of
the
around Guildford,
districts
cutting down, and starts
The crimson stem of and
counties,
anywhere where the
fact,
makes an in
especially
Kent and
north Wiltshire,
in
coppices with a view to that use of
frequent
in
was growing on the great chalk
profusion
equal
gunpowder, and
for
more
is
common
composed
largely
Marlborough,
conditions suit
in
very
of Wight, and,
Isle
very
is
hedges, in some parts of these
the
Sussex,
It
its
or
dogwood its
is
specific
Winter
bereft of
growing
Latin
When we
see
foliage,
this
its
stems becomes especially prominent,
itself sufficient
and
name, the
blood-red.
to identify the
dogwood may grow, when unchecked, some sixteen feet. The flowers are white, having four stamens,
very noticeable,
in
plant by. to
a
petals
height
The of
and four
rather close clusters at or near
DOGWOOD They open
the extremities of the shoots. leaves
are
numerous small
when They
fully
hairs
with
developed
this
which they are covered, but feature
not
is
noticeable.
so
are very prominently veined, a feature clearly
Summer Autumn
In the
green colour, but in the crimson.
it
is
becomes
of a clear
a
full
rich
fruit
is
globose in form and almost black
In
taste
it
is
according
is
why
who
He
the plant
called
the
plant
the
nauseous that one would not even throw
tree, so
to a dog.
very harsh and unpalatable, and
one old writer,
to
it
fanciful,
the foliage
shown
The
in colour.
dog-berry
In
they have a hoary appearance from the
our drawing.
in
The
June.
in
on the stems, broadly egg-shaped.
pairs
in
Summer
the early
75
thereupon proceeds to declare that that called
is
dogwood, an explanation wholly
and on a par with
calling the hazel the lion-bush,
because
one
would never think of throwing the nuts to
a lion.
We
only quote an explanation so bizarre because
incidentally
wood
at least
it
These
berries.
when
freely yield,
The wood for
the
is
cogs of
to the acridity of the
testifies
the
for
pressed, an excellent
for bows.
It
as
and
present
English
may
It
therefore
was once fitly
name dogwood
is
used
in great
be placed in
the plant that was in great
was also largely
demand
demand by the butchers name for it is prickwood.
in
is
a
corruption of the
old
names dagger-wood or dagger, because the hard
stems can be held, a
it
and other purposes where
mill-wheels
for their skewers, hence one old
The
oil.
very hard and durable, hence
arrows,
same drawing
August or September,
berries, ripe in
strength and endurance are of value.
demand
dog-
weapon.
It
when
was
also
pointed, to be suggestive of such called
Gatter in mediaeval days.
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
76
from the Anglo-Saxon gad, or goad,
means
which
of
slow-going
the
pointed stick, by
oxen
at
plough
were
some
little
develop, if even very temporarily,
induced to
accession of energy.
wrong
off on a
a
some old books, the
In
writers,
led
scent in the matter of derivation, call
it
the hound's-berry.
HONEYSUCKLE The Honeysuckle, ciated, is
is
with
wealth
pulled
the
bases,
and
need,
name.
It
may
know
that
our
In gres
cent,
for
forefathers
quite
considered
as
called
we
find
definitely
the
this
being
grasses,
graceful plant
its
Doubtless
the
country lanes,
of the honey at their
be the
familiar
its
news to some
meadow
honigsucle
clover
to a
In Anglo-
mentioned, but
say which plant was intended. find
the
rede
hony
was evidently the red
even
in
by no
is
it
and for the same reason.
but
we have but one
than
no explanation of
however,
perhaps,
lists
plants
it
readers have in their
down
sake
the
therefore,
as well,
included,
blossom,
attractiveness.
of our
one early manuscript we
fodder
the
and
they rambled
as
blossoms
Saxon plant
of fragrant
grace
in
some ninety-nine per
honeysuckle
when
people
yet under this latter condition
means lacking younger days,
so justly appre-
hedgerows and encircling the hedgerow
its
fruiting stage,
we cannot
known and known to most
so well
probably better
wreathing the
trees
(Lonicera Periclymenum)
now
and so
in
that throws
its
clover,
all
agricultural lists often
called.
candidate for the
suckle
To-day,
however,
name of honeysuckle, branches far
over the other plants of the hedge or copse.
and wide
—
HONE YS UCKLE With
clasping tendrils
it
a gay festoon recompensing well borrows with the grace it lends.
The licence,
fragrant chaplet
strength
reference
;
the
to
possibly
or
it
clasping
The
not possessing them.
tendrils
poet's
a
is
honeysuckle
the
ignorance,
poet's
a
invests the branch,
many
Else unadorned, with
And The
77
stems reach a length or height
They twine very freely and have great constricting power. One may often come across stems of hazel and other wood in the hedgerow The stems of or coppice cut almost in half by them.' sometimes of some twenty
the
honeysuckle twine
the
hop,
bryony, the
feet.
from right to
some other
and
dodder
the
or
again,
as
in the
reverse direction
do those of
while
plants,
others,
always
convolvulus,
twist
around whatever support
to this
may attach themselves to. The leaves are in pairs, and
as
left,
they
form, having
in
are
or
and with roseate
white,
together in
request,
great
the
upper
unable arrive berries
at
some of
this,
the prize.
are
It
grouth
in
oftentimes winding print
of a
creamy yellow
They
are
so
freely
grouped
being able
to
contain reach
expanded flower, while
the
pierce
The
the flower fruit
five
is
upon these things so wrapped.
its
it
June is
in
from
others,
base and so
berry.
These
or six together, and vary
described as globose,
upon shrubbes and bushes, and hard about that it leaveth his Gerard.
hedges and
selfe so straight
at
a scarlet
They may be
woods and it
they
insects
grouped some
considerably in size. '
The blossoms
streaks.
The honey
part
do
to
or hairy.
terminal heads, and will be found from
September.
to
downy
little
form, very fragrant,
tubular in
are ovate
upper surfaces smooth, while the
their
lower faces are often a
They
stalkless.
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
78
but
pulpy nature, and when
very
of a
they are
at
all
compressed together lose somewhat of their typical rotundity.
They
from one-
are
One
seeds.
" like to
These and
and contain but few
we
the
see,
describes
have
berries
on
as
they
trial
and somewhat tempting
succulent
a
found
are
very
be
to
acrid
been used as
In rustic pharmacy they have
bitter.
fruit
bunches of grapes, red when they be ripe."
little
but
look,
to three-celled,
old herbalist,
an emetic.
The
The
periclymenum.
of one
name of
scientific
Adam
generic
Lonicer,^ a
1586; while the
specific
honeysuckle
the
Lonicera
is
name was bestowed in honour German botanist, who died in
title
from the Greek word
is
to
entwine, in obvious allusion to the growth of the plant.
Another popular name
for the honeysuckle
the
used, but
poets.
climbers
has
Poetical as
enough,
it
and
has always had a
been
may
assigned
sound,
merely of
detriment
neighbours.
'
is
Such is
a
the
in botanical
^
it
attention
plant
now not
is
attraction
for
to
of
is
some three alone.
really prosaic
somewhat
the
utilising it
for
various
to
honeysuckle
the
see that
will
be
to
their
remem-
name of a distinguished The Lobelia, for example,
to posterity the
nomenclature.
so called in honour of Lobel, while the
Tillcea the Italian writer Tilli,
—but
Shakespeare,
method of handing down
much employed
to
we
calls
habit
man
example
clematis, for
inconvenient its
special
was by early writers applied
It
—to the
centuries
it
the woodbine,
This name
in earlier days spelt wood-bind."
often
is
and the
Linnxa
Villarsia
recalls the great Linnaeus,
Dominique
Villars.
By aventure his way he gan to hold To maken him a gerlond of the greves Were it to woodbind, or of hauthorn leves. Chaucer, The Knighles
Tale.
—
— —
—
"
HONE YS UCKLE bered,
79
Midsummer Night's Dream,
in
words,
both
uses
where Titania exclaims Sleep thou, and
I
will
wind thee
So doth the woodbine,
my
in
arms,
the sweet honeysuckle.
Gently entwist.
Milton
the honeysuckle,
to
an
name "
errs in applying the
name
alternative
Shakespeare
twisted eglantine
we have
eglantime, as
since
the
for
but we
sweet-briar,
them
between
clearly distinguishes
seen,
in
is
find
these
lines O'ercanopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses, and with
eglantine.
Shenstone, too, discriminates Come, gentle air and while the thickets bloom Convey the jasmin's breath divine, Convey the woodbine's rich perfume. Nor spare the sweet-leaved eglantine !
though in
his
placing
the thicket
will
we
find
plant
lists
a
over.
the
In
honeysuckle
wudu-wind and wudu-bind, and
purely garden
the jasmine, scarcely bear
the
appearing
plant
that
flower,
Anglo-Saxon both
both
as
winds
binds.
Milton writes woodbine,"
but
in
one of
elsewhere
his
he
poems of sits
" the well-attired
him
down upon
a
bank " with ivy canopied," and proceeds to refer to the *'
flaunting
honeysuckle"; and Thomson
of "a bower where woodbines flaunt."
tells
of bold ostentation and the mark, and
not
?
—
all
self-assertion
is
lovers of the plant
—
will raise their
protest.
in like
But
fashion
this notion
much beside indeed, who are
very
as,
Cowper goes
to the other
a
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
8o
extreme, and pleases us no better, in calling
and wan "
" the
it
wood-
" never
cloying," perfume, " her sickly looks " perhaps held as compensating for pale
bine,
:
the
—
poor anaemic thing indeed.
The which
honeysuckle, from
may
it
be
beauty, from the ease with
its
from the copse, from
transplanted
value in covering over arbour or fencing, into the garden.
It will
readily be propagated
the best
month
plants to
expand
grow
by layers or
often introduced
It
is
soil,
and can
September being
one of the
earliest
buds.
Like almost everything a
cuttings,
for this purpose. its
is
almost any
in
its
else,
the honeysuckle has had
goodly number of remedial virtues ascribed
comparatively recent times a
to
In
it.
decoction of the stems was
used for gout, while an infusion of the flower was held
One
of healing power for the victims of asthma. declares
be
that
they
cure
hicket
the
—whatever
old writer that
may
while another asserts that " the ripe seed gathered and
;
dried in the shadow and drunk remoueth wearisomenesse,"
while " the flowers steeped in oile and set in
good
to annoint the bodie that
is
the sun
is
benummed and growne
verie cold."
BLACKBERRY
(Rubus Fruticosus)
In our twelfth illustration
we have
figured a spray of
the Blackberry, certainly one of the best hedge-plants,
" going blackberrying "
being
experience of our younger days that few, so
unhappy
plants,
as
as
to
we have
have had no share already seen
to
known of our a
delightful
surely,
have been
in.
While many
be the case with the
—
—
;
BLACKBERRY
claims
stand
to
out
in
dogwood, have
the
plant, ignoring all
the present
black berries,
and
nightshade,
black
the
privet,
8i
exclusive
such
rivals^
pre-eminence
as
the
blackberry.
In these days of highly scientific farming the picturesque old-fashioned hedges are held in no favour, and are either
removed, or
entirely
almost out of their lives
else clipped
removed, because for steam-cultivation the
many
instead
;
is
;
well to throw
small fields of the old days into a few large ones
because one cannot
clipped,
a great mass
yards
it
of rambling material as
thick as
some of
now afford many feet
to have
or even
these old boundaries were, using
up and impoverishing much ground, and harbouring the numerous birds that, in some cases rightly, in others wrongly, the farmer regards as his sworn enemies.
we know, not only
forefathers,
blackberry in there,
their hedges,
tolerated large masses of
but deliberately planted them
who wrote on
Tusser,
for
Our
matters agricultural in
the sixteenth century, directs the farmer to
Go plough up, or delve up, advised with skill. The breadth of a ridge, and in length as ye will Then speedily quickset, for a fence ye will draw, To sow in the seed of the bramble and haw.
Thus
it
abundant
is
small
in
wonder
that
we
find
the blackberry so
our country lanes, and many of these plants,
no doubt, may boast a very considerable antiquity.
where we see
in his
book
Else-
that he advises the farmers
To plot not full Ad bramble and
hull,
For set no bar Whilst month hath an R.
Divers old names for the plant we
all
recognise 6
now
—
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
82
holm, hulst,
as the holly are the
advice
hull,
Stripped of
October.
in
the barest prose, the instruction
any sign of thinness the
setting
so
weak
name.
only
simply this
makes
—where
itself felt,
fill
bramble or with holly,
with
either
month when they
the
as
undertaken
are
work by the presence of the letter R in its Hence the work might fitly be done in October
;
and August being by
July,
months
the only unsuitable Blackberries,
our
is
set forth
the
May, June,
the
charm and
poetic
the fencing
in
places
its
no time limitations to these planting operations,
long
justifies
This
given to the farmer for operations on the farm
is
in
in
and hulver.
nature as we Wood,^ how,
for the task.
appeal
too,
the
to
lips
in
signifieth
the ordinary individual thinks he one,
sees
the
plants
many
things, for while
knows
a blackberry-bush
vary
growth, and, according to the more attached
to
multiplied
these
until
at
variations last
we
of
much
form,
arrive at
Then sad he sung
How
in
details
of
or less of importance so
species
are
that
one
this point,
authority admits only one type form with '
night
the language of the grammarians, a
noun of multitude, and
when he
Children in
with blackberries
Were all besmeared and dyed, And when they saw the darksome They sat them down and cry'd. is,
of
how
the woodland glades, and
Blackberry
side
wandered up and down
deserted, they
Their pretty
sentimental
tragedy of the
the
recall
stipulation
this
the Children in the
well-marked
five,
Wood
;
blackberries they pluck'd in deserts wild.
Gay, Pastorals.
DEWBERRY varieties
have
;
in
The
while
another
requires
83
us
Britain nearly fifty difFerent kinds of blackberry
leaves of the blackberry are
colour in the
beautifully varied in
leaf,
while the flowers, of delicate pink and beautiful texture, are to the full
One
as attractive.
pleasing feature, too, in the blackberry
and
these colours
all
found exquisitely mottled and combined on
being often
satin-like
is
that
its
very
flowering
stages are of long duration, so they liberally
fruiting
and one may at Summer and Autumn find
overlap,
yet showing
its
fruit in
almost the
during the
any time
plant
full
in
abundance, from the
and
flower
earliest little
green berries, or the larger and redder ones, to the
grown
!
Autumn, being anything from strong orange
yellow to crimson, or purple, or rich brown,
one
we
that
believe
to
full-
luscious fruit.
Blackberries
eaten
when
ripe
very refreshing and
are
grateful to the taste, but before this are sour
and astringent.
An
those
excellent preserve
is
made from them
;
need to be told
assisted in gathering the fruit will scarcely
that the plant throws out long arched stems,
are liberally provided with strong
long
flexible
and greatly
it.
and that these
These
prickles.
branches root again on touching the ground, assist
in
have trained on our season, and
hooked
who have
if
One
increasing
the
plant.
own garden
wall
grows many
that
we
feet in a
not presently checked will entirely monopolise
Hundreds
of
pounds weight
of
fruit
have
been
gathered from this plant during some years of occupancy.
DEWBERRY The Dewberry,
an
(Rubus C^sius)
allied
species,
has
more slender
branches, and does not flower so freely as the blackberry.
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
84
but the great point of difference while this
somewhat smaller than
is
the grains of which
much
On
larger,
testing
found
is
and
is
it
we
it
built
it is
up
that of the blackberry,
are fewer, and, individually,
covered with a rich purple bloom.
find that
tempting appearance
its
belied on this closer acquaintance, as
segments of the calyx
at
not
is
richer in flavour
is
it
and more succulent than the blackberry.^ berry the five
the fruit, for
in
the black-
In
the
base of the
fruit are throw back, while in the dewberry these segments
narrower and
are
Botanically
common
it
as
Rubus
the
is
and
longer
rise
c^esius,
the blackberry, the
up round the though
and,
Rubus
fruit.
not
fruticosus,
is
so
very
generally distributed throughout the country.
CLOUD-BERRY
(Rubus Cham^morus)
Yet another Rubus, the R. chamtemorus, berry,
sometimes
Bramble.
is
in
flowers and yet high, and
more
those of the mallow,
its
in the
Though
its fruit
unarmed with
indicate,
prickles.
North of England,
a true bramble, as it
is
six
its
inches
very like
flowers large and pure white, and
orange colour, and agreeably acid
much
but
Its leaves are
the fruits that succeed these are first scarlet rich
mountain
not a plant of the hedgerows,
but of the high peaty moorlands
Wales, and in Scotland.
the Cloud-
Knotberry, or the
called the
This, however,
is
and then of a
in flavour.
They
are
larger than those of the blackberry, and an excellent
preserve
may be made from them '
Be kind and courteous
Hop
;
or gathered fresh and
to this gentleman.
and gamboll in his eies, Feed him with apricocks, and dewberries, in
his walks,
With purple
grapes.
STONE BRAMBLE— RASPBERRY
85
eaten with sugar and cream they are, after a long
day's
tramp, most acceptable.
STONE BRAMBLE The
Stone Bramble, Rubus
(Rubus Saxatilis)
of the bramble group, and, like the northern and western mountain called
but
a
few
large
Why
last,
districts.
fruit
and
grains,
is
member
a
native of the
It
is
sometimes
crimson, composed of
excellent
number and of
flowers are few in
is
The
Roebuck-berry.
another
saxatilis, is
in
The
flavour.
a greenish-white.
Rubus
these difi^erent brambles should be called
rather an
open question, and where many theories are
advanced to explain anything we need scarcely stay to point
One of
out that none of them are quite satisfying. derives
the
word from
lacerate, while
another hath
the explanation.
Fruticosus
the hztmfrutex.
desius
beautiful
bloom
on
Celtic
the
is
the
word
reub, to
these
tear
that the Celtic rub, red,
it
means shrubby, and
is
or is
from
bluish-grey, in reference to the
dewberry.
Saxatilis
signifies
pertaining to rocks.
RASPBERRY Another valued relative
of
of the blackberry,
scientific
sought in the
fruit,
in
is
and
north, though
botanically
again
the Raspberry, the
nomenclature and
woods and
(Rubus Id.eus)
classification.
thick hedgerows,
close
a
Rubus It
idteus
should be
and more especially
we have indulged sumptuously
^
in its
One old author, we see, says that " the fruit is good to be giuen to those haue weake and queasie stomachs," but this testimonial is by no means good enough. Had we had the pleasure of his company in Devonshire, he would, we think, have modified this statement considerably. '
that
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
86
scarlet berries in the lanes
of Devonshire, not by any means
one of our most northern counties, and have the
greatest
satisfaction
many
in
gathering expedition in Wiltshire. possible
same thing
dome of
we
it is,
— perhaps, raspberry-finding — almost within not,
believe,
quite the
sight of the
as
the Metropolitan Cathedral, as the plants
found on several of the open
Though
the
common
individual
fruits
of the cultivated plant, they are
and the preserve they make
They
product.
quickly
raspberry-
glorious
a
Indeed,
go raspberry-seeking
to
assisted with
fills,
fully
is
are also in such
and
as
lands around London.
smaller
are as
maybe
than
those
fragrant and luscious,
equal to the garden
profusion that the basket
they grow on stems some four feet
high, Nature has given a very happy
medium indeed
to
the gatherer, avoiding on one
hand the continuous stooping
that befalls the picker of the
hedge-bank
the
reaching
considerable
to gain
that
of those
possession
is
strawberries,^
sometimes
particularly fine
that look so very tempting high overhead,
and
necessary
blackberries
and which are
so magnificently ripe because so ungetatable.
The stems
are covered with a soft downiness, and are furnished with
weak and small
The
prickles.
foliage,
green above, has
the lower surface
almost white, a very noticeable feature
when
all in
a breeze sets
of greyish-down or the leaf
is
covered.
and narrow,
motion
soft hairs
The
;
this arises
from the
flowers are small, the petals white
scarcely rising
above the calyx, and therefore
very inconspicuous. '
Which
lurks,
Shewing
felting
with which this under face of
The blushing Strawberry
close-shrouded from high-looking eyes,
that sweetness
low and hidden
lies.
STEA WBERR Y Old
often
writers
Hindberry. the Greeks
so calling
and we
abundant,
the
call
Pliny mentions
plant
to-day,
the
or
Raspis,
the
centuries ago as the Idaa^
it
Mount Ida, where memory of this,
after
it
87
in
was
it
call
it
specifically idaus.
The garden at the
raspberry
but the result of cultivation
is
hands of the gardeners of the wild indigenous plant.
Dr. Turner says, in his Herbal of the Year 1568, that " the raspis
is
found
many
in
gardines of England."
his Generall Historie of Plantes,
— "
says that " the Raspis
by
is
groweth not wilde that
it
a village
planted in gardens," but adds,
knew
I
of,
except
in
" Sy sterna
his
our
" Rasberries
edition are
being
be
not to
that
of
the field
in
not far from Agrtculturie,
Mystery of Husbandry discovered
the
open,"
Worledge,
dated 1633,
is
Lancashire called Harwood,
in
Blackburne." being
— our edition
Gerard, in
1675,
and
layd
declares
that
of the
omitted out
number
of the most pleasant and usefull Fruits, which yield one
of the most pleasant Juyces
and
extracted
Liquor with
preserved,
its
delicate
will
may
the
its
It
is
to
and
tinge
being
any other
(Fragaria Vesca)
hedgebank
or
find the Strawberry, Fragaria
abundance. to
sloping
serve
Fruit,
Aromatick Gust."
STRAWBERRY On
of any
the
in
vesca, in
one of our indigenous
copse
one
considerable
plants,
known
our Anglo-Saxon forefathers as the streowberie, while botanical
name
bears
testimony to
its
worth,
being
compounded of two Latin words signifying fragrant and for food. By the ancients it was called the morbus
good
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
88
a
upon the ground
the mulberry that grows
terrestre,
happy
particularly
forms the subject of our
It
title.
not
;
thirteenth illustration.
The
flowers,
our
as
and having
five-petalled,
shows,
figure
and
white
are
prominent mass
in their centres a
of brownish-yellow stamens that makes a very effective
These
colour-contrast with the corolla.
born
little
little
white, earth-
strew abundantly the banks and hedgerows and
stars
May
copses from
onward, and are
in turn
succeeded by
the scarlet-crimson fruit.
One
arrived
pistil
many
itself in
ways, reveals
This
berry,
out will readily realise
term
its
many
itself in
forms, a pea-
fruit
of the
strawberry,
somewhat abnormal
is
upon
seeds are
they consider that what they
its
outer surface, and that they
any seeds, not on the outside within the
fruit
strawberry seed)
(they are
them
certainly,
pea-in-pod-wise
a
;
These
arrangement.
gives to
its
if
have always, hitherto, been accustomed to expect
single
in
in
This any of our readers who have not thought
structure. it
a
diction
evident,
blackberry, and an acorn being very
appearance.
in
sufficiently
is
us, that this arrival of fruition fulfils
pod, for example, a
popular
it
of the
descriptive
as
fruit
but
maturity,
at
on looking around
unlike
term
uses the broad
carpels
are
really,
over the
a resting-place
find
pip-in-apple-like
however,
seeds,
so-called
scattered
or
to
but stowed away
each
the
in
containing
fleshy receptacle
a
that
and to ourselves a succulent
and toothsome morsel.
The
strawberry
is
found extending
all
over
Europe
and Northern Africa, throughout Siberia and Western Asia, but
not
penetrating
across
the
Himalaya
to
the
torrid
AY.
—
;
STJiA WBERR Y plains of India
of North
throughout,
;
We
America.
dried collection
a
little
wild
hundreds,'
who
of
varieties,
spring from
all
gather a dish of
its
for instance,
our own
in
strawberry-plant
Island, nurtured amidst the spray
The garden
the temperate regions
also,
have,
gg
from Goat and turmoil of Niagara. which there are many
this fruit,
little
wildling,
admit,
after
and those a judicious
application
of cream and sugar, that even in comparison with any of its cultivated descendants it leaves little to be
New
desired.
varieties
crossing existing kinds the original
species,
them doing read
so
in
are
there
;
but
it
is
earlier
made by crossing and renow no need to revert to
is
distinctly interesting to
days.
In
see
one old book we
"the ordinary red strawberry grows plentifully the new-fallen copses," from whence, if you take your plants about August, you will have a very fair encrease." While Tusser, pointing out the work to be done in that
in
September, says Wife, into the garden, and set
With strawberry
roots,
me
a plot
of the best to be got
Such growing abroad, amongst thorns in the wood, Well chosen and pricked, prove excellent good.
From
a
song of about the year 1480, we see that the
1 "The President of the Horticultural Society, Thomas Andrew Knight, Esq., states that he has at this time not less than four hundred varieties of
this
fruit in his
garden."
Orchard, published
in
This passage 1831,
and
done even then. -'
The
is
we
The Companion to the as showing what was being
extract from
interesting
Putting forth of certaine Herbes discovereth of what Nature the
Ground where they are put forth, is: As Wilde Thyme sheweth good Feedmg Ground for Cattell Betory and Strawberries shew Grounds fit for Wood. ;
Bacon, Sylva Sylvamm, 1629.
—
—
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRYSIDE
90
crying of Strawberries in the streets was even so early as this a recognised institution in the metropolis.
Straw a
often put around the garden plants, and
is
for
twofold purpose, the retention of the moisture beneath
and the
would plant
growth of the
cleanlier
us
tell
here
that
called the
is
some
it
berries
of grass for
straws
in
the a
sale,
The
case.
obvious
Others
and some
it,
why
the
not so at
all,
reason
say,
was long the custom
parts of the country.
meets the
an
strawberry.
but rather because to gather the
is
above
fruit
it,
children
for
woods and thread them on custom that
obtains
still
in
Neither of these explanations half of the
first
word
sometimes
is
straw, sometimes strew, or strow, or stray in old authors,
but
any
in
is,
of the
based on the Anglo-Saxon verb streaw^
case,
disperse,
scatter,
to
or spread, and refers to
The
it.
freely
process, so that
the
area covered
we
strawberry, wild or
most
throws out runners
fore,
growth
plant ages before either straw or straws had any-
thing to do with
repeat
the
by the plant
is
in
covering
a
a
root,
all,
we
considerable
hedgebank, and with no regard
and again
short space of time the
greatly increased.
find the strawberry at
aggressively
these
;
cultivated,
find
it
in
distance
at all
If,
there-
profusion,
along
the
to the rights of its
companions. "
The
water
of
the
Berries
carefully
soveraign
remeday and Cordiall,"
authority,
" in
'
And
the
palpitations
declares
distilled
one venerable
of the heart, that
fuUe myche peple spredden her clothes
braunchis of trees and strewiden in the weye.
in the
Wiclif.
a
is
is
the
wey, other kitterdon St.
Matthew
xxi.
And
so thyder he rode to dyner, and so alyghted there, and went inta his chambre, the whyche was strawed with grene herbes, and the walls sette fulle of
grene bowes, to
make
the
chambre more
fresh.
Froissart's Cronycle.
STRAWBERRY and beating of the
panting
91
and
heart,
it
good
is
to the
overflowing of the Gall, which causeth the yellow Jaundice.
The
good
Berries themselves are excellent
comfort the fainting people have even
Spirits,
been
and to quench
known
and
to refresh
Some
thirst."
to eat strawberries because
they liked them, and found in that a sufficient justification for
folk
Dryden
application.
internal
their
who were "
content with
us of happy
tells
Nature
food which
freely
bred," and so " on wildlings and on strawberries they fed."
The is
only serious drawback that
we know of
to strawberries
that they are procurable for too short a
these contented people that
Dryden appears
somewhere would perforce have
in a
time,
and so
to have
found
short season to change
their dietary.
The Syrupus ancestors
as
a
pilosella,
soothing
a
mixture
and
in
preparation,
healing
our
favour with
though,
owes
something
at
appears to
be about one-thirtieth of the prescription,
least
the
to
cannot quite say what
may
be ascribed to
that
as
we
proportion of the accruing benefit "
it.
strawberry,
Take of Mouse-ear
three handfuls,
the roots of Lady's-mantle one and half ounce, the roots of
Comfrey, Madder, white Dittany, Tormentil, Bistort, of each
an
ounce,
Ground-ivy, St.
the
leaves
Plantain,
of
Wintergreen,
Adder's
tongue.
Horse-tail,
Strawberries,
John's-wort, with the flowers, Golden-rod, Agrimony,
Betony,
Burnet,
Avens,
Cinquefoil,
Roses, of each a handful, boil
them gently
of Plantain water to three, then strain settled
add
Gum
red
it,
Colewort, in six
red
pounds
and when
it
is
Tragacanth, the seeds of Fleawort, Marsh
Mallows, and Quinces made into a Mussilage by themselves in
Strawberry water, of each three ounces, white sugar two
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
92
pounds. of
Boil
it
evidently required
pilosella
The
of honey."
to the thickness
very
a
fabrication
know-
considerable
ledge of our wild plants before one could say quite happily,
" prescriptions accurately dispensed."
BARBERRY
many parts of Britain, but more especially in the one may find the Barberry, often merely a shrub, but
In north,
more.
at times considerably
copses,
chalk
(Berberis Vulgaris)
It is a
and open woods.
As
soil.
has rather a partiality for a
It
a hedge-plant
plant of the hedgerows,
has
it
its
attractions, as
tremendously thorny and bushy, grows rapidly, growing, and takes free-clipping kindly. its
It is
is
it
is
close-
often from
ornamental character transferred to the shrubbery, being
very attractive when blossom, in
The
Autumn
a
leaves are very
clustered together,
early
in
Summer
mass of
a mass of yellow
scarlet fruit.
numerous,
oval in form,
small,
stiff in
of a palish green,
character, minutely
toothed, each serration prolonged, so that the leaf appears as
though fringed with cluster
hairs
fine
at
;
one finds three thorns,
one thorn that
or,
the base of each leaf to be
at its base spreads into three
more
correct,
arms.
The
"
leaves," quoth one of the ancients, " are vsed of diuers to
season meate with, and instead of a Sallad, as be those of
They have
Sorrell."
a
pleasant
acidity,
as
one quickly
determines on biting a small portion.
The
flowers
are yellow
and
six-petalled, arranged
and
in
pendulous
clusters,
racemes,
the
early
Summer.
On
opening they have the delicate
smell
first
of the cowslip, but
the odour
flowering
in
towards evening and
on
—
—
BARBERR Y becomes
soon
decay
nearing
93
very
When
stamens are curiously sensitive.
The
disagreeable.^
the flower
expanded they spread outwards, but when
is
first
their bases are
touched by insects they spring inwards, and the pollen
brought
contact
into
produce
readily
the
with
the
central
One
organ.
by touching them with
effect
is
can
a pin
or piece of twig.
The
somewhat
are
berries
They
small.
are described
being ovoid, long oval, cylindrical, and so forth, but,
as
the
of the
dignity
comparison, we
of a sausage.
subject
will
a brilliant scarlet colour, each
They
that they are the shape
and of
a little curved,
being tipped with the is
very
little
coral-
one
is
not tempted to try more than the
In France large quantities of malic acid are prepared
from them. berries,
Even
birds
decline
acquaintance
with
jelly or conserve, with
of sugar, they are very acceptable, or they while yet green and pickled.
employed from
may
be gathered
Medicinally they have been
their cooling eflicacy,
The author had a
due proportion
"
in fevers,
and they
barberry-tree in his garden near twenty feet in height,
the branches of which extended over a circumference of sixty feet.
covered with blossom during that time.
When
had a pleasing effect in the shrubbery, about a fortnight, that no one could walk near it
in the Spring,
but was so offensive for
The
these
tempting as they look, but, on being made by the
housekeeper into a
'
homely
the
are exceedingly sour to the taste, and strongly
astringent, so that first.
of
Their texture and appearance
black style. like.
permit
may venture to say They are generally
if
it
Phillips, Companion for the Orchard.
and restraining Chollerick and if either the Conserve or the Syrup thereof be taken with the Syrup of Violettes. Thesaydjuyce •
fruit is
pestillentiall
cooling, quenching thirst
Vapors, and
is
of very good use in Agues,
also or the Berries themselves to procure
Eden.
an Appetite.
It
is
often used for those that loath good also to fasten loose Teeth.
is
their Meat,
Adam
iti
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
94
make an
They have
excellent gargle for sore throats.
also
supplied a remedy for jaundice.
The
bark, from
its
employed
astringency, has been
tanning leather, while the stems and
in
prepared with
roots,
alum, yield a strong yellow dye for fabrics or for staining
wood
In
cabinet-work.
for
Queen
and ash roots together, and
find the ladies steeping barberry
preparing a
time we
Elizabeth's
compound therefrom
for the creation of golden
hair.
The Arab name
for
botanical name, Berberis,
name
old
that
we
the
is
plant
derived from
pepin in
;
obvious allusion to the hard pip-like is
a
time
the French words
it
is
the
of our
Syrupuse Coralliis
It
scarlet berries.
preparation, so
This
forefathers.
"Syrup of
compositus.
Coral restores such as are in consumptions, cooling nature,
bestowed
is
we append another of
constituent
these tremendous prescriptions
curious
the piprage, or
is
and rouge supplying the derivation.
Since barberry
One
this.
find for the barberry
pipperidge, meaning literally the red-pip
and the
Barbaris,
is
and very cordial." To make cooling yet so warming, we
is
of a gallant
this
admirable
" take of red
Coral six ounces, in very fine powder and levigated upon a
of
marble, add of clarified juice
Lemons
sixteen
ounces,
clarified juice of Barberries eight ounces, sharp white wine
Vinegar and juice of Wood-sorrel, of each
them together and put them and bladder, shaking days, then
filter it
it
in a glass
every day
This,
it
ounces
;
mix
stopped with cork
have digested eight
and take juice of Quinces half
sugar of Roses twelve ounces. in a bath,
till
six
Make them
a
pound,
into a syrup
adding Syrup of Clove-gilliflowers sixteen ounces."
we imagine, would be
a
still
more admirable
prepara-
BIRD-CHERR V tion if the
pounded
and of much
a
detail,
these
would require renaming, but
it
after
is
Under
coral could be taken out.
circumstances certainly all,
95
less
that,
importance
than
swallowing ground-up coral.
BIRD-CHERRY
We
may from time
(Prunus Padus)
to time find the Bird-Cherry,
Tadus, ordinarily as a hedgerow plant, but a
goodly tree of twenty long
Spring
blossoms.
hanging
in
in
something
then red, and
nauseous
in
height.
bears in the
It
white fruit,
These
are
August, deep black.
in
Our
probably our foremothers, used to
of
due course by the
like currants.
finally,
taste.
sometimes as
bunches
graceful
These are followed
in bunches,
are
and
pendant
at first green,
They
feet
Prunus
forefathers,
tie
or
more
these berries round
the necks of their children to ward off various evils, bodily,
mental, and spiritual, from to the fruits
;
birds' cherries,
they are, in
them. fact, as
Birds are very partial the
name
suggests, the
though, unfortunately for the fruit-grower,
they by no means confine themselves to them.
sometimes
called
half of the
the
first
the
Anglo-Saxon
word
hege, a
other of these forms,
one
as
and no
are
is
in
each
hedge.
case
having as
The name,
in
its
root
one or
centuries old, but does not strike
being a particularly happy one, as they are no more less
many other plants, hawthorn, and many others that at once occur
hedge-berries than
privet, ivy, blackthorn,
to us.
They
heg-berries, hag-berries, or hack-berries,
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
96
CUCKOO'PINT Our
(Arum Maculatum) the brilliant berries
depicts
fourteenth illustration
of the Cuckoo-Pint, or wild Arum, the
This
common enough
plant,
Arum
maculatum.
everywhere
almost
in
and shady
hedgerows or under the shade of the
the
is
copse,
curious in the
In the Spring
of the year. rising
from the .midst of
passes
out of sight and
Autumn
have
is
we
days come
we
see
its
mass of
its
see the
different
times
quaint inflorescence
then that
foliage,
all
and presently when
forgotten,
figured, rising amidst the
such
scarlet spikes,
low vegetation
in their
we
naked
the leaves, like the flowers, having disappeared
simplicity,
months
presents itself to us
it
an entirely different guise at
under such
the
way
damp
trees in
ago.
The
leaves
bright and shining, as though highly
are
They
glazed or varnished, and are of arrow-head shape.
are of a deep green colour, blotched over with purple spots
of various
sizes.
the skin,
irritate
They are so acrid and may even raise Fenemeuses,
his Histoire des Plantes
three children seized so
with
swollen
who
ate
horrible that
that they inflame blisters.
Bulliard, in
instances
the case of
some of these
They were
berries.
convulsions, their throats
they were unable
and
becoming
to swallow anything
;
two of them quickly died, while the third was saved with great difficulty.
The like
flowers are very peculiar in structure, a central club-
body bearing on
flowers,
and
its
lower portion a ring of
being surrounded by a large leafy sheath. season
is
pistillate
above these the staminiferous ones, the
April and
May.
In the
The
Autumn,
as
whole
flowering
we have
CUCKOO
PINT.
CUCKOO-PINT one finds the spike of
indicated,
very lightly attached to
are
though
scars
come away.
berries;
that
There
will
on be
at
green, of a brilliant and rather orange-
first
celled,
containing one
rather
soft
nature
and succulent
more hard
or
They
each berry
;
one-
is
Being of a
seeds.
one finds them when packed closely
somewhat of
together losing
They
where they have been detached.
scarlet colour, globose,
pressure.
stem, so
each of our pieces, and especially on the right
oii
hand one, the are,
These
berries.
the flesh
the slightest provocation they
noticed
97
are
their
roundness under
devoured by many
this
birds, pheasants,
and others.
The whole be
state
is
very violent in
eschewed by
carefully
raw
plant
humanity.
action and
to
root
its
its
The
very poisonous, inodorous, and
at
in
is
insipid,
first
but soon causing an intensely strong burning and pricking sensation in the throat that
may
last for
hours.
the year 1657, finds an extraordinary use for that " the fresh will
make
away from
excellent sport with a sawcey guest, his
over-much boldness, and so
it,
it
shall
For
eat.
will so
He
Roots cut small and mixed with
of the dry Root, sterewed upon any dainty
him to
it.
Coles, in declares a
Sallet,
and drive him
will the
Powder
bit that is
given
either way, within a while after the taking
burn, and pinch his
mouth and
throat that he
not be able to eat any more, or scarce to speak for
pain."
When we
can feel that the hint has been taken,
we
may, " to take away the stinging, give the party so served new milk and fresh butter."
made from
Starch and flour have both been
the dried root, the action of heat removing the
deleterious properties.
Oyl of Roses
"
The Juyce of
the Berries boyled in
easeth pains in the Ears, and a
dram or more 7
98
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
being beaten and taken for
Poyson and
the
is
a
most present and sure Remedy
Plague,"
we
are
told,
though surely
this can only be on the principle that the patient being
killed off
by the cuckoo-pint
is
troubled by the plague no
more, since the weaker poison succumbs to the stronger. It
resembles
too
much
the prescribing
of a good strong
dose of prussic acid as a remedy to cure arsenical poisoning.
—
CHAPTER
II
—The Monarch Oak — Acorns as Food — Oak-mast — Panage Domesday Book — Oak Galls of various kinds — The Beech — Leonard's Forest Experiences — Name-carving — Beechor Pine — Mountain Home mast — The Hornbeam— The Scotch Cones, Pine-apples — The Larch^Planted by the Million — Spanish Chestnut — As an Article of Food — Abnormal Cluster — The HorseChestnut — A Central Asian Tree — The Birch — The Lady of the Woods — Greenland's one Tree — Silvery Bark —The Books of Numa Witches' Knots — Attraction of Sap to Butterflies — The Birchen-rod — The Village Schoolmistress —^The Ash — The "Venus of the Woods — The Husbandman's Tree — Elizabethan Statute for the Preservation of Timber — Ash-keys — Peter-keys — Norden on Sussex Iron-furnaces — Shrew-ash — The Serpent's Antipathy—The Rowan, or Mountain Ash — Difference of Opinion on Floral Odours — The Witchen-tree — Preservative from the Evil Eye— The Service-tree — Service-berries as Food — The Sycamore — The Biblical Sycamore— The Great Maple —The False Plane Sycamore-wine — Fungoid Growth on the Leaves — Winged Fruits Distribution of Seeds of the Sycamore — The Maple — Maser-tree — The Plane — peeling Bark — A Town-tree — Irrigation with Wine — The Holly — The Saturnalia again — Tunbridge Ware — The — The City of Tibur — As Pliny saith — Bird-lime.
The Trees
of the Forest
for the Pigs
in
St.
Fir,
Its
Its
"
"
"
Its
Flail
"
"
OAK
WE these
propose
attains its
pre-eminent,
stands
Oak.
the
endurance, in
beneath
present
the
in
chapter
to
deal
especially with the trees of the forest.
one
supremacy,
it
(QuERcus Robur)
to,
its
In
its
and
massive
picturesque grandeur,
in
sacred
its
association
shade
the 99
with
in
Amongst
unchallenged
strength, in
our
more
in
its
the magnitude island
home of Druidic
story,
worship,
;
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
100
or
carrying
Mistress of the Seas,
As
majesty.
ocean
the
across
won
the yew-tree
the
to
passengers
for us Cressy
some
the
and Agincourt,
thanks also being
little
Trafalgar
carried,
it
England,
of
flag
alone in interest, in regal
stands
it
so the oak bestowed on us,
due
the
and
many
Plate
XV.,
another glorious victory.
be observed
will
It
what
that the leaves are
other words,
in
a stalk,
have
as
our
in
or,
sessile,
and thereby hangs a
;
England two
in
termed
botanically
while the acorns are borne on
stalkless,
one of which,
in
is
illustration,
botanically, a peduncle
or,
We
tale.
our
in
forms of oak,
distinct
the leaves are sessile
figure,
and the acorns pedunculate, and this has been distinguished
conditions
this
has
While
sessiliflora.
other
these
stalked
while
the
in
being
leaves
and so
not,
Quercus
the
as
are
while
;
the
reversed,
are
acorns
the
pedunculata
Qjiercus
the
as
been differentiated
would
some
would
distinct specific value to these characteristics, others
us that they are but variations, and that, whichever
tell
form we
find,
one and
indivisible, the
therefore,
is
it
of
that
or
choose,
so
to
them.
first
that
of
robur,
if
robur pedunculata,
if
sink
we
these
like
to
variation of form, to be recognised
a
The
if
we
our
insist
pedunculate in
some
found almost exclusively.
foundation at
Q.
illustration,
but not to be thought over-much of
more abundant, but is
the
the d. pedunculata,
ance
Our we
Quercus robur.
Q.
;
reckon them as but
we
any case the grand old British oak,
in
is
minor differences
if
give
naval
on ascribing importform
districts
When supremacy,
is
the
generally the sessile-fruited
the
oak
it
was
was
the
thought
one variety supplied better timber than the
OAK
OAK but protracted experiment showed
Other,
nothing to
of
loi
between
choose
excellence
depending
two,
the
the
upon
really
there was
that
soil,
more or
less
locality,
and
other considerations quite outside the presence or absence
of a leaf or acorn stem.
The name That
duercus
should
this
would seem
is
be
Greek
The
we
find
a
Celtic
fairly
so far afield as is
derived
is
a
tree.
in
derived the word dryad,
this latter is
and some would venture to find druid.
oak-tree
present employ-
name
us that the
tell
an
for
its
tongue the oak was called Vara^/z, and
From
dras.
account for
words quer, beautiful, and cuez,
the Celtic
In the Gaelic
word
Latin
the
sufficiently to
ment, but some .would
from
open to more than one explanation.
also in
'it
a justification for
word, however, for the oak being derw,
reasonable derivation without wandering
Athens
of
in search
The
it.
name
specific
the Latin robur, signifying strength, while our popular
name oak descends our tree was the
The
to
ac.
waved
curiously
indicated in our drawing.
the
oak-leaf
In the Spring the foliage
Autumn
again transformed, as
of
outline
a rich red colour that presently
merges
into], green,
tree until dispossessed
than
one
flowers
We
example
—
the
in
others
the
hop,
on one
another, the arrangement
but
most
have already had
being found
is
of
and
is
on
the
in the Spring by the new growth.
flowers of the oak are, as in
inconspicuous.
is
advances, into a rusty brown.
These brown and curled-up leaves often remain
The
when
us from Anglo-Saxon times,
for
pistillate
and
in
our pages more
instance
plant,
known
forest trees, very
and
—
botanically
the
of
the
the
male
female
as
staminate
on
dicecious,
flowers.
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
I02
though
ment
distinct, are
found on the same
The
the oak belongs.
slender pendulous
in
To
technically termed monoecious.
long,
each individual
some
six to
an arrange-
plant,
latter
this
stamen-bearing flowers
found
from two or three inches
catkins,
flower
are
class
group consisting of
the
in
twelve stamens, surrounded at their bases by
a ring of very small scales, while the pistillate flowers are
erect
and
solitary,
surrounded by a ring or cup of con-
This ring presently develops
spicuous scales or bracts.
and coheres, hardening into the cup of the acorn.
The
flowers appear in April or May, simultaneously with the
bursting leaf-buds.
The
fruit
of the oak, the well-known acorn,
is
com-
posed of two very distinct features, the central nut, and ring of encircling
the ripe is
in
withheld, the
then suffices to throw
to
a plant
prepare for
its
in
its
base.
It
is
mature the supply of moisture
nut shrinks a
becomes held loosely
When
or cup, at
bracts,
When
October.
consequence, and
cup, and so
its
the
to
it
in
little
has matured dispersion
a
gust of wind
ground. seed,
its
Nature has next
nourishment, as we
;
see,
is
withdrawn, and the stems and seed-chambers become dry
and
fragile
forest or
;
the
Autumn
on flower-bed, and the gusts
the ripened seeds. its
has
cup
sweep down alike on
gales then
In this
as a ball is tossed
many
way
scatter far
the acorn
is
from one's hand.
assistant gardeners
:
and wide
thrown from Nature, too,
the schoolboy that gathers a
pocketful of acorns, and presently tires of them, drops them, or throws
them aimlessly away
woodland creatures forget
the
that hoard,
;
the
squirrels
and other
and bury, and sometimes
position of their larder
;
the forest ponies or
—
OAK the
pointed
sharply
with
that
deer,
103
hoof dig
the
in
moist ground a resting-place for the acorns, and, trampling around,
restlessly
winter's
the
good
a
securely
empty cups,
accomplished, then become,
who knew
them
dibble
The
sleep.
we may
if
deal about
most
for
in
their
mission
their
so
far
believe Shakespeare,
things, the
homes of
fairies.
Dioscorides
and other venerable
^
in ancient therapeutics,
reputation
their
lost
matters
in
again at this last sentence,
vague,
applying
as
venerable authors
it
;
they have long since
medicinal.
On
looking
struck us as being a
equally to
and our
attributed
Despite the high position
great healing virtues to acorns.
they once held
authors
the
either
first
acorns
or
little
the
thought was to erase
it
and try again, but as the statement would indeed apply with
equal
force
to
model of compression. value
was
set
at
too
bitter
we may heroic
He
retain
were
tolerated
of
article
and austere to
be
as
having
but
diet,
used
well regard Cowley's rhapsody
race
it
proudly
as
a
Acorns, long after their medical
nought,
under stern necessity as an is
we
either
slight
mankind
by
but such food
continuously,
and
on some unknown
relation
to
the
facts.
declares that Heroes on earth once lived, men good and great, Acorns their food thus fed they flourished And equalled in their age the long-lived oak. ;
'
Dioscorides was a physician, and approached the study of plants from
the medical point of view.
He
lived in the time of Nero.
He, Hippocrates,
and Theophrastus are the great authorities for all Greek plant-names and plant-uses up to a little beyond the time of the commencement of the Christian era.
—
'
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
104
While another writer goes yet further and
men
these
When
fed with oaken mast
The aged If SO
is
it
trees themselves in years surpassed.
an interesting illustration of that great law,
the survival of the
weren wonte
who
those
fittest,
akehornes of okes," but
this
a light supper before turning
at
euen with
would appear
to
be merely
Saxon Chronicle we read of one scarcity in
the year
all
this
1116,
hir
and not
in,
Famines frequently occurred
was so wanting
thei
hunger
to slaken
lightlie
could thrive on acorns
According to Chaucer "
being practically unkillable.
in
that
asserts
a solid dietary.
in earlier days,
is
it
in
the
of dearth and
special time
when
and
stated,
"this year
mast that there was never heard such
in
We
land."
must remember
that this natural
provision of oak-corn, while of very slight nutritive value to
man, furnished
a valuable food for
swine, and one that
they greatly appreciated and throve on. From oak to oak they run with eager haste. And wrangHng share the first delicious taste Of
fallen acorns
;
yet but thinly found,
Till the strong gale
We tribes
on
a
since
but
has shook them to the ground.
find swine's flesh the principal animal food of
and peoples South Sea pigs
little
in an early stage of civilisation,
Island
multiply
whether
or dwelling in an English shire,
rapidly, and,
oversight.
most
The
scarcity
herding together, need
of mast in this Saxon
time of dearth meant therefore not scarcity of acorns for the
man and
his
family, '
but for his pigs
Bloomfield, Farmer's Boy.
;
yet if these
OAK were
primarily, force,
and
on
insufficient
secondarily, had to
so, the
We
,05 diet
of acorns,
acorn crop being a failure, he starved.
have been told by farmers that
if
pigs are allowed
to eat too freely of acorns the resulting bacon in
good
firmness and
matter more Harrison,
he per-
go on short commons of pork,
critical
however,
than our forefathers.
we
as
wantino-
is
but we are possibly
quality,
read
in
this
According
to
in
his Description of England, this view that acorns are not a suitable diet either for pigs or poultry would appear to be a very just one :
" In time of plenty of mast, our red and fallow deere will not let to participat thereof
our nete
common
our
yea,
:
vnto them.
But
as
pernicious vnto the
bring
of
foorth
this
abundance dooth prooue verie
blackenesse
diseases vnto such persons as
of hinder, and not
of permit. ripe
The
the
full
Tusser,
breed diuerse
haue eaten of the same."
its
word "let" has its old sense modern and contrary significance
passage
wild
hindered from claim
to
doo
and bitternesse
be noted that the
It will
are
in color
haue not seldome beene found
tast),
may come
pultrie also, if they
so the egs which these latter
first,
(beside
with our hogs, more than
forest
tells
deer
us
that
have
being participants in
when
the
acorns
no notion of being Nature's bounty, but
share with the farmer's hogs and stock generally.
we
see,
strongly
advises that the " nete " should
not be allowed to share in this feasting. To
gather some mast, it shal stand thee vpon, with seruant and children, er mast be al gon
Some
left
among bushes
for feare of a mischiefe
We
are
startled
:
shal pleasure thy swine,
keepe acorns
fro kine.
by the assertions of ancient
writers,
;
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
io6
formed a welcome
that acorns in early times
must bear
mind an important
in
point
diet,
that these venerable
:
were Latins or Greeks, dwellers around the
authorities
and
Mediteranean,
the
that
they
acorns
referred
were not those of the English Oak
at all,
European
species
once nutritious
inviting.
The
bear fruit
that
evergreen oak, d.
South Europe, bears a
Another oak,
nut.
equally
we
but
yields an
ilex,
resembles
flavour
soldiers
is
a
almost
abundant supply of nutri-
War
During the Peninsular
tious acorns.
and
abundant throughout
that in
fruit
but of South
also evergreen, the Q.. ballota,
common, and
and English
at
to
both the French
found welcome subsistence on these
woods round Salamanca and elsewhere. One of the most unpopular and vexatious acts of William
in the great
the Conqueror, in his passion for converting the great forest tracts
into
own hunting grounds, was
his
that was imposed
and
people,
the restriction
on the keeping of hogs by the common grievance
this
sorely
rankled
until,
the
in
great explosion of wrath against King John that culminated at
Runnymede,
the
these restrictions were greatly modified in
of English liberty
Charter
great
that
he was there
compelled to sign. In
Domesday Book
their timber
the
—the time
number of swine
and so closely was of forest
find
for that to
it
this calculated that
out swine in
had not yet come
in
— but
by
which they would yield panage
ground entered
of turning
We
the woodlands are valued not for
as
the
we even
" of one hog." forest
find patches
The
right
was of great value.
Saxon times often assigned as an endowment
to a monastery, and
king's daughter.
more than once
About
it is
the
dowry of
a
the end of the seventh century.
OAK King
amongst the few laws
Ina,
107
that he enacted to regulate
the simple
economy of our Saxon
directions
concerning
destroying
sum
thirty shillings, a large
when
enough
for
gave to atone for his many See of Canterbury,
in
the tree
hogs
to
Offa,
King of Mercia, the
of Ethelbert,
assassin
or
being
fine
that time, unless
at
thirty
the penalty was doubled.
treacherous
Injuring
rights.
was by him made penal/ the
trees
were large
ancestors gave particular
panage
these
stand beneath
it,
King of East Anglia,
sins, a large piece
pascua ponorum, for
of land to the the pasturage
Deeds of Edward the
of the swine of the Archbishop.
Confessor and other sovereigns are yet extant where this
panage forms an important item
in
the gift of land or the
transfer of its ownership.
The oak
subject
particularly
is
by various
to attack
small creatures, and in consequence bears not acorns alone,
but
many abnormal growths
spangles,
and not
of these
is
figured
Sylva Sylvarum, besides
Fruits
the as
a
—
oak-galls, oak-apples,
One
few others. in
our
declares
the
" there
that
Oake doth
:
of the commonest Bacon,
illustration.
Naturall Fruit, doth
oak-
his
in
no Tree, which
is
so
beare
many
Bastard
For besides the Acorne,
it
beareth Galls, Oake-Apples, and certaine Oak-Nuts, which are Inflammable to the
Body of
Mistletoe,
:
the Tree, without Stalke.
though
be, the Closenesse
'
in
x^nd certaine Oake-Berrie, sticking close
rarely.
The Cause
In like manner, in the Mosaic dispensation,
thereof,
beareth also
all
these
may
and Solidnesse of the Wood, and Pith
an enemy's country and in time of war ;
it
was enacted
"
that
even
thou shall not destroy the trees thou mayest eat of them, but thou
by forcing an axe against them them down, for the tree of the
shalt not cut
of
It
field is
man's
life."
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
io8
of the Oake
Which maketh
:
And
Eruptions.
therefore if
you
will desire
you must euer give the Sap
Super-Plants,
and Hard Issue." growth
severall luyces find severall
These oak apples
A
sap.
punctures the stem and then deposits
wood.
Pentifull Rising
are a purely adventitious
masses of dried and diverted
;
make any
to
eggs within the
its
This causes abnormal action to be
insect
little
set up,
and within
the resulting globular forms the eggs are carefully protected.
These
Midsummer, and, if after this balls open, we shall find some little
hatched about
are
time we cut these
little
white grubs snugly ensconced as
winged
within.
way
creatures, force their
These and
out,
eventually, fly
away
to
repeat afresh the preliminary stages in oak-apple growing.
The "apple" when in
with
colour
its
of a
often beautifully varied
is
and green and pink and
of brown
tints
sufliciently suggestive
account for
formed
first
though miniature apple to
real
The round
name.
oak-galls, so familiar to
every one, are formed in a very similar way
green
in
colour and then brown and
at this stage
the
little
we may
circular
creature found
from
way
its
to freedom.
development of brown is
known
first
arrived
enough
plainly
arrested,
the
They
so
is
may
they
:
known
as the arti-
been attacked and
we
that
that
get in
its
its
place a
due
mass
Yet another gall of frequent occurrence oak-spangle.
These
are
studding the under surfaces of the leaves, then a rich brown
are sometimes,
illustration.
a leaf-bud has
scales.
as
them
marble-galls
called
Another very common form where
when they have
ordinarily see in
their spherical form,
gall,
they are
puncture by which the once imprisoned
be seen figured in our
choke
:
in colour,
to
be
at first
small in size,
found
crimson,
but generally
BEECH numerous,
so
the
that
leaf
109
spangled
literally
is
over
with them.
Some oak
in
hundred
fifteen
one stage or other of
would be
these in our pages
by
supported
are
insects
their existence.
To
the
catalogue
work of supererogation, but
a
we may at least mention that glorious butterfly the Purple Emperor and the Red-Underwing and Wood-Leopard moths, and amongst beetles the well known Cockchafer.
BEECH The
Beech, perhaps the most beautiful of
and second only freely distributed in
(Fagus Sylvatica)
in all
beech Sir
is
is
solitary grandeur,
who
Evelyn, trees,
is
forests,
as at
generally regarded
has yet the hardihood to
on the whole the massy full-grown luxuriant This
rather a displeasing tree."
Dick Lauder,
T.
refers,
often in
forming magnificent
districts
no mean authority on
assert that "
trees,
grand proportions to the oak,
its
Savernake, in Wiltshire. as
our
over the South of England, sometimes
association with other trees,
while in some
all
contemplation
of
editing
in
on the other hand,
rank heresy.
Gilpin's Forest
to " the pleasure arising
noble
a
is
magnificent objects of God's
beech,
as
one
fair creation "
;
of
Scenery^
from the
the
most
while yet another
authority declares equally uncompromisingly that " the beech
must
certainly rank as second only to the oak, for majesty
and picturesqueness nobility,
it
may
;
while,
for the
union of grace and
claim precedence over every other
member
of our Sylva."
The calcareous
beech
is
nature,
particularly
but
is
common on ground
by no means confined
of
to such
—
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
no
Provided only the substratum be dry and well
localities.
drained the tree thrives well on most
somewhat
be
position
the
if
soils,
high.
and especially
We
^
have
seen
magnificent beeches on the chalk at Deepdene, in Surrey,
and others
as fine
country.
The
on the sand
Haslemere,
at
beech-trees
finest
are
the same
in
grow
to
said
in
Hampshire, though the Buckinghamshire people dissent from this view in favour of their own county. We have seen magnificent specimens in Kent and in
The
Forest, Sussex.
himself, St. Leonard, sleeping in these
that the great saint
umbrageous
broken by the singing
repose
his
such
or go, but
such inconveniences
saintly
men
Leonard require the inconveniences
St.
and so ever since
instead,
of the
Ordinary folks would have to put up with
nightingales.
Patrick or
was inhospitably disturbed by the
recesses,
and
vipers,
Leonard's
St.
cottagers of the Forest have a belief
as St.
to
go
his visit
The viper has ne'er been krovvn to sting, Or the nightingale e'er been heard to sing. It
is
generally considered that the beech
indigenous that
it
is
Cassar,
trees.
not
;
nor
observation were
need feel that as
it '
great
is
one of our declares
specifically
affirming in his writings that the trees of
Gaul and of Britain are neither beech
true,
is
it
is
fir
not
his
;
alike,
except that the latter has
but after so
simple
his
all
absolutely
opportunities of
far-reaching
statement settles
the
that
we
question,
proverbially difficult to prove a negative.
This Tree grows plentifully in Gravelly, Stony, and Sandy Land Beechen-woods I have seen on the driest, barren sandy Lands they
delight
:
:
on the sides and tops of high
strangely
insinuate
impenetrable places.
their
Roots
Hills,
into
and chalky Mountains
the
bowels
Systema Agriculture, 1675.
of
those
:
they will
seemingly
BEEGH
1
BEECH The
roots of the beech extend far and wide, but are
near to the surface of the ground, so that
always rather
when
a
1 1
giant
forest
is
uprooted
in
heavy gale one
a
surprised at the great bulk of root that
the very flattened mass that
torn up, and
is
presents, the
it
whole being
a great disk of roots and earth, yards in diameter,
One
scarcely a yard in depth.
of roots so near
surface
the
to
grow beneath
will
of
result is
and yet
large
this
mass
that scarcely anything
reasons
further
a beech-tree,
is
for
this
very marked absence of vegetation being the dense shade,
and the thick carpet of
The
fallen
leaves.
leaves of the beech are arranged, as our illustration,
They
Plate XVI., shows, singly on the stem.
form,
having their outlines wavy,
younger days with deeply veined, strong
green
in colour,
the beech
;
of
glowing
is
the
Autumn
splendour,
a revelation
colour,
beneath them purple
in the
We
in the sunshine.
the
for
this
changes to
all
deep
and amber of
gold
the
a
other trees fades
On
;
the trees attired in this
thick
of leaves
carpeting
shadow and pure golden-orange
have enjoyed
great beech forest of Savernake,
endures.
very
and to see on some glorious September day
the woods aflame
robe
in
glowing
the
also
are
we see, passing from mid-rib summer they are a strong rich
The Autumnal beauty of
orange-red before
but
They
lines, as
Throughout the
to margin.
and fringed in their
hairs.
delicate
are ovate in
many
such days in the
and the memory of them
such occasions a colour
box
is
a
mockery,
no pigment of man's devising can touch the splendour
of the scene.
The
foliage
is
sometimes riddled with holes by a species
of weevil, but comparatively few insects attack
it
as
com-
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
112
pared with most other
trees,
the entomologist finds but
were
and
slowly,
Continent
the
The
forms.
teresting
and
for
purpose
this
in
for
stuffing
many back many
classic
decay
England
elastic for
extends
we find Juvenal and other
of quaint and inbeech
of the both
repute
great
in
as they continue sweet
use
harvest
leaves
formerly
the beech woods,
spoil in
little
gathers a rich
the fungologist
While
and notably the oak.
very
and
beds
on
with,
Their
years.
centuries,
for
singing their
writers
praises.
The smooth trunk acteristic feature.
silvery-grey and golden lichens, and
trunk
This smooth
softness.
has
proved
an
Time
for the
beginning of
name of
from
another very char-
temptation
irresistible
wandering lover
his beloved, or the
of the
surface
tells
how
us
sheep on
perilous
task of adjudging the
Goddesses,
the
wandering individual, free
the slopes
his
rival
from
own.
summoned from Mount Ida to the
the faithless Paris,
tending
three
beech
to carve thereon
this pre-occupation, to place thereon his
Ovid
its
moss of
clothed with large patches of deep green
is
velvet-like
the
is
of a general olive-grey in tint, but
It is
richly mottled with
base
of the beech
is
of
palm of beauty between
Venus
bribed by
to declare
in
her favour by the promise that he shall have to wife the fairest
in
woman
the presence
forgets
the whole world.
in
Captivated, infatuated,
of the glorious Helen he,
alas
!
utterly
honour and the just claims of sweet CEnone, the
once well-beloved, and so she writes to her errant lover an
epistle
of touching tenderness to
the happy days of old, reminding still
preserve
my
him
name, and CEnone
recall
that
the
to
his
mind
"the beeches
work of your
:
BEECH upon
hands
^
claim
upon your
read
is
their
bark,
affection."
The
Troy
flames of burning
113-
the trees were beech,
It that
"
story.
us in ^As you Like
tell
but the speech of Jaques,
pray you, mar no more trees with writing love-songs
I
on
barks,"
their
considerable
more than word
Tree
Tree
Beech there
is
is
called
the
that
so
merits
special
;
great
so in
in
Eden
tells
us that
in
some
places
grow
to
the
Chiltern County, no
others not as
rarity,
in
far
from
it,
a
Oxfordshire, where
one growing between Oxford and Banbury, which that
noted over
is
it
all
County, and
the
the Beechen Tree, there being scarcely a Traveller
that goes
by that way but takes
many went
formerly
the way), to that
a
of
assume
well
Adam
as in
for,
:
familiar
famous
so
delighteth
in other
more
is
may
were
other trees for his purpose.
all
quaint old author of
Beech
the
and we
effusions
hand would appreciate
a
of the beech over
"The
these
that
indicates
length,
experienced
is
on the
just
and the
in vain,
is
cast a lurid light
Shakespeare does not absolutely
my
of
testimonies appeal
now
to
it
is
it
names upon
cut their
it
special notice of
(though
so full of letters that
it,
yea,
be somewhat out of its
smooth bark, so
there
is
hardly any
space left."
The
flowers of the beech are monoecious, the stamen-
bearing flowers being in globose catkins of about a dozen '
The tending
of sheep
very readily to thoughts
would appear of
the
to be a calm pursuit lending itself
absent
fair
one.
We
quote another
illustration
the greene wood shade, Phoebus scorching raies, Vnto her knight she songs and sonnets made, And them engrau'd in barke and beeche and bales. Fairfax. Godfrey of Boulogne. Book VII.,
when vnderneathe
But
oft,
Her
flocks lay hid from
—
St.
19.
—
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
114
flowers each and pendant on slender drooping stems, while
the
on
pistil bearers,
a short erect stem, are generally only
two together and within narrow
globular mass
a
we
and
develop into the prickly husk
scales that ultimately
that, as
of small
see in our drawing, presently opens into four
lobes and thus liberates the fruit.
our
illustration
and
in
we
the lower
husk just preparing
see this it
is
In the upper part of
This
extended.
fully
to open,
illustration
was made, we see by our diary, on October nth.
As
the
flowers are normally in pairs, the nuts, too, are in
fertile
pairs.
The
known
fruit,
beech-nut,
as
beech-mast,
or
is
very sharply three-sided, and contains a sweet, oleaginous In
kernel.^
lower part
the
of our drawing
we have
They
are fairly
given two views of one of these nuts. palatable.
they
It
said that
is
in
great quantities
headaches and giddiness," but
occasion
imagine any one
indulging
to
this
extent.
one cannot
They have
sometimes dried and ground into meal for bread,
been but at
if " eaten
popularity
their great
all,
found not
is
in
this
direction
but as the eagerly sought food of deer, pigs, badgers,
squirrels,
dormice,
ring-doves,
pigeons,
and
pheasants,
other creatures that hold in the time of mast harvest high
An
festival.-
olive
oil,
without
that
oil,
with
the
becoming
is
said to equal in flavour the best
great
advantage
rancid,
is
of
obtained
keeping
by
longer
pressure
in
—
The
beech, of oily nuts prolific. The Task. Cowper. With these kernels mice and squirrels are greatly delighted, who do mightily encrease by feeding thereon Swine also be fatned herewith and '
'
:
certaine other beasts
likewise
Gerard.
pleasant
to
:
also Deere do feed thereon very greedily
Thrushes and Pigeons.
The
Historie
:
they be
of Plantes.
HORNBEAM
115
France and elsewhere on the Continent crushed are
An
very
still
acceptable
and poultry.
oxen
to
when
nuts
the
:
made
attempt, about a century ago, was unsuccessfully
introduce
to
and
in
manufacture of
the
the
of George
reign
this
patent was
a
I.
making of butter from beech-nuts.
the
into
oil
England, issued
They have
for also
been roasted as a substitute for coffee.
HORNBEAM On
hard
clay
we may
soils
Hornbeam, having
foliage
more elongated and having timber
Its
particularly
is
in
making of
pulleys,
often
somewhat
colour.
find
like that
a
tree,
the
of the beech,
serrate edges, but having a similar
and parallelism of
regularity, sharpness,
and white
(Carpinus Betulus)
hard and
It
tough, close-grained,
freely used in
is
and the
like,
the veining.
line in
turnery, the
and appears from time
immemorial to have been fashioned into ox-yokes, hence
name
its
Carpinas,
words car and
name
this
is
beam
the
others would have
timber.
This
is
that the
latter
entitled to
the
Celtic
Another old
Hornbeam, some would
or yoke used with horned cattle, while
it
it
such
are
wood
— nor little
is
so
more
really
explanation
being very satisfactory it
from
derived
Yoke-elm.
beams cut from
that
being
meaning wood and head.
for the tree is the
us,
tell
pin,
hard and dense like
does not
horn than
strike
one
indeed does the former
support as another of
as
— but
its
old
names, hardbeam, can afford.
The
flowering arrangements are of the monoecious type,
the male catkins being cylindrical, and inches long
;
the flowers, of
some
some one and
five to
a half
twelve stamens
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
ii6
being surrounded by large, round, yellowish scales
each,
while the
blossoms are
pistillate
These
several .inches long.
;
slender lax catkins, often
in
are conspicuous
from the long,
foliaceous, three-lobed floral leaves that envelope the flowers.
These catkins and the
May. The nuts
or
will
are small,
appear together
leaves
and very prominently ribbed
be found at the bases of the
These
September.
about
leaves
floral
become yet more conspicuous
floral
as
the
leaves,
grow fruit
April
in
they
;
and ripen
and
larger
within
their
shelter ripens.
The hornbeam would, under some
attain to a height of
very well, and
As one goes
sequence.
most picturesque pollarded one
may
find
forty feet, but
it
bears chopping
found severely pollarded
often
is
favourable circumstances,
to
Burnham Beeches
beech-trees, so in
to
con-
in
see
the
Epping Forest
hundreds of the most picturesque hornbeams,
pollarded for firewood and poles, by those having forestral rights of " lop
and top," or possibly sometimes by those
not possessing them.
SCOTCH PINE
We South the
on
pass
(PiNus Sylvestris)
from the glowing beech woods of the
great sombre pine forests of the North, and
to the
transition
is
a
very striking one.
Our
illustration,
Plate XVII., presents to us the foliage and cones of the tree that it is
is
best
a pine,
known
and botanically
word pine or pinus a
head,
as the Scotch Fir,
the
is
reference
it
is
though
technically
the Finus Sylvestris.
This
derived from the Celtic pin or pen,
being
to
the
growth up to two
SCOTCH PINE
SCOTCH PINE thousand
above the
feet
of
sea
117
the
on the great
tree
mountaui headlands
The
Scotch pine
indigenous to Scotland, and
is
more
is
or less naturalised throughout England, appearing thoroughly at
home, for
on
instance,
moorland
great
the
Hampshire and Dorsetshire, though
not
does
it
there to the grand dimensions and noble growth in its
northern home.
and
In Scotland
only
forests of
it,
mountain
scenery that
it
is
and picturesque beauty, as
reaches
it
one finds vast natural
the
to
realises
full
stands " moored
it
To
view
it
rising
surrounded by calceolarias pleasaunce, that he
The in
the rifted
in
at
tree
is
forming
dense
on
best
forests.
for
pitch,
and
timber
for
turpentine.
proved to be scarcely it
has a great
tree, as
building Its
less
power of
in It
on
or
granite
commercially a most valuable value
in
saying
all.
widely distributed over Northern Europe,
Norway, Sweden, and Lapland, and
flourish
and
lawn,
one
justify
to
sufficient
human
Bournemouth
a
in
feet
its
kept
well
a
has really seen a Scotch pine at
everywhere to
barely
is
from
wild
its
rock " and in situations often quite inaccessible to the foot.
attain
the midst of the grand
here in
one
of
tracts
appear
sand.
It
besides
its
immense
durability that
resisting
would
dry
operations,
than
Russian Asia,
of
it
as
the
yields
is
tar,
timber oak,
is
and
Divers
water-action.
descending to the wreck of the 'Bjyal George found this wood less destroyed by water and the assaults of various sea-creatures
Amsterdam
any
other,
securely
from
than rises
and its
by over thirteen thousand fir-wood
the
Stadthuis
watery bed, piles.
As
at
sustained a
fuel
it
kindles rapidly and burns with a great heat, but gives a
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
ii8
good
of
deal
unpleasant
smoke, features that
black
its
resinous nature would lead us to anticipate.
The; Scotch pine few
strong
a
The
branches.
lateral
throws
the air and has but
high into
rises
mass of
flat-topped
ground
the
shade,
is
foliage
carpeted
with
the dead leaves that, brown and dry, are strewn around,
while the
and
air is fragrant,
warm sunshine, The stillness in a
especially in the
with the aromatic odour given forth. pine
may
forest
be so profound
often
awe creeps over us and we may hear
;
distinctly the
he scampers up
feet as
the intruders
upon
amongst the
sense
a
of
of the
patter
trunk some
squirrel's
away from
trees
At other times the wind,
subdued and solemn murmuring
a
tree-tops.
a
domain.
his
below, makes
unfelt
that
loud talking seems a profanation,
Wordsworth, ever open
to
Nature-
observation, ever in sympathy with every phase of Nature-
charm
tells
how At every impulse of the moving breeze
The
fir-grove
His comparison
is
murmurs with
a sea-hke sound.
a very apt one, the soothing,
slumbrous
sound being very suggestive of the breaking of the surf on a
distant beach.
The
trunks,
enwrapped
in
thin patches. last
warm
eighty
to
a
hundred
rough red bark that
scales
A
group of Scotch pines
at sunset,
rays
are
striking
upon
turning them into glowing crimson,
Where light is
the trees are
and
air,
feet
a
more or
less
their is
high,
off in
are
large
when
the
rugged trunks,
wonderfully striking.
isolated,
having plenty of
they branch near the ground, but when, as
ordinarily the case, they are part of a thick forest their
SCOTCH PINE
119
trunks go cleanly up until near the top ot the branches
the in
their general
almost
off,
the tree
may go on and
years,
or
Under
when
horizontal
good trim
conditions
favourable
hundred and
increasing in bulk for a in
last
tree,
quite
and greatly gnarled and twisted
direction,
wild picturesqueness.
into
fifty
given
are
for yet another
hundred
after that.
The
leaves of the Scotch pine are in pairs, each of these
surrounded
couples being short,
dry
The
scales.
at
by
base
its
wrapping of
a
sometimes happily
leaves,
" needles," are long, narrow, and
They
rigid.
called
are ever-
green, and remain for two or three years on the branches.
They then
turn brown and
unchanged
for
to the
fall
ground, remaining
considerable time, and forming
a
This mass of dry dead leaves and the shade
layer.
by the spreading mass of
an
ordinary
foliage
ascended by joy,
wood one
new-born primroses, everywhere,
the
and
white
splendour,
The
their place. is
ever
the
fir
same
the same brown
The
anemone the
while,
have had
several
trees
April,
being
traveller's
Springtime
are
profusion,
in
other
take
plants :
above
and beneath ever
July,
Autumn one
November, find
all
sometimes
varied fungus-growth.
yet another example, of which
already,
the
one great sheet
are unchanging
canopy,
evergreen
is
on,
to
so striking.
beauty are nestling
trees are
woods alone
amount of
stars
later
carpeting.
Scotch pine
the
sweet
the
in
are as one, except that in the a considerable
finds
in all their delicate
and the hyacinths beneath of purple
often
is
enwrapped with hop, or
or
ivy
honeysuckle,
or
cast
overhead, combine
cause that absence of other vegetation that In
a thick
of
monoecious growth.
we
The
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
120
stamlnate flowers are in small compact catkins, having two anthers on the inside of each scale, and these discharge an
abundance
of
sulphur-coloured
from half an inch
are
and
dry
closely imbricated
harden
These
pollen.
inch
become
they
until
scales
or
times
three
at
as
The
distribution.
^
that presently
woody.
brown
in colour
green
are
or
purplish-green size
full
in the
These cones, when they do eventually
remain, like the leaves, long unchanged on the ground
collected
make very good
they
flowering stage
is
not mature until
another
is
May
in
July
will be observed that
twelvemonth.
one cone
seeds
is
and preparing
larger
fruit
does
our drawing
In
open
scales fully
;
while the third,
;
expanded and the
dispersed.
The
" Scotch pine had a goodlier string of " vertues
attached to
it
by the old herbalists than
its
sombre
foliage,
We
rugged bark, and woody cones would quite suggest. for
instance,
that
"
if
wittingly or unwittingly take '
it
small, immature, closed to
;
The
material.
firing
and June, but the
and lowest, shows the woody
see,
at
and become
these remain on the tree for a consider-
;
following Spring.
if
and protects
though the seeds are discharged from them
able time,
of
the seeds, and aiding in their
long as cones
Each
wings being some two
but by July they attain their
first,
fall,
the
base,
its
pistillate
These cones
these scales, except a few of the lowest, covers
two winged seeds
catkins
The
long.
many-flowered cones.
flowers are in short are covered with
an
to
We
at
any time any one should
Henbane and be distempered
have striven to avoid the use, as
but this one,
" imbricated,"
constrained to use
it.
