592 MISCELLANEOUS. [Jan. 



tliose days than now. It was observed by Pope that one of the 

 twigs forming the basket in which the figs were received was 

 budding, and being anxious to have a memorial of the gift more 

 enduring than itself, he planted the twig in his garden at Twicken- 

 ham on the Thames. It flourished and became a historical tree, and 

 the alleged parent of all trees of its kind in Britain. It would be 

 a pity to dispute this pleasing legend, and it was equally a pity the 

 Vandals should have laid their hands on the tree itself about fifty 

 years ago, and hewed it to the ground. It is further said that this 

 is the willow celebrated in holy writ, in the lamentation of the 

 daughters of Israel during the Babylonian captivity, when, " By 

 the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we 

 remembered Zion ; we hanged our harps upon the willows in the 

 midst of them." Whether this is true or otherwise, the tree is very 

 suggestive of weeping, and is in this and other countries the chosen 

 emblem of grief. 



The Lea-VES of Pla.nts. — A writer in one of the leading monthly 

 scientific journals says : — It is generally supposed that in autumn 

 the leaves drop off because they die. My impression is that most 

 persons would be very much surprised to hear that this is not 

 altogether the case. In fact, however, the separation is a vital pro- 

 cess, and, if a bough is killed, the leaves are not thrown off, but 

 remain attached to it. Indeed, the dead leaves not only remain in 

 situ, but tliey are still firmly attached. Being dead and withered, 

 they give the impression that the least shock would detach them ; 

 on the contrary, however, they will often bear a weight of as much 

 as two pounds without coming off. In evergreen species the con- 

 ditions are in many respects different. When we have an early fall 

 of snow in autumn, the trees which still retain their leaves are often 

 very much broken down. Hence, perhaps, the comparative paucity 

 of evergreens in temperate regions, and the tendency of evergreens 

 to have smooth and glossy leaves, such as those of the holly, box, 

 and evergreen oak. Hairy leaves especially retain the snow, on 

 which more and more accumulates. ^Vgain, evergreen leaves some- 

 times remain on the tree for several years ; for instance, in the 

 Scotch pine, three or four years ; the spruce and silver fir, six, or even 

 seven; the yew, eight; A.'pinsa;po, sixteen or seventeen; Arancaric 

 and others, even longer. It is true that during the later years they 

 gradually dry and wither ; still, under these circumstances, they 

 naturally require special protection. They are, as a general rule, 

 tough, and even leathery. In many species, again, as is the case with 

 our holly, they are spinose. This serves as a protection from brows- 

 ing animals ; and in this way we can, I think, explain the curious 



