out many branches. The head is spreading, and the leaves have some resemblance to those of the American species. The wood is of a dull red colour, not so beautiful as common mahogany, but much harder, heavier, and more durable. The natives of India account it the most lasting timber that their country produces, and therefore they employ it in their sacred edifices, and upon every occasion where they wish to combine strength with durability.

The Chloroxylon is chiefly found in the mountains of the Sircars, that run parallel to the bay of Bengal, to the N.E. of the mouth of the River Godovery. The tree does not attain the same size as either of the former, and the appearance of the wood is different, It is of a deep yellow, nearly of the same colour as box, from which it does not differ much in durability; and it could be applied to the same purposes.

CHAPTER VII.

SHRUBS PRODUCING HARD TIMBER, FRUITTREES, AND FANCY WOODS.

TREES OF SMALLER GROWTH, AND SHRUBS, MOSTLY PRODUCING VERY HARD TIMBER.

NoT to multiply too much the subdivisions of this brief sketch, it will not be amiss to class under one head a few of the principal plants that are comprised in the above description, though they have no botanical relationship; though they be natives of different countries; and though some be deciduous, and others evergreens.

1. THORN. Of the thorn (Cratagus) the botanists enumerate many species, which they class into several genera. Some of these species are natives of America. They are mostly hardy and deciduous, and, when planted singly, grow up to be large shrubs, or small trees. Most of them thrive well in this country; though they are stunted and poor, bad soils, in exposed situations.

on very

The White Beam (Pyrus aria) is a beautiful tree rising to the height of thirty or forty feet. The trunk is large, and divides into many branches. The leaves are light green on the upper sides, and white on the under. It is a native of many parts of Europe, growing upon dry and rather warm soils, such as those over gravel, chalk, and limestone. The wood is very firm and tough. Walking-sticks, wooden axles, handles of tools, and many other things are made of it. It is close and takes a smooth polish; but, like most of the thorns, it requires to be well seasoned, otherwise it is apt to warp and split.

The Wild Service (Pyrus torminalis) grows to a

considerable size, and requires a stronger soil than the former. The flowers are in large bunches, and are succeeded by brown berries in the shape of haws, but larger, which are often to be met with in the London markets, in autumn. The timber is compact, hard, tough, and white; and answers very well for cogs of wheels, and other working parts of wooden machinery.

The Indian Hawthorn (Raphiolipis Indica) is a native of the East Indies. It has been said, but the statement is somewhat doubtful, that it is of larger size than most of the other thorns; without spines; and yielding a tough, red timber, fit for oars, handspikes, and similar purposes.

Common hawthorn, or White Thorn (C. oxycantha), is valuable both as a hedge shrub, and as a tree. Few plants exceed it in beauty, when in bloom; the season of which is usually May, on which account the name of May, or May-blossom," is, in some places, given to the tree. There is one variety however, the Glastonbury thorn (to which the monks of the dark ages attached a popular legend), that

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flowers in January or February, and in favourable seasons and situations, as early as Christmas. Gilpin mentions that "one of its progeny, which grew in the gardens at Bulstrode, had its flower-buds perfectly formed so early as the 21st December." ~ In the arboretum at the Royal Gardens, Kew, a similar thorn flowers at the same season. The belief that certain trees put forth their flowers on Christmasday, was not confined to the Glastonbury thorn. In the New Forest, at Cadenham, near Lyndhurst, an oak used to bud about that period; but the people, for two centuries, believed that it never budded all the year, except on Old Christmas-day. The superstition was destroyed by careful investigation; and the circumstance is thus recorded in the Salisbury newspaper of January 10, 1786:-" In consequence of a report that has prevailed in this county for upwards of two centuries, and which, by many, has been considered as a matter of faith, that the oak at Cadenham, in the New Forest, shoots forth leaves on every Old Christmas-day, and that no leaf is ever to be seen on it either before or after that day, during the winter, a lady, who is now on a visit in this city, and who is attentively curious in every thing relative to art or nature, made a journey to Cadenham, on Monday the 3d instant, purposely to inquire on the spot, about the production of this famous tree. her arrival near it, the usual guide was ready to attend her; but, on his being desired to climb the oak, and to search whether there were any leaves then on it, he said it would be to no purpose; but that if she would come on the Wednesday following, (Christmas-day,) she might certainly see thousands. However, he was prevailed upon to ascend, and on the first branch which he gathered appeared several fair new leaves, fresh sprouted from the buds, and nearly an inch and a half in length. It may be imagined that the guide was more amazed at this premature

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production than the lady, for, so strong was his belief in the truth of the whole tradition, that he would have pledged his life that not a leaf was to have been discovered on any part of the tree before the usual hour."

When young, the hawthorn grows rapidly, a shoot of a single year being sufficient for a walking-stick; but when it stands to be a tree, it makes wood very slowly, and lives to a great age. The wood is remarkably durable: there is (or was, a few years ago) a hawthorn in the cellar of Cawdor castle, in the county of Nairn, which has been without leaves or bark for more than a century, and which, tradition says, has been in its present situation, and of its present size, ever since the castle (which is a very old one) was founded.

The trunk of an old hawthorn is more gnarled and rough than, perhaps, that of any other tree; and this, with its hoary appearance, and its fragrance, renders it a favourite tree with pastoral and rustic poets, and with those to whom they address their songs. Milton, in his L'Allegro, has not forgotten this favourite of the village:

"Every shepherd tells his tale

Under the hawthorn in the dale."

When Burns, with equal force and delicacy, delineates the pure and unsophisticated affection of young, intelligent, and innocent country people, as the most enchanting of human feelings, he gives additional sweetness to the picture by placing his lovers

"Beneath the milk-white thorn, that scents the evening gale." There is something about the tree, which one bred in the country cannot soon forget, and which a visitor learns, perhaps, sooner than any association of placid delight connected with rural scenery. When, too, the traveller, or the man of the world, after a life spent in other pursuits, returns to the village of his nativity, the