It is
far
as
may
be, of technical terms,
describes the matter so entirely that
from the Latin imbrex, a
before us the picture of the scales
all
overlapping, like
we
are
and exactly brings tiles on a roof.
tile,
SCOTCH PINE
121
Remedy is to drink Goat's Milk, Honeyed Water, or Pine Kernels with Sweet Wine. These do all help to free them from danger, or restore them to their right temper again." It is interesting to see that whether the case be one of suicide or mere carelessness, the pine thereby, the
kernels
are
equally
willing
do their best for the Another old writer declares that "the woody scales whereof the Pine Apple is composed and wherein the Kernels lie, do very much resemble the foremost teeth of a Man and therefore Pine leaves boyled to
sufferer.
in
;
make
a
good decoction
immediate pains
to gargle the
in the teeth
prescription teaches
how
mouth
with
to distil
Horehound
fresh
thicknesse of
Another ancient a water from the young
clensing
Coiie or Apple
the
til
for asswaging
and gums."
green cones for the removal of one's wrinkles. venerable author discourses with enthusiasm on advises us that " the whole
Vinegar
decoction
Yet another this tree,
and
being boyled
become
to
the
Hony maketh
of the
an excellent medicine for the Linna;us states that in Siberia
chest."
the Pine buds, given in decoction with milk, whey, wine, or beer, are believed in as a remedy for scurvy ;
scarcely in
remind our readers what
tar-water.
faith
and we need
our grandfathers had
One
old author, Thomas Bartolinus, prouse of hops in beer as " pernicious and malignant," declares they induce plague and other evils, tests against
the
and recommends
in
to give a grateful
their
odour
stead
" shavings of deal
to the drink."
Coles, in
boards
1657,
would have us add fir-cones to our dessert, declaring they "are wholsom and much nourishing, whilst they fresh,
and
although they
yet they do not offend
:
be
that are
somwhat hard of digestion
especially if they be steeped
three
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
122
or four hours in
warm
A
and oylinesse."
sharpnesse
their
water before the taking, to soak out
very good way,
fancy, to save these for any connoisseur
would be
who
preferred
we
them
by them
to place a dish of greengages or grapes
as a counter-attraction.
LARCH
(Larix Europ-€a)
Another very common cone-bearer europisa,
only
not
an
introduced
Parkinson, in
indigenous
tree
mentions
1629,
at
having
all,
somewhere
England
into
the Larch, Larix
is
it
about
with a few, and those only lovers of variety, but extensively planted than perhaps any other.
1620.
nursed up
and
rare
as
been
now more
It flourishes
best on high ground, being found in the Alps, Apennines,,
and other European mountain regions up of some
five
thousand
and
feet,
Highlands do well a thousand Scotch
fir
will
thrive
will
it
feet
to an
altitude
the
Scottish
in
higher than even the
at.
In the year 1727 the then
Duke
of Atholl received a
consignment of young orange and other plants from
and amongst them some
larch.
All were put into a hothouse,
but the young larches did so badly under that they
heap.
Here they quickly
Duke
this
treatment
were presently thrown out on to the rubbish revived,
grew
vigorously,* and attracted attention, the as
Italy,
succeeded Duke,
each
rapidly,
throve
outcome being that
added
to
the
ancestral
woods, so that by 1830 over fourteen millions of larches
had been planted.
1,102,367 were planted in the Spring
In the Atholl woods, nine hundred feet above the sea some Scotch pines had been planted forty years were six feet high, and some larches that had been planted amongst them ten years later were fifty feet high. '
that
;
LARCH
123
of 1820, and they had previously been planted for some the rate of two hundred thousand a
time
at
first
British
Atholl,
the
frigate,
war vessel
down
at
employed
in
laid
whole of the timber
was
of larch
built
Woolwich its
The
year.
36-gun
the in
18 19, the
construction coming
from the Atholl woods.
The
larch
on almost any
is
soil,
about a hundred
and may have timber
From
over Britain, and will grow
all
no matter how poor,
or a mere swamp.
arid
it
now found
feet,
not absolutely
though sometimes considerably more, Larch
a diameter at base of nearly five feet.
toughness and durability.
in great request for its
is
bitter,
its
if
reaches ordinarily a height of
It
worms
resinous nature
does not warp or
split,
and
it
will
will
not touch
it
take a fine polish.
much used by many on larch-board. The value
Before the employment of canvas larch was
the older painters, Raffaelle's " Transfiguration " and
other fine works being painted
of the being It
tree
was well known
commended by
was
called
larch
Romans,
the
Pliny, Vitruvius,
timber
its
and other
writers.
botanical
name.
throws up an erect central trunk, the
lateral
by them
larix,
Venice stands largely upon
The
to
hence
piles
its
of larch.
branches being nearly horizontal, and diminishing in size
upwards, so that the tree
is
of tapering form.
only cone-bearing tree that sheds all
others are evergreen.
It is,
its
It
is
Autumn broken down
leaves each
therefore, not
the ;
by weight of snow, and seldom affected by boisterous wintry gales.
It
comes into
leaf in April, the foliage being
particularly vivid green.
the tree as
One
of a
enthusiastic writer describes
then " a pyramid of beryl," while another writes
of "its emerald glory."
Another
calls
the foliage " a lively
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
124
pea-green," while
one more, and he of much more
yet
prosaic mould, declares the colour
of harmony
with
raw and crude, and out
The
surroundings.
its
small bunches, looking like
little
leaves
are
in
of grass along the
tufts
stems, each leaf being about an inch long.
The larch is moncEcious, The stamen-bearers are in the branches
adherent to in
developing little
flowers in April.
yellow spherical clusters,
while the
;
its
pistillate flowers
are
ovate cones, an inch or so in length, and borne erect
upon
The
footstalks.
when young,
cones,
of a very
are
pleasing pink and purple colour, and ultimately turn
and woody pine,
;
remaining, as
on the boughs
in this
The
the seeds are dispersed.
and
outwards,
have
surrounded by
its
we have scales
rities
brown Scotch after
have their edges turned
base
the
ovate
seed,
half
broad membranous wing.
SPANISH CHESTNUT The
the
hardened condition long
their
at
seen in
(Castanea Vesca)
Spanish Chestnut, Castanea vesca.
Botanical autho-
appear to have decided that this tree
is
not really a
native of these islands, and one great reason for their belief,
and
it is
ripen
not at
its fruit
all
here, as
and they declare
As it
a bad reason,
is
we might
that
it
that
it
does not often fully
expect an aboriginal to do
;
was introduced by the Romans.
they were in possession here for some four hundred years, is
very natural to assume that they would bring hither
the hardier kinds of trees, and especially those that in their native country they valued as producers of food.
hath
it
that
Minor by
the
the
tree
Emperor
was brought
to
Tiberius, and that
Tradition
Rome from it
Asia
thence quickly
SPANISH CHESTNUT
SPANISH CHESTNUT and Western
over Southern
spread
made
events, centuries ago,
or copses where
Europe.
thoroughly
itself
our midst, though we do not find
125
it,
great
natural
reason
that
forests
by man.
we
call
in
it
and the
England the Spanish chestnut
because enormous quantities of
is
forms
It
of Europe,
south
the
in
in
except in parks, hedges,
has obviously been planted
it
all
home
at
appears to do best on a deep sandy loam.
It
at
It,
its
im-
fruit are yearly
ported to our shores from Spain.
Some
and
botanical
the tree derives
of Castanea
in
name trom
botanical
its
experts
philological
Thessaly, where
it
the
little
that
town
have been
to
said
is
us
tell
especially in evidence, but other authorities turn the matter
way round and
the other
of trees that gave
name
its
the Castan-wydden,
is
Kastanien,
Swedish
in
Kastanje,
The
to
Castana,
the all
it
was
town.
the
in
Russian
Portuguese,
Italian,
In in
when
Welsh
it
German
Keshtann,
Dutch,
of very similar nature to
Spanish chestnut,
multitude
this
French chdtaignier,
in
Spanish
Danish names being
declare that
in
and
these.'
well grown, forms a very
noble tree, equalling even the oak in picturesqueness and
rugged beauty Its
in
its
noble trunk and grand ramification.
thrown boldly out nearly hori-
massive branches are
zontally from the trunk, and at times sweep
ground.
It
is
though to him
'
used
It
is
tree that
it
was not the park,
to the
Salvator Rosa loved to paint
a
English
well-kept
down
but
stately at
:
adornment of some
home,
in
all
the
wild
very curious and unusual to find such a sameness in plant names
There is ordinarily much more diversity the oak is to the Frenchman chene, to the Italian the Spaniard roblc, to the Portuguese carvalho, and to the
in different countries.
tree, for instance, that
guercia,
to
German
ciche.
we
call
;
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
126
grandeur of
its
growth,
native
in
midst of savage
the
mountain environment.
Londoners may Kensington Gardens.
some very good chestnut
see
Gardens,
trees in
Greenwich Park, and
in
of boys hunting under the trees for the
when we heard another onlooker
tell
Kew
in
we were watching
In this latter spot
number
a
chestnuts,
fallen
companion that
his
these busy seekers were "after mulberries," which remark
seems almost
in itself,
the idea be at
if
common
all
that
chestnut trees yield mulberries, a justification for our book.^
Many
fine
chestnuts
are
be found
to
over
scattered
Cowdray
the country, in the Forest of Dean, Enfield Chace,
Park, Petworth, Burgate, Cobham, Nettlecombe, and else-
At Tortworth,
where. that,
now
little
in
more than
Gloucestershire,
is
a ruin, had, at four feet
the ground, a circumference of fifty-one feet. to have
even
been standing there in the year
then
chestnut."
and
so fine It
was
mentioned
is
As young
chestnut
a
that
was
It 1
1
is
from
known
50, and was
called " the great
a
tree
a
boundary mark between two manors,
in
deeds of Kings John and Stephen.
it
inconspicuous trees
dignity of boundary marks,
it
scarcely
are
may
raised
to
the
well have been standing
there a century before, while tradition carries
it
back yet
further.
The
leaves of the Spanish chestnut are of a deep, glossy
green, strongly veined, and having a
Their general eighteenth '
On
character
illustration.
pointing out to a friend
may They
be are
much indented margin. seen
depicted
often
amongst some ruins
eight
in
or
in tlie environs of
our nine
Rome
a rather specially fine plant of fennel, a man who happened to be within earshot turned to us and said, " Don't you know what it is ? That is the
hemlock that Socrates was poisoned with
" !
SPANISH CHESTNUT Autumn
inches long, and in the
Few
in colour.
127
very varied and rich
are
creatures care for them, but
few may be mentioned the
caterpillars
amongst these
of the common, but
curiously marked, buff-tip moth.
The
flowers are monoecious in arrangement
be sought for in May.
The
numerous and arranged
barren flowers are exceedingly
in little clusters
The stamens of
stem.
each
along a very lono-
These
feature.
of stamen-bearing flowers
withered state in our
much
of the cluster
flower
little
stand boldly out and form a conspicuous spikes
and should
number and
fewer in
may be seen in a now The pistillate flowers are
figure.
are usually in groups of three
within a leafy, four-lobed cup of bracts, or involucre.
odour of the flowers
is
The
powerful and peculiar, and to some
persons very disagreeable.
The
nuts,
singly or
prickly involucre.^
protecting balls
pairs,
are within the enlarged
In our illustration one of these spiny
is
yet closed, while the other
and showing within like an acorn, but
in
it
flat
the fruit.
on one
The nut
opening
is
not round
is
side for greater convenience
of packing.
These ordinarily
nuts,
come
though
plentifully
to maturity in
produced,
do
not
England, though Shakespeare
various passages refers to
in
Deer
are very
them as an article of food. fond of them, as also are mice, squirrels,
and divers other as
a
creatures.
table vegetable,
Abroad they
and even
but then the foreign chestnuts are
much
are largely used
as a substitute for it
must not be
better than anything of the sort that
The fruit is inclosed in round and rough and an hedge-hog or vrchin, which opening itselfe doth let
bread,
forgotten,
we
can orow.
1
pricklie fall
huske
the ripe
like
fruit.
to
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
128
Ground up' and mixed with a little milk and salt, to which more extravagant may add an egg and some butter,
the a
very palatable cake
produced, while polenta^
is
popular Souths European chestnut-flour in milk
until
becomes
it
may come
one
preparation
may be made by
dish,
across
merely chestnuts boiled, mashed, and seasoned joy of
surely be
on
chestnuts
roasting
oblivious
and
to,
the is
it
no
bars
an
boiling
Another
thick.
which
chatigna,
is
very
a
;
is
while the
Briton
can
touch
interesting
of our kinship in experience with the past to find an author,
some
hundred years ago, warning
three
" unlesse the shell be
first
with a cracke out of the
The in
readers
his
cut the chestnuts skip suddenly
fire
whilst they be rosting."
edible or Spanish chestnut generally bears
bunches of two or three,
or,
we have known of
four,
but
New
Forest
about an inch
of
consisted
that in
their
that
more a
fruits
its
of
rarely, in clusters
cluster
fifteen,
gathered in the the
greatest diameter.
largest
being
This was, of
course, very abnormal.
HORSE CHESTNUT The
Spanish
chestnut
horse chestnut, of which stage,
given
is
in
(.^sculus Hippocastanum)
a
our
suggests
to
representation, in
its
naturally
nineteenth
illustration.
botanically the ^Esculus Hippocastanum.
between the two chestnuts they are botanically is
from
esca,
is
entirely
food, while the
called
Castama
the
fruiting It
distinct.
specific
equina,
It
is
resemblance
one of popular name only
signifying horse and chestnut. writers,
The
us
;
The generic name name is a compound
was
also,
by the older
from the resemblance of
HORSE CHESTNUT
HORSE CHESTNUT
Why
the fruit to that of the chestnut. identified with a horse
129 it
should be
Some
opens up a question.
because the fruit
us that
it is
remind
us that where a plant
at
all
will tell
given to horses, while others
is
somewhat resembles another,
but is coarser and larger in growth, it sometimes gets " horse " as a prefix to its name, horse-mint and horsebeing
radish
chestnut
examples of
larger
is
the Spanish
The book
but
chestnut,
of the one tree
as
The
this.
of the horse
one could scarcely speak
yet
being a coarse version of the other.
claims of the horse chestnut painfully slight,
are
foliage
and more massive-looking than that of
as
England three hundred years and so well known that
;
to
a
still,
it
is
place
now
in
known
been
has not
it
so
our in
common
could scarcely be denied mention.
it
was brought from Central Asia, about the year 1550, to Constantinople, and thence spread over Europe. We It
find that Gerard, writing in the year 1597, says, " the horse-
chestnut groweth in
Italic,
and
sundry places of the
in
East countries"; but in his edition of 1633 we are told " it is now growing with Mr. Tradescant at South
Lambeth." Its
chief claim to a place in our regard as
character, service, soft,
the
neither
nuts
fruit
its
being
bitter
nor
its
bearing
and,
foliage,
may be used surroundings,
unsightly for horses
The
a
and
leaves
very to
or
The
tree
the
wood
grows very
ample and dense mass of
ensure to
ornamental
and uneatable,
spongy, and lacking durability.
rapidly,
is its
timber are of any
privacy,
form an
to
screen
excellent
off
shade
cattle.
are of a character quite unlike
any other of our
trees,
though they are curiously
those of like,
9
on
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
130
a greatly enlarged scale, those of the little cinquefoil,
leaflets,
They
reptans.
Potentilla
composed of
are
the
or seven
five
spreading like the rays of a fan, the central
leaflet
being the largest, and the others diminishing in beautiful In
gradation. a
Autumn
early
they change from green to
reddish-brown, and are one of the
rich
From
leaves
earliest
number and size they strew the ground thickly, and invite prompt removal if scattered on meadow or roadway. They have, moreover, a striking to
fall.
their
way of coming down almost simultaneously, so less than a week the tree, so lately a mass of ruddy has
that
in
foliage,
become but bare branches.
The
are very attractive either
flowers
lectively, the ivory-white petals, with
and crumpled
margins,
being
or
singly
tinted
delicately
col-
waved
their quaintly
their
in
centres with yellow and pink, and the whole mass forming a
very graceful
expand
in
May, and
being found
much
in
at
ordinarily
great
in
the ends of the branches,
evidence.
tree bethinks
are
So soon
itself of next
and continue swelling
These
cone of blossoms.
hyacinth-like
profusion
they are
as the flowers are fallen the
year,
until the
and the buds develop
They
Autumn.
are then
overspread with a very tenacious, protective varnish, first
the enclosing scales are
unwrapped and thrown
few days the tree has wholly discarded
a
appearance
and
stands
and
hint of genial Spring weather,
so continue until, at the
in
;
very
revealed
us
before
aside, its
fully
and
wintry clothed
in verdant beauty.
In the lower portion of our illustration, Plate XIX.,
have depicted the nut ensconced shell
;
the
in
upper case has not yet
its
we
green and prickly
split
open.
The nut
BIRCH is
they contain
while
but,
matter, there
drawback
may be given
they
oats,
much
their
to
the
When
use.
maceration and boiling,
in
cattle,
raw
horses,
to
farinaceous and
an astringency
is
nuts be cut up and
If the
of a very polished exterior.
a
reddish-brown colour, and
roundish in form, of deep
mixed with bran or
131
nutritive that
state
of
deprived
this
is
by
sheep, and poultry will eat
them, but pigs decline them in any form. In France and Switzerland they are used for bleaching
yarn and cleansing woollens, and a paste for paper-hangers,
may be
In 1796
prepared from them.
book-binders,
etc.,
a patent was
granted to Lord Murray for a method
we
matter,
when is
but the practical outcome
starch,
extracting
all is
of very
may
fancy, said little
and done, the
of the horse chestnut
(Betula Alba)
most charming, perhaps, of
Birch, the
trees, occurs
fruit
affirming that,
economic value.
BIRCH The
summed up by
be
abundantly
the
in
barren and rocky
soils,
hardest conditions.
It
milder southern shires, that will
grow
may be found
its
felt
so
it
may
be
on the most
plentifully, too, in
our
prospering on sandy commons, and little
to lack something of the is
our forest
and growing luxuriantly under the
latter circumstances, graceful
which
all
North, where
considered to be truly indigenous, thriving
on land
of
of the whole
else
but heather, but
and charming
as
it is, it
in these
appears
beauty that contrast gives, and
strongly amidst
the
savage
grandeur of
surroundings in " Caledonia, stern and wild."
—
—
—
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
132
In
of the delicate lightness of
spite
for Coleridge calls
Of
forest trees, the
pre-eminently
is
it
a
appearance,
happy appropriateness
in
it
its
tree
Most beautiful Lady of the Woods,
of
rugged uplands and
the
bleak mountain slopes, being found in Scotland up to an altitude
of three
much
thousand
a
tree,
companioning us
we have
Apennines
North
it
the
left
we ascend
as
Scotch
In Anglo-Saxon plant
and
names and
in
are
Germany
In the
us.
while
in the
icy
" It
Wordsworth,
lists it
the
is
it
It
is
bine,
hire,
the berke^ in
is
the birke.
all.
beorc^
Denmark
the
suggested that these
derived from the verb brechen, to brighten,
all
that the allusion
the bark.
feet,
the only tree found in Greenland at
is
or byrc^ while in Holland birk^
pine behind
thousand
reaches six
it
the loftier heights long
approaches nearer the polar regions than any other
and
tree,
above the
feet
higher level than that attained by any other
sea,
after
hundred
five
to the brilliant silvery whiteness of
is
showeth wondrous white,"
in
Winandermere writes How pleasant,
of an
description
his
saith Holland.^
evening walk at
as the yellowing sun declines.
And with long rays and shades the landscape To mark the birch's stems all golden light,
shines,
That ht the dark slant woods with silvery white.
And
the same feature, the whiteness of the trunk, strikes
the eye of Keats,
who
writes
The Of '
first
An
stems
delicate birch-trees.
English translation of Pliny's Nahcral Histojy, a book written in the era, was made by Philemon Holland in the reign of Our quotation is Holland's apt rendering of Pliny's strong
century of our
Queen
of
silvery
Elizabeth.
expression, tnirabilis candor.
BIRCH.
BIRCH suggested that the tree derives
It is also
Anglo-Saxon
beorcan,
bark,
to
to
its
and
to catch the eye,
boat-building,
The books
early days
in
the
the
first
feature
was of great
utility
is
and other necessary purposes.
roofing,
Numa, some
written by
name from
the bark from a
strip
bark of gleaming whiteness
tree, since this
in
133
seven hundred years
He
before the Christian era, were inscribed on birch-bark.
ordered that at his death his body should not be cremated,
but interred, and that in his tomb should be placed with
him the books
On
that he had written.
opened four hundred years
after, these
tomb
his
beinp;
writings were found
They were carefully read, and as were not in harmony with the ideas,
to be in perfect condition. it
was found that they
and
religious
should be
political,
destroyed,
of the day,
consigned to the flames.
some
it,
;
has
it
and
divides into
pendant
instead of being
discovered
to
light
they
era,
some nineteen hundred
years
.''
The trunk of instance,
If,
solemnly
what would not archsologists have given for such
a treasure
sinuous
was decreed that they
hundred years before the Christian
three
had been brought after
it
and they were forthwith
at
the birch in ascending
not
some
stiff
little
is
extremities.
The
often
somewhat
of the larch, for
rigidity
distance
from
numerous branches, more or their
at
the
tree
the
less
ground,
flexible
would
and
ordinarily
be about eighty feet in height, though exceptional specimens considerably overtop
under the
is,
feet, '
or even
We recall
stress less,
this,
while a Greenland or
Lapp
birch
of Arctic conditions, but three or four in
height.^
walking at some considerable elevation
a pine forest, the trees reaching to our knees.
in
Switzerland through
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
134
We
may
times see amidst the branches great masses
at
of small twigs that suggest a
once the idea of large nests,
at
rookery possibly, some trees having
These
them.
a
dozen or so of
popularly called witches' knots.
are
They
however, neither the work of witches nor of rooks,
are,
but a case of arrested natural development of the stems caused by the proceedings of a minute gall-mite.
The
leaves of the birch are small, arranged singly
on
the stems, broadly ovate in form, and having their margins cut like the teeth of a saw.
show
growth and
their general
change to a conditions horses,
bright
clear,
of' life
In
yellow-brown
tint.
and
employed
conditions, are
character.
hard
are
sheep,
cattle,
they
shoots, and
Though
not
days they are
tea.
the ends of the
at
numerous, and,
While they are not mature
may be seen developing months before. uncommonly three may be found grouped more
stiff,
ordinarily in twos.
pairs
;
later
V
as they spring
on they elongate
these scales
protecting
twelve stamens.
The
In the earlier
about an inch long, and very
erect,
to
from the stem
two inches or
They
becoming slender and pendulous.
to
same
the monoecious type.
are generally very
suggestive of the letter
scales,
the
April, they
together, they are
in
under
and,
as a substitute for
from their position, conspicuous. until
used as fodder for
are
goats,
The flowering arrangements are of The pollen-bearing catkins are borne last year's
XX. will Autumn they Where the
Reference to Plate
are covered with
flowers having
pistillate
shields
these
of flattened form, and
are
three
flowers.
from eight
flowers are in shorter
and denser catkins composed of three-lobed of which
so,
The
scales,
fruits that
each
succeed
furnished with a broad,
BIRCH
is
This wing
wing surrounding them.
membranous
flat,
135
Nature's provision for their dispersal, the broad
form being admirably adapted
like
fruits
produced
are
in
welcome food, and
great
for
siskin
is
little
and form a very
high
latitudes,
particularly partial to them,
to
many
and ptarmigan.
species of birds, such as the black grouse
The
These
this.
profusion
especially in
plate-
and may be seen
diligently investigating the catkins in search of them.
The
sweetness of the sap that exudes so freely from the
birch renders
and
life,
very attractive to various kinds of insect
it
knowledge of
a
entomologist,
who
these trees that he
is
this
fact
The
find.
of great value to the
keep an eye upon any of
careful to
may
is
sap undergoes
some
little
fermentation, and butterflies, wasps, and other insects succumb Inebriation
to the temptation.
part
take
in
the result, and those that
become often
debauch
this
is
so
hopelessly
incapable that they can be easily picked off by the hand
from the stems or from the surrounding rocks or herbage. Peacock
most also fall,
and red
butterflies
The very
numerous.
much
flooring,
else
is
where
wanting.
is
barrels,
moulded
it
of
much
beverage,
^
value, and especially
flourishes so well Its
timber
and where
supplies ;
fencing, its
bark
into the canoe, or forms the shingles of the hut,
welcome
fuel,
twisted together, serve as cordage.
'
is
temptation and
and many other useful things
larger branches yield
its
beauty
willing victims, into a state of shocking intemperance.
in those sterile lands
is
this
the
generally
are
Camberwell
rare
one of the species that yield to
Economically the birch
so
admirals
and the fragrant and
Holes are made
in
and
its
smaller ones,
Its sap yields a
welcome
insect-resisting
Russian
the trunk in the beginning of March, a large tree
— THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
136 leather
birch
owes both these
wooden
Furniture,
oil.
needs that the birch
overlook
value
its
This, in
conduct.
He
of Plants.
qualities
to
shoes,
placed
by Coles
first
many home and at
the birch tree serveth are
are out of order
;
how fond
us
Paradise
punishment
for
;
it
hath an
them when they
quiet
to
in his
the
for
school
and therefore some
Shakespeare warns
we
uses whereunto
civill
as,
;
upon them,
excellent influence
other
are
stimulus to learning and correct
fact, is
at
brooms,
equal to supplying, nor must
is
as a
declares that " the
of children, both
preparation with
its
call
Make-peace."
it
not sufficiently
fathers,
zealous in applying " the threatening twigs of birch," find mocked than feared " ; while in time " the rod more
Shenstone, mistress,"
his
in tells
home of
litde
charming poem of the " Village School-
how
doth
a birchen-tree
an^ how,
learning,
in the breeze, the pupils
as
rise
hard by the
branches
its
waved
shuddered
And as they look'd, they found their And shaped it into rods, and tingled
horror grew, at the view.'
•
ASH
(Fraxinus Excelsior)
Gilpin, while he calls the oak the Hercules of the woods, ascribes to the
ash
the position
forced and fanciful, but bearing tapping in four or
five
we
of Venus.
at least accept
it
The
as a
idea
is
testimony
places and being none the worse for
it.
A
then inserted and some sort of vessel suspended to catch the sap. This sap is then boiled with sugar after cooling it is put into a cask, being pipe
is
;
drunk when
it '
is
a year old.
But though no more his brow severe, nor dread Of birchen sceptre awes my riper age,
A
sterner tyrant rises to
my
view,
With deadlier weapon arm'd. Jago, " Edgehill."
ASH to the
charm of the
lightness of
its
,3^
ash, which, in
foliage,
and
its
its
elegance of form, the
noble branching,'
one of
is
the most beautiful of our forest trees. Virgil appreciatively designates \tfraxinus in sylvis pulcherrima. It
after the
oak, the most useful
moreover,
is,
of
trees, its timber having a toughness, lightness, and elasticity of fibre that gives it great value. It has been called by an old writer "the
husbandman's
tree,"
as
there
poles, ladders, tool-handles,
says of
is
nothing equal to
and such
like purposes.
it
for
Evelyn
it— "
It serves the soldier, the carpenter, the wheelwfight, cartwright, cooper, turner, and thatcher from the pike, spear, and bow to the plough ; in peace and war It IS a wood in the highest request." Homer dwells on the mighty ashen spear of Achilles, and the mediaeval pikemen had the staves of their weapons of this wood. It has a great power of standing sudden strain, so for .
.
.
weapons
axe-hafts,
Spencer,
oak
;
and the in
the
like
it
his description laurel,
has. a
special
Hence
value.
" the builder meed of mighty conquerors the yew of divers
trees,
;
obedient to the bender's will," sums up the present tree in the pithy comprehensive phrase—" the ash, for nothing ill." see from a passage in Norden's Surveyor\ Diolo-ue a book published in 1607, that it was necessary in^he reign of Henry VIII. to make a
We
Statute
servation of certain trees that from
for
the
pre-
their
economic value becoming scarce the oak, beech, and some few others, and amongst these we find the ash. It was required that « twelve storers and standils= should bee left were
:
Ash, far-reaching his umbrageous arms.
COWPER. '
Store trees, standing trees, so that everything should not be ruthlessly
—
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
138
euery
standing
at
farmer's
own
vpon
fall,
an
interest, Tusser, in
Even
acre."
his
in
the
book on husbandry,
advises to Leaue growing for stadles the likest and best, Though seller and buier dispatched the rest. In bushes, in hedgerovve, in groue, and in wood,
This lesson obserued It
curious
is
anxious about
find
in
of
when he
days,
latter
now
and furnaces for the smelting of of
them
euery
in
of charrcoale,"
thousand
three
houres
24
hundred
four
a
the
as
fuel
for
so purely agricultural,
iron,
3
2,
hammers
forty
consuming " each or
foure
loades
Surry adjoyning " there were
" in
while
are
of
cause
great
one hundred and
wrote,
we
employment
its
Sussex,
when
of our coal supply, to
one
that
was
timber
various manufactures.
had,
needful and good.
the duration
book
Norden's
destruction
these
in
little
is
"glasse-houses "
equally
exigent.
our
The importation own necessities
of is
timber
from abroad
by any means
not
to
supply
proceeding
a
of yesterday merely, or the day before, for we find Hartlib lamenting, timber.
1659,
the
writes,
" It
in
He
throughout the
we
are
felled.
but
we
in
Island
many
great
places
a
is
the
dearth great
Woods
much
of
fault
home-grown that
generally
are destroyed, so that
necessitated
for
fuel
and
This Statute was confirmed and stiffened in tlie reign of Elizabeth, find Harrison complaining that " Within these fortie yeeres we
shall have little great timber growing, for it is commonlie seene that those yong staddles which we leaue standing are vsuallie at the next sale cut downe without any danger of the Statute, and serue for fire bote, if it Austin, writing in 1657, reminds the lawplease the owner to bume." makers and law-breakers of a salutary "law in Spaine, that he that cuts downe one tree, shall plant three for it."
ASH timber
for
also
139
building and
for
other
so
uses,
we had not Coales from Norwey we should be brought to great many Mechanickes would be necessitated
that
if
Boards from
and
New-castle
and
extremity, leave
to
their
callings."
In
scientific
The
excelsior.
nomenclature
the
generic
as
the line from Virgil, it
is
we
Fraxinus
the
is
have
Spain
in
Portugal the freixo, while in France
is
it
from
seen
Hence
old Latin appellation.
its
the frassino,
Italy
in
still
is
title,
ash
the fresno,
in
Our
the frine.
English name descends to us from the Anglo-Saxon ^sc. It
is
and
all
while
the
all
parentage.
have
the
Sweden the
in
how
Germany
in
.
ask-tr'dd.
It
curious
is
southern names spring
the
names
northern
aske-tr/e,
observe
to
from one derivation,
have
double grouping
This
the
another
what
only
is
common might
but
it
is
striking feature in the ash
is
the curiously sooty
been
anticipated,
clearly
teresting to take note of
One
Denmark
in
esche^
blackness of the buds
;
nevertheless
in-
it.
this characteristic alone
would
to identify the tree while yet leafless.
It will
how Tennyson, whose Nature-touches
are
so
suffice
be recalled
numerous,
so appreciative, so admirable, and so true, declares of one
of his heroines that her
hair
was blacker even than the
ash-buds of March.
The that
foliage of the ash
often
surrounding pinnate, leaflet,
of the
causes trees.
a
is
very
The
of
and bright green
a light
pleasant leaves
with
contrast
what
are
is
the
termed
or feather-like, a central stem having a terminal
and other ash
leaflets
in
have two great
pairs
below
drawbacks
:
it.
they
The
leaves
appear
so
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
I40
and disappear so soon
late,
before
how a
June,
tree
in
and
the
at
the foliage
early,
rarely
is
frost,
so that
in
it
the
and blackened
one may see
and two or three days
leaf,
The
foliage.
ash
contributes
nothing, therefore, to the splendour of colour of the in
Autumn. The flowers open
sought for in April or
are particularly
nor
before
corolla,
having
The
at
simple
the
in
leaves,
They grow
May.
on the stems, and
in pairs
leaf
no matter
and the pathway thickly strewn with
hence find
bare,
tree
touch of
rapidly,
falls
and vigorous
full
fallen
The
!
first
and should be in large clusters
are of a rich red purple. character,
woods
having
They
neither calyx
but throwing up a small stigma-tipped column,
its
fruits
base a couple of stamens.
of the ash are popularly called keys, a name
given them from their clustering, pendent character, suggestive of a
By some
bunch of keys.
old authors they are
called Peter-keys, from the great Apostle, the bearer of the
keys, or sometimes Lingua passerina, from their supposed
These
resemblance in form to the tongue of a sparrow. clusters are abundantly produced,
of many keys
green at
;
and hanging on long
first,
after
and each cluster consists
but presently turning black,
the leaves have gone.
young
seeds propagate freely, so that one often sees in
abundance around the parent
tree.
To
The
seedlings
quote a rather
quaint phrase that describes the position admirably, " the
ash possesses a considerable fruit
wing
is
dry and
at its
to assist in
its
about an inch and
power of occupancy."
The
extremity flattens out into a foliaceous dispersal, the
a half long.
whole arrangement being
In the green state the keys
are sometimes pickled in vinegar and salt
;
they are slightly
ASH aromatic and a
After one's
bitter.
little
141
first
one
taste
not conscious of any special hankering after them. The " virtues " of the ash were held to be great.
shrew mouse was held
little
of a
vindictive
terribly
and paralyse them.
able
a
proceeding
To
its
sheep,
horses,
or
counteract so very objection-
was
that
all
to be
and hurtful nature, one of
favourite recreations being to run over cattle
The
good old times
the
in
is
necessary
when any of
the farmer's stock was suffering was, not to send for the
" Vet," for he was not invented
in
those days,
but to
gently stroke the parts affected with a twig of shrew-ash.
To make
shrew-ash
deep hole
in
all
any ash-trunk, insert alive a shrew mouse,
and, with divers mystic
Pliny
was needful was to bore a
that
taught
his
rites,
plug the opening up again. that
disciples
no serpent dare come
within the shadow of an ash tree, and that
surrounded and penned
in
make
ash-stems.
ground at
its
It is
exit
through
this
the creature will
fire,
than through the fence of
wonderful how these old
for centuries,
when
beliefs held their
the test of experiment
any time have shattered them
in ten
minutes.
however, considerably easier for one writer repeat
what
their
on a proceeding so
predecessors
had
said
after
would It
was,
another to
than to venture
bring the statements
iconoclastic as to
of venerated authorities
serpent be
with ash-boughs, except where
the circle be interrupted by a fierce prefer to
if a
to the proof.
Culpeper, however,
seems to have been thus daring, for while he quotes the statement that " ash tree leaves are good against the bitings of serpents and vipers," he adds, " rise
I
suppose
from Gerrard or Pliny, both which hold
this
had
that there
its is
such an antipathy between an adder and an Ash tree that
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
142 if
an adder be encompassed round with
sooner run through the
will
He
Ash
tree leaves she
than through the leaves."
fire
then proceeds to bring matters to a climax by declaring
" the contrary
which
to
As both
witnesses."
pronounce Pliny's
his eyes agreed to
no
had
he
erroneous
statement
the truth, as both mine eyes are
is
but to
choice
believe
" Three or four " leaves of the ash tree," advises
them.
" taken
Gerard, time, doe
make
wine
in
those leane that are
from feeding which do begin declares
that
to
and keepeth them
fat,
wax
to
time
"
but Dioscorides
;
made from ash-shavings
decoction
a
from
morning
each
is
a
deadly poison.
By great
the early northern races the ash
The
reverence.
branches
created
ash
in
man was formed
of which
of ash-wood.
superstition,
gathered around the ash would,
the
canopy of the
the
theology and myth
Scandinavian
upon the mythology,
was regarded with
Ydrasil,
was
extended over heaven
and
gods,
great
To
the
enter,
first
however,
and folk-lore that has
if at
all
adequately done,
mean, not a paragraph, but a volume.
ROWAN The Rowan first
ash.
upon
illustration,
The name it
Mountain Ash,
must not be is
the subject of our twenty-
at all
unfortunate,
associated with the real
and was only bestowed
because of a certain similarity of form in the leaves
of the two the
or
(PVRUS Aucuparia)
trees.
The rowan
hawthorn and apple,
as
Aucuparia, clearly indicates.
was bestowed on
it
because
really a close
is
its
This it
botanical specific
relative
name,
of
Pyrus
name Aucuparia
has long been the custom
ROWA>.
no WAN for bird-catchers
iti
143
Germany and elsewhere abroad
to trap
redwings, field-fares, thrushes, and other birds in hair nooses
rowan
baited with
The rowan any
soil.
extremely hardy, and will flourish in almost
is
It
berries.
really
is
mountaineer,
a wild
delighting to
grow on
the rocky heights, and forming, either in leaf or
in
a
fruit,
charming contrast with the solemn
companions.
It is in
we have
with the grandest mountain scenery, and
sometimes such a mass of berries that the as
spots
scarlet
the
in
Yet
landscape.
two thousand
flourishing
pines,
its
our own minds irrevocably associated
trees
it
have told
same rowan,
this
and more above
feet
seen
sea-level,
is
content to beautify the suburban garden, and give an added grace even to villadom, though
who have
those
but
only seen
of what a rowan
a faint idea
The and
up of
is
really like.
a terminal leaflet
The
flowers are in
and from
numerous
so that
blossom.
The
in
May
the
individual
in each cluster,
tree
flowers
very hawthorn-like
petalled,
in
is
are
a
it
we took
delightful,
are not prepared to allow
There
great
it
Some
persons
we have be much more than
noticed,
while others, to
of
observing, on the question
of
sweet,
for
five-
numerous
the precaution of suggesting
difference
is
and
small,
character, very
note of interrogation after our verdict. declare
mass of white
and having an odour that we might perhaps
describe as fragrant if
will
five to nine
large clusters
ends of the branches and consequently very con-
the
spicuous,
a
scarcely say that
pinnate leaves are of a rather dark green colour,
are built
pairs of laterals. at
we need
amidst such surroundings have
it
instance,
to
opinion, floral
peculiar.
one cannot help
scents
—
the
some persons amply
meadow-
justifies
its
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
144
name by
while others pronounce
fragrance,
its
mostly
it
and objectionable.
sickly
The
rowan are
berries of the
They
turn to a rich red.
