1 6 THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE 



molested by the blackbirds, thrushes, bull-finches, and 

 other birds to whom they are acceptable, remain on the 

 plant throughout the winter. Though we are most 

 familiar with them in their dense black stage, when they 

 are naturally most noticeable, they commence their career 

 a bright and rather raw green. If we open a berry we 

 find that it contains two cells or seed-chambers, and in 

 each of these are one or two seeds. One's broad 

 idea of a berry is that it is ordinarily a round thing ; 

 however true this may be as a general working principle 

 to go upon, the fruit of the privet is more pronouncedly 

 globular even than most. When bruised and submitted to 

 heavy pressure the berries will yield an oil of fair quality, 

 which in some parts of the Continