The Scottish Naturalist. 23 



has been made sweet, and the small large — all freedom has 

 been lost. To a certain extent they are produced in the form 

 and at the time that man decrees ; and thus, however much 

 their utility may have been increased, the natural has, to a 

 greater or less extent, been lost. That this is not so to many 

 eyes I am aware, but to the eye of the naturalist and of the 

 artist (and are not these in many respects convertible terms ?) 

 it has gone for ever. 



The Sloe {Primus spinosa L.) would scarcely (save, perhaps, 

 "to boyish appetites") be considered to merit a place among 

 edible wild fruits, and yet, when gathered at the proper time — 

 after the frosts of autumn have lit up the woods — a by no 

 means despicable jelly may be made from the fruit. The 

 blossoms, covering with "radiant sheen" the rough bank or 

 rocky brow where this plant delights to grow, well merit the 

 name of " spring's banner," which has been applied to them. 

 The juice of the fruit is said to make a good marking ink for 

 linen or woollen cloths, the part to be marked being placed on 

 the fruit, and the letters pricked out with a pin. The young 

 leaves dried are a substitute for tea, oftener perhaps used than 

 is generally suspected ! In Gaelic the Sloe is called an-droi- 

 ghionn and preas-uan-airneag. 



The Bullace {P. insititia L.) This, with its larger, less 

 austere berry, is a rarer plant than the Sloe, to which, in many 

 respects, it is similar. In Scotland, it is said not to extend 

 north of Dumfries. It is, however, apparently wild in Perth- 

 shire. 



The Gean {P. avium L.) is the origin of the garden cherry, 

 and its fruit is too well known to need description. Though 

 Gean (evidently, I think, derived from the French) is given in 

 the manuals as the name of this, it is more especially a Scottish 

 name, and applied to the black-fruited variety. Withering says, 

 " Green Tree in Scotland," apparently having taken up the 

 name wrongly. 



The Bird-cherry, or Hag-berry {P. padus L.), can scarcely 

 be considered to produce an edible fruit, though, according to 

 Lightfoot, it was used in Scotland for flavouring wine or brandy. 

 The Swedes are said to use the blossoms for a similar purpose. 

 Of all our wild trees, none is more worthy of admiration than 

 this when in full flower, and its long snowy racemes, melodious 

 with the hum of the wild bees, hanging over some murmuring 