Under
green, but soon
first
are globular in form and, like
their sister fruits, the haws, are
of the calyx.
at
surmounted by the remains
favourable conditions they are very
numerous, but they are very greedily devoured by the birds, so that a its
ruddy
tree
The
fruit.
is
often very quickly stripped of
berries are harsh
ing to man's standard, and he to leave
them
pleasant
preserve
mountaineers
to the blackbirds
may
is
and thrushes, but
make them
of Scotland
name
A
branch of
and the doorways of
pastures
the belief once
that testifies to
it
was hung up over house portals
stables
and cowhouses,
respective indwellers from
dairymaid brought
by
the
home
soft
their
the
birth ills
all
sorts
of
her charges from
persuasiveness of a
and the shepherd required after
of
sovereign efficacy against enchantment and the
its
evil eye.
against
the
kind
a
has also, by the older writers, been called
witchentree, a
held in
the
them, and into
spirit.
The rowan the
a very
them an ardent and
cyder, or by distillation extract from
potent
and austere accord-
ordinarily quite content
prepared from
be
all
all
his
them,
rod of rowan,
jump soon
lambs to
while
all
The
mountain
the
through a hoop of rowan before
preserve
to
perils.
a
as
who
defence
desired to
be free from the possibilities of enchantment and witchcraft
were careful to carry about with them
a small piece of this
sovereign antidote.
at
all
times
SERVICE
SERVICE
145
(PVRUS TORMINALIS)
Another member of the same genus the Service, Tyrus torminalis. wild state in
to a moderate sized feet.
It
only found
is
tree,
varies
from
mere shrub
under favourable
The wood
especially in chalk districts. close of grain,
The
and though too small
is
leaves
in a really
attaining to a height of about
of slow growth, and
is
a
circumstances will reach a very considerable age
other service
is
woods and hedges of our southern and
the
English counties, and
central
fifty
It
rowan
as the
thriving
very hard and
is
in
;
bulk for
much
request for turnery.
in
much
are
like
those of the hawthorn in
form, but are considerably larger, being often four inches
The young
long and some three inches across.
and
clothed,
of the
brown
service
that
the
in
on
under-surfaces,
their
presently disappears.
Autumn becomes
The
with
a
foliage
of a yellowish-
colour.
The found
especially
down
grey
loose,
leaves are
clusters
in
sought
should be
flowers
at
in
May.
They
are
the ends of the stems, and are of a
very similar type to those of the rowan, but are somewhat
number
larger individually
and are fewer
The
succeed these are of ovoid or globular
that
berries
in
in the clusters.
They are exceedingly acid but when mellowed later on by a
form and of brownish colour. and rough little
to the taste,
frost they
and
palatable,
They
are
become in
this
something
softer
and more mealy and almost
state
they
like
" are
cold,
quite
wholesome.
in flavour and are " Service berries," quoth
medlars
occasionally brought to market.
Gerard,
are
and much more when they be hard 10
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
146
when they
than
quickly
hanged
soft, either
cold, or laid in
hay or
ment
same
at all, the
and
are milde
soft
very
and
medicines,"
where
is
not altogether
little,
and cold."
grosse,
much of
any nourish-
he
then
suggests
would be of
their astringency
divers
and so reserued for vse
and one of
sorb-tree, while
its
in diuers
The
greife."
old
its fruits
SYCAMORE
Latin
names
like things,
possible service
—"
if
be ripe,
waies according to
the
name
for the plant
was
consequence,
the
in
is,
were dubbed sorb-apples.
(Acer Pseudo-Platanus)
generally accepted that the Sycamore,
It is
in
applications
and such
they be cut and dried in the sunne before they
sorbus,
He
not expedient to eate of these
is
as staunching bleeding
manner of the
This
a testimonial.
nor to vse them otherwise than
or other like fruits,
of them, such
it
places they are
If they yeeld
certainly cannot be considered
goes on to say that "
which
in a place
chafFe.
is
some
in
;
the subject
of Plate XXII., has no claim whatever to be considered an indigenous
tree,
unknown.
is,
It
special value
St.
introduction
is
so widely distributed
home with us that it may fully claim Some would tell us that it was our pages.
in
tree
its
at
brought from the East
the
now
nevertheless,
and so thoroughly a place
though the date of
the time
being attached to
associated
Jerome,
at
who
a tree which
in
it
from
the Gospel
with
died in the fourth century,
was
claimed
to
be
the
Bible narrative was not
Crusades,
a belief that
story
it
a
was
Zacchasus.
was shown
sycamore actually
may have been, the the tree known to us
climbed by Zacchasus, but however that tree of the
of the
—
SYCAMORE was either a species of
as the sycamore, but
former tree to
a
common
shikmim,
tree
mulberry,
still
found
the
in
and
Ixxviii.,
Hebrew words
in
in
Holy Land, and
The
sows
tree that
a
is
it
The
all
the black
latter,
is
at
very abundantly
subject
is
to
be
not free
to
rarity.
as
it
a
Gerard,
declares that " the great it
groweth
men, when
in the
after the Crusades, referring
writing his
Maple
is
is
"
It
that
I
can
is
Parkinson, a
nowhere found wilde or tell,
but only planted
Chaucer
the shadowes sake."
the Leafe, mentions
Herball in
a stranger In
it,
naturall in
in in
The
our land,
Flowre
Freshly turned whereof the greene gras small, so thicke, so short, so fresh of
hew
That most like vnto greene welwot it was. The hegge also that yede in compas closed in
later,
and
but only as a plant under conditions
And so I followed till it me brought To right a pleasaunt herber well ywrought That benched was, and with turfes new
.'^nd
little
orchards or walkes
that suggest cultivation
So
1597, England,
planted for the shadow sake, and
vnder the name of Sycomore." says,
very freely, and yet we
walks and places of pleasure of noble
specially
it
England can
into
the days of the Crusaders,
itself
on plants centuries
for
not
is
held by others
is
introduction of the sycamore
find writers
only
referred
is
difficulty.
scarcely have been so early as
since
It
it
called sycominos in Greece,
the tree referred to by St. Luke.
from
but
while the
;
The
nigra.
Chronicles xxvii., by the
i
shikmoth,
Palestine
the Ficus
fig,
Moms
mulberry.
black
the one generally accepted.
is
Psalm
in
the
or
sycomorus^
147
all
the green herbere
With Sicamour was
set
and eglatere.
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
148
be
will
It
noticed in
these
all
writers
they
that
speak so strongly of the shade-giving feature, but Evelyn the sycamore and declares that "
condemns
reputation
in
honey-dew turn the
for
which
leaves,
mucilage
to
shade
its
fall
deserves
than
it
early,
like those
and noxious
This
tree
sycamore,
maple
;
is
from
all
that
we
contaminate
they
my
To
from Gerard. for,
consent,
curious gardens and avenues."
and
call,
not
quite
by some writers given the
we have
as
the
of the ash,
and marr our walks, and are therefore, by to be banished
for
;
and putrify with
insects,
moisture of the season, so as
first
much more
it is
seen, for this
instance,
title
in
happily,
of the great
our quotation
no objection can be
title
foreigner though the tree be,
is
it
the
raised,
a near relative of
common and indigenous maple, the Acer campestre, a much smaller tree. The botanical name of the sycamore the
is
clature
name
is
suggested, for
are
nomenspecific
similarity in
form of the
some
folks,
foliage of the
led
two
thought that the sycamore must be a kind of plane,
and so used the Sycamore
either is
name
as
main boughs spring Hieronymus Tragus,
the sycamore in rigid
Bock
fashion of that day.
somewhat
In France
wrote his treatise or book
The
History of Plants, published
He was
signifies goat,
in
stiff.
and angular fashion from the
and
in
a
German, and
his real
in
name
accordance with the pedantic
became Tragus, as became Carolus Linnjeus. Still, when a man Latin, it was only fit that his name should be
Latinising wherever possible, he
the Swede, Carl von Linne,
Latinised also.
is
for instance, in his
1532, called the sycamore, p!ata?ius.
was Jerome Bock.
equally suitable.'
called the fausse platane.
The growth of
1
we
pseudo-plat anus ^ or false plane, that
away by the trees,
difficulty in
reminded by the
Here, again, a
Acer pseudo-platanus.
SYCAMORE
so
top,
of
and lessen
trunk,
central
we The
that
foliage.
149
regularly
round-headed mass
leaves are of considerable
numerous, so that one can quite understand property being one of the is
its
days
plates,
much used
shade-giving
things noted.
first
and very
size
close-grained and yet easy to work, and
forefathers'
towards the
size
in
get a rather formal
it
The wood was
in
our
making of spoons,
for the
bowls and trenchers, before Birmingham and Burslem
between them supplanted wood by metal or by earthenware. If the trunk be
punctured
as the tree
may be procured
an abundant supply of sap
have
drawn from one
been
leaf
that can be
Thirty-six quarts of this
converted into sugar or wine. saccharine juice
coming into
is
tree
within
a week.
The
leaves of the
sycamore are dark green on their
As
upper surface and whitish beneath. large and on long footstalks, they
move
the
leaves
are
readily to the wind,
and a sudden gust very curiously reveals these light undersurfaces.
Their form
One
tration.
is
old writer,
sufficiently indicated in
we
and cornered leaves much
They grow
in
pairs,
it
see,
like
will
arrangement amongst our
calls
to
be
decision of the lines of the veining
and the are
and
tree
is
of a grub, and towards the
sharp
fan-wise in the to
the
genial
expand with great rapidity,
very quickly a mass of foliage.
sometimes covered with
the
also a very marked
The young leaves are folded up and when these latter once yield
influence of Spring the leaves
Vine."
very unusual
a
trees,
feature.
buds,
of the
those
is
illus-
them "great broad
noted,
British
our
little
The
leaves
red lumps, the habitation
Autumn
are a
good
deal spotted
and blotched with irregularly shaped patches of purplish-
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
150
black, looking like
The stems
origin.
a
good
but
splashes of ink, and fungoid
often red,
are
deal of this red colour
sycamore
the
does
and towards
may be found
Autumnal splendour of colouring
the
very often
the leaves,
in
woods, for
the
in
towards
merely shrivels up, turns a dull
foliage
its
Autumn
much
contribute
not
their
in
The
brown, and forthwith drops. very small, and greenish
in colour,
flowers individually are
but are clustered loosely
together in considerable numbers in the hanging racemes
The
that appear abundantly in the early Spring.
busy with
very
always
them,
finding
bees are
them bountifully
honey-laden.
The all
of the sycamore and the maple
fruits
woods and hedges, being composed
others found in our
of two winged
One
figure.
as " fruit
joined
fruits
kernels
our
:
in
all
to the
place in
the other parts
flat
and
vnto parchment, and resembling the innermost
called a samara, so the is
in
the arrangement
bumping out neere
wings of grasshoppers."
maple
shown
as
describes
fastened together by couples, one right against
which they are combined like
together
venerable author
another, with
thin,
from
differ
termed
A
fruit thus
form we
a double samara.
winged
find in
technically
the sycamore and
These broad membranous
wings waft the seeds away, and thus we plants widely dispersed
is
may
find the
from the parental home,
young
starting life
for themselves in the crannies of the stonework of the old
church tower, in the cracks of the rocks, or wherever the conditions are fairly kindly to them.
samara form
from
all
with
yet
differentiates
the
else
While the double
sycamore and the
maple
other trees, they wear this exceptional distinction a
difference,
the
twin
wings of the sycamore
—
MAPLE being
nearly
parallel,
or at
than a right angle with
all
each
151
events
not making more
other, while
the two are almost or quite in
it
possible
is
for
them
MAPLE The Maple, Acer indigenous
native,
to
be.
(Acer Cajipestre)
campestre,
undoubtedly a true
is
England and
south
in
counties, but not in Scotland or Ireland.
name
is
maple
the
from each other
other, so that their extremities are as far as
in
straight line with each
a
mapul, a sufficient explanation of
the
Its its
midland
Anglo-Saxon
popular name,
though one authority on plants would have us believe that
we
call
it
maple from the Latin amabilis, because the
plant has such
beautiful leaves.
The maple may sometimes
found
be
attaining to a height of thirty feet or so,
more than
exceptional circumstances,
Romant of
the Rose,
this.
as a tree,
and
or even, under
Chaucer, in the
writes
There were elmes great and strong, Maples, ash
thus giving find It it
it
in
it
full
arboreal rank, but
hedge or copse
bears the shears well,
as scarcely
and
we more
more than
in those
ordinarily
a large bush.
bygone days, when
was the fashion to border the parterres with grotesquely
fashioned hedges, bearing some sort of similitude to bird or beast,
was
some resemblance
in great request.
one may find
it
The wood of grain,
It
to globe or pyramid, the
flourishes in a chalky soil,
maple
though
doing well almost anywhere. the maple
but the outer bark
is
is
very compact, and of
fine
curiously corky and rough,
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
152
being deeply the
An
furrowed.
maser-tree,
from
as
its
bowls that were so prized is
in
and
veined
beautifully
collection of fine pieces of
it
name
old
the maple
for
is
wood were made
the maser-
the middle ages.
The wood and the
takes
a
made
into tables, cabinets,
polish,
fine
and
the like, was one of the hobbies of the wealthy connoisseurs
of ancient Rome.
The
foliage
is
golden-yellow
wood
Autumn
in the
colour,
particularly
in
maples,
evidence.
either
in
will
be
It
the Canadian " Fall "
recalled that the glory of
owing
of a somewhat
turns to a deep, clear,
makes the
that
hedgerow,
or
Summer
throughout the
sombre green, but
is
largely
kinds of Maples, and especially to
to the different
the Scarlet Maple, ^Acer rubrm^i.
The
of
leaves
the
elegant in form
;
Sycamore,
much
but
five-lobed,
indentations
between
form of the
leaves,
fruits, the
maple
in
something
smaller,
the
are
and
very
those of the
like
having much
From
leaves.
and
pairs,
the
deeper
beauty of
and the quaint charm of the winged
Maple was one of the
favourite subjects of the
14th Century carvers, and examples of
its
may
and other ornate
be freely
features
found
in
the
capitals
of the architecture of that date.
sometimes found thickly covered with the
work of
a mite that
little
decorative
The
use
leaves are
red excrescences,
burrows into the tissue of the
leaf with this result.
The borne
in
flowers erect
are
very small, greenish
clusters.
Some of
in
colour,
and
the blossoms in these
clusters are bi-sexual, while others are uni-sexual, staminate
or
pistillate
Summer.
alone.
The
They may be
fruits are ripe in
found
October,
in
when
the
early
they turn
Pr,ANE
PLANE
I S3
They
from green to reddish-brown.
we
form, as
are in
have already pointed out, while dwelling on those of the Sycamore, double samaras.
PLANE The
Plane
not a native of these
is
mentioned by the it
has
hanging on
the
only
being
Isles,
herbalists as a great rarity
earlier
planted so widely, and
now been
fruits,
(Platanus Orientalis)
its
'
but
curious spherical
boughs months
the
after
have disappeared, are so well known, that
leaves
claims from
it
us passing notice and an illustration, Plate XXIII. Botanically
is
it
the Platanus
name, coming
and
round, some will
signifies
some from
form of the
leaf,
tree
others
itself,
from
The
orientalis.
to us through the Latin, tell
is
Greek
us from the rounded
the rounded mass
the
round
generic
in its origin
made by
The
fruits.
tree
the is
mentioned by both Spenser and Milton, and by them called the platane.
The we
see,
plane
is
calls it
a tree
of
much
gracefulness of form.
" the beauteous plane," and
be said to be done justice to by those than a rounded mass. off
its
see in
it
no more
has a curious habit of throwing its
picturesque
In the Bible authorised in the reign of
King James
bark
effect.
It
who
IVlant,
can scarcely
it
in
large flakes
that adds
to
find a reference in Genesis xxx. 37, to the chestnut, but
we '
As, for instance, by Turner, in his Herbal of 1568.
"
I
have seene,"
two very young trees in England, which were called there Playn trees, whose leves in all poyntes were lyke vnto the leves of the Italian Playn tre. And it is doubtles that these two tres were either brought out of Italy, or of som farre countre beyond Italy, wherevnto the freres, monkes he says,
"
and chanoners went
a pilgrimage."
THE FRUITS Oh THE COUNTRY-SIDE
154
both this
the Septuagint
in
translated
is
Palestine,
root
and
its
life
in
as plane. The tree Hebrew name, Armon,
nakedness,
signifying
throwing off
and the English revised Version
The
clothing.
its
allusion
in
tree
most others, and
better than
is
knowledge of
this
habit
of
smoky town
bears
therefore often planted
In one case that
plant-life appears not to
we
whom
was done the vestrymen, with
this
in
derived from a
to
urban enclosures and thoroughfares.
know of where
abundant
is is
have been a strong
point, directly their planes began to shed their bark, issued
an indignant "whereas," offering a goodly reward for the detection of the offender.
The in
leaves, as
our
very pleasing
illustration shows, are
form, cut into deep segments, and having their margins
sharply indented.
The
curious enlargement at the base of
Soon
the leaf-stalk will be noted. the
leaves
flowers
They
appear.
small, the staminate flowers being
but
pistillate,
" buttons."^
each
In
centre.
The
the
air,
'
into in
very
individually
different stems to the
globular
number
catkins,
or
in each cluster
and are borne on long pendant will
be seen cut through the
seeds ripen in October or
November.
preventing plague and other epidemic diseases, while
of great remedial Gerard does
but he
on
are
opening of the
plane-tree has been held to be a great purifier of
the fruit, the leaves, as
five,
our figure one
stems.
The
collected
These buttons vary
from about two to
after the
tells
and the bark have efiicacy,
not, in 1597,
all
been regarded
from the mending of
mention the plane-tree as growing
in
a
cut
England,
us that the Surgeon of the Hercules^ of London, knowing his
interest in such matters, " brought
thereof," to him, from Lepanto.
one of these rough buttons, being the
fruit
HOLLY of the
saving
the
finger to
155
by
of those attacked
lives
deadly serpents or stung by scorpions.
According to Bacon, "
The
desire
to
value,
is
make
make
;
it
Fruitful!
fruitful,
it
" though
" though
;
reputed by
is
why one should
seeing that the fruit
Bacon
not apparent.
with the idea that he
Roots
Tree by "Wine
Irrigation of the plane
the Ancients to
Sylvarum, a.d. 1629,
his Sylva
in
is,
however, so
is
of no
far pleased
" It could be tried likewise with
says,
we could
hardly fancy, at
all
events in these
days of agricultural depression, a farmer giving out to his
men two dozen Seeds
it
of champagne for
and
absolutely
results as
failure
a
;
a
Vpon
statement
he brought the matter
and that the
to the test of experiment,
altogether
far
"
turnips.
worketh no great Effects," he says
seems to imply that thus
that
the
one
were not so
would have
anticipated.
HOLLY The
evergreen Holly, clad
and glossy
is
in
its
bright
deep
and bedecked abundantly with
foliage,
scarlet berries,
appreciated by
most beautiful
of our
(Ilex Aquifolium)
trees
;
all
green
brilliant
Nature-lovers as one
while,
in
addition to
this
inherent charm, there are the added associations that spring
from the part siastical
find the
and
it
plays in our Christmas observances, eccle-
social.
Even
Romans adorning
before the days of Christianity their
homes with
we
holly and other
evergreen foliage, since the great feast in honour of Saturn
Winter season
fell in
the
great
bunches
of
;
holly
neighbour presenting to neighbour in
token
of
good-will,
thus
antedating in their religious worship and kindly greeting
something
at
least
of the
spirit
of the glorious song of
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
iS6
Our
the angels at the birth of the Messiah.
hung
ancestors
the verdant boughs of the holly in their
dwellings, that the Sylvan spirits might,
rigour of Winter in shelter
welcome
a
old Teutonic
fleeing
from the
the storm-swept woods, find
The
resting-place.
early
in
its
Christians,
instead of striving to abolish ingrained customs, confirmed
them, but diverted their meaning, and so the
evergreen
boughs became the symbol of immortality, the expression of rejoicing pricking an
and
leaves
of symbolic
age
thorn,
the birth
in
the
of Christ
blood-red
while
;
foreshadowed,
berries
won through
ultimate triumph
in
ensanguined cross of
the
teaching,
the sharply-
and
suffering
death.
The
holly
in
Anglo-Saxon days was the holegan,
word which some would have us the leaves being hoi are not, their
or It
to
lists
the holly
Christ-thorn.
is
is
in
In
evidence.
often called hulver, holm, huU,
Botanically is
it
is
the
from the
Ilex
aquifolium.
Celtic ac^ a point,
one of those cases where we may
certainly
see the point.
much
margins are
spinous
has been suggested that Ilex
but this
This they certainly
edge.
all
from
though one must admit on handling them that
stiff
old plant
eege,
accept as derived
a
The
specific
name
is
fail
from the Latin
acus and folium, and, happily enough, refers to the spiny foliage of the holly.
Pliny
tells
around three
us
Tibertus
that
holly-trees,
them being considered
a
a
built
flight
the city of Tibur
of birds passing
most favourable omen.
over Pliny
declares that these trees were standing in his time, that he
had indeed seen them
;
but,
if
so,
they must have
been
something over twelve hundred years old, and that seems
4
HOLLT
HOLLY
may have struck Pliny, as being a few much for credence. The authority of
however
to us,
it
too
centuries
157
Pliny was so potent and so far-reaching that for centuries after his death
needed but to add "
it
the wildest statement, to secure for It
as
Pliny saith " to
complete acceptance.
it
was, therefore, almost a shock, even to ourselves,
we found
at least as the
meant
Raven
lives,
Authentick
is
;
which
a
is
many Lives
and
he's
Question the Authority of such
in
1693,
" as
long
very tough
liv'd
to last
periodical
his
Bird, and has ten times as
Credit
Mercury
Editor of the Athenian
the
declaring that he
when
as a Cat, if Pliny's
Sawcy
very
that dares
Reverend Old Boy
a
as
many Impertinent Dogmatical Upstarts have done very often of late, and we amongst the rest." that,
as
a
great
In England one rarely finds holly-trees size,
though
at
Claremont, in Surrey,
eighty feet high, and
in
becomes valuable when the and so the
tree
trees are felled.
of any great
one that stands
may be seen The timber
Forest
with a girth of eight or nine
several
size,
New
the
is
is
feet.^
of
any
The wood
considerable
is
very tough,
Save elrae, ash, and crab-tree for cart and for plough, Save step for a stile, of the crotch of the bough. Save hazel for forkes, save sallow for rake, Save hulver and thorne, thereof flail for to make.
The
flail
snuffers, but
now well-nigh as those who have heard is
obsolete its
as
a
pair
of
resounding blows on
"One that I know," says the author of Adam in Eden, " had a Holly Tree growing in his Orchard of that bignesse that being cut down he caused and made himselfe thereof a Coffin, and if I it to be sawn out in Boards, mistake not left enough to make his wife one also. But the parties were very corpulent, and therefore you may imagine that the Tree could not be small." '
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
iS8
the barn
floor
that the
wood
from morning it
was made of had need to be tough.
The wood of white as ivory. into
the holly
is
of very fine grain, and
works well on the
It
lathe,
as
and can be cut
veneers for the cabinet-maker, and at the time that
Tunbridge ware was an
night will readily reahse
to
demand was of
in
one reason being that
inlay,
on
very readily
its
white
great
value
as
took various stains so
it
surface,
and
could
thus
be
anything from holly to ebony that the mosaicist required. It
has been used, too, by the draughtsman on
box or
substitute for
patterns finds
work.
his special
make
branches
As
us
may
valuable for
At Tynyngham,
"Trees,
published in
the
year
1
843, fifty
from nine to thirteen
indeed
in
be seen two thousand nine hundred and nearly
two hundred years
In height they vary from ten to twenty five
ago.
feet in width.
These
and
feet,
are hedges
!
The
leaves of the holly vary greatly in their prickliness,
the foliage on free
for wall-paper
less
branched, and these
walking-sticks.
yards of holly hedges, planted
are
much
it is
as a
of the Earl of Haddington, Selby,
History of Forest
tells
a tree
excellent
in Scotland, the seat his
and the engraver
pear,
dense even surface no
its
wood
from
the younger shoots being almost or quite
spines, while
the older and lower branches are
clothed with foHage of very spinous character.
The upper
branches carry the less spiny foliage, and also the greater proportion of the flowers and see, affirms
that
"there be three
Holly Tree without prickly Leaves.
3.
Yet there be some
prickles.
affirme
we The
old writer,
of Holly,
sorts 2.
i.
The Holly-bush
The Holly-bush that
One
fruit.
with
with yellow Berries.
that
with
and without
HOLL Y The
prickles to be the same."
on the same
divers leaves
really not so great as
159
difference in
form between
though
holly-tree,
striking,
seven-lobed leaves of the ivy
when
climbing, and the
is
it
when
simple ovate form of foliage that crowns the plant has attained to the height of
ambition, and
its
it
climbing
Holly-leaves are very stout and rigid, of
days are over. a
its
is
five- or
between the acutely-pointed
deep dark green above, and lighter beneath, of a par-
ticularly glossy surface,
and of
a
very waved outline.
Holly-leaves contain an active principle termed Ilicine, that was
efficacy,
but
works on Materia Medica no mention is made It was for some little time strongly commended,
in later
of
once held to be of great remedial
it.
treatment of fevers, and as a tonic, but
especially in the
divers reasons, commercial and medical, led to
its
gradual
disuse.
The flowers of the holly are found in May, and June. They are small in size, white in colour, rather waxy in texture and effect, clustering many together in the axils of The corolla the leaves, and very popular with the bees. is
ordinarily
four-cleft,
but sometimes has
five
segments,
and the somewhat conspicuous stamens then follow being either four or five in number.
The
berries
are globular, and,
the bignesse of a to
little
quote Gerard, " of
to
much
Pease, or not
greater,"
but
be on the safe side we will say as large as a big Pease,
very smooth and shining, and, normally, of colour,
though
yellow, orange, think,
On
suit,
being
at
one
may
or white all
;
find
none of
so charming
opening a berry we
them,
as
a rich
under
these,
the
scarlet
cultivation,
we venture brilliant
to
scarlet.
find four hard nuts neatly packed
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
i6o
together, and each of these contains one seed.
many
thrushes, and
The human
Blackbirds,
other birds devour them with avidity.
be wise to avoid them, though
subject will
couple of centuries ago our forefathers held them
a
repute,
some
would appear than
they
drank,
the
without flinching.
any one
would
unless
kindly
Nature,
this
become the
the
Holly
is
at
one of the It
could
fibre
port
wine
live
with
these latter days fashion
of
victim
holly-
in
Ilexitis,
and warned him not to do lest
he became an awful
large, an interesting case in the
memory
wiles of the fowler.
ancestors
tougher
of
to his sorrowing friends.
trees that yields
bird-Hme for the
was made, according to the author
Jdam in Eden, by " putting the Barke of Holly hole made in moist, foggy ground, and covering it
of a
boughs of Trees, and some earth over which
be within a fortnight
Mortar
a
in
will
it
will
:
till
it
into
with
be putrified,
being afterwards beaten
become thick and clammy,
the filthinesse being cleared
and
and
being strongly emetic
berries
to his aid,
example to the world
in
wholesale
anything quite so foolish again,
text-books, a tender
they
imagine that
in
came
amount
by the
speedily
in their action,
of altogether
wall-papers
We
indulging
berries
been
judging
ourselves,
that
have
dose,
a
Our
for various ailments.
pills,
to
reckoned
being
ten or twelve
swallowed like
in great
therefrom
so
that
by often washing,
Oyle of Nuts added thereto
it will be as good made of Misseltoe, and being applyed with the Yolke of an Egge to any place that hath any
as
a little
that which
thorn, it is
prick,
is
or Splinter therein
it
dangerous to be used inwardly."
draweth
Why
it
forth,
but
any one should
ever think of applying bird-lime internally, to remove a
1
HOLLY thorn or anything bird-lime
we
There was
past.
lived
a
is
man
Ripley, our
near
The
one cannot imagine.
else,
fancy,
16
now very much
thing
a
use of
of the
in the
days of our boyhood
home
in
that
far-off
prided himself greatly on his bird-lime.
He
time,
told us
who who how
he one day spread some liberally along the top shoots of
garden
his
presently
hopelessly
hedge, and, hearing a tremendous
went
to
see
entangled,
when he appeared,
The how he had fared. made a supreme effort at
the
result
being
uprooted, and the last he saw of
by the birds out
off this
story to
it
that
was
in the direction of
be true
twittering,
it
his
its
birds,
escape
hedge was
being carried
Woking.
Assuming
speaks volumes for the strength
of his bird-lime.
II
—
CHAPTER
III
—
Meadow, the Stream Difficulty of Classification Yellow Iris Obedience in Nature to Law The Relief of Choler The Touch-me-not A North American Plant The Alder Amsterdam and Venice built thereon The Gladdon, or Foetid Iris The Elder Its Value in Medicine The laciniated Variety Bagpipes The Bilberry The Bleaberry The Cowberry, or red Whortleberry The
Plants of the Moorland, the
—The
—
—
— —
—
—
—
—
— " A Fruyt
—
—
—
—
—
—
Honor " The Butcher's Broom Thorn Apple A Remedy for Asthma The Henbane Skeletonising Leaves A Plant of Saturn Influence of Stars on Human Life The Writings of Matthiolus— The Dwale, or deadly Nightshade— Its Virulent Properties Atropine The Juniper The Biblical Tree so-called Its Employment in Distillation The Antidote of Mithridates Mistletoe Druidic Rites Forbidden in Churches Parasitic On what Trees found The Complcat Husbandman Pliny on Druidism Mistletoe growing in Westminster— How to grow Mistletoe Sir John Colbatch on Paley on Evidences its Medicinal Value— The Cross-leaved Mistletoe The Columbine What is an Indigenous Plant ? A Symbol of Design of Grief— The Scarlet Poppy— Buttercups— The Parsnip— The Sylva Sylvarum of Bacon Carrot, or Bird's-nest Cranberries The Bearberry The Crowberry Broom Shepherd's Needle Conclusion. Strawberry Tree
—
—
—
—
—
—
of small
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
WHILE
in
plants trees
—
— —
—
our
—
of the
of the woodland,
chapter
we
hedgerow, and it
—
—
—
first
—
— —
—
—
—
dealt mainly in the
with
second with
soon became abundantly evident
to us that such an attempt to discriminate and sort out
was only possible on the broadest possible an
aspiring
become
hedgerow
a tree of
shrub
being
quite
very respectable size
if
basis,
many
prepared
to
only the fateful ambitions
shears
would not
while,
on the other hand, some plants that are included
so persistently cut
162
short
its
;
INTRODUCTORY amongst our woodland
such
trees,
as the
found abundantly as constituents
The
living green.
captious
163
the farmer's walls of
in
there be such a person,
critic, if
might even declare that the regal oak of the
need not be sought for
forest,
many
being in
of roadside
blackberries
in the
at
the
or
fact,
will
acorns
as
that
yields.
it
and one can only plead
the skirting the
either
There
is
no
in extenuation
such difficulty of classification seems inevitable
that
all,
commonest
gather
easily
monarch
forest at
we ramble along
so that as
can
gainsaying the
the
itself,
parts of the country one of the
trees,
we
hedgerow
maple, are to be
and
;
rejoice,
moreover, that dear mother Nature does not pen
up her
treasures in sharp divisions, but gives us everywhere
a wealth
if in
and
of variety, beauty,
interest,
and acorns are both possible to us
berries
botanical
books they are many pages
In the present chapter
we propose
to
so that black-
even
at once,
apart.
deal with divers
other plants that scarcely belong to either of the preceding
groups
plants of the stream, the
;
and so
Yet here again we
forth.
need to plead for the greatest
we
be
such
shall
a
person,
freely
declaring
elasticity
we
have
shall
of treatment for
class
the
that
as flowers
of the
if
buttercup
resting-place
in
our
and forgotten long ere
there
or
meadow may
enough amongst the rank vegetation
foot of the hedgerow, a
that
having the brain-bound pedant,
be
campion that we found
feel
and an all-embracing charity from our readers,
ourselves,
or
meadow, the moorland,
the
be
at the
and should, therefore, have found first
this.
chapter,
and been read about
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
i64
YELLOW Whatever
IRIS
difficulties
Pseudacorus)
(Iris
may
of classification
yet be before
we shall, we think, be on entirely safe ground in commencing our new chapter with the Yellow Iris, the plant we figure in our twenty-fifth illustration, since, as a water-plant, it has never shown any desire to roam, bryony-wise, over the hedges, nor has it ever; been known to leave its aqueous home to compete on their own us,
ground with such
forest
giants
massive
the
as
oak or
the wide-spreading beech.
This yellow
iris
is
goodly company
plants, even in such
as the peerless water-
ever-welcome forget-me-not, the golden-flowered
the
lily,
one of our most graceful water-
buckbean,
loosestrife, the stately flowering rush, the quaint
and many another charming water or waterside plant that
we wander
springs to our thoughts as
some
placid stream,
floral
beauty that
Our
plant
and
rises
is
called
golden
recall
from
something of the wealth of waters or fringes
its
iris
imagination by
in
its
banks.
because, though always found
yellow
our
bearing
the
shows,
belongs to a genus having blossoms of the richest
it
variety of colours.
and
Iris is
flower
the
that
Greek word
three
hundred and
these beautiful
have borne
fifty
flowers,
this
sweet flag or sedge. ;
so that
we
who
of plants somewhere about
years before
of Christ,
the birth
so full of rich variety of colour,
expressive
pseudacorus, from the
Calamus
this family
for the rainbow,
of Theophrastus,
in all the centuries since the days
bestowed the name on
illustration
name.
Greek word
Its
for false,
This sweet sedge arrive at
specific
this
in
and
turn
is
point, that
name
is
acorus, the
the Acorus the yellow
YELLOW FLAW
YELLOW mis so far at least as
iris,
the sweet sedge, but
still
and any one who so
all,
acorus
was
foliage
its
ailment of the eye, for which a
remedy,
it
optical
relief
wrong
plant,
names
it
As
falsely.
it
this
from two Greek words signifying an
so-called
was
concerned, looks like
not the sweet sedge after
is
it
calls
is
165
plant was held to be
this
distinctly important
should
be
not
and thus the
putting
faith
their
the
in
on
has had tacked
iris
needing
those
that
to
its
poetic title this very prosaic after-note of warning.
A
good old English popular name
and for any other this
of
name
its
for this yellow
wild or cultivated,
iris,
the flag, and
is
members
derives from the gaily-coloured outer
it
perianth floating in
the
on some
like banners
air,
iris,
great day of festival, our ancestors delighting in pageantry,
and suspending, their
token of rejoicing, rich hangings from
in
and casements, and
balconies
seeing
these
in
Any
flowers a suggestion of these suspended flags.
by the way, who hung out
would be regarded suspicion,
as
is
it
by
a
iris
one,
yellow flag to-day
noble
fellow-townsmen with grave
his
the quarantine signal, and implies that
within the building or ship so distinguished some infectious
and deadly
visitant has
The yellow Britain at
the
iris
edges
found
may
be
it
distinctly
so
pleases,
flowers,
repay
found
abundantly
in
all
over
marsh land, and
of some two
feet.
in
Curiously
bears transplantation excellently well from these
watery with
conditions,
and
visit,
will
flourish,
our choice pelargoniums,
and many other things
the
home.
of streams,
ditches, attaining to a height
enough,
a
or
habitat of the yellow
settle iris.
that
happily
one
phloxes, wall-
would
down
if
in
certainly not
the
natural
1
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
66
The
leaves of the
flower-bearing stems
In
the flag.
:
Germany
the water sword-lily.
iris
stand
stiff
the plant If
is
bunch of
a
Iris
we
includes several buds,
we put our gatherings
if
The same
flowers.
with the buds
for,
it
buds continue to develop, and they presently
into water, these
expand into
drawn around
the Wasser Schwertliliey
we gather
no matter how immature,
around the
erect
the guarding swords
be well advised to see that
shall
and
may be
thing
of the dog-rose and the
noticed
With
field-rose.
either of these three plants, the pleasure of their possession
may
be
made much more
by gathering not merely
lasting
the open flowers that fade on the morrow, but by taking insure a pleasant
steps to
The
flowers are of conspicuous beauty and quaintness
of form,
being
perhaps, without call
succession of them.
something rather outside what we may disrespect
many
to
the ordinary type of blossom,
These
iris
blossoms have their parts
pendant members of the perianth
much
smaller than these and erect
;
;
beautiful
flowers,
the saucer-like in threes
:
form.
three large
three inner members, three petal-like stigmas
alternating with this second series, and each arching over its
special
fruit that
numerous
capsule, the
succeeds these, green in colour, and containing
pale-brown
seeds,
conforms
numerical law, being three-celled, and centre
The
one of the three stamens.
would be found
to be three-sided.
equally if
to
cut across If
we
start
this
the
with
the idea of an equilateral triangle, and then substitute for
each angle a rounded form, the form of the fruit
When
when
we
shall get
very
fairly close to
subjected to this cross-section.
the seeds are mature this capsule opens from above
downwards
into three valves, so that the seeds are revealed
YELLOW sight
to
IRLS
167
As
and presently dispersed.
the
scarcely
fruit
begins to put in an appearance until after the flowers have
many who have been blossoms may have failed to
by
attracted
ceased,
the
notice
yellow
its
plant
this
in
stage.
later
Nature,
we need
scarcely
say,
rigidly obedient
while
to law, system, and order, and altogether out of sympathy
with
charming variety
while
and,
;
mathematical
with
the happy-go-lucky,
and
casual
the
precision
geometrician
the
the designer, having drawn one half of
it,
Nature
declines
We
rigid.
would venture
find in a
hundred gathered
unity
be
;
at
there
say that
to
alike
in
size,
is
is
no
less
and
if
takes a
unto
like
conditions
so
we sought
to
tree,
Nature
in
out
lays
leaf,
of
veining, and outline
random from any
There
vain.
in
variety
in
bound within
be
to
two leaves exactly
would
.his
and makes the other half
piece of tracing paper
full
triangle,
equilateral
his
also
is
a
our quest wonderful
a
wonderful variety
in unity.
