162 JUNE LEAFAGE IN KENT. [July 



JUNE LEAFAGE IN KENT. 



AT the present time the leafage upon nearly every species of 

 forest tree is unusually heavy ; and though the weather has 

 on the whole been comparatively calm, branches have in many 

 places fallen under their loads. The frosts in May cut back the 

 young ash, Spanish chestnut, and some other trees, and quickly 

 changed the colour of the budding larch. But these have now 

 recovered, and the woodlands are unusually attractive. We had a 

 genuine " blackthorn winter," and the beauty of the blossom was 

 nearly everywhere destroyed. But by the middle of May the haw- 

 thorn {Cratoegus oxyaccmtha) burst into magnificent bloom ; somewhat 

 too late to encircle the head of the May queen. In walking or 

 riding along the highways and byeways at the foot of the Chalk 

 Hills at the j)resent time, the wayfaring tree {Viburnum Lantanaj 

 is everywhere conspicuous. Its drooping mealy branches and large 

 heart-shaped leaves, surmounted by clusters of partially-formed green 

 berries, destined during the coming month to present bunches of 

 mixed scarlet and black berries, point it out to the traveller. And 

 many an economical smoker constructs from the two- and three- 

 year-old wood a stem for his pipe. Overhead the cones of the 

 spruce hang thickly, and in many places these are of a deep purple 

 colour. The elders are everywhere bursting into bloom, and give 

 promise of an abundant crop. Pliny and Evelyn are both loud in 

 the praises of this tree. The latter says that the inner bark applied 

 to a burn takes out the fire at once ; the buds boiled in water are 

 eflficacious in fevers and inflammations ; and extracts from the berries 

 are conducive to longevity. Certain it is that the elder ointment, 

 tea made from the flowers, and wine from the ripe berries, are 

 among the most popular of medicines and stimulants in rural 

 districts. Though no longer in request for flutes and pipes, it is 

 widely known as the " pop-gun tree." Tradition says that Judas 

 Iscariot hanged himself on an elder tree. And the dense shade it 

 affords makes it a fit companion for such trees as are emblematic of 

 sorrow. A. J. BuRKOWS. 



Pluckley, Kent, Jiine 22nd, ' ■•:">- 'i 



TREE GROWTH. 



AMONGST the most interesting of many papers in the Forestry 

 Reports of the United States, just issued under the super- 

 vision of Nathaniel H. Egleston in a volume reviewed elsewhere, is 

 that by E. W. Furnas on the above topic. 