The
farmer in these
latter
days,
either
by hay, good
pasturage, or well-grown crops of swedes, turnips, or other roots,
is
able to feed his stock without going outside the
store that his earlier
meadows
or arable land will yield
him
;
but in
days outside help had often to be invoked, and then,
amongst many other things never thought of nowadays, the
leaves
of the
iris
were gathered, dried, and carried
off to supplement the store of fodder.
our forefathers found, else
for
that grew,
thatching,
seeds,
divers
or
for
as they
uses the
for
Apart from
this,
did for almost everything the
seating
iris,
using
of chairs,
coffee-fashion, as a beverage,
and
also,
its
leaves
roasting
its
of course.
1
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
68
applying
it
to
medicinal use, an application
overlooked
in
the
We
accordingly
astringent root,
divers
find
standing,
and
humanity,
afflict
continue
will
washed and stamped with and
plaister-wise
laid
doth
two dayes
in
do
vpon
we
the
fear,
The
drops
of
face
this a
old times
men were face, in
Rose-water,
woman,
or
One seems
delicately-worded hint that even
ness on the
cleane
the most take away the blacknesse
at
or blewnesse of any stroke or bruse." in
root
man
of
ills
notwith-
iris
"
so.
few
a
relief
and various other
which,
to
very
its
vogue for the
in
of toothache, dropsy, pneumonia, that
" virtues."
of
preparations
and seeds
leaves,
rarely indeed
of a plant's
consideration
brutal and
some
circles
women
a
good
those
in
aggravating
of society
to see
;
black-
uncommon
not
complaint, suggesting that the peaceful current of family
had become somewhat
life
had sprung up.
ruffled
In such case another
would be a preparation of the same
the
doth
by some breeze that
mightily
root,
and
good
application
for " the
vehemently
iuyce
draw
of
forth
choler."
TOUCH-ME-NOT If
with the
our riverside the yellow
Wey
or
stroll
colour and
foot
a
a
or
so
American
mysterious way has River
Wey, and
banks of very
shall
balsam-like flower, orange-red in
luxuriant riverside herbage.
North
contact
in
the
some portion of the Thames, we found
a
brought us
that
chanced to be along
iris
probably have
fulva,
(Impatiens Fulva)
in
height,
rising
amidst the
This would be the Impatiens plant
thoroughly
really,
that
established
in
itself
some in
the
the Basingstoke Canal, and other water-
TOUCH-ME-NOT
169
courses that communicate with them, and has itself
from the mouth of the
found is
as
far
down
Impatiens and
most appropriate, open,
bursts
on the its
touch
slightest
seeds
It
botanical
Its
name Touch-me-not
popular
its
for
scattering
The
energy.
Thames, being
into the
stream as Chiswick.
annual of succulent habit.
a freely-seeding
name
Wey
greater
the
now extended
the
abroad with
are fruit
startling
of which the outer wrapping of
five valves
the capsule consists, at once then twist themselves tightly into a spiral form.
Our home for many years Wey, the touch-me-not was a as
the
iris
and
itself,
compressed
the
known to us days we must have
plant as well
our boyish
in
of these
tips
being on the banks of the
times
capsules
beyond
all
numerical computation, to see them thus start into vigorous oblivious
quite
action,
that
we were
treating in this
ceremonious fashion so distinguished a stranger. later on,
some one once bringing us
In reaching out to gather
tion.
off a
mossy old
trusted
interested
the touch-me-not, a
Another
It
As
species, in
to
its
its
This seeker
after
know
the
name
that
to
in
plant
was
called
found
be considered a native plant.
same curious and
near relative, the
is
various parts of England.
name from beginning
the
in
knowledge was,
that they probably never forgot.
damp woods
botanical
exhibits
that of
had slipped
the Impatiens noli-me-tangere,
has very slight claim
fruit
their foot
trunk that they had too implicitly
tree
over six feet of water.
sometimes
We recall,
a piece for identifica-
and they were there and then immersed
to,
naturally,
it
un-
/.
to
end implies,
startling
fulva.
its
elasticity as
;
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
170
ALDER While we can
more
our
torrents and
mountain streams
more
streams
placid
charm of
own
their
The
meadows.
of the
to
by the
have a tranquil
south, that
they wind amidst the low-lying
as
somewhat
is
stiff,
formal, lacking the picturesqueness
a little trees,
when
rushing
the
north, or
ramification of the alder
and the growth of many of our
of the
own
added charm
greatly
a
its
often,
it
found fringing
whether
scenery,
river
the Alder on
attractive trees,
gives
masses,
large
in
regard
scarcely
merits as one of our
found
(Alnus Glutinosa)
but
masses of dark foliage contrast
its
admirably with the lighter green of the willows and black poplars that
ordinarily
are
which form
situations,^
occasionally
than
a small tree.
companions
habitat.
its
It
be
found
found
be
ordinarily con-
is
where there
but thrives best
water-logged
in sodden,
land, in moist woods, fringing ditches spots,
the watery
anything from a mere shrub to
this,
may
in
may
It
or sixty feet high, but
fifty
siderably less
its
and such-like aqueous is
some
little
current
and movement of the water. It if
we
times
is
one of the commonest of our indigenous
only seek it
was
in its
it
in
a
our word alder later
date '
In Anglo-Saxon
proper domain.
the ^/r, alr^ or aler^ orthography in
days having a licence that
for
is
is
trees
now denied
to
it.
The
those " "
d
supposed to have been inserted
the sake of
euphony
;
but
other
The shooter eugh, the broad-leaved sycamore, The barren plaintaine, and the walnut sound The myrrhe that her foul sin doth still deplore Alder, the owner of all vvaterish ground.
at
folks
:
Fairfax.
ALDER
ALDER seem
171
get
on very happily without
Scotland
the
Eller, while
Denmark
the Elle, in
to
Botanically
Roman name, and may
the generic Celtic a/,
title,
be found
this
the Aulne^ in
is
Al, and in Italy the
Alnus
in
Aim.
its
is
old
the writings of Pliny
Some more modern
most natural reason
writers,
for the use of
profess to find a derivation for
it
near, and Ian, a river, or even go to a
source, aelon, a
The
the tree being in
it
Alnus glutimsa.
and other ancient authors. however, ignoring
it,
France
Sweden the
the
is
it
in
in the
Hebrew
word meaning vigorous.
leaves of the alder are of very rounded form, and
have their edges serrated the
sticky
to
"The
leaves
;
when young they
touch, hence
of this
the says
tree,"
name
specific
an
are decidedly glutinosa.
old writer, "are in
shape somewhat like the Hasell, but they are blacker, and
more wrinkled, very clammie
to
and sombre green and retain other trees are bedecked in
The
handle,
They
were sprinckled with honie."
as
this colour while
all
though they
are of a
very dark
most of the
the splendours of
Autumn.
stamen-bearing catkins of the alder are produced
about the middle of September, and then await the arrival
of the
pistil-bearers in the following Spring.
In the males
the catkins are built up of three-lobed scales, each protecting three flowers, and each flower having four stamens. catkins are of considerable length, and,
when
These
fully matured,
are cylindrical, pendent,
and of a dark red colour.
earlier stage, as seen in
the upper part of our illustration,
Plate erect.
XXVI., they
are
somewhat
tapering,
In the
and more or
less
In the pistil-bearing catkins the scales are slightly
three-cleft,
and each sheltering two
flowers.
These catkins
are small, barely an inch in length, and ovate in form.
They
——
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
172
ultimately
become woody, very
and remain on the is
like diminutive
tree long after the seeds
are shed.'
It
of their history that we see them represented
in this stage
the lower portion of our drawing.
in
fir-cones,
The
red of
rich
their earlier days becomes ultimately a dull brownish-black.
The wood
of the alder
almost imperishable
damp conditions. This valuable
continuously under
was well known
is
the
to
ancients,
passages
as
if
kept
property Virgil,
in
Vitruvius, and other classic authors, abundantly testify.
The
employed
land,
Dutch have both
largely
dykes and
in their
as the substructure
of Amsterdam and other of again, rises
from
of alder.
piles
charcoal, so that
of gunpowder. size,
it
is
their
towns are reared.
Venice,
Its
wood,
makes exceptionally good
too,
largely cultivated for the manufacture
it is
When
the
with
wood
of any considerable
is
cabinet-makers,
the
as
it
is
and under ordinary conditions takes
its
The whole
share in various rustic requirements.
very astringent, and
its
tanning leather, and
bark has
in
though
in
these
materials are readily available.
little
latter It
plant
Is
consequence been used
for the preservation
and cordage, and has had some purposes,-
on which much
lagoon on foundations that are largely
beautifully veined,
in
watery
its
repute
in
their
in
it
of fishing-nets
repute
days
was held
for
more
dyeing efficient
to be of virtue
as a tonic in the treatment of agues and intermittent fevers,
'
The blossome
or floures are like the aglets of the Birch tree
being vaded, there foUoweth a scaly as a Pigeons egge, which toward
out and 2
is lost.
:
which
growing together, as big
Autumne doth open and
the seed falleth
Gerard.
The barke
course
fruit closely
is
much vsed
cloth, cappes, hose,
serveth very well.
of poore
and such
Gerard.
country Diers, for the
like into a black colour,
dying of
whereunto
it
GL ADDON and
the boots of the
put into
leaves
Its
173
were
traveller
thought to preserve him from becoming footsore and to give him great power of endurance.
GLADDON The
Gladdon, or
of the
fruit
twenty-seventh
subject of our
Fcetidissima)
(Iris
foetid
of
yellow
the
flag,
plant
a
This gladdon,
illustration.
the Iris fcetidissima of the botanist,
a very near relative
is
has
that
forms the
Iris,
engaged
recently
our attention, and which may be found figured
XXV. force
It
of
is
All
character.
while
less
where
scientific
this,
some persons,
heap the most
no
its
superlative
Latin
districts
stinking
the
vituperation,
noticed that in
of a
some country
in
name
however, gifted
is
will
it
express
obnoxious
its
a
sense
fine
upon
it,
of smell, perhaps
others,
discriminating, and of a finer charity to see
compare
possible,
Whereat one can only tastes are
found
when the While
plant
the
its
is
odour
recall
the
This
to differ.
be
a little uncalled for, for
with
slighting epithets
and
full
nothing but the strength
to
suffices
with
called,
iris,
Plate
in
to
good
that of roast beef.
reminder of how
old
vilified
odour only
arises
bruised.
yellow flag
streams the gladdon
is
a
prospers by the
of our
sides
lover of the woods and
pastures.
many parts of the south and west of England, but becomes much rarer as we travel north, The particular specimens we and finally disappears. we have figure we obtained from the Isle of Wight It
is
abundant
in
;
also seen
elsewhere.
it
plentifully in
Dorsetshire,
Somersetshire, and
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
174
The gladdon a
flowers
May, and
in
these
by the
succeeded
rather dull violet-blue, are
flowers,
of
capsules.
on ripening, cleave into three valves and reveal
These,
the brilliant orange seeds that render the plant so especially
Autumn.
attractive in the
ELDER The
(Sambucus Nigra)
XXVIII., we represent
Elder, of which, on Plate
the rich clustering fruit, will
doubtless be familiar to
all
our readers, sometimes pressed into the farmer's service
hedge-making
as
independence
When a
and
arborescent
gnarled
and
material,
aspiring
and venerable
the
to
much
is
it
others living a
at
warrant.
Such
matters,
and
branched,
when
appearance,
an exposed position, that perhaps
its
however,
of
dignity
but
aged
as
the
tree.
has
often in
not quite
relative,
may
an elder, the twentieth of the age of an oak,
of
a
growing
age does
are
life
and be as
monarch himself, and sinking beneath the
The
weight of years.
wood of
old
the elder
curiously
is
hard, while the younger stems are in their interiors
mere
pith.
These stems,
so
readily
hollowed,
we need
scarcely
remind those who were once boys, or those happy maidens
who the after
are erst all,
was not, perilous
blessed with
valued
pop-gun.
ignorant
on
If
for
he
shot
out of an
elder
and Fletcher,
in
in
doe against
Philaster,
also
raw material of
any of our readers Shakespeare,
point,
this
what says
private displeasure can
are the
brothers,
Henry
V.}
—
at
are, least,
" That's
a
gunne, that a poore and a
monarch."
introduce
this
Beaumont hedgerow
ELDKR
—
—
ELDER artillery
—
" If he
back
not
give
the report of an elder-gun
an
old
belief
that
hang himself upon.'
to
elder,"
crown
his
Spenser speaks of
and we find many uncanny
It
Judas
elder-tree
it
upon
again,
haue no augury."
I
was an
it
175
was
selected
as " the bitter
around
beliefs centring
the tree.
The
may
elder
old walls
-
as
support, and that
it
may
vigorously on
seems to have a great power of adaptability,
it
and to need
seen growing
often be
root-hold
little
we need often
for
scarcely
its
remind our readers anew
encountered
be
and
nourishment
as
a
hedgerow
plant.
It
cannot, however, under these circumstances be considered
a
very great
success,
growth
open
generally
as
long,
its
too
offer
and
branches
pliant
resistance
little
to
marauders.
The plant it is
elder
lists
is
indigenous and
as the ellen,
the Siireau^ while
Sauco
;
its
found
is
in the
Italian title,
Sambuco
and the Portuguese, Sabugueiro, are
derived from the old Latin name, Sambucus. tell
us that this Latin word
reputed '
to
Look
first
you, he
hang on. *
finder shall
of
the
is
but,
be your Judas, and you
all
evidently
Some would
without
shall
be
undue elder-tree
his
out of his humour."
The Ancients have affirmed that there Which may be, for that it
out of Stone
the Spanish,
;
derived from Sambyx, the
plant,
Ben Jonson, "Every man
earliest
In France
ellam, or eller.
ellarn,
;
bin found in the Middle of a Free-Stone.
are is
We
some Herbs that grow that Toads have
certaine
see also that Flints, lying
upon the Ground, gather Mosse And Wall-Flowers, and some other Flowers, grow vpon Walls But whether vpon the Maine Bricke, or Stone, or whether out of the Lime or Chinkes, is not well obserued For Elders and Ashes have beene scene to grow out of Steeples But they manifestly grow out of Cleftes. And besides it is doubtfuU, whether the Mortar it selfe putteth it forth, or whether some Seeds be not let fall by Birds. Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum, 1629. :
:
:
:
—
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
176
depreciation of his discovery,
would imagine, find
would be
one
as difficult,
to indicate the time or place of this striking
who
say
to
as
Others have
stone.
it
first it
discovered
a
name
is
that the
rook or
a
flint
derived from the
sambucus, a primitive musical instrument which some would
strung like a guitar, but which seems more
us was
tell
probably to have been of bag-pipe type, that had
made out of hollowed
elder-stems, but
it
pipes
its
much more name to
is
probable that in such a case the plant gave the the instrument than that the reverse took place. a
is
pretty problem to be
stake
being
sambucus
.''
— Did or,
the
threshed
sambucus
give
called
knotty question
is
settled there
sambucus
was of bag-pipe type, could
The
from the sambucus
of
to
the
this idea,
was
When
this
^
remains yet another
all
it
—
leaflets
be truthfully
^ .?
and
One
a terminal.
where the
variation
consist of
two
lateral pairs
occasionally finds a very
leaflets
deeply
are
cut
very numerous and irregularly formed segments, it
is
technically
example of our
called,
this in a
illustrations,
The
We
laciniated.
found
into
or,
a
as
good
hedge near Worthing while preparing
but the form
is
so entirely abnormal that
one could not well here introduce '
If the
leaves of the elder are, as our illustration shows,
of pinnate form, and ordinarily curious
name
its
the sambucus so
described as a musical instrument at
it
out, the question at
on the other hand, discarding
really
Still,
Lincolnshire bag-pipes.
a very simple sort of Musick, being
I
it.
Gerard, in
1633,
beheld these as most ancient, because
little
more than an Oaten pipe improved
with a bag, wherein the imprisoned wind pleadeth
melodiously for the
what agility it inspireth the heavy heels of the Country Clowns, probably the ground-work of the poetical fiction of dancing Satyrs. Fuller. Inlargement thereof.
It
is
incredible with
—
ELDER and
figures
Elder tree
describes
groweth
this,
declaring
the
like
177
" the jagged
that
common
Elder
body,
in
branches, shootes, pith, floures, fruit, and stinking smell,
and
which doth
difFereth onely in the fashion of the leaves,
much disguise the tree, and put it out of knowledge, that no man would take it for a kinde of Elder vntill he so
hath smelt thereunto, which will quickely shew from whence
he
descended
is
Elder leaues are very
for these strange
:
much jagged, rent or cut euen vnto the middle rib." The flower clusters of the elder are generally branched,
and
five-lobed
flowers.
persons
is
plants are
To of
very numerous creamy-white,
of
consist
These have an odour
very objectionable, and
many
that to
when
especially
and thickly covered with
numerous,'
five-
the
flowers.
this
abundance of blossom succeeds an equal profusion
fruit,
small individually, globular, and of a deep purple-
black.
The stems
crimson
colour,
and
season
with
this,
by the
foliage touched
great
this
at
fiery
is
varying
fingers of
mass of luscious-looking
colour-harmony that
the
tints
Autumn,
The
of wine, that so have had years
ago,
no is
Worlidge, in dated 1675
far as
care
to
his
preparation.
them
a sort
Mystery
—makes
of
we made many
serves,
It
this,
since
curious that
is
Husbandry— onr
no mention of
edition
of a '
Foreiner,
wines, which
is
though he greatly
" Syder " " to lessen that great consumption
commends make of French
rich
house-
renew an acquaintance
horrible
a
our recollection
a
rustic
gathers these berries and prepares from
wife
of the
plus the in
results
berries,
very attractive.
deep
of a
often
are
we drink
to
we
the enriching
the impoverishing of our selves, and the
The bank where
flowering Elders crowd.
Thompson,
" Spring."
12
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
178
great prejudice of our healths, especially by the corroding
and greatly commends "
Claret,"
Wine
of Plums, Rasberry
Wine, Wine of Currans," and other home-grown beverages.
The the
elder has
various
forefathers,
parts
been
of
held of great the
generation
tree
being
generation,
after
medicinal
by our
extolled as
repute,
curing almost
"
The Decoction of the Root of Elder in Wine," affirms the author of that delightful book, Adam in Eden, " cureth the Biting of Venemous Beasts, as also of a mad the berries boyled in Wine perform the same Dogge the Haire of the Head washed therein is made effects The luyce of the green Leaves applyed to the black.
everything.
;
:
Inflammation of the Eyes asswageth them, and the Leaves
boyled
till
they be tender, then mixed with Barly meale
asswageth inflammations in any other part, helpeth places that are burnt with fire or scalded with water,
and easeth
the paines of the Gout, being beaten and boyled with the tallow of a Bull or Goat, and
Powder of taken in
Wine
abate and I
give
the seedes
you
warme
for certaine dayes together
consume the all
layd
The
thereto.
prepared in Vinigar and then
first
flesh
is
a
meanes to Should
of a corpulent body.
the Vertues of Elder at large
I
should
exceed the usuall Limits of a Chapter, and therefore
much I
shall
only give you a Brevias of them, and referre you to that
Martin Blockwich where you may
learned peece of Dr. satisfie
yourselfe
perfectly
hardly a Disease from the It is
profitable for the
Hypocondriack Catarrhes,
to the
Foot but
There it
is
cures.
Head-ach, for Ravings and Wakings,
and
Mellancholly,
the
Faintnesse,
and
Deafenesse,
young shoots boyled
of euery particular.
Head
like
Falling-sicknesse,
Feavours.
The
Asparagos, and the young Leaves
BILBERRY and Stalkes boyled
in
179
broth dravveth
fat
forth
mightily
Choler, and so do the tender Leaves eaten with Oyle and
About
Salt."
the
plant
to
the best medicinal use
nowadays
the
is
we seem
fabrication
able to put
of elder-flower
water as a pleasant cooling application to inflamed or weak eyes.
BILBERRY
On
(Vaccinium Myrtillus)
open moorlands and bleak commons, up to some
four thousand feet above
profusion
the
Bilberry,
little
Several early writers speak of
Heath, and it
may
it
abundance
in
found
especially
swept moorland
Surrey
so
much
thickly covered with
box, and flowers, berries,
little,
at
first
bloom, but
this
Myrtillus.
being found on
Hampstead
and
We
greater.
To
It is
these
more
but a small plant,
turn succeed the
in
is
when
to a great extent lost
stains
The
fruit has a
the lips
;
From
a
the children,
thousand and
very pleasant acid
but, refreshing as the
when picked and eaten on much better when cooked.
times called buUberries.
These
arc covered with a beautiful
berries are
common name
is
green, then red, and finally, black.
when growing
and deeply
bitten they are
it
small leaves not unlike those of the
bring them to market.
they are
have met with but
Sussex,
" going bilberrying," gather them by the
taste,
in
delicate-looking, waxen, bell-like, drooping
of a pale pink.
ripened berries
find
the north, where the extent of wind-
in is
its
often
Vaccinium
the
occur there.
still
in
may
the sea, one
the mountain side,
They
certain
are
crispness
some-
when
sometimes called crackberries, while another is
whortleberry, sometimes contracted and
corrupted into hurts.
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
i8o
Would our
readers
themselves
place
beneath
our
guidance we could readily show them in abundance these " hurts " in the wild moorland districts around Leith
HiU, the highest eminence gloriously
the
sea
as
goodly
of Windsor,
how
Windsor chimnies
maids
as
Painters,
should include a
whortleberries,
is
—"
bloom on the
fruit
thou leap
there
shalt
In
;
Adam
in
Cricket,
pinch
the
Eden we read
" an excellent Medicine, for those that old Cough, but
are troubled with an
those that have a
direction
Shakespeare, in the Merry Wives
blue as bilberries."
that the berries are
one
Hill.
to the
refers
stroll
welcome
these
Hurts
be recalled
It will
to
as
in
pleasant possibilities of reaping
its
all
of
harvest
known
locally
having
and our
horizon,
its
Surrey, a breezy land of
in
prospects,
to what, with
visit
a
extensive
weak Stomach they
to colour Paper
and Cards,
if
they be eaten by
much offend do make a kind
will
it.
of
Purple blew colour, putting thereto some Allome and Galls,
whereby they can make
Some poor
folk
it
and sadder
lighter
do take a Pot
full
as
they please.
of the juyce strained,
whereunto an Ounce of Allome, four spoonfulls of good
Wine the
Vinegar, and a quarter of an
Copper
being
forgings,
put
they
therein, letting
it
their
lie
for a
the wast of
put together and
together into this Liquor, whilst
too hot,
Ounce of
it
is
boyled
all
reasonable, but not
Cloth,
Wool, Thred, or Yarn
good
while, which being taken
out and hung up to dry, will have the like Turkey blew colour
:
and
thereunto, in
Poor Gauls
!
if
they would have
the
In
it
sadder, they will put
boyling, an
Ounce of broken Gauls."
the
school-boy days,
far-off
when we
were wrestling with desar de Bella Gallico, we bore them
—
BLEABERRY— COWBERRY scant affection, but
bad as
this
we never wished them
uliginosum.
somewhat
It
and
later,
from
the
by
readily
fruit
flavour.
be
dis-
In
foliage.
its
smooth on each
but
last,
The
berries.
may
It
bilberry
bilberry the leaves are
the Bleaberry,
scarcely so acid in
is
same grey bloom.
has the
tinguished
is
very similar to the
is
and rather larger
smaller flowers
ripens It
(Vaccinium Uliginosum)
closely allied plant to the bilberry
Vaccinium has
a fate quite so
!
BLEABERRY
A
i8i
the
and toothed
side
along their margins, while in the present plant they have
downy, glaucous under-surface, and
a
broken by ground,
As
serrations.
it is
sometimes
the bleaberry
" Blae "
birds.
pinched,
a
is
and these
down
because of the blue-grey
COWBERRY
a
word meaning berries
that
is
are
cluster
of
and of pale fruit, a
much
is
the
Cowberry
little
May
and June, bears
bleaberries
V. Vitis Idcea.
like
In September
flesh colour.
the
harsh
at its
is
short
extremity
campanulate flowers, of waxen texture,
we
many-seeded, globular berry, and
somewhat state,
in
livid,
upon them.
stem, as befits a mountain and moorland plant,
and sturdy, and,
Both
(Vaccinium Vitis Idcea)
Yet another Vaccinium Its
found on marshy
food to the grouse and other
north-country
blue-looking,
is
bog whortleberry.
called the
these plants supply valued
margins un-
their
perhaps
and
better-known bitter
but when the fruit
is
to
made
the
find the ripened
scarlet in
colour
cranberry.
It
taste
in
its
;
is
fresh
into jelly, or otherwise
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
i82
under the hands of
passes
palatable
and acceptable.
compact
in
From
The
growth, branching
clusters of flowers
cook,
the
plant
an evergreen, very
is
freely,
becomes very
it
and has
numerous
its
pendant from the ends of the branches.
the colour of
its
fruit
it
sometimes
is
called the
red whortleberry.
The meaning of but
absolutely clear,
Vaccimum^
the generic name,
has
it
not
is
been reasonably supposed to
have been somehow corrupted from the Latin Baccinia, a
word meaning
a
plant
names of the
specific
Id^ea, are
like leaves
Mount
because the bleaberry
;
and
Vitis
:
wherefore,
call
last
is
a plant of the
we cannot
;
say.
(Arbutus Unedo)
two plants that we have referred
in the great bleak
marshes
the cowberry the Vine of
STRAWBERRY-TREE sought
The
freely.
bestowed because the bilberry has very myrtle-
Ida
The
berries
plants, Myrtillus, uliginosus,
Linneus chose to
because
bears
that
to
must be
moorlands and on the rocky slopes
of northern England, or Wales, or away, farther north yet,
Our
amongst the mountain scenery of Scotland. the Strawberry-Tree, the Arbutus Unedo, it
in a truly
wild
Here, however, to the
state, entails a visit to the it
is
charm of the
in
and other authorities
next plant,
we would
scenery, delightful as that
entirely
accept
being indigenous to Ireland, but
the south of Europe, and
it
it
see
west of Ireland.
abundance, and contributes is,
much
around
Hooker, Bentham,
Glengariff and the lakes of Killarney.
as
if
the is
strawberry-tree
seen at
its
best in
has been suggested that in a
past long since forgotten, one result, maybe, of a pilgrimage.
STRA WBERR Y-TREE summons
or of a
may have
Rome,
to
introduced
it
asserted
a
right to a place in our Flora.
its
The
itself in
down, and gradually
settled
it,
83
monks of Mucross Abbey
the
and the plant, finding
;
and climate congenial to
soil
1
flowers of the
August, the
strawberry-tree
fruit ripening in the
following
produced
are
Summer.
in
These
flowers are of a pale greenish-white often tinged with pink,
and grouped
in clusters at the
form much
in
the
like
They
ends of the stems.
bells
of a heath, or of the
are lily
of the valley.
The
berry
of a crimson red colour," globular, and of
is
a curiously granulated surface,
On
glance, a strawberry.
a
arbutus
our
When Isle,
with
laden
to
tree
find
a
and gardens, merely
1640, that "
arbutus
the
in is
too
name of the inference
to be at
to be
berries, as
we
came
to us
reign
all
from Ireland "
of Charles
II.,
neglected by us
common and
plant
the
is
that
the
known.
Parkinson
Theatrum Botanicum, published
his
being
The
fruit."
it
XXIX.,
writes of " the
Ovid
fruit.
find
Plate
place in our English shrubberies
see, in
much
which grows so
we
are pendant.
welcome
it
across
have, in
at a casual
was brought across from the Emerald
seems not
we
says,
writing
blushing
illustration,
the
it
We
drawing of the foliage and
see in
in
cutting
and many-seeded.
five-celled
and suggesting,
;
declares
making
naturally
Cain's
globular
while Evelyn,
;
in
Apple,
that
that a rarity
Ireland.
the
crimson
" the
One
unpleasant
fruits
are
a
reminder of the life-blood of the murdered Abel.
Though its
the
fruit
is
sometimes eaten, no
strawberry-like appearance
called
by various
critics
sufllices
to save
harsh, tasteless,
it
hint
as to
from being
unpalatable,
most
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
i84
mawkish, vapid, and is
a fruyt
of small honor."
"it
Turner, in 1568, says
insipid. It
is,
however, not by any means
and other
despised by the thrushes, blackbirds,
feathered
Pliny, Dioscorides, and other early writers warn
visitors.
their disciples against eating the fruit too freely.
Very few " vertues writer, however,
from
distilled
goes
so
far
leaves
its
as to
"
is
sacred
a
plea for recognition to our gratitude
Why does not
two
If this be alone
it is
surely ample.
Romans called the strawberry-tree the arbutus ^ They also called it the unedo, and these appear. names have been placed
the present botanical
names
name of
Both these
the plant.
by Pliny, and he explains the
are used
a case of unus, one, and
need-o
edo,
The singularly its
eat,
that
little
that being
all
it
you-
Butcher's
Broom,
(Ruscus Aculeatus)
Ruscus
on
aculeatus,
though
modest and retiring looking from the duU green
stems and
foliage,
is
a plant of considerable interest,
from the peculiar position of the rising
by
latter
!
BUTCHER'S BROOM
of
I
and
in juxtaposition
declaring that the fruit appeals to one's taste so is
and
preservative
the
classical
made
old
water
a
declare that
antidote against the plague and poisons." its
One
" are ascribed to the tree.
a short stalk
flowers appear in April, pistil-bearing.
They
from the centre of the
are diminutive in size
Horace, for instance, has the \mt" N7inc vindi membra
its
blossom
The
leaf.
some being stamen-bearing, others
stretched beneath the verdant arbutus. resting-place derives
the
flowers,
The
reference to
force from the shade-giving
and of stih its
a dull
arhuto stratus"
desirabihty as a
powers of the
find Virgil, too, referring to its value as a shelter from the sun.
tree.
We
BUTCHER'S BROOM greenish-white colour, looking like
and
leaves,
185 stars
little
affixed to the
as the leaves are considerably larger,
and of a
dark sombre green they form an excellent background for their
The
display.
and
character,
foliage
terminating
evergreen,
is
in
very
a
very
acute
rigid
in
The
point.
plant was called by the ancient Greeks the flowering myrtle, a
shrub
it
considerably resembles.
Myrtendom, while it
plus
of
name of
the
Its
its
rigid
in
petit
Houx,
its
little
old English
it
This prickly
holly.
names, the knee-holm,
popular
cleansing
the blocks
name
arises
of the
from
the
is
foliage,
while
for
its
its
more
former use
its
butchers,
and the scarifying action of
character
Germany
prickly character has earned
and much-branching stems, account for one
common
it
France
In
which
leaves
its
in stifF
would make
well suited.
In the early
Autumn
the three-celled berries appear in
the places vacated by the pistilliferous flowers. are of a bright scarlet colour
and
The
berries
as large as small cherries.
These, therefore, from colour and size are very conspicuous, and, like the flowers, are excellently displayed leaves that serve as a foil to their
This is
fruit
is
butcher's
heathy ground, and
west of England,
broom
is
all
freely
found
and
it,
for asparagus,
in
especially
on
In
commonly on the south and
a gravelly as
it
it.
fairly
hedges and woods
in
young shoots have been commended stitute
of colouring.
brilliancy
rather sweet and agreeable to the taste, but
not prudent to indulge at
The
by the sombre
a
soil.
Its
welcome sub-
but the plant, as one ordinarily sees
looks about as tempting a delicacy as scrap-iron.
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
i86
THORN APPLE Though
(Datura Stramonium)
Thorn Apple,
the
XXX.,
the subject of Plate
possesses absolutely no claim to rank as one of our indigenous plants,
it is
uncommonly met with throughout southern
not
England on waste ground, by the country
on rubbish heaps, and our wild
Of
plants.
definitely as to
we know it
whom
claims to be a native or otherwise, for
was introduced into England
it
home
Why
sub-tropical
should
it
amply
illustration
be
called
by Linneus from
it
who,
at
on
a
the
scientific
thorn
the
its
States
of
this
Forskal, a
Hudibras
;
unfortunately the
plant
Linneus,
and other naturalist
The
for
the
plants.
went
King
the
home had
adopted.
it,
in
Denmark,
of
datura^ an old English find
is
it
expedition into Egypt and Arabia.
cost
of
their Arabic
names appended
to them, and in this particular case the Eastern
we
at
our
apple
Arab name.
specimens
fellow countryman,
specimens he sent
practically,
much
as
is
all
Datura Stramonium^ Datura being
the
Swede, received his
nearly
in
one of the commonest of
himself a
from
and
In the United
applied to
plants
found
is
countries,
attests.
is
it
It
;
as the Old.
parts of the country
Botanically
in 1590 and where from, and
seeds,
its
sent.
New World
in the
many
were
they
temperate and
enrolled amongst
no other wild plant can we speak so
on record who sent
is
to
that
its
has been fully
it
and
roadsides,
Hence,
name
example, illustrative
unquotable.
stramonia,
but
from
this
for the plant
thus
called
passage
The why
is,
in
name
scientific is
was, title
the dewtry
the
pages
;
of
from the context,
herbalists of Italy called
they
did
so
does
not
THORN APPLE
—
—
THORN APPLE quite clearly appear. the stramonium.
dwelling on
in
It
187
England
also often in
is
called
Harte, for instance, a little-known poet, the
plants
that
grew around the door of
the Palace of Death, writes Nor were the Nightshades wanting, nor the power
Of thorned Stramonium, nor the sickly flower Of cloying Mandrakes, the deceitful root Of the monk's fraudful cowl.'
The
thorn-apple
has
many-branched,
a
herbaceous
The
stem, and rises to a height of some two feet or so. plant
The
an annual.
is
leaves are large and angular, and
of a dark green colour, the veins on them being strongly
They
marked.
are very irregular in form,
In our illustration
alike.
a stem
the lower leaves
;
we only
give the upper leaves of
would be quite
The whole plant when bruised The flowers are tubular in
no two being
six inches long.
has a nauseous smell.
form, or, rather, funnel-
They
shaped, as they expand widely at their mouths.
about three inches long, and pure white
from
long,
a
tubular
acutely pentangular.
and so after
is
it
all,
pale
calyx,
The whole
in colour,
green
plant
is
in
are
rising
colour,
and
very poisonous,
regarded with disfavour, but justice
is
justice
and one must admit that the flowers are quaintly
elegant and attractive."
The
fruit
is
a large, erect, egg-shaped capsule, thickly
covered with blunt spines. '
This
plant. '
last
" 'Tis
line is a
paraphrase
It is at for the
not the cowl," the proverb
This dangerous narcotic
plant
green, but on the
first
monk's-hood, another poisonous
tells us, " that
clothes
makes
the monk."
with such
an elegant branches with corollas of such graceful and of so pure a white, that all suspicion of its
indented foliage, and garnishes
itself
its
and negligent a shape, seems lulled to rest, whilst, like the Lamia; of old, its charms only allure that its powers may destroy. Phillips, Flora Historica. deleterious nature
1
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
88
ripening of the seeds turns more or less brown, and finally dries
and withers into
our examples
In one of
strong sepia colour.
a
in the illustration
yet closed, and in the other
we
the see
capsule
is
green and
valves opening for
its
the approaching dispersion of the mature seeds, while the section across the fruit are packed
away
shows how beautifully these seeds
the
in
are
state,
germinate
The
capsule.
very numerous, and,
seen,
very freely
if
,in
garden.
one's
in
seeds,
gathered
it
will
be ripe
their
They
are
the most powerfully deleterious part of a very dangerous
though those who are so foolish
plant,
as
to eat the seeds
or boil the leaves for dinner should scarcely throw
A
blame on the thorn apple. child
who
eat
some of
case
all
the
on record of a
is
these seeds and subseq uently
became
blind and mad, snapping at those about her and shrieking terribly.
The
medical
of
value
thorn-apple
the
greatly extolled, but while such a plant,
the utmost caution in the
is
even then necessary
hands of the ignorant
it is
the hands of
in
may prove
experienced and skilled practitioners,
been
has
of benefit,
its
use, while
very terrible in
its effects.
in
In one case recorded in the medical books a
man made
a
decoction from two of the capsules, soaking them in milk,
and on dosing himself suffered from paralysis of the whole body, and into a
sound
retained
he
let
became
delirious.
It
is
for amateur doctors to it
has
its
his senses
fell
and
probable that after this experience
thorn apple severely alone.
the physicians
some hours he
and presently recovered
sleep,
his life.
After
It
is
meddle with, but uses,
being the employment of
not at in
all
a plant
the hands of
one of the best known of these
its
dried leaves for the relief of
'
;
HENBANE A
asthma.
189
the relief of this distressing ailment
for
commended
been well
that has
prescription
mixture
a
is
in
equal parts of powdered lobelia, stramonium leaves, nitrate
and
of potash,
black
must be placed
sifted
This being well mixed and
tea.
and
in a saucer
ignited, the invalid
inhaling the resulting smoke.
HENBANE A
plant
equally dangerous, and growing in
sort of places
upon chalk or
it,
Henbane.
the
is
sand,
for instance,
same
the
and appears
neighbourhood of the
the
to
especially partial
have found
thorn apple,
the
as
especially
thrives
(Hyoscyamus Niger)
on the chalk downs
It
be
to
We
sea.
at the
back
of Brighton, and came across a particularly fine plant of in the front garden of an
Worthing.
at
It
empty house along the
claims a place
our regard
in
present pages from the curious nature of
The stem of high,
a
good
henbane
the
with clasping leaves.
These
our ancestors would describe soft
hairs,
foetid,
malodorous.
is
these
fruit.
to three feet
are of a pale dull green, as
what
sad-coloured, covered with
The whole
glandular, viscid hairs, and
unwholesome-looking.
from one
in
and rather thickly clothed
branching,
deal
its
it
sea front
Culpeper,
is
plant
is
covered with
generally uncanny and
we
see,
assigns
it
to
Saturn.
To 1
Much
our ancestors the influence of the of superstition
one of the forms
it
was imported
stars
on human
into plant-study in earlier days,
and
took was a belief in the influence of the stars upon
Such a plant as the henbane, we see, was deemed saturnine is an herb of Saturn, and therefore no marvel if it has some Many other plants were under the same malign sullen conditions with it." influence, while others were under the dominion of Jupiter, Venus, Mars, and plants.
hellebore again "
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
190
and the
life
who
those
men was
of
affairs
a very real thing indeed,
claimed the power of reading the
signs
celestial
had abundant opportunities of having their
and
tested.
skill
was perhaps one of the best known of these, and in book our copy, we see, bears the date 1659 gives us
Lilly
—
his
—
wonderment
great cause for
which he
book
many
One
editions;
our copy
can scarcely imagine that a the
desire
also a
is
those interested in such matters.
to refer to for
would
of the age in
Winstanly's Book of Knowledge
lived.
through
ran
at the credulity
to
be
of
that
man having
heavens
starry
is
It
1685.
dog
lost his
searched for
its
recovery, yet this was one of the tasks that Lilly was set to perform,
"
and he
The Quere unto me
should search
is
west
;
fared
is
:
was, what part of the City they
The
next, if he should ever recover him.
;
Gemini
sign of
how he
us, as follows,
tells
west and by south, the quarter of heaven
Mercury, the
of the Dog,
significator
is
in Libra,
a western] sign, but southern quarter of heaven, tending to
The moon
the west.
verging
to
western
the
testimonies examined
and therefore
west,
I
I
Virgo, a south-west sign, and
in
is
angle
;
the
found the plurality
judged that the
of
strength
to signifie the
Dog ought
westward from the place where the Owner
the
lived,
to
be
which was
Temple Barre wherefore I iudged that the Dog was about Long Acre or upper part of Drury Lane. In regard
at
that
;
Mercury,
same
significator
triplicity that
other stars.
Even as
of the beast, was
Gemini
in the
his ascendant
days of the week
we
in a sign
is,
which
of the
signifies
yet preserve the
memories
of the gods of our Sa.\on forefathers, so in the colloquialism of to-day retain
a
dubbed for they
far-off
echo of those old astrological
jovial, mercurial, or saturnine,
have come beneath the
evil
beliefs,
we
people being yet
while some unfortunately sway of the moon.
are lunatic,
HENBANE London, and did apply communication, but
in
Trine aspect of the cusp of the
to a
iudged the
sixt house, I
191
Dog was
not out of the lines of
same quarter
the
more confirmed by the Sun and Saturn,
The I
Mercury
signe wherein
Dog was
judged the
in
in
is
of which
;
their
was
I
Trine aspect.
Libra, an ayery signe.
is
some chamber or upper room
kept privately or in great secrecy
;
because the
moon was
under the Beames of the sun, and Mercury, Moon, and Sun, were
Monday
eight
the
in
house, but
the ascendant,
having exaltation
Dog
opinion he should have his
Dog upon Monday was true sent
for
;
him
the
Moon
and
the ascendant,
in
following,
I
to
Sextile
as
Dog
above
The henbane
newes of
his
againe, or
or neer that time
which
;
in
my
in flower
very great credit."
from the beginning of June,
somewhat funnel-shaped
flowers are arranged in a long succession
the extremities of the stems, and
stems
somewhat
being
Long
chained up under a table, and sent
said, to
is
a friend
the
in
in form,
and of
dingy pale yellow colour veined with dull purple.
these
;
my
same day about ten
the very
Dog
the corolla being a
of Mars
intimated that in
morning, who by accident coming to see
him home
Sun on
gentleman of the querem's acquaintance
a
Acre, found the
the
by Trine dexter to Saturn,
following did apply
Lord of
because
all
The
of blossoms
at
turn in one direction,
The
pendulous.
calyx
is
tubular and five-cleft, and very strongly veined, and firmly
enclosed within this
we
presently, after
of the blossom, find the capsular
the passing
This
fruit.
is
away
two-celled,
and opens very curiously, when the seeds have come maturity,
by means of
many-seeded, and
these
a
convex
seeds ripen
lid.
The
capsule
to is
some time between.
;
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
192
August there
and
long
a
is
The
October.
plant
of blossoms
succession
expanded along the stem, so there
develop, so
enclosed
the
and becomes more woody henbane capsules lends
and when we come
we
be
to
gradually
naturally,
is
across
its
nature.
A
a
long
As
the
in
size
branch
of
very readily to skeletonising
any group of skeleton leaves
with
ordinarily find
shall
in
itself
increases
caljrx
As
annual.
of capsules to be gradually ripened.
succession capsules
an
is
them the capsules of the
poppy and the henbane.
To
those
who would
like to try
would advise the gathering of the in the
Autumn,
some skeletonising we
material, leaves or fruits,
as at this season the fibrous substance
strong and firm, and less likely to break than
Leaves of a resinous
earlier.
as they will neither
nature
become amenable
if
is
gathered
should be avoided,
to treatment nor allow
The
others with which they are placed to do so.
selected
material should be placed in a large shallow pan into which
amount of
a sufficient is
poured.
is
that
it
The
boiling rain-water to cover the leaves
use of boiling rather than of cold water
quickly destroys the vitality of the plants.
pan must
then be placed for
air in a position
where
some
six
weeks
will get plenty
it
The open
of sunshine, fresh
rain-water being added as evaporation renders
The
in the
it
necessary.
things should be gently stirred from time to time, and
when they
are seen
to be shedding their epidermis they
must be placed individually beneath in slowly
running water
:
a tap
and gently washed
those that are found to be not
yet ripe for treatment are returned for a while to the pan.
To
bleach
them they must be exposed
sulphur, or washed in chloride of lime.
to
the fumes of
HENBANE To may may
who
those
193
not be equal to this six weeks' strain another method
be suggested.
Dissolve three ounces of washing-soda
two pints of boiling water, adding
in
half of quick-lime.
a
minutes
and
then
Let
it
them
a
in
is
the
to
it
some
ten
When we
are
for
solution.
and
drop them
ebullition
The
to
as
soon
boiling
in,
add hot water
now
leaves should
be
by gently manipulating them, one by one,
warm
thus far
an ounce and
this solution again,
from evaporation.
easily skeletonised
in a basin of
it
boiled
hour or so and being careful
for an
to repair loss
work
of
state
be
this
decant
ready with our leaves, boil as
and enthusiasm
fear that their patience
When we
water.
are satisfied with our
remains only to bleach, and
this
can readily
be effected by dropping each of the leaves or seed-vessels for about ten
minutes into
having the proportion
a bath
of one drachm of chloride of lime to one pint of water.
Yet
way
a third
is
to
slightly
our material for about a
boil
couple of minutes and then drop
it all
into a strong solution,
warm, of permanganate of potash, and
may
or so the leaves
by means of
in
an hour
be carefully stripped of their epidermis
brush and of
a small
much
patience
Diluted
sulphuric acid should be used to bleach them. Botanically the henbane
generic
name
is
the Hyoscyamus niger.
The
from the Greek words meaning hog and
is
bean, from a belief that swine will eat the plant, while the
popular name henbane that
fowls,
Matthiolus '
^
Matthiolus,
Mattioli,
an
if
they
says his
Italian
that
name
is
equally the statement of a belief
value
their
"fowls that have eaten
stripped of
its
Latin
dress,
botanical writer of great repute
in the year 1500. His chief work Materia Medica of Dioscorides.
born
had better not.
lives,
was
his
in
was
the seeds Pietro
his day.
Andrea
He was
Commentaries on the
13
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
194
do
perish soon after, as
the older English writers is
call
the henne-belle.
lists
it
It
bell " has reference to the
has been conjectured that the "
form of the enlarged
bell-like
the other hand,
the plant the henbell, and
so far back as the Anglo-Saxon
somewhat
On
fishes also."
but
calyx,
this is
mouth
always seen on the plant in a position that throws
its
upwards, not
favour of
plant
from light
a
symphoniaca,
the
is
symphonia,
of
series
a
wrong
track
at
a
hammer.
the
This throws no
hen, or
we name
that
is
and that the
altogether,
to
all
from
derived
of varying sizes suspended
the " hen," and the probability
on
the
name
a
bells
beam and struck by
no reference
we
in
Still,
view we must mention that another old name for the
this
on
at all a bell-like position.
bell,
ordinarily attach to those words.
or bane in the Prior, in his
are
has
sense
book on
the names of our British plants, gets so far as introducing a Celtic deity, Belenus, as sponsor.
The henbane high yet
we
repute
holds
a
as
its
for
narcotic,
position
says
note,
has
that
in
" the
many
centuries
soporific,
the
and
been
anodyne,
leaves,
of drunkenesse,
which
is
long,
sleepe
is
deadly
best left alone.
That the plant may legitimately be the
and
the
This suggests the thought that perhaps
the party."
henbane
and
seed and iuyce taken
an vnquiet sleepe like vnto continueth
in
Gerard,
Pharmacopoeia.
inwardly causeth
to
held
hog seems
as
open
called the
to question as that
it
bean of
be considered
bane of the hen. One venerable authority declares " that swine having fed thereon, are very much disturbed the
thereby, yea, are in danger of their lives,
they wallow
if
not themselves in water presently thereupon
:
neither
do
DWALE
195
they go into the water to wash themselves, but to seek
crevises
what we nowadays
are
ecrevisse.
Whereupon another
" For
part
my
These
by the eating of which they recover."
after Crevises,
call
venerable
can scarcely allow of
I
saw any hogs feed upon
this plant,
the Rivers to catch Crevise
French
cray-fish, in
this,
much
authority says
:
never
because
1
lesse to
go
into
for in the mire wherein they
:
commonly wallow
there be none." According to the Doctrine of Signatures " the
wherein the seed of Henbane
it
by
it
contained
being gargled
self,
efFectuall in easing the pains
DWALE
warm
in figure like
is
and therefore the Oyle of
to a Jaw-tooth,
of
is
it,
in the
Husk
or the Juyce
mouth
is
very
of the Teeth."
(Atropa Belladonna)
In the Dwale, or Deadly Nightshade, Plate
XXXI., we
have yet another plant possessed of the most powerful properties,
caution.
on
a
and therefore
may from
It
chalky
common results
soil,
than
in
its
it
and is,
to
be
dealt with
with
all
due
time to time be found, and especially it
would no doubt be much mort
were
not for
it
eradication,
and
its
its
evil
repute, which
medicinal value, which
leads to any stray plant being carried off at sight by the herbalists.
The
plant
may
often be found near the ruins
of our ancient abbeys and monastic houses, and reasonably suggested that in
many
cases
its
it
is
very
occurrence
is
a survival from the old herb gardens of the monks.
The dwale grows ordinarily some two to three feet we have seen it quite four feet in height. The branches have a way of drooping towards their high, though
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
196
One
extremities.
notwithstanding, that a
striking and
it
leaves, while
in
their veining
;
confess,
to
distinctly,
is
handsome
that the size
bound
is
growing
fruiting
in its
One
plant.
curious
stage,
feature
is
very unequal
pairs, are
in
repute
evil
its
very strongly marked, and they
is
are of a very deep green in colour.
The
unwholesome-
flowers are of a curiously lurid and
looking dull purple colour, grow singly on the stems, and are often
more
The
or less pendent.
from
flower
in
about June
to
may be found The berries,
plant
August.
ripening in September, stand out very efi^ectively from the
made by the calyx segments of bases. They have a very glossy,
five-pointed star
brilliant
green
polished
at their
surface,
and are of
young to
serious
we
illustration
uncritical
attractive
eyes
of
The making and the
In the lower portion of our
accidents.
one of these berries cut open,
see
showing the seeds
all
of these
packed
into
its
away within
carefully
sections
fruit
is
place
back,
by chance, but
and it.
often very interest-
results illustrate to the full a
we made some few pages falls
the
to
children like cherries or big black currants, has led
many
ing,
Their
a rather sweetish taste.
looking as they do
character,
that in that all
statement that
Nature nothing the
is
outcome
of a wonderful order and system.
For those who have lunched " not wisely but well,"
off
comfortable loss
these
fruits
of the
consequences
of voice, continuous
swallow,
but yet
a
may
dwale,
be
restless
great
the
following
predicted
motion,
feeling
of
—
a
too
un-
complete
an inability to
thirst,
the
vision
impaired, a catching at imaginary objects, delirium passing presently into insensibility, and, finally, death.
DWALE
DWALE Botanically
the
plant
197
Alropa
the
is
'Belladonna,
curious
combination
dreaded
of the Fates, Atropos, whose function
cut
the
introducing
human
of
thread
dangerous
and
'
life,
the
to
words
Italian
in
view of the very
nature of the plant,
calls
for
no explanation
the
specific
was made of the plant
title,
as
;
refers to the use that
and elsewhere,
Italy
in
to beauty, the herb, deadly
as
an aid
being employed from
it is,
curious property of dilating the eyes, or as a cosmetic
its
for
The
complexion.
the
English
old
name,
probably
from the Dutch word dwaelen,
though
has also been asserted that
it
French
we
deuil,
to
the
dwale,
to be
derive
is
delirious,
it
from the
the suggestive
names
by the early writers are
plant
furiosum, and maniacum.
The
root, the leaves,
to fatal
lead,
find
misdirected,
When
in
'
one
belladonna plaster will
belladonna
efficacy
all
may
that,
medical practice. large
the fruit,
consequences, but which
properties
some
we
Amongst
mourning.
attached
find
lethale,
a
was
first,
while the second,
in
it
a
most
the
The
beautiful lady.
signifying
name of
the
liniment
relieving
The lands and
well
falls
possess very active as
we have
seen,
valued
place
their
a victim to
lumbago
be found of benefit,
rubbed
muscular pains, the riches that here
in
while
we
of great
Is
a tincture
possesse
be none of our owne, if a God we professe, But lent vs of him, as his talent of gold, which being demanded, who can it withhold ?
God maketh no writing that iustly doth say how long we shall haue it, a yeere or a day But leaue it we must (how soeuer we leeue) when Atrop shall pluck vs from hence by the
sleeue.
TussER, Fiue Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie,
and
1
573.
of
THE FRUITS OP THE COUNTRY-SIDE
198
the plant often allays the oppression of asthma. a
from the
obtained
preparation
root,
agent that, amongst divers other uses,
by
well-known
a
is
Atropine,
employed
largely
is
them
the pupil of the eye, to aid
oculists for dilating
in operations for cataract and other
eye
troubles.
It is
dwale that Shakespeare refers in the well-known passage, " Have we eaten of the insane root probably to
the
the
takes
that
sheep,
horses,
many
while
It
curious
is
that
browse on the foliage
goats, pigs
rabbits,
with impunity,
prisoner?"
reason
birds
find
the
in
berries
a
welcome food.
JUNIPER On woods,
^
or
one may
Though more
it
hillsides,
and open
sandy heaths,
^
on the great expanses of our chalk downs, the
find
waste places
is
barren
dry,
(JuNiPERUs Communis)
Juniper flourishing and
with a quaint and
may
occasionally be
ordinarily but
found
as
small tree
a
anything,
the
vegetation.
characteristic
bush,
a
clothing
in
it
from
fact,
about six inches to four feet in height, according to the bleakness or the sheltered nature of liable
to be
considerably grazed
and tender, by sheep, and conditions
one
it
is,
its
position.
down
whilst
'
slow-growing
And where Or box,
still
as the hardness
under which we usually find
to expect, a rather
It
it
is
also
young of the
would lead
plant.
low-tufted broom,
or berry'd juniper arise.
Dyer, "The Fleece." •
Our woods with juniper and chestnuts crown'd, With falling fruit and berries paint the ground
And
lavish Nature laughs,
;
and strews her stores around. Dryden, "Seventh Pastoral."
JUNIPER
We
read in the Bible
how
199
Elijah fled into the wilderness
how he
of Beersheba from the face of King Ahab, and
under
slept in
a
juniper-tree, and the plant
is
also
is
growing some
shrub
kind of broom,
welcome
The
wrongly given. ten
that, as in
is
height,
in reality
is
a
rigidity
in
its
traveller.
general growth and
and angularity
of growth,
throwing out of many small branches rather
this
as
the days of the prophet, affords
very rigid
this
word
Biblical juniper, a desert
in
weary and sun-smitten
shelter to the
The juniper much branched,
feet
and
mentioned
divers other places in the Scriptures, but the
translated
lay
few larger ones, being a marked feature
than a
plants exposed
in
to the sweeping blasts that search the bleak hillside,
and a
necessary result of the hardness of the conditions against
which they have to contend. workable
and
for
size
it
is
in
When
the
wood
attains to a
considerable request for veneering,
the fabrication of small fancy wares of one sort
or another, being very hard, very pleasantly aromatic, of a fine red colour, beautifully veined,
and taking an excellent
polish.
The
leaves of the juniper are evergreen, very numerous,
long in proportion to their width, and arranged in spreadThey are so rigid as to be ing groups of three together. almost spiny in character, of a greyish colour above, and of a dark green on their under-surfaces, a curious reversal of what one finds to be the general rule in foliage, that the lower surfaces are lighter than the upper.
The on one
stamen-bearing flowers are in small ovoid catkins plant,
and the
catkins on another,
The
pistillate
flowers
in
small globose
the flowering season being in Spring.
individual flowers are very minute,
but the general
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
200
colour-effect
is
whitish-yellow, and
staminate flowers
the
give forth large quantities of yellow pollen.
The
berries are globular in form,
and of a dark purple-
They
black, but covered with a greyish bloom.
are about
when opened, is found They remain for two years
the size of a large pea, and each, to contain three hard seeds.
on the
remaining green and the second
plant, the first year
ripening
black,
into
so
that
find
One
condition at the same time.
may
we
examples of each
fanciful
younger and junior berries
and
first
when
berries be ripe,
tasted have a
a fragrant essential oil
ancestors employed the
ripe,
matters
culinary
in
have also
berries
place of
coffee, or
wards.
We
is
bring
bringeth forth
it
warm, pungent, sweetish is
extracted from it
is
is
still
a
them.
to-day our
of the
good deal used
Germany and elsewhere abroad. been employed, when roasted, in
used for fumigatory purposes
in hospital
read in a book over three hundred years old
Wood
on being burned " the
that
to
dry, crushed seeds
juniper as a substitute, and this
The
more
berries to them."
Before pepper was so readily obtainable as
in
call
from junior, younger, and parere,
forth, because " as the
taste,
libel,
than reliable, would persuade us that the plant
called juniper
The
whom we
old author,
perhaps, without fear of the law of
of Juniper yieldeth a
very sweet scent which freeth from Infection, and driveth
away
all
Noisesome Serpents,
birds, thrushes, grouse, berries.
It
'
Phillips, in his
So much
is
the
Waspes, &c."
and others, are very
Many
partial to these
however, as a flavouring to Geneva, a baleful
is,
liquid that has had
"
Flies,
its
name
Companion
flavour
in
to the
England abbreviated
to gin,'
Orchard, writes somewhat pungently
of the berries admired
by the lower orders of
JUNIPER that these are
juniper berries find
201
They
chief employment.
largely
collected in Savoy, Austria, and elsewhere throughout the Continent, and hundreds of tons of them
find their
way annually
Holland and England, the great
to
seats of the manufacture of this Hollands or Geneva.
Why
this
Hollands seems
known
fairly
is
It
is
why
but
in
called
should be also
it
The
so immediately appear.
not a geographical one
so called because the plant
the genever.
Holland should be
in
evident,
Geneva does not
as
problem, however, 'is
made
stuff
we
juniper
call
Gin
at all.
Holland
in
is
France the genievre, and in Italy
the ginepro.
In France a bright sparkling beverage called
genevrette
produced by fermenting equal parts of juniper
is
berries and barley together. It
was
for
Europe, and
it
custom
centuries
a
doubtless
still
holds,
these aromatic juniper branches on the spirits
•evil
they are
and
shield
the
employed
also
for
in
to
more
parts
place
a
to
drive
fire
house from the
many
few of
away
witchcraft,
prosaic
of
duty
and of
•smoking hams. Preparations from juniper are place
still officinal and take their amongst the paraphernalia of the modern doctor,
but their use
is
and mediaeval
small indeed as compared with their ancient
reputation.
Mithridates, the renowned king of Pontus, took each morning, as an antidote against infection
or
poison,
two walnuts, two •beaten up together JLondoners, that
twenty leaves figs,
!
and
Such
of
twenty
rue,
a
juniper
a prescription
little
berries,
salt, all
had need possess
it would be difficult to name any complaint that they would not be afflicted with for the sake of a plentiful supply of the cordial to which it is imparted."
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
202
sovereign
virtue
Hastiness.
"
The
are advised by
or
some
one of these venerable
but especially
Chollick,
from the a
berries,
Morning
in
or
Wine
Morning
an effectuall
remedy
Oyle drawn
fasting.
dozen of
a
The
Berries
are very effectuall against the biting of Vipers
against the Plague
They
any other Infection or Poyson. Shortnesse, of Breath,
They
strengthen
ingly,
and
or
Pestilence,
are
good
or
for the
Cramps.
Convulsions, or
Memory
helpe the
the Braine,
exceed-
Reference to any of these
fortify the Sight."
old authors,
Wine
"
Chimicall
the
we
boyled,"
herbalists, in
Broth or Beere, and ten or
Adders, as also
Cough.
is
horrible
its
being
foure or five drops thereof being taken
the ripe Berries eaten every
taken in
against
set-off"
of Juniper
Honeyed Water, and drunk,
for
in
as
Berries
from Pliny and Dioscorides
through
right
the centuries to Gerard, or Parkinson, and their fellows,
would tional
but we insist
supply
readily
testimonies
may
on
to
any
with
us the
healing
be content to judge
more,
especially
as
number
of
addi-
value
of the juniper,
from
sample and not
these
old
writers
had
a
way of copying from each other, and while we we are gathering the wisdom of Lyte or Culpeper we are really getting at much more than second-hand the terrible
think
fancies
of Hippocrates or Theophrastus, Galen or Aristotle.
MISTLETOE
(Viscum Album)
Mistletoe, the subject of our thirty-second Plate,
and
the Viscum album of the botanist, must surely be a plant so well
known
that
any elaborate description of
it
appears
almost a mockery, a slight on the powers of observation.
MISTLETOE.
;
;
MISTLETOE From
of our readers.
worship and been
has
on
early connexion
its
regarded as more than
the other hand,
a
with the
festivities
interest.
Though, however, we claim misdetoe that
a use of the
having as
of social
modern
has at
application
was distributed
them suspended evil
this
other
in
Hence
things.
ban of the
the
of
conclusion
the
plant
there
through
lasted
later it
a
days
special
for these later
wholly secular, purely
is
plant
days
social,
end and aim alone decorative charm and
its
innocent happiness, this
in
have given
life^
the
uncanny, while
little
intimate association
its
Druidic
with
mode of growth,
exceptional
its
203
old
be
can
of
it
but
from
days
when,
of Druidism, the
sacred
centuries
the
rites
amongst
their
the
homes
doubt that
little
based on a custom that
is
as
the
worshippers and
by
charm against
all
a
the plant has been always under the
association with heathenism,
plants that
decorate
the
church
and, amidst
at
Festival of the Birth of Christ, the mistletoe finds
the
no
great place.
This ancient connexion with pagan worship might now well be
forgiven '
but the exceptional associations connected
it,
And
well our Christian sires of old
Loved when the year
And With
its
course had rolled,
brought blithe Christmas back again all
his hospitable train.
Domestic and religious rite Gave honour to the holy night On Christmas-eve the bells were rung On Christmas-eve the mass was sung That only night, in all the year.
Saw
;
;
the stoled priest the chalice rear.
The damsel donned her kirtle sheen The hall was dressed with lioUy green Forth to the wood did merry men go.
To
;
gather in the mistletoe.
Scott.
—
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
204
with
ment
grown up and
secular use have since
its
awaken
might
church
the
in
thoughts
not
tend
adapted
altogether
to
employ-
its
edification,
the
to
genius
or loci
when
seen
suspended
pew.
It
just one of those cases that sometimes arise
is
where things lawful while
and
holly
ready entrance
at
ivy
proximity
close
in
always
not
are
and
their
family
and
expedient,
and
laurel
the church door
the
to
fellows
so,
find
must be
the mistletoe
content to remain outside.
Hence, the
while
too, in
our old cathedrals and
stone carving,
the
in
stately churches,
and
capitals
shows loving appreciation of natural beauty of
presentment
and many other
we know and
hawthorn,
maple,
plants
abundant
ivy,
buttercup,
of charming decorative
It
service,
of but one example of the use of the mistletoe, greatly surprised that there should be
are
one.
oak,
elsewhere,
in the
may
even that
be seen carved on a tomb in Bristol Cathedral.
The mistletoe has really great decorative possibilities, and we wonder that it has not found a readier use amongst our designers. Herrick, lessons in in
full
the
commonest and most
neglected
this
of quaint fancy, finding ever
mistletoe
unlikely things, sees
beautiful
a
valuable
emblem
of his
dependence upon the care of Providence Lord,
I
am
like the mistletoe,
Which has no root, and cannot grow. Or prosper, save by that same tree It clings
The and
is
riving
about
;
so
I
by Thee.
mistletoe belongs to a family that
is
chiefly tropical,
an excellent illustration of a parasite, a plant deits
nourishment and power of growth from some
MISTLETOE While
other plant.^
do not
otherwise,
them, plant
and
unlike
its
side
of special esteem for
gave this
that
character
parasitic
this
other
all
plants,
was not born of earth
upon
growing
found
it
but was a sacred heaven-born thing,
defilements,
when
and,
on the
or
sacredness in the eyes of the Druidic priesthood,
its
since,
human
one's ideas as to parasites,
err
was just
it
205
of the gods to man.
regarded as a direct
gift
The mistletoe different many on
found growing, more or
is
was
oak,
sacred
the
kinds of
less freely,
trees, as the aspen, pear, alder,
maple, rowan, hazel, ash, sycamore, medlar, plane, horsewalnut, poplar, lime, hawthorn,
acacia,
service,
chestnut,
even the dog-rose and azalea, but more especially on the In some old neglected orchards almost every tree apple.
may
be
seen
bearing
The
wholly prejudicial.-
and when
it
has
and
it,
mistletoe
a very
is
possession
once got
on the
effect
its
it,
boisterous wind nor hard frost seeming to hurt
Only
a
very few
it
wherever so found.
however, when we dwell on '
all.
this
great
its
We
must remember,
extreme
rarity,
that
in
Theoplirastus maintained that mistletoe was an exudation from the trees
was found on •
at
it
of occurrence would, naturally, greatly increase the
reverence for
it
neither
on record of the
growth of the mistletoe upon the oak, and rarity
is
hardy plant,
retains
authentic cases are
tree
"
There
is
— " Quasi cornua ex ossibus animalittmy
a great Deficiency in the ordering of Orchards, in that they full of Mosse, Mistletoe, and Suckers," as we read
are not well pruned, but in
The Compleat Husbandman, or a Discourse of the whole Art of Husbandry, and Domestick, " wherein many rare and most hidden Secrets
both Forraign
and Experiments are
laid
open
to the
view of
all, for
the enriching of these
away of the mistletoe off the apple-trees being one The book was written by one Samuel Hartlib, and published
Nations," the scraping
of these. " at the Crane in Paul's Churchyard
"
in 1659.
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
2o6 earlier
days the greater part of our land was covered with
forest,
and that the
than
now would
number of
far greater
give corresponding increase of possibility
Some
of finding oak-grown mistletoe. it
oak-trees then
was not the mistletoe
at
writers declare that
but another parasitic plant
all,
of the same family, the Loranthus Europaus, really the
sacred plant.
This
a
is
on the Continent, growing on oak and other is
not found
This hard
England.
in
occurrence here certainly appears at to the Loranthus theory, but those
over the awkward
of Druidism,
fact
no more.
it
would be an exceedingly have made
a
plant,
owing
its
This extirpation, however, operation, even
difficult
anathemas
with
him
foxglove,
the
against
and,
stranger
his
in
for still,
when we If
instance,
as
carrying the
denunciations, the
of Digitalis Satanica would be by no means it
to
the Archbishop of Canterbury thundering
plant wholly diabolic,
whole nation
the belief get
allowance for new-born religious zeal.
full
we could imagine forth
non-
its
was extirpated, and so
association with the old pagan rites,
England knows
it
on the suppression
that
every vestige of this
of
plant
but
glance a fatal blow
first
who uphold
by asserting
trees,
fact
was
that
common enough
doom
sealed,
and
would be altogether premature to conclude that the time
had come when Vullamy, that
the
in
name should be erased from our Flora. his Grammar of the Irish Language^ asserts
its
Druid veneration
reverence for the plant,
number
the
mistletoe
arose from
three, not only the berries
he declares, growing
One weak
for
in
triplets,
point in this statement
is
of the
but also the leaves. that there appears to
be no proof forthcoming from him or any other writers as to this sacredness
amongst the Druids of the number
three,
MISTLETOE while a second
207
that the berries of the mistletoe cluster
is
together in groups of varying number, and the leaves are in pairs
!
Pliny, discoursing in mistletoe,
that
the
association
its
following
forgiven
VuUamy
notwith-
with Druidism, and
we trust may be
authority,
quotation^
from
length on account of
its
" Forasmuch ing Misselto
The
our one
also
is
standing, on
book centuries ago on the
his
I
as
wee
his
writings
interest
its
:
are entred into a discourse as touch-
cannot overpasse one strange thing thereof.
Druidas (for so they
call their
Divinours,
and the State of their Clergie) esteeme nothing
Wise Men, in the
more
sacred than Misselto, and the tree whereon
so
be on Oke.
it
world
breedeth,
Now
this you must take by the way. There Priests or Clergiemen chose of purpose such groues it
for their divine Service, as stood onely
solemnize no
sacrifice
upon Okes
enough named therein Dryidae
much
as the
nay they
nor perform any sacred ceremonies with-
out branches and leaves thereof, as they
as
;
Oke
Priests.
in
may seem
to be well
Greeke, which signifyeth
Certes, to say a truth, what-
ever they find growing vpon that tree over and besides
owne it
is
be
fruit,
Misselto or any thing
it
a gift sent from
that very
Heaven, and
God whome
hard to be found vpon the it
they gather
'
Our
;
for first
translation
year 1601, a book
it
Oke
is
tree.
And, no
passing scarce, and
when they meete very devoutly and with many ;
but
and foremost they observe principally
that of Pliilemon Holland, given to the world in the of delightful quaintness of language and expression.
is
full
by which
they serve giveth them to under-
marveile, for in very deed Misselto
ceremonies
its
they esteeme
a sure signe
he hath chosen that particular
stand, that
with
else,
2o8
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
that the
moone be
just six daies old, because shee
cureth
they have well and
after
and
sacrifices
when they
maladies soever, and
all
it,
bring
or white vesture, climbeth
the tree, and with a golden
hook or
they beneath receive
a white
for sacrifice,
good of
all
in
it
they to
fall
mumbling many
would
it
then
:
tree,
they as
plough or waine, which done, the Priest
at
arrayed in a surplesse
coat of armes
said
their
young bullocks milke white, such
two
hither
are about to
duly prepared
vnder the
cheare
festival!
never yet drew
that
call it
language All-Heale, for they have an opinion that
in their
gather
thought
They
then to be of great power and force sufficient.
it
is
please
those
God
it
into
off,
and
souldiours cassocke or the beastes aforesaid
kill
oraisons and praying devoutly
of his to the
blesse this gift
to
whom
to
cutteth
bill
vp
had given
he
and superstitious are many nations
So vain
it.
world, and often-
in the
times in such frivolous and foolish things as these."
The mistiltan,
a
distinctly interesting political,
Anglo-Saxon
In
with
and
days
generation
Germany
chene,
the the
parasitic
its
upon which
to the tree
down,
to
word derived from
a
twig, indicating
social,
known
mistletoe was
it
latter
oak
that
is
mistl^
and
found, and
word
that
name
unlikeness
its
it
tan,
appears to us
have taken place since
should
generation,
have been
practically
the Mistel, and in
that
and
different,
nature,
amidst the momentous changes,
religious, this
after
is
it
the Anglo-Saxons as the
asserting
facts,
as
a
we
handed
unchanged.
France the gui
distinctive
have
de
association
seen,
do
not
bear out.
The
mistletoe igrows very
freely in
the south and west of England, but the
many home
districts
in
production
MISTLETOE by no means adequate
is
nothing
to
numerous goods
while
for
demand
the Christmas trains
with
laden
Metropolis,
these
supplies
We
seemed
a pity to
and the
it,
have
decks and holds
boats arrive with their
laden with crates of it
it,
are largely
supplemented by steamboat cargoes from abroad. seen the French
for
absolutely
from Herefordshire and elsewhere to
else arrive
the all-demanding
209
specially fine pieces
pack or compress, tied
that
round the
all
A friend of ours, resident
rigging and waving in the breeze.
some few
years ago in Deans' Yard, had a noble piece of
mistletoe
growing on an old apple-tree
her garden,
in
almost under the shadow of Westminster Abbey, and is
possibly there
grow
to
take
ripe
a
own
their
mistletoe,
fingers,
press
it
is
to
may wash
the
four
years
bear
in
will
it
mind
that
the
be a fine the
tree
freely,
side
upon which we
first
we
some
so
as
This
devour
and
in
successful
it.
about
it,
we are in our we are damaging
as its roots,
branching
penetrate into the very heart of the wood.^
find a tree that has been thus killed,
'
to
crack of the
bird
Spring,
effectually
place
decay of the parasite that the
is
of the bough, or the
mistletoe in destroying the tree brings about If
it
it
like
bushy mass, but we must
more
growth of mistletoe the more the
crush
into a
play the part of host.
seed away or
growth begins with
necessary
is
one's
must be on the under
crack
that
and then
bark of the tree that
Its
all
berry between
liberate the seed,
rain
any of our readers would
If
still.
wood of
its
we
The
own
death.
see
on the
the host has been
The trees, though summer, yet forlorn and O'ercome with moss and baleful Misseltoe.
lean,
Shakespeare.
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
2IO
bored and chambered out
by a teredo or the destructive
as
larva of the goat moth.
Paley, in his Natural Theology, utihses the mistletoe as
one of several instances that he gives of evidence of design "
"
nature.
in
What we
have to remark
in
made
defect
this
seeds are endued with an that
any tree they
the
that
a
Let
smooth
the it.
And
woody
tenacious,
bark of almost
then what follows
substance of the tree
mistletoe
plant
;
Of
is
no
other plant do the roots refuse to shoot in the ground
no other plant
of
generative quality,
The and
do the
when
seeds
possess
by
;
adhesive
applied to the bark of trees."
branches of the mistletoe become
are attached
this
.''
fibres
and the event
produced next winter.
is
The
to them.
quality so
from these seeds insinuate their
Roots springing into
to
stick
will
made up
is
adhesive
rubbed on
they be
if
hath yet
art
to be a mortal defect in their constitution.
examine how
us
he writes,
Here, therefore,
these plants take root in the earth.
might seem
it,"
No
a singular instance of compensation.
is
a thickened
woody when
base to the
old,
bough from
which they spring.
They branch
off very freely into pairs,
and form
aggregate
compact rounded clump.
The
the
a
leaves are thick, almost leathery in substance, in pairs,
and of in
in
a pale
yellowish-green.
The
plant
is
in
flower
March, April, and May, the male and the female flowers
being on different plants.
The
males
have four
short,
thick petals widely spreading and triangular in form.
the centre rise the four stamens. are
from three to
bract.
The
pistillate
five
together
In
These stamlnate flowers in
a
cup-shaped fleshy
flowers are solitary generally,
sometimes two or three are together
in
though
a cup-like bract.
MISTLETOE
211
the petals being very minute, and the stigma sessile on the
summit of
To
the one-celled ovary.
these pistillate flowers,
sedent in the forks of the stems, succeed in October the
white and semi-transparent globular berries, each containing a
hungry
welcome
afford
berries
many
pigeons, and a
other
foliage of the its
in
the
and
host
food
all
mistletoe
is
wood-
field-fares,
lunched off by the berries
interfered with,
through the winter
and
;
the
as
always green, while the leaves
away with the
fall
to
If not
birds.
otherwise
or
bird,
remain on the plant
of
Sheep
very glutinous pulp.
in
of dearth find the foliage very acceptable,^ while
time
in
the
immersed
seed
single
arrival
winter-time that the mistletoe
is
of Autumn,
it
is
most conspicuous
attractive.
A
curiously similar plant
the cross-leaved
is
mistletoe,
the viscum cruciatum of the botanist, a plant that
may
be
found freely enough around the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.
It is parasitic
trees, its
have the
hosts,
in
;
and we have seen
size,
and
it
berries are of a
we
The
leaves
same yellowish colour and leathery texture
is
trust,
we
figure,
only on
points of difference, the
not,
springing from the
vigorous spreading masses.
those of the mistletoe
and
it
as
and are of similar shape
examination
that
we
detect
most notable feature being that the
somewhat
dull crimson-red colour.
It
is
wholly insular prejudice when we express our
preference for berries of the colour that our
home-grown
mistletoe affords us.
Even
in
'
the
days of such
venerable
practitioners
If frost do continue, sheep hardly that fare Craue mistle and ivie for them for to spare.
TUSSER.
as
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
212
Hippocrates, and
Galen,
of
days
recent
were
mistletoe
the
Dioscorides, the medical
highly
beginning of the fourteenth century we find
commended
in a
quite
In
it
the
greatly
book calledi Lilium Medicino' as a specific taken internally or
either
epilepsy,
for
virtues
until
remained unimpaired.
reputation
its
and
extolled,
suspended round
the neck,^ and
many
physicians of
had great
in
remedial efficacy in this and kindred
faith
its
much
date have
later
afFections.
John Colbatch, a noted physician
Sir
George
wrote
I.,
A
Wonderful
Specifick
of the Poor as well
title-page
a
his
Remedy, Calculated
Debtor
to the
World, and
my
in
I
alone,
is
Spirits
hope
criminal in
old Scores to
my own
least
at
date on
the
will
past,
Satisfaction, the
That
this
have had upon
I
that
it
World what
a
Treasure
few,
View
have received
;
;
till
came out
my
would be highly
to let another Mistletoe Season pass
presented to their
very
been
be accepted In part of Payment,
some Weeks
me
as yet
way of Composition
Debt can be discharged.
informing the every Year
Benefit
" many Years
have not
since I
from an Impression that
for
The
his preface,
following Dissertation comes out by
the original
the
most
1720.
Is
able to pay ofF
which
for
" a
and heartily recommended
of Mankind."
have been," he says
I
be
to
title-page
as the Rich,
Common Good
for the
"
Dissertation concerning Mistletoe, which
he claimed upon
plant
the reign of
in
without
God Almighty
has
and that no body,
any Benefit
from
It.
The mistletoe was by the monkish herbalists called the wood of the Holy Cross, Ligmim Sancice Cruets, so highly did they esteem its healing '
powers.
MISTLETOE The
Article
this
great
of Convulsions in the City,
by much the
is
from whence
of
I
manner, that thereby
Vse
;
and
People of I
all
shall not
mendation
Ranks
of
my
Vse of
that,
I
the
greatest
receive Benefit
Hopes
that
I
hope
from
Aim
in so
doing
is
it.
my Recom-
Extraordinary Plant,
Neglected but
to press People to
the
which every Family may one time or other
The Performance
Advantage from.
that
and familiar
plain
be rendered of more publick
without
will
this
only
unpolish'd, but
upon
may
it
not
most
in the
be blamed for the Earnestness of
because
receive
am
I
very
of any,
largest
have publish'd the Noble Qualities
Wonderful Medicine
this
of Mortality of
seems plain that a General Anti-Convulsion
it
wanting.
is
Bills
to about a fifth Part of the whole,
commonly amounting
Remedy
213
I
have chosen rather to than
account
let
another
rough and
is
suffer
Season
am satisfied would be to the Detriment The good old Doctor tells us how a
Reproach
slip,
which
of many." terrible case
of
epilepsy in " one that was most near and dear," and that for five years had
baffled very
attempt
at
alleviation,
set
him on the alert for every possibility of remedy. " Being one day," he tells us, " on a Journey I saw some Hazle Trees plentifully stock'd with
my Mind
Mistletoe.
It
immediately enter'd
must be something extraordinary that the Almighty in that uncommon beautiful Plant had design'd it for further and more noble Vses than into
that there
:
barely to feed Thrushes, or to be in
Houses
to drive
away
hung up
superstitiously
evil Spirits.
" In reading the scatter'd and imperfect Accounts of the this
Island
and other neighbouring Countries, who were held
in the
Druids, formerly Priests and
Philosophers
in
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
214
highest Veneration by People of that this Veneration in great
all
Ranks,
conjectured
I
Measure proceeded from the
wonderful Cures they wrought by means of the Mistletoe.
But
Misdetoe
recommended
how in
good
as
Oak
the
being
for anything,
to procure a quantity of
my
all
my
all
of
it,
only
was
in great Straits
I
for
I
remember
did not
I
Travels to have seen any of
Acquaintance
Mistletoe
the
it
amongst
so
:
do not know that
have
I
met
with above two that have."
This basis
see
set
that
Doctor experimenting
the
on
the
practical
one cannot get what one wants one must
if
what one can
that " from ten Years large Experience
Mistletoe to be the most noble
Mistletoe of the
result being
get, the highly satisfactory
Oak
I
find the ordinary
Medicine
I
not being to be obtained,
knew.
ever
furnished
I
myself with a large quantity of that of the Lime, Trees in one of the Parks great Plenty."
accounts
The Doctor
of some
very
suspicion of quackery or
Dook, and
it
at
Hampton Court
affording
certainly gives very
striking
detailed
There
cures.
the
is
no
merely personal gain about his
appears a pity that the matter should have
been allowed so entirely to drop out of sight, and with this
thought in our minds we are the
dealing at such length with
less
apologetic for
it.
Culpeper declares the misdetoe to be under the dominion of the sun, and " it can also be taken for granted that that
which grows upon oaks
participates
nature of Jupiter, because an
Oak
is
something of
one of his
does not seem to have occurred to him that the mistletoe
preferring
might perhaps make
some twenty other a litde difference.
trees." fact
trees to
the It
of the
the oak
COLUMBINE Howel Dda an
In the ancient forest laws of
valued
is
reckoned take
nowadays
this
ash-tree
bough of mistletoe
a
ninety times as
at thirty shillings,
that
it
while
fourpence,
at
215
proportion
a
is
is
we may good deal more much
:
About the only use that mistletoe can be than reversed. put to is to make bird-lime of it; but as we see in a book before us that "
it
may very
any one was ever engaged
reasonably be doubted whether in
using that article whose time expression of
could not have been better employed," an opinion
we
that
entirely agree with,
while to give a receipt for
COLUMBINE Plate
and
XXXIII.
its
manufacture.
brings before us
Anglo-Saxon plant
pigeon-plant
;
the flowers, foliage, to be
claim
Its
indigenous has been questioned, but in
worth
(Aquilegia Vulgaris)
of the Columbine.
fruit
scarcely
is
it
it
is
found
the culfrewort, a
lists as
.and a plant that can
show
considered set
down
word meaning
a recognition
and
descent from at least the days of Egbert has very fairly
made out
its
indigenous
was under
is,
after
very vague one.
a
all,
tropical conditions, a state
clearly prove, his
England
of things that many an when England was under sub-
of things that the coal-measures
was the columbine "
in residence "
famous voyage had drifted out so
would he have found indigenous
When
glacial conditions, a state
Ice-scored rock testifies to, or
in
The term
claim for recognition in our Flora.
it ?
If not,
it]
is,
far
?
If
Noah
west as this
we presume,
not
!
The whole
plant
is
atfractlve,
whether we look
at its
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
2i6
the gaily-coloured and
richly-cut foliage, flowers,
or the equally quaint form of
quaintly-formed ring of fruits,
its
pod-like individually, but clustering together into a most
picturesque
midsummer,
we
time,
but, continuing
get,
simultaneously there
The
aggregation.
the
;
many
are
we
as
columbine
bloom
in
have
depicted,
open
flowers
the
illustration
given
the
leaf
during the flowering season
in
it
is
considerable
a
and
flower
and
opening,
or
promise of the bud.
only yet in
for
fruit
being reached
stage
fruiting
about
flowers
its
Wc
have
Autumnal
while others in
our
garb
;
of a dark bluish-green
colour.
be seen, by a glance at the lower blossom in
will
It
our
illustration,
or, better
flower, that the
blossom
clustering birds,
hence
ing in Latin a dove.
The
yet,
singularly like a group of
is
its
by an inspection of a living
name columbine,
It is botanically
columba mean-
the Aquilegia vulgaris.
old writers also, amongst other names,
jiquileia, Aquilina,
and Columbina.
little
call
Some one
the plant
centuries ago
thought that the clustering forms that suggest to others the heads of doves were no less suggestive of the claws
of an so
eagle, in Latin, Aquila, but the
happy
as
the popular
title.
botanico-astrological turn of leonis,
" the
wherein
herbe
reference of course desert
but to his
mind the
name
by no means
is
Some
mediaeval folk of a
called
our plant the Herba
lion
doth
delight,"
the
being not to the lion of the African
confrere in
the Zodiac, and to the time
of flowering of the plant. In
its
wild
state,
dwelling in woods and coppices, and
on the railway banks, the columbine flower purple colour, but
it
is
is
of deep rich
a plant that lends itself to consider-
COLUMBINE
COLUMBINE able variation
under
says Gerard, "
of the
" They are
cultivation/
some
in
:
sometimes blew, often white, and other
hands of the
the
to play with her little
list
the spurs have been
florists
greatly modified, and extended to
varieties
more than
and sowne,"
gardens for the beautie and variable colour
whiles of mixt colours, as nature In
set
in
floures
ones."
217
normal
their
charming quaintness of
size,
thus giving
much
the flowers a
effect.
The columbine, from
its
deep purple colour, while
it
was yet a wildling, and the gardeners had not metamorphosed was the symbol of grief and desertion
it"
The columbine, by
lonely wanderer taken,
such as are forsaken.
Is then ascribed to
As
such
it
presented
symbolism
Brown, the author of
itself to
whom we
the 'British Pastorals, from all
quote, but in almost
a variation of significance
Drayton the flower
is
:
is
possible
;
'
and
to
no emblem of the love-lorn, but a
Bring hither the pink and purple Columbine,
'
With
gylliflovvers.
Spenser.
The columbine was a
favourite plant with Spenser.
Beauty, after dwelling on the rosy
eyes of a certain
fair
as
In
a florist's
'
;
come
Garden of
perilously near bathos.
catalogue before us
having blue, white, and
blossoms
In his
the ruddy cheeks, and the beautiful
damsel, he compares " her neck like to a bunch of
cullambines," which seems to -
lips,
we
see that one variety
yellow flowers
;
is
marked
another with bright golden
another as being vermilion and yellow.
In symbolic colour, for instance, white
may be
the badge of perfect
emblem of craven fear. Red may be the emblem of glowing love The peacock, now the emblem of worldly pride, or of blood-thirsty cruelty. was for centuries the symbol of the Resurrection, and the lion may be the emblem of the Lion of the tribe of Judah, of St. Mark the evangelist, of royal purity or the
magnanimity, or the symbol of
Satan himself seeking
treacherous wiles and ambuscade devour.
whom
he
may by
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
2i8 rich
adornment
fair
one,
who
for the love-favoured, the
love-bestowing
have bestowed upon her "
shall
wreathed with
sweetest
and
eglantine,
goodly
a
of azured columbine," while her coronet
chaplet
be
shall
goodly things
all
pressed into the service to do her honour.
The columbine broom,
the
was,
the better-known badge of
like
one of the heraldic cognisances of the royal
House of Plantagenet. One finds glass
illuminations
may
and the
It
example,
in the spandrils
Exeter
Cathedral.
fruit
He
died in the sixth year
of the columbine
is
presently
the seeds
plant,
dispossessed of
In
grow or
its
once
one portion of
moorland,
seal,
the
iris,
lilies
bindweed,
freely,
not
easily
established,
is
our
garden
we have or
foxgloves,
it
is
our delight
transported forest.
wild
snapdragon,
stone-crop,
valley,
bird's-foot
daffodils,
trefoil,
hop,
to
from hedge
may
Here
geraniums,
celandines, strawberry, grass
of the
re-
They germinate very
fairly
river-bank
primroses,
coltsfoot,
yellow
These seed
holding.
divers plants that
found
on opening them, to
open of themselves on maturity, and
to the ground.
fall
the
that
of the
constructed of five carpels
find,
of smooth, dark, shining seeds.
full
ceptacles
so
the device of divers
of the brass of Sir Peter Courtenay
grouped together, and these we be
as
in old stained-
King Henry IV,
reign of
The
like,
sometimes
be seen, for instance, in an easily accessible
nobles.
in
it
be
alkanet,
of Parnassus,
Solomon's
cinquefoil,
globe flower, bryony,
woody
night-shade,
bramble, blue cornflower, valerian, leopard 's-bane, moneywort,
and
many
other
these
will
be seen
the
interesting
columbine,
wildlings.
and we find
Amongst it
sur-
COLUMBINE rounds
with
so
goodly
219
progeny
a
that
it
is
absolutely necessary in the interests of other things to
do
itself
a little judicious eradication.
and others that the seeds
Tragus
was held by
It
of the columbine given with saffron in a remedial
those
for
were
leaves
boiled
throat.
However
children
that
dosed with pressed
One
milk
in
may
this
have
lost
as
the
remedy
a
against
sore
Linnaeus records cases of
be,
lives
their
while
jaundice,
through being over-
Leaves, root, flowers, seeds, have
it.
the
into
from
suffering
wine were
little
service
of the
professors
all
been
of medicine.
Pauli asserts that he cured children of small-pox and
by administering columbine seeds
measles
them
and one Scopoli, not
;
he was
equally
in
to be outdone,
Another man
successful.
powder
declares
but the plant has
now no
the paraphernalia of the disciples of the
healing
mation of the throat
in
that
commends
a
of the leaves in water as a gargle for inflam-
decoction
lives
to
peace,
;
place art
having no longer any attraction
to
in
and the
herbalist collecting his simples. It
would be evidently impossible within any reasonable
compass to deal with
all
the various fruit forms that
may
be found in our country rambles, nor would there be any great
gain
in
doing
Our
so.
take the leading forms and those that fairly typical.
the
scarlet
illustration
do of the shepherd's illustrations
We
propose,
poppy, since
its
been rather to
object has
may
therefore, next
" heads "
be considered deal with
to
form an excellent
of the globular capsule, as those of the campion flask-like
needle,
form.
that
The
we come
parsnip again, to
in
due
and the
course, are
of that great order of umbel-bearing plants
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
220
that includes the fennel, celery, parsley, and carrot of our
vegetable
and
gardens,
our wild growths.
broom
other species amongst
manner we presently
In like
representative of the great
as
dropwort,
water
deal with
order of pod-
and therefore standing for the peas, scarlet-runners,
bearers,
and the
lupins, trefoil,
many
hog-weed, and
hog's-fennel,
the
hemlock,
the
of our gardens,
like
kidney-vetch, furze, and
many
and the birdsfoot
other pod-producing
plants in our fields and hedgerows.
One
comes across the statement
repeatedly
have but two
siderable
;
other hand
British
Britain
in
correction, since there
poppy
that
scarlet,
is
pimpernel, sometimes
the
— the
poppy
but such a statement requires a con-
amount of
one kind of
wildflowers
scarlet
and the pimpernel
we
that
more than
is
while
on the
emphatically called
the scarlet pimpernel, has yet nothing like the depth and intensity of colour
poppies.
It
in
its
not really scarlet at
is
perhaps termed a terra-cotta red, or,
The the
colour limited
comes
may
it,
perhaps best think of
it
nothing
more is
else.
in strength
than
to
imitate
there
scarlet.
all,
may
find
but what
intense.
We
no such colour
The
:
in
the
in
may be
be, salmon-colour.
delicate
one, and defies
When
nomenclature of the colour-man.
to trying
scarlet if
as
and
a very refined
is
we
blossoms that
painting the flower,
as a colour that
cannot
call
scarlet
is
it
a
it
we
would be
pale scarlet,
scarlet
and
it
is
flowers of the pheasant's eye, magnificent
of colour as they
are,
are
more crimson
really
;
POPPY
POPPY The Poppy
is
221
(Papaver Rhoeas)
very much in evidence on our railway
embankments and waste ground, but more notably yet amongst the farmer's corn and other as
we
can only by severe utilitarians be denounced,
it
as
are afraid,
a
The same may be
noxious weed.'
of the charlock that clothes the arable lands with
said a
is,
it
Beautiful
crops.
mass of yellow,
rich
the delight of the
to
At the same time some
the disgust of the farmer.
cleansing of the land
glorious
and to see a
possible,
is
or of gold
sheet of scarlet
and
artist
little
field
one
not an indication
is
of good farming.
Why a We must all
have
poppy should be so not forget
this original said,
somewhat
regarded its
as
a
is
severely, classic,
appear.
sometimes of
that,
by lapse of time
naturally,
but,
significance
not
no names come fortuitously
that
significance,
a
does
called
book
certain
a as
lost to us.
it
was now
was
It
was
that
never
read,
position in our literature was assured, and the poppy,
having been be a poppy
so in
called
for
centuries,
doubtless
will
popular nomenclature for centuries
corn-rose, a habitat,
name admirably
descriptive
but entirely wanting in
point
more,
Anglo-Saxon days
no one knowing or caring why. It is by some old authors was the fopig. it In
still
of
as
its
called the
favourite
suggesting any
sort of comparison in growth, form, colour, or anything '
Poppies nodding mock the hope of
toil.
Crabbe.
Where the dark poppy flourish'd on the And sterile soil, and mock'd the thin-set
dry rye.
Crabbe.
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
222
with
else,
the
rose.
It
Names of
Prior, in his Popular
cop-rose.
suggests that this
" from
is
sometimes
also
is
British Plants,
red rose-like
its
and
flower,
Those
the
cop or button-like shape
who
find this explanation sufficient are almost to be envied
for
the
even
flower
we
if
yet of
are
not
is
willing
its
capsule."
rose-like,
at
all
to
think
while
of them
Other names are
sorts of shapes.
all
of
the
called
as
;
buttons, cops,
are
cheese-ball, the
globular head suggesting a spherical cheese, and headache
from the presumed
name descends
first
to
for
we
the Papaver
is
us
at
who do
of Pliny, but those justification
of the odour of the flower.^
efi^ects
our plant
Botanically
name
the
us
invite it
to
induce
sleep."
All the poppies are very narcotic^ in property, the
poppy being notably a pomegranate, as fruit in
On rays
of
so.
the
The
specific
name Rhceas
somewhat
capsules
opium
signifies
resemble
that
their form.
summit of the capsule
the the
stigma,
making
a
are
still
form, and
immediately beneath these rays little
will
the
star-like
be
apertures through which the seeds,
very speedily find their way. ];
retained
very pleasing
a series of ripe,
which
believe,
was so called " because
was administered with pap to
plant
from the days
not find in this a sufficient
personally decline to do, that
the
events
all
The
Rhceas.
seen
when
In two of our British
Corn poppies, that in crimson dwell, Called Headaches from their sickly smell. Clare.
*
Not poppy, nor mandragora, Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world. Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep
Which thou
ow'dst yesterday.
Shakespeare,
Othello.
BUTTERCUPS
223
poppies, the P. Argemone and the P. dubium, the capsules are not globular, but elongated.
and hardened into
fully ripe
a
good
deal
capsules, ere they are
dry condition, contain
of milky juice, as we find on
Were
section.
The
a crisp,
it
not
the
that
making our
quantity yielded
small to repay cultivation, these poppy-heads
too
is
would furnish
us with British-grown opium.
The
petals
of the poppy are particularly fugitive
the flowers be gathered they soon lose their charm,
of the petals shattering
at
;
if
many
once/ and the others quickly
withering.
BUTTERCUPS The
fruits
of the
interesting in form,
While is
a
are
all
built
and
(Ranunculus Acris)
various will
repay some
chimerical
fruit ;
of
from buttercups
had we
of Buttercup are little
up on the same general
very interesting variation
gathering
species
detail.
may
observation. idea,
The
appear
said blackberries instead
there
idea
of
somewhat
of buttercups
one could have better entertained the thought. In popular language the word fruit suggests the idea of something juicy and tempting-looking, while some would limit their use of the term yet more, and practically insist that a fruit must be something edible. In truth, however, whatever seed-bearing form succeeds the flower or a vegetable
'
marrow
as
much
is
a fruit, a pea-pod
as an apple, a dry,
untempt-
Pleasures are like poppies spread,
You
seize the flower,
its
bloom
to shed.
Burns.
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
224
ingly-looking sycamore samara as fully as the juiciest pear.
The
fruit,
pistil,
must be understood,
it
always based on the
is
and when the other constituent parts of the flower, and so
petals, stamens,
away, the
forth, their
develops
pistil
duty done, have withered
the seed-vessel, often very
into
greatly enlarging in bulk, and modifying
many
this seed-vessel are the seeds,
its
Within
form.
or few, and these are
either liberated by the opening of the fully-developed re-
ceptacle for them, as in the poppy,
broom, and thorn-apple,
or the whole thing on maturity comes to the ground, as in
oot of
the trees.
the
up an independent
set
The
of
fruits
lying at the
see
In this latter case the enclosing envelope
decays, and
gradually
and
we may
the case of the apples that
all
seed
set free
is
germinate
to
existence.
our species of buttercup are built up
of a series of fleshy carpels radiating from the centre and arranged
into
a globular, or sometimes
sometimes rounded terminating
and
in
other
in
a
species
The
tubercles.
Flammula, the
sometimes
beak,
small
wrinkled
of
fruits
lesser celandine,
quite
covered
or
the
;
extremities, at others
outer
their
at
elongated, head
smooth,
with
small
Ranunculus
spearwort,
R. Ficaria, or the goldi-
locks,
R, auricomus, are excellent examples of the globular
form,
while
has
its
the
celery-leaved
very numerous carpels arranged
The
cylindrical
head.
aruensis,
composed of
on both
ranunculus,
is
sides with
quaint form.
fruit
a
of
the
R.
in a
corn
sceleratus,
very dense
crowfoot,
R.
few large carpels that are covered
hooked
prickles
:
it
is
a
particularly
Buttercups are called ranunculuses, a word
derived from rana, a frog, because they are ordinarily found in
low marshy ground beloved of frogs, but the corn
BUTTERCUPS crowfoot
is
an exception and should be sought for in corn-
All
fields.
the corn
the
crowfoot,
of some
matter
are of a
species
very acrid
inoffensive litde
the most poisonous of a
225
thing as
our buttercups
all
interest
little
The
matters.
plant
it
:
from
somewhat resembles
is
therefore
is
and other
crowfoot from
a fancy that the shape of the foliage in this
species
looks,
this
called
is
it
our millers
us that
to
should carefully cleanse their wheat extraneous
nature, but
and the
allied
a bird's foot, while buttercup
is
suggested by the golden cup-like forms of the flowers.
may
It
be somewhat of the nature
of our readers
grammarians
many no
heed
special
yellow
to
cup-like
the
all
and for
matter,
flower
since
each
that
not given
is
it
given
simply a
is
little
summer-time
early
to
is
somehow got bracketed
has
that
with another flower, the result being that " buttercups daisies "
stand
the idea of the
as
sort
a
Summer
shock
it
was
to
half a century ago, a white flower. to express the
of symbol
can
well
our sense
of
we found
that a
When
in
or
shorthand
wild-flowers, as the primrose
We
does of those of Spring. a
who have
few,
things, a buttercup
very conspicuous, and ofi^
not a
people
to
know
what the old
is
" a noun of multitude," and signifieth
To
flowers.
men
all
called
of news to some
word buttercup
that the
classic
the
remember what
proprieties
when,
buttercup could be
times they would seek
extreme of improbability, nothing seemed
so apt as the idea
of a black
swan
;
a white
buttercup
appeared to be almost a parallel phenomenon to ourselves,
and yet we have lived to see both.
One of the
little
the earliest of Spring flowers
celandine
that
stars
the
brown
is
a
earth
buttercup,
with 15
its
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
226
golden blossoms buttercups
In the
and throughout the whole
;
of one
early
summer
with
are always
another
or
sort
year
floral
us.
the quiet pools and gently-moving
streams are one great sheet of white from
countless
the
blossoms of the water-buttercups, while the forest-banks
gay
are
with
wood
of the
and
flowers
The meadows
crowfoot.
no longer
are
golden
the
mass of verdure
a
to
graceful
May
in
the
foliage
and June but are
eye,
transformed into glowing gold by the alchemy of Nature,
through the masses of bulbous crowfoot, while high away
on the corn-land, has
its
we have
as
seen, the dry
and arid ground
Some,
representative buttercup, the corn crowfoot.
like the
meadow
yellow
while others, as the celery-leaved ranunculus, have
;
crowfoot, have flowers of brilliant golden
Some,
their blossoms of paler tint.
like the
meadow crowfoot,
again, have their leaves richly cut into radiating segments
and deeply
form that one may
serrated, a
buttercup form of foliage
while the lesser celandine has
;
them heart-shaped, and
the
foot long, but an
or
scarcely or not at this
inch
all
the typical
call
spearwort has them nearly
two
notched on their margins.
Some,
same noble spearwort, have blossoms that
would not more than cover
;
the corn crowfoot, a sixpence
a
breadth at most, and
in
a half-crown
while others,
would
those of
as
to
suffice
like
from
veil
the
Most of them have five-petalled flowers, but in little celandine we have counted any number of petals
in
its
view.
that is
blossoms up
to
declare
scarcely
provoke
in
the
to
that itself
sufficient,
question,
of our twenty British
fourteen.
It
will
be
seen,
one has seen a buttercup "
as
one may
And which
species, that
in
you saw
flower
so
doing
was
one
" .^
then,
in
it,
out
—
PARSNIP
PARSNIP XXXIV. we
In Plate a
plant
that
(Pastinaca Sativa)
have a drawing of the Parsnip
many
persons
with
the
minds
their
227
would
kitchen
once
at
associate
in
which
is,
but
garden,
nevertheless, a true wildling— and the source from
the
cultivated
the
root
was derived.
parsnip
small, hard,
is
In
the
whence
wild
and stringy, and not
at
plant
open
all
to
the amenities of the culinary art, though
on gathering
it
we
a
find
having
it
resemblance to
form and odour
in
parsnips
the
of
suggestive
In
gardener.
the
garden we have seen roots dug up of
eighteen
the
inches
The
circumference round the crown and two feet long. wild
parsnip
found freely enough
is
the country, on the banks, edges of
but
has
a
The
soil.
situation
preference
distinct
plant
for
it
we
—a
figure
fields,
chalky
for a
horizon,
the sunshine, and
its
of
in
or
gravelly
a quite ideal
downland country, and
front of us a great chalk pit gleaming
whiteness in
parts
or waste ground,
we gathered
wild, open, breezy
with the blue sea for our
many
in
in
immediately in almost dazzling
floor a
mass of
debris
overgrown with grass and wild thyme and great patches of the yellow blossoms of the parsnip. Its
very
blossoms are
small,
seen
but, being
when examined
singly
to
be
massed together into heads, con-
As
tributing their share in the general floral display.
will
be seen from our illustration, they are yellow in colour,
and are borne the
in clusters
general flower-head.
umbellate, and these large
natural
order,
of some
eight or [ten
This arrangement
is
rays
to
known
as
umbel-bearing flowers form the
Umbellifera, that
-a
includes
very
many
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
2a8
valuable
and others, such
plants,
the hemlock, of the
as
most poisonous nature.
The name seems
any
as parsnip, or parsnep, in the various text-books,
favour
that
dozen that
we may
older
authors
pasnep and divers other variations.
These,
and
other,
the
prefer
find
six
by half a
balanced
one spelling being
the
given
propriety
equal
with
be
to
the
in
however, were the days before Civil Service Examinations,
when a man was free to make him afraid. Romans, and
it
The
was cultivated by the
plant
society gossip
recorded in the
is
day that the Emperor Tiberius was
To
a dish of parsnips. Pastinaca, a
name
makes
young
as
When
a series
their roots in,
had
in
its
for
centuries
been
for
man and
beast,
contains
It
a
called
but
it
the ages,
cabbage, he
declares that
Roman
days
pastinum, and
The
parsnip root parsnip has
welcome food
both
has no great nutritive powers.^
considerable
"
a
as
it
like a
Pastinaca.
cultivated
use has been made of Gerard
writers,
a precisely similar tool, only
respect the beetroot surpasses
'
or
in old
was so very
it
the parsnip was
that
lettuce
dibble he called
a
it
and shape
size
was the
plant
and other
our gardener would
and when the gardener
of calling
instead
to
of holes with a tool called a dibble to insert
similar task, he used
a
as
of his
partial
come down
has
it
such
plants,
the
find in Pliny
been corrupted into parsnip. out
specially
Romans
the
we
that
and which has gradually,
set
no man daring
to spell as he liked,
amount of it,
sugar,
but
in
this
so that no great commercial
it.
The parsneps nourish more than doe the is somewhat thicker, but not
Turneps or the Carrots, and the nourishment faultie
nor bad."
thick will
still
Those, therefore,
who
pin their faith on parsnips.
like
to
take their
nourishment
PARSNIP.
FARSNIP In the Middle Ages
we
believe
of
parts
much
haddock
accordance with
in
some
holds, as a curious survival, in
still
country,
the
was considered the correct adjunct
it
of the days of abstinence, a combination
to the salt fish
that
229
the
and
being
parsnips
as
of things as lamb
fitness
and mint sauce or any other blend sanctioned by con-
A
servatism and immemorial usage.
kind of beer
is
made
by mashing up the roots with hops and then proceeding
more
fermentation, and a
to
as parsnip
wine
Gerard quaintly
is
also
tells
repute in some rural
in
us that " there
is
a
which
have made no
I
who
Dioscorides,
not
if
reliable,
in
sedulously
venom of
equally
this,
;
at
is
deer are
becoming poison-proof
thus
by observance of the
by
friend
nor meane to do."
as an authority
that
my
as
booke of experiments,
his
in
triall of,
affirms
of serpents
attacks
and
forth
set
districts.
good and pleasant
food or bread made of the roots of Parsneps,
Mr. Plat hath
known
beverage
aristocratic
venerable
least
preserved from the wild
eating
parsnips,
whereupon mankind, from
themselves
protect
and scorpions by drinking wine
serpents
which the aromatic seeds of parsnips have been steeped.
Bacon,
Sylva
in
Sylvarum, published
in
the
year
1629,
reports as a curious fact that " roots, such as Garrets and
more Sweet and Lushious
Parsnips, are
than
in
other Yeeres."
Plague of the
last
He
in Infectious
Yeere there were seene
in divers
and low Grounds about London many Toads
two or three Inches long (vsually)
have no Tailes
Disposition His book
is
at
Yeeres
had observed, too, that " in the
at
the least
all.
to
Putrefaction
a
most interesting one
in ;
:
Which
that
Ditches
had Tailes
Whereas Toads argueth
a great
the Soile and Aire,"
^
and
on the surface amusing, yet pathetic
—
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
230
good crop of unusually
therefore, incidentally, an unusually
good
parsnips.
CARROT The
bracketing
Bacon reminds us plant,
and
(Daucus Carota)
that in the Carrot, an equally
we have another very
fruits in this
umbellate fashion.
during
June, July,
numerous heads of white topped, but as the fruit
It is
like
form.
in
until
It
it
the
to ripen
becomes
bears
thrives
a
some two or
are
flat-
grows
the head
at last quite
cup-
This peculiarity gives the plant one of
name of
best
parent of
throwing up
These heads
popular names, the bird's-nest, and in Holland and it
wild
should be found
and August,
flowers.
begins
more and more concave,
common
typical plant carrying its flowers
the cultivated carrot of our gardens.
flowering
by
parsnips and carrots
of
together
similar
on calcareous
In the wild state
import. soils,
it
attaining to a height of
three feet, and noticeable from
its
disks,
some
three to five inches in diameter, of white blossoms, and
Parkinson, writing
richly-cut_^foliage.
its
Germany
in
1643, says
its
that
the ladies of his day wore the leaves of the carrot in their hair as an adornment. into brilliant yellow
In the
and
Autumn
scarlet,
the foliage changes
and becomes sought
after
He tells us, for instance, how Poysonous Beasts affect
in its honest struggling through the darkness to light.
that "it
is
strange that
is
generally received,
Odorate and Wholesome Herbs As that the Snake loueth Fennell that the Toad will be much vnder Sage that Frogs will be in Cinquefoile," and then thinking it out, and daring to set his opinion against that of many men of recognised weight and authority he hazards the idea that " it may be, it is rather the Shade or other Couerture that they take liking in than the Vertues We can all think so now, but it is more difficult to be the first of the Herbe." :
:
—
to question long-standing beliefs.
;
—
—
CARROT from
231
beauty for table decoration,
its
more than once he found
told us that
A
etc.
Surrey farmer
trespassers cutting
the leaves from his carrots, so he determined that he
do so
instead,
leaves
to
would
and sending up large consignments of these
Covent Garden, he, to quote
his
own words,
" got big
money for them." The root of the wild carrot is of a yellowish-white colour, woody in texture, acrid to the taste, yet having most The carpels that unmistakably the typical carrot odour. form the
fruits are flattened
bristly ridges volatile oil,
on
in
form and bearing four very
their surfaces.
They
and are very aromatic
contain a powerful
to the smell
and
taste,'
being held superior in strength and efficacy to the cultivated
ones for medicinal purposes. boiled roots are is
not
still
now employed
The
except that
carrot,
sometimes used for soothing in
medical practice
;
but
its
poultices,
in earlier days,
including in this elastic and comprehensive term anything
from the days of Augustus Caesar to George the Fourth, it
was held
in
great estimation in medicine.
of food carrots are wholesome and largely
of starch and sugar.
nutritious,
Horses and
fond of them, and we can most of
us,
we
with what entire satisfaction our rabbits Botanically
the '
the carrot
is
As an cattle
suppose,
article
consisting are very
remember
munched them
up.
the Daucas carota^ Daucus being
Greek name, dating back before the Christian
era
Plants (for the most part) are more strong, both in Taste and Smell in
the Seed than
in
the Leafe and Root.
The Cause
is,
for that in
Plants that
are not of a Fierce or Eager Spirit, the Vertue is increased by Concoction
and Maturation, which is euer most in the Seed But in Plants that are of a Fierce and Eager Spirit they are stronger whilest the Spirit is enclosed in the Root And the Spirits doe but weaken and dissipate when they come to the Aire and Sunne. As we see it in Onions, Garlike, etc. Bacon, Sylva :
:
Sylvartim.
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
232
while
carota
word
Latin
the
is
venerable as the other, the generic
CRANBERRY
and
the plant,
for
as
title.
(Vaccinium Oxycoccos)
Growing luxuriantly on the peat mosses and boggy moorlands and
true
home
find the beautiful
recorded as far south as Sussex,
the northern counties, since
in
is
may
country one
Though
Cranberry.
little its
in the fen
it
is
there
that the conditions are most freely found that are essential to
its
Many
well-being.
that once bore
it
districts, too, in
abundantly
know
it
the eastern fenlands
no more, since drainage
and the subsequent cultivation of the land have changed the are
on
this
is
local conditions.
as
own
matters
the Swallow-tail likes
at all
that while
her
entirely
bog plants
beautiful
account approaching extinction, and such splendid
butterflies
than one
Many
to
are
growing much scarcer
contemplate.
One of
England used once on a time
cranberries, culinary,
the results
to
grow
all
they are now, being largely used in
imported
in
immense
quantities,
over
thousand gallons a year, from Russia, Spain, Germany,
fifty
Hungary, and Sweden.
What
cranberries
are also called
come very freely from the United States of America. They are not, however, quite the same, but a closely-allied species,
Vaccinium
macrocarpa,
growing much more
erect
than the true cranberry, and having larger berries.
The
cranberry
creeps
over marsh
and
fen,
seldom
growing more than three or four inches high, and spreading very
of as
freely.
its
habitat,
the
It
has a goodly
being
marsh-wort,
known
number of names
in different parts
marsh-whortleberry,
descriptive
of the country
fen-berry,
fen-
CRANBERRY grapes,
marsh-berry,
it
and
we may
given
reasons are
nobody knows
not
is
two or three different
as
assume that
not uncharitably
are so unsatisfactory that
all
:
bog-berry,
should be called cranberry
immediately obvious,
so
moor-berry,
moss-berry,
Why
and bog-wort.
233
it
really
is
not worth while to set them forth.
The
stems
the
upper surface
their
flowers, borne singly
and are of
in
very
are
They
segments of the
as
we
see in the flower of the
woody nightshade. The plant is in flower The berries are ripe by August. They
June.
of the withered
calyx.
They
seeded, while their flavour
and astringent, with
is
it
and not
is
many-
to question, being acid it
that
some people
Hooker, we
see,
declares that
highly agreeable "
at all
makes " the
open
teeth
little
are red in colour, and
a certain dash
enjoy and others do not.
is,
The
rolled back at the edges.
are globular in form and crowned by the four
" the fruit
much
on long slender stems, hang pendent,
thrown back,
or the
May and
is
in
a
;
sober
botanist
will
keep
best of tarts."
It is at all
a long time if gathered in
put into well-corked bottles. cranberry
is
Vaccinium
The
Oxycoccos,
sharp or acid, and a berry.
Hooker
he
events pronounced
A
the
latter
name of
the
half of the
signifying
considerably older author
afiirms of cranberries
the heate of burning agues,
They
dry weather and then botanical
name being compounded of two Greek words than
as
given to rhapsodies, affirms further, that
be very wholesome and strongly antiscorbutic.
to
and
slender leaves,
are almost white beneath,
a delicate rose-colour, the four
corolla being
potato,
cranberry
of the thyme.
like those
and
of
and clothed with small evergreen
delicate,
and
that " they take
away
the drought,
they
also
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
234
quench the furious heate of choler, restore an appetite to by reason of cholericke and corrupt
meate which was
lost
humours, and
good
are
juice of these also
added that
it
may
is
boyled
and
also
be thicke, with sugar
it
good
is
On
far better."
made
they are by fermentation lare
till
be kept, which
that the berries are, yea,
they
The
against the pestilent diseases.
into
a
for
things
all
the Continent
kind of wine, and
converted into a pleasant acidulous cooling
beverage for the hot weather,
or, rather, for the
relief
of
the thirst that the hot weather induces.
One
curious result of the war in 1570 between
on the marketing of
and France was
its
of wild
Thousands of
fruit.
effect
barrels
Germany kinds
all
of hedgerow
and
moorland gatherings are in the ordinary course of events from Germany to France.
exported every year bilberries, is
cranberries,
bird-cherries,
form,
like,
it
not obscurely hinted, a very important element in the
production
of
claret
no foreign market
and other
mere drug
raspberries,
song,
in
There being
towns of the Fatherland, became
the
market,
and other wild
whatever that
and beautiful strawberries,
fruits
were going for
a
mere
may be. Before from Hanover alone was over
standard of value
the war the export value
three
vintages.
for these in war-time, the fruit, arriving
in cartloads in the various
a
and the
These,
hundred thousand
francs a year, chiefly, of course,
the result of child labour.
BEAR-BERRY Another graceful
(Arctostaphylos Uva Ursi)
little
Scotland, Ireland, or the
the Bear-berry.
It
plant,
though one must go to
North of England
delights to
to
see
it,
is
grow amongst the heather
BEAR-BERRY and on dry rocky thousand
formidable
rather
The
time
again
is
sea.
appearance,
name, however,
first
only this
in
a
bear-berry,
but
is
but
celebrated French botanist,
book on the
over again,
bear-berry
Greek, dress, while the second
now
who
forth
set
name was bestowed on
generic
a
home up to three Its botanical name has a Arctostaphylos Uva Ursi.
slopes, being quite at
above the
feet
235
Latin.
in
name The
the plant by Adanson, a
published his notable work,
families of plants, in the year
One
1763.
curious feature in his nomenclature, though the present
an exception,
that
is
many
all
appearance
as
to be entirely pointless.^
who wrote Rare
we
Plants,
is
same idea
so
and recondite
obscure
Dutch
Clusius, a
botanist,
A
History of
responsible for the specific name.
Whether
1601 his best-known
that the fruit of the plant
food
the
of the names he gives are to
meaningless, or
book,
Greek or Latin or English, we
take
in
in
is
of bears.
may
It
is
arrive
the
at
a delectable item
perchance
be
objected
that there are no bears, at least of the quadrupedal type,
Durham
in
or Cromarty, but
the fallacy that because a plant
falling into
British
Asia, as
in
it is
British alone,
and
in
North
meelbter^
Thus
bears
Britain,
called bear's
undoubtedly
is
Northern Europe, Northern
Northern America, where the plant
sometimes
'
we must always beware of
are
bilberry
no
is
less
as at
much
at
home.
home It
is
or meal-berry, in Danish
from the mealy character of
its
fruit.
the gentianella, a graceful Httle yellow-flowering plant of the turf-
has been suggested that this
is from the Greek and candeo, to burn within, though what curly locks or internal combustion have to do with this charming little plant it would be impossible to explain. Anotlier plant, the hedge wherefore, no man knoweth. parsley, he called Torilis
bogs, he called Cicendia. kikinnos, curled
hair,
It
or from the Latin
—
cis
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
236
stems of the bear-berry are procumbent, branching
The
and spreading very all
ordinarily in
is
and
They
unnotched
their character,
in
are very
at
considerable
a
leaves are evergreen, small, less than
in length, ovate,
rigid
when found
masses, covering
large
The
area of ground.
an inch
freely, so that the plant
at
their margins,
and having a glossy
numerous, and
surface.
closely together
set
stiff
on the
we taste one we find it somewhat bitter have long been used in medicine, and They and austere. They still retain something of their ancient reputation. are gathered in large quantities, and when dried are used They contain a large amount of as an astringent tonic.
stems, and
if
and Linnaeus
tannin,
us in his Flora Lapponica that
tells
these leaves are picked in great quantities in the north of
Sweden, and sent down
Stockholm and other towns for
to
the use of the tanners.
The like
a
flowers are of a delicate rose-colour, tubular, very
heath-bell or lily-of-the-valley flower in form, and
with spreading
May
and June, growing some
The
ends of the stems.
They may
mouth.
five-cleft
five
be found in
or six together at the
berries that succeed
them
are of
course necessarily also clustered at the termination of the branches, and
sought by bears, botanists, and
should be
They
others during September.
red in colour, and having a shining surface.
bright
cutting one open across
and
are small, globular in form,
in each
as
fruit
is
we
and appearance
fleshy,
that
it
doing
but of the
we have
in
On
see five radiating cells,
The
seed.
sepals of the calyx, not
have seen
fairly
we brown
centre
of these a hard,
at its base the five fruit,
its
the
berry has
crowning the
cranberry.
The
mealy or floury texture
already
referred
to.
On
CROWBERRY tasting
it
has, while
we
find
somewhat
berries
but such flavour as
tasteless,
and austere,
bitter
is
it
yet not altogether
animals, cows, horses, and the like, leave
Most
unpleasant. these
almost
it
237
but
untouched,
the
to
and
grouse
birds they are very welcome and are much sought
CROWBERRY The Crowberry,
other after.
(Empetrum Nigrum)
another
pretty
must not go unmentioned.
It
little
moorland
commonly
is
to be
plant,
found
on the mountains, on the great stretches of moorland of Scotland, where
McLeans,
the badge of the
is
it
and
in
not
known down
south.
stretch of wild country
Autumn we may cranberry are
all
It
is
known
as
the
find
crimson heath, while
in
Cannock Chase.
The
described with
is
Here
in
some
six to
and the
as freely as
The Chace
seven hundred feet
wind-swept piece of wild nature.
the sea, a glorious
surface soil
noble
great moorland glowing with
found abundantly, and,
a far-stretching plateau
above
that
bilberry, the cowberry,
the
to be
abundant
any, the dark glossy fruits of the crowberry. is
in Ireland,
the north and west and centre of England, though
chiefly gravel
some graphic
and stone, that has been
force as the riddlings of creation,
ofi^ering, therefore, little
or no temptation, one would have
thought, for enclosure.
Large
tracts have,
years been ploughed up, a proceeding
any one, and, so that
far as
it
little
however, of
late
to the benefit
of
goes, destructive of a wild beauty
might well have been
suff^ered
to
remain, and which
we, StafFordshi re-born, can only deeply regret any loss of
The crowberry its
is
a trailing and widely-spreading plant,
long slender branches
covering
much ground
to
the
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
238
almost entire exclusion of anything
very heath-like appearance, very simple
in character
edges of the leaves are
upper surface
invisible.
found
The
stems. are
much rolled The flowers,
freely
pistillate
the
a reddish-purple in axils
of the
towards the extremities of the is
May, and
in
on another.
the flowers
one plant
being on
staminate flowers
the
The
back, and from
and spring from the
flowering season
dioecious,
and the
plant has a
and crowded on the stems.
colour, are very minute, leaves, being
The
else.
small evergreen leaves being
its
we
In each
find a ring of
small scales as a base or cup, in the one case three rather
prominent stamens springing from a short
style,
The
crowned by
fruit is
and
it,
the
in
other
a nine-rayed stigma.
a fleshy globular berry, growing in clusters,
and ripening by about the beginning of September.
It
is
purplish-black in colour, glossy in surface, and about the
grows
size of a pea, and, as
it
the stem, distinctly
attractive
groups around
in these little
the
to
these berries are unpalatable, and
if
To
eye.
partaken of
the taste
at all freely,
give rise to headache and other unpleasant indications that
they
not a particularly wholesome article of diet
are
for
mankind, though the grouse, ptarmigan, and other moorland birds seek
from
its
them
eagerly.
The
plant
is
called the crowberry
glossy black fruits, or sometimes the crakeberry,
the old Norse word for a crow being kraka.
the
plant
is
known
as
the
found many of our popular plant names from Anglo-Saxon times,
so,
to
memorial of the days of Danish invasion. crowberry
Greek
in
its
Denmark we have
without doubt, crakeberry
the
the
as
have descended
is a
is
In
and
krakeb'dr,
Empetrum nigrum
origin, referring to
the
:
Botanically
the
home
first
of the
name, plant
BROOM amidst in
and stony
rocks
Latin
second,
while the
;
nigrescent character ot
us of the
reminds
source,
its
places
239
the fruit.
BROOM
(Sarothamnus Scoparius)
The Broom, Sarothamnus scoparius, the subject of Plate XXXV., may be freely met with throughout the British Islands where the conditions are favourable to It is
equally at
and
in
home
even
skirt It
is
to
exist,
therefore
form
sea.
asks
is
dry sandy waste
All
it
how
soil,
on
the environment.
arid
many that
sand-hills
the
may
in
assist
barrier
a
On
planted
plants
and a defence
elsewhere,
loose
sand
that
together
against the encroaching
Bay of Biscay great
plantations
of pine-trees have been formed to protect the land rear
places
of the gales.
full force
binding the
It
decline
many
in
Holland and
in
the shores of the
no matter how
hillsides,
the sea and are exposed to the
roots
its
Northern Africa,
grow, and flourish too, where
will
to
in
banks, commons,
and poor the
well-being.
over Europe,
the west of Asia.
o-round, railway sterile
all
its
from being overwhelmed by the
drifting
in their
sand,
and
the seedling pines are effectually guarded from being buried
by being sown behind hedges of broom.
It is in
Scotland
the badge of clan Forbes.
In the I
give
a
first folio
of the Tempest we read, "
ground, long heath, browne suggested
Now
would
thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of barren
by
Shakespeare
anything
Thomas Hanmer
;
"
and
it
was
meant
1774 that what and wrote was " ling, heath,
— anything,
no matter how humble or how
Sir
really
broom, furze,"
firrs,
useless, that indicated
dry land.
in
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
240
Hartlib, writing in the year 1659, wisely enough declares that " furze,
but
broom, heath, these can hardly be so destroyed, they wil up againe
length
at
:
God
for
hath given a
peculiar propriety to every kinde of earth, to produce
peculiar kind of Plants, which
some
wil observe euen to the
its
world's end."
The broom
varies
eight feet or more,
of some four and
feet
somewhat
be
or
and
furrowed.
rigid-looking
they
and
conquer the searching
blasts
not
by
but
are
long
Though
they
yet
are
to
shrub
a
it
branches
Its
so.
two
a foot or
but one ordinarily finds high
evergreen
straight,
from
height
in
very
flexible,
that sweep over them,
by judiciously
yielding.
As
these stems are very fibrous they have been
employed
as
a material
sturdy
the manufacture of paper,
in
" pluck broome, broome
see, says,
How
kill."
resistance,
far
this
may
still
;
cut broome,
fibrosity
is
a very difficult task.
sufi^er
we
tenacious
more
at
and
injury
severed with a stout knife.
if clearly
The
its
Broom tugged
wrenched apart would, we imagine, than
broome
be true we cannot say, but
do know that the plucking of broom owing to ^
Tusser, we
leaves of the
broom
are
somewhat inconspicuous,
the general verdant look of the shrub being largely owing to the
mass of green branches.
short stalks, and
made up of
The
three leaflets, while the upper
ones are stemless, and only of a single
know of
'
We cannot,
seems
we
Those who "
remedy commended by Fitz-
are afraid, quote precedent for the use of this word, but
to just express the idea
fibrous condition.
the
leaflet.
from the " blacke iaundice
are so unfortunate as to suffer will be glad to
lower leaves are on
we want
to convey, a
it
somewhat pronouncedly
Dictionary makers will kindly note for their
new
editions.
BROOM.
BROOM
241
" Take as
many handfuls (as you thinke good) of the dried leaves of Broom gathered and brayed to powder in the moneth of May, then take vnto each Herbert.
hand
of the dried leaues one
full
spoonful and a halfe
of the seed of Broom braied into powder together,
and
let
quantitie
first
and
medicine must
be
the
he
vntill
for
:
a
little
vntill
disease
and
The
ease.
so long vsed is
it
but must by
suddenly cured,
some
these
day a
thereof each
find
be continued and
extinguished
quite
drinke
sicke
last,
mingle
:
it
not
very
be
dealt
litde
"withall."
The in
the
of
a
Spring and
They grow
yellow,
numerous and
" Prognosticks " that
Broom be is
since
the
thus
seized with
dictum of a years
the
papilionaceous, istic
fifty
of Flours
full
This
of
and
large
so freely blossom-bearing that the
some two hundred and
flowers
are
grand display.
a
transformed into a mass of glowing yellow.
is
Amongst some
a
They
and make
singly or in pairs on the stem, but the stems
whole shrub
the
be found in profusion
will
Summer.
early
golden
bright
are so
broom
flowers of the
are a
we
years old it
usually
particularly
find this
is
a
—
that
broom
are
and
five-petalled,
that
we
of the great natural order to which
is
not
The of
the
character-
find it
if
character,
of optimistic prophecy.
or butterfly, type
"
Plenty."
signifies
cheering
few indeed when the broom spirit
book
in
belongs, and
including such well-known plants as the furze, rest harrow, melilot,
the
various
vetch, sainfoin,
and
scarlet
shown
clovers,
bird's-foot
trefoil,
kidney-
tufted vetch, everlasting pea, broad
runner.
In
all
of these
we
find
the
bean,
form
in our illustration, a broadly-displayed petal called
16
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
242
standard
the
wings
beneath
;
known
two others,
this
the
as
and within and below these are yet two others,
;
form the
that together
keel.
Gerard and other old writers warmly commend the flower-buds
and or
boyled,
or
They
are
be
to
Capers
as
sallads,
We
lesse delight."
was woont to
Broome
The
drinke
floures against surfets
and
worthiness
great
famous sovereign
King
of
water
of
8,
distilled
and diseases thereof illustrious
points
are
the
and be
be,
read that " that
also
worthy Prince of famous memorie Henry England,
gathered,
which afterwards being washed
salt,
vsed for
are
no
eaten with
"
pickle.
pickle
in
laid
a
as
author,
the
that
the reign of his daughter, thought
of
this
living
make
well to
it
arising."
memory
in
quite
clear.
The
blossoms
broom
are
inches long
maturity
when
When fly
;
smooth on
open
are plant,
seeds
and that
These pods
order.
are
of the eject
all
they
these
to
all
the seed.
the upper
cold
around us In
in
to
of the
two
approach Later
on,
and the pods yet a
ready for dispersion
pods
half
a
brown.
discharged
turn
as
but hairy along their
their sides,
of seeds, and as
full
form
a
flowers are
butterfly
pods become a dark
seeds
crackling
be seen
are
on the the
great
pod,
a
is
and from an inch and
flat,
the
the
remain
the
of this
They
edges.
broom
the
of the fruit as the
characteristic
the
of
fruit
our
grey-black.
we may as
the
illustration
hear
valves it
pod has thus opened with
will this
curious elasticity and propelling force.
This question of seed-dispersion and worthy of the
is
of the greatest interest
closest study, as an
illustration
of the
—
BROOM
243
wonderful variety of Nature, and the workings of
means
of strange
to
but
definite end,
a
it
all
sorts
impossible
is
We
here to deal at any length with a subject so wide.
would only remind our readers how we have seen the acorn, a
by the action of the boisterous wind, thrown
catapult
under float
and how by
;
gentler
from
same action of the wind,
this
the
suasion,
as
and
dandelion
thistle-heads
the air until a congenial resting-place be found
in
how naked by seeds
coral
floated
in
thousand miles of
protective
through
a
by seeds adherent
to
investments or
ocean,
salt
;
become clothed with vegetation
islands
them
the feet of the birds that visit
;
how
hooked
seeds,
and burred, are transported on the coats of wandering animals
how
;
We
are winged.
apd we may see the
in
have noted, too, how, by
seeds
the
action,
others, like the maple, the lime, or the ash,
of
this
the
same
Nature
liberates the
of
full
is
and
it is
sets
it
into motion, is
other
dry sands
but in the Rose of Jericho, for
the case
only place
;
the seed-vessel
driven
is
by the action of the wind,
meeting with a moist spot, that
contrivance.
many
the drying of the parts that liberates the spring
instance, the reverse
along the
of
scattered,
seeds of the
beautiful
In the case of the broom, herb-Robert, and plants,
elasticity
are
principle again very beautifully that
spring-like action
herb-Robert.
touch-me-not
it
opens and sheds
amid the parched
plain
its
until,
seeds In
where provision
exists for their vegetation.^ '
These are contrivances
especially appreciate, because
for a great
and valuable end, which we can
we can compare them
with our
own
designs
:
and as well might the inventor of the catapult and the cross-bow doubt his own ingenuity and intentions as those of the Creator. Macculloch, The Attributes of God.
—
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
244
While many of our
plants have various names, and are
equally
known by any of them,
alone
no change of
;
changes
usage,
dialect,
was
It
this.
brom, and we are told
the
broom
is
broom
the
no provincialism, no Anglo-Saxon
in
local
days
the
every text-book that the name
in
arose from this plant being of special use in the manufacture
The
of brooms for sweeping purposes.' Sarothamnus, seeing
sweep, and
to
a
shrub, while
scopa;,
meaning small
these
same small
and
own,
its
that
its
seems
charming
and one
it
an
we
we
find
and
ricks,^
its
could
use
individuality of all
Besom
it
is
a
from Chaucer,
readily,
Thomson,
or no,
Scott,
Wordsworth,
find testimonies
beauty.
however,
to
matters
broom of great utility in and when better fuel is not
the
in
shall realise the intimacy
Cowper, and many another nature-lover, of their appreciation of
making
entirely
wandered away from
besom.
Shakespeare, Spenser, Dryden,
back,
from
instead of calling our present
if,
we
call
but
;
plant the broom,
Turning
signifying
things for
the
gained
have
to
connection therewith
plant,
service,
derived
is
has been so
has
it
suggestion of housewifery
of
scoparius
twigs are just
name,
a plant
domestic
this
twigs, the inference again being that
The name broom
brooms. as
upon
again
compounded of two Greek words,
is
it
dwells
name,
botanical
more
prosaic,
thatching cottages obtainable,
broom
is
again capable of playing a useful part in rural economy.
A
decoction of broom-tops has until quite
And
recently been
same he founde it in dede sweped cleane with Luke xi.— Udall. ' He made carpenters to make houses and lodgynges, of great tymber, and set the houses lyke streetes, and covered them with rede and brome, so Froissart. that it was hke a lytell towne. '
returning vnto the
bromes, but altogether emptie.
—
FURZE in
use
among
approvingly
the doctors, decoctum scoparii being mentioned
in
manual of Materia Medica
a
These tops have a
session, dated 1853. taste
but even
;
245
if
many medicines have
bitter
our pos-
in
and nauseous
a nauseous taste,
it
does not necessarily follow that things of repulsive flavour
This we admit
are therefore medicines.
needs setting forth
all
the same.
One
is
a truism,
people constantly assuming that, since quinine other bitter things are tonics no
means
follows.
Our
less,
but
it
for instance,
finds,
is
a tonic,
a point that
by no
forefathers, before the general intro-
duction of the hop in brewing, availed themselves of the bitterness of the
brewed
broom-tops
beer, while the seeds
as a flavouring to their
home-
were sometimes roasted
as a
substitute for coffee.
FURZE
(Ulex Europceus)
Furze, gorse, and whin are three names for the same thing,
We in
though we often
find that this fact
not realised.
is
saw recently some bye-laws issued by a corporation,
any damage to the "gorse, furze," and other
which
plants
their
in
park,
was forbidden.
We
ventured to
remonstrate, and were rebuked for " splitting straws," and so the notice stands.
we not
In Holland's translation of Plutarch
find another illustration of this repetition
alwaies
willing to
bushes,
we
choose
be gotten,
that
for
which
is
easie
to
:
"
We
be had
must and
we put by gorse and furzen
tread underfoot briers,
though they catch hold
us.
The
prickly nature of the furze
poets, like the rest of us, dwell on.
is
the point that the
Browne,
in 'Britannia s
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
246
Pastorals, puts together the
thorns "
"furzy tuft" and "
brealce
Somervile writes of the " prickly furze "
;
Fawkes,
in
enough
that
of Theocritus,
translation
his
declares
of
and
;
truly
Thorny furzy hills should ne'er be trod With legs unguarded, and by feet unshod.
SHEPHERD'S NEEDLE The
(Scandix
Pecten)
XXXVI.,
subject of our last illustration, Plate
Shepherd's Needle, a plant
of view,
that,
from
the farmer's
root
his
days of unlimited
To
crops.
who,
those
the idea of getting their livelihood from the land,
quaint
from
arises
its
enough, not very
charm and
delicacy
very finely-cut
attractive,
fruits.
November in
We
Autumn the
taneously,
fruiting stage, to
think
get
early
almost
but with
from
heads
its
very striking-
its
away from June
it
plant was by
all
through
to
an
seeds
Summer
and
fruits
having
passed
on
flowers
in
the
blossoms
while other blossoms
of putting
since
appears
it
This
foliage,
straight
months both
the plant be only an annual, easy,
with
our drawing, we see from our diary, was made
:
October.
and
flowers
It
these
in
that appeals.
of pure white blossom, and, notably, from looking
point
not preoccupied
competition, are
a graceful little plant
certain
the
only too abundantly to be found in cornfields
is
and amongst
a
is
have scarcely
appearance its
some of the old
at
eradication
so freely and
simulto
so
herbalists
is
all.
the
begun
Though
by no means
persistently.
commended
The as a
pot-herb, and they also, though that goes almost without
SHEPHERD'S NEEDLE
SHEPHERD'S NEEDLE ascribed
saying,
present, as it
various
no one believes
virtues
healing in
it
247
to
it
but
;
at
meat or medicine,
either as
blossoms undisturbed.
many
In mediaeval days
Virgin Mary, so one old
name
who
for this
not at
is
little
plants
plant
is
all
were dedicated
the
to
surprised to find that one
Our Lady's Comb.
To
those
name of Venus also Venus' Comb.
held such an ascription superstitious the
was held preferable, and thus our plant is Other people, caring little for such high-sounding dedications, were content to
Our Lady
of the name from
alteration
sometimes
This
the plant the shepherd's needle.
call
to
from media;valism.
a reaction
Venus is probably In some cases this
would appear to be carried much further. Thus we have noticed that some of the children in the New Forest others call it call the Lungwort Joseph and Mary, while
feeling
donkey's-ears, and
it
seems
at least possible that the
gave such "vulgar" names for the religious
as
the latter to
some
folk thought
needle, that in classic
realising
Acula,
how
have this
Acus
for a court
little
little
Acus
Even
this list
is
that
others like a
some
of daily
life,
and for a needle
pecten
is
plant can be Pecten Veneris,
Shepherd's
Beggar's
Needle,
Needle, or
In referring to the
Crow-
to be equally well
broom
many names known, the broom
pointed out that, while some plants have
by which they seemed
mind
does not exhaust the names that have
been bestowed upon the plant.
we
in the affairs
fastoris.
Lady's Comb, Venus' Comb, needle.
in
plant
difficulty in ringing the changes, and
modest
Veneris^
we bear comb and
a pleasure in church association,
mythology, and some
shall
if
fruit like a
its
some had
and that the Latin acus,we
The
names bestowed by the monks.
has a multiplicity of names, but
Puritans
show contempt
THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE
248
was everywhere the broom and nothing but the broom.
The
We since
may
stand
as
a
repre-
have introduced the shepherd's needle
in
our
series
beaked
fruit.
shepherd's
needle
is
it
so
certainly
many-named.
sentative of the
excellent an
Other good examples of
numerous wild
of a
illustration
form
this
geraniums,
be
seen in
the
this
feature
are
will
from
that
ordinarily called crane's-bills.
As one wanders
along our peaceful country lanes, by
the sides of quiet streams, over the open moorland, in the
shade of the woodlands, by the margin of the sounding
everywhere one present
care
is
Our
surrounded by objects of beauty.
been to find somewhat of interest yet
has
remaining when, the time of flowering being over, too
hastily It
left.
but
is
little
Many
assumed
that
manifest
that
little
or
forms
must
it
is
nothing attractive
is
an
such
more than suggestive of
curious
aspiration
others at their will
could
be
the field open to study.
go
perforce
undwelt on, and having indicated, as we path,
sea,
must walk
unillustrated,
trust,
therein.
a pleasant
The
great
waving pods of the horned poppy, the quaint "cheeses" of
the
mallow,
shepherd's
purse,
the
curious
the
heart-like
feather-like
globes
fruits
of
the
of
the
thistle,
the rugged heads of the teazel, the burrs of the goose-grass or the hedge-parsley, the ribbed fruit of the hemlock, the triangular nut of the black bindweed, are but a few illustrations that at once occur to us as further examples of the
wonderful variety of
fruit
We
in
Nature.
commenced our work with a regret that many of who study plants should give almost exclusive attention their flowering period and we conclude with the earnest
those to
form
;
SHEPHERD'S NEEDLE hope task,
our book, which has been to us so pleasant a may be so fortunate as to transfer something of this that
pleasure to our readers, and
time of fruition no also
249
its
interest
and
may
lead
them
to see that the
than the time of preparation has " The works of the Lord charm.
less its
are great, sought out of
all
them
that
have pleasure therein,"
and an appreciative study of Nature brings with
own
rich reward.
it
Its
1
INDEX So
essential did
! consider an Index to be to every book, that I proposed to bring Parliament to deprive an author who published a book without an Index of the privilege of copyright, and, moreover, to subject him to a pecuniary ptn3.\\y.~Camfieirs Lives of the Chief Justices of England.
a
Bill into
Abnormal
chestnut cluster, 128
Ascham, The Toxophilus of, 69 Ash, 136, 151, 157, 205 Asparagus, Substitute for, 185
Acacia, Mistletoe on, 205 Acer campestre, 148, 151
Acer pseudo-platanus, 148 Acer rubrum, 152 Achilles, Ashen spear of, 137 Acorns as food, 103 Acorus Calamus, 164 Acus Pastoris, 247 Adam in Eden, Extract from,
Aspen, Mistletoe on, 205
As Pliny saith, 157 Asthma and Stramonium, 189 As You Like It, Extract from, 113 Athenian Mercury on Pliny, 1 57 Athole, Duke of, 122 12,
36, 46, 93, 113, 157, 160, 178,
34,
180
Atropa Belladonna, 197 Atropine, 198
Adanson, Plant names of, 235 Adder and ash-tree, 141
Attraction of the rural
life,
3
Attributes of God, Macculloch, 243 Austen's Treatise of Fruit Trees, 14
ALsadus Hippocastanuniy 128 Affectionate Shepherd, Barnfield's, 2
Austin, destruction of timber, 138
Agincourt, Victory
Autumn, Keats on the, 26 Autumn, season of fruition,
of,
69
Alder, 170, 205
All-Hallows, Eve
28
of,
2,
3
Azalea, Mistletoe on, 205
All-heal, 208
Almonds and
raisins,
Amaradulcis, 34 Amsterdam on alder
Bacchus, The ivy-crowned, 48
29
Bacon, Extract from, piles,
172
Antidote of Mithridates, 201 ApollOi Ivy-crowned, 48
89,
Barnfield's Affectionate Shepherd, 21
Bartolinus on brewing, 121
Ursi, 235
Barton on the
Artichoke-gall, 108
Arum
68,
Badges, Floral, 237, 239
Archery and the yew, 69
Uva
50,
Bagpipes, Fuller thereon, 176 Barberry, 92
Aquilegia vulgaris, 216 Arbutus Unedo, 182 Arctostaphylos
9,
107. 155. 175, 229, 231
Basyll,
maculatum, 96
Beaked 251
To
ivy,
49
plant, 10
fruits,
248
1
INDEX
252 Bearberry, 234
Beaumont and
Buff-top moth, 127 Fletcher,
Quotation
from, 175
Bedeguar on
rose, 22
Bed-stuffing,
Leaves
as,
Bulbous crowfoot, 226 Bull-berries, 179 Bulliard on poisonous plants, 96 Burnham Beeches, 116
112
Beech, 109, 137
Burns, Quotation from,
Beggar's-needle, 247
Burrs of the goose-grass, 248 Butcher's broom, 184
Ben Jonson, Bianco
Extract from, 175
ii, 54,
223
Buttercup, 223
spitio, 7
Butter from beech-nuts, 115 Buttons of plane-tree, 154
Bible plants, 146, 153, 199 Bilberry, 179, 237 Birch, 131
CiESAR DE BeLLO GaLLICO, l8o
Birchen-rods, 136
Caesar on the beech-tree,
Bird-cherry, 95
BirdHme,
59,
160,
Bird's-nest, 134,
no
Cain's apple, 183
215
Cambervvell beauty butterfly, 135
230
Bittersweet, 34 Blackberry, 80
Canadian autumn, 152
Black bindweed, 248 Black bryony, 50
Cannock Chase, 237
Black mulberry, 147 Blackness of ash-buds, 139 Black nightshade, 37
Carrot, 220, 230
Blackthorn, 52
Celandine, Lesser, 224, 225 Celery-leaved ranunculus, 224, 226
Blair
Canker-rose, 22
Carrington on the
ivy,
49
Castanca equina, 128 Casianea vesca, 124
on the yew, 73
Bleaberry, 181
Bloomfield's Farmet's Boy, 104
Chaldean tree-worship, 1 Charles de Guise, Device
Bog-berry, 233 Bog whortleberry, 181
Charlock, 221
Bogwort, 233 Bonnet de pretre, 57 Book of Knowledge, Winstanly's, 190
Chaucer, Extract from,
Chatigna, Dish
Botanologia, Extract from, 64
Brimstone
butterfly, 19
Bristol Cathedral,
Tomb
in,
204
Britannia's Pastorals, Browne, 217,
of,
of,
49
128 7,
10,
20, 69,.
78, 104, 147, 151
Cheeses of mallow, 248 Children in the Wood, Tragedy of, 82 Christmas festivities, 49, 67, 155, 203, Christ-thorn, 156
Churchyard yews, 71 Cinquefoil, 130-218
245
Broom, 220, 239 Browne, Pastorals, 217, 245 Bryant, Flora dietetica, 39 Bryonica dioica, 50
Cloud-berry, 84
Byrony, Black, 50
Clusius, History of Rare Plants, 235
Byrony, Red-berried,
50,
218
Buckinghamshire beeches, Buckthorn, 17
no
Clare, Extract from, 222
Claremont
holly, 157
Clematis Vitalba,
13,
78
Coal-supply, 138
Cockchafer on oak, 109 Coffee substitutes, 115, 167, 200, 245;
INDEX Colbatch on mistletoe, 212 Coleridge, Quotation from, 132 Coles, William, his book,
12,
36, 97,
121, 136
Columbine, 215
Comedy of Errors, Extract from, 47 Companion to the Orchard, Extract
253
Deadly nightshade, 195 Deepdene beeches, 1 10 Description of England, Harrison, 105, 138 Destruction of trees, 107, 137 Device of Charles de Guise, 49
Compensation, Paley on, 210
Dewberry, 83 Dewtry, or thorn apple, 186 Dickens, the Sunbury yew, 73
Compleat Husbandman, Extract from,
Dioecious flowers, 40, 52, 65, loi
from, 89, 93, 200
Dioscorides, Writings
205
of, 27,
103
02, 243
Confessio Amantis, Extract from, 26
Dispersion of seeds,
Conserve of
Divination by plants, 25, 27, 241
roses, 21
1
Corn-crowfoot, 224, 226
Doctrine of signatures,
Corn-rose, 221
Dog-berry, 75 Dog-rose, 22
Comus sanguinea,
16,
Corylus Avellana, 27
Dog-seeking by the
Cow-berry, 181, 237 Cowley, Quotation from, 103
Dogwood, 74
Cowper, Extract from, 49, Cows killed by yew, 63 Crabbe on poppy, 221
Donkey's-ears, 247
79, 114, 137
stars,
190
Domesday Book, 106 of panage rights, 106 Drayton on Columbine, 217
Dowry
Crackberry, 179 Crakeberry, 238
Druidic worship,
Crampons
Dryden, Quotation from,
12, 72, 99, 203,
207
Dry beaten people, 35
of the ivy, 47
Crane's-bill, 248
Drying plants, 22 Duval, Experiment by
CratcBgiiS Oxyacantha, 13
Dwale, 195
Crecy, Victory
Dyer, Extract from, 198
Cranberry, 181, 232
of,
195
12,
69
73, 91,
Dr.,
198
35
Creech, Lucretius, 63
Crovvberry, 237
Edgehill" of Jago, 136 Edward III. on shooting, 70 Edward the Confessor, panage, 107
Crowfoot, 225
Eghintier, 20
Crow-needle, 247 Cuckoo-pint, 96
Eglantine, 19, 79
Culfrewort, 215
Elijah, juniper-tree, 199
Culpeper, Extract from, 29, 141, 189,
Elm, 157
214 Cypress, 62
Empetrum nigrum, 238 Empty nutshell. Use for,
Dagger- WOOD, 75
Epine blatiche, 7 Epping Forest hornbeams, 116 Espino bianco, 7
Cronycles of Froissart, 90
Cross of Calvary, 10
Dartmoor, Carrington, 49
Datura Stramonium, 186 Daucus carota, 231
"
Elder, 174
Euonymus Europisus,
26
56 Evelyn, Extract from, 28, 109, 148, 183
1
INDEX
254
Eve of All-Hallows, 28
Generall Historie of Plantes,
Evergreen oak, Acorns "
Every man out of
of,
his
Exeter Cathedral, Brass
106
humour," 175 in, 218
Fairfax, Extract from, 113 Famine in England, 104 Farmer's Boy, Quotation from, 104 Fausse platane, 148 Feast of Tabernacles, 67
64,87 Geneva, why so
1
38,.
8,
200
called,
Gcnievre, 201 Gentianella, 235 Gerard, Extract from, 18, 21, 31, 38, 44, 53. 55. 64,65, 7T, 87, 145,
147,
159.
172,
114, 129,
177. 194. 217,
229 Gilpin, Extract from, 62 '
Fen-berr)', 232
Ginepro, 201
Fennel, 126
Gladdon, 173 Godfrey of Boulogne, Extract from,
Ficus sycamorus, 147 Field-rose, 22
113
Fir-cones as dessert, 12 Fi'ue
Hundred
197 Flag or
Pointes,
Goldilocks, 224 Tusser's,
Goldsmith, Quotation from, 8
Gonopteryx rha7nni, 19 Iris,
Googe, his book,
165
10,
59
157 Fletcher on the yew, 73 Flora Dietetica of Bryant, 39 Flora Hisiorica of Phillips, 187
Gorse or whin, 245
Flora Lapponica of Linnaeus, 236
Great maple, 147, 148
Floral badges, 237, 239
Flower-odours, 143, 177
Grief, Symbol of, 217 Growing mistletoe, 209
Flowre and the Leafe
Guelder-rose, 29, 58
Flail,
of Chaucer, 20,
Iris as,
in, 13,
152,
204
Gower, Quotation from, 26 Grainmar, Vullamy's, 206
Gui de
147
Fodder,
Gothic, Plant-carvings
chene, 208
167
Foetid Iris, 173 Forest ponies tree-planting, 102
Hack
Forest Scenery of Gilpin, 109 Forest trees of Selby, 158
Harlington yew, 61
Formal hedge-clipping, Fragaria vesca, 87 Fraxinus excelsior, 139
60, 68, 151
or hag-berry, 95 mistletoe, 214
Hampton Court
Harrison, Description of England, 105, 138
Harte on stramonium, 187 Harte on yew, 62
Froissart, Extract from, 90, 244
Hartlib, Extract from, 138, 205, 240
what it is, 223 Fuller on the bag-pipes, 176 Fungoid growths, 112, 150 Furiosum, 197
Haws, hawthorn-berries, Hazel, 23, 157, 205, 213 Headache flower, 222
Furze, 220, 245
Heads
Gardener's
Hedge-parsley, 235 Heg-berry, 95
Fruit,
ivy varieties, 43
4, 145,
205
of the poppy, 219
Hemlock and sheep, 63
Gatter, 75
Gay, Pastorals
Hawthorn,
of,
82
Henbane,
120, 189
9,
1
44
1
INDEX
255
Henbell, 194 V., Extract from, 174 leonis, 216
Indigenous
Herbal of Dodoncsus, Herbs growing out of
Inebriated butterflies, 135 Insects on oak, log
Henry Herba
18
stones, 175
Hercules of the woods, 136 Herebachius and his book, 59
Importation of timber, 138 Ina,
Laws
of,
Herrick, Extract from, 67, 204
Iris,
The
Ivy,
43
Hindberry, 87 Hips as a banqueting dish, 21
Jack-hop, 40
History of Rare Plants of Clusius,
Holland's translation of Pliny, 64, 132, 207
it
?
215
yellow, 164
Jago, "Edgehill,"
of,
136
Joseph and Mary, or lungwort, 247 Judas and the elder, 175
Judgment of
235
Hog-bean, 193
is
Iris fcetidissima, 173 Iris pseudacorus, 164
Hicket, Cure of the, 80
Histoire des Plantes Venemeuses, 96 Historia Mundi of Pliny, 64
107
— What
Paris, 112
June's Husbandrie, Extract from, 41 Juniper, 198 Juvenilia, Quotation from, 49
Holly, 82, 155, 203
Holm, 82, 156 Homer, reference
Keats, Quotation from, to ash, 137
Honeysuckle, 76 Hood, Ode to Autumn, 62 Hooker on cranberry, 233 Hop, 38, 218 Horace, Extract from, 184
Keys of
Kittg Lear, Extract from, 8
King Richard II.,
Extract from, 64 Kirk White, Quotation from, 1
Knee-holm, 185
Knights
Tale, Extract from, 78 Knot-berry or Cloud-berry, 84
Hornbeam, 115 Horned poppy, 248 Horse as a prefix, 129
Laciniate
Horse-chestnut, 128, 205
Lady
Horses
Lady's comb, 247 Allegro, Quotation from,
killed
by yew, 63
Howel Dda, Laws
of,
215
Hudibras on dewtry, 186 Hulver, 82, 156
Hyacinth
41
bilberries, 179
Husbandman's
tree, 137
fruits,
elder, 176
of the
Woods, 132
L
Lament
of
Mary Queen
11
of Scots, 54
Larch, 122
Hmnulus Lupulus, Hurts or
132
26,
the ash, 140
43
Larix europcea, 122 Lauder on beech, 109 Laws of King Ina, 107 Leaves as bed-stuffing, 112
Hyoscyamus niger, 193
Lesser celandine, 224
Ilex aquifolium,
Lethale, 197 Lightning, Protection from, 9 Ligmmi Sanctce Ctvcis, 212
1
56
Ilicine,
159 Imbrication of scales, 120
Ligustium vulgarc, 16
Impatiens fulva, 168
Lilly, astrologer,
Impatictts tioli-t/te-langere, 169
Lime, Mistletoe on, 205, 214
190
1
1
1
INDEX
256 Lincolnshire bag-pipes, 176 Litigua passerhia, 140 Linnaeus, Flora Lapponica, 236 Lithy-tree, 60
Lobel, botanist and physician, 40
Long bow, Use
of the, 69
Mistletoe, 47, 160, 202
Mithridates, Antidote
Monoecious flowers, 1
19, 124,
102,
Moor-berry, 233 Moore, Quotation from,
Love-charms, 28
Morbus Morocco
Moms
72
113,
115,
127, 134
Lonicera pcriclymenum, 78 Loranthus Ewopceus, 206
Lowe's Yew-lrccs of Great Britain,
201
of,
Moir on the yew, 73 Monk's-hood, 187
terrestre,
1
87
leather, 18
nigra, 147
Lucretius, Extract from, 63
Moss-berry, 233
Lungwort, 247 Lyte's translation of Dodon
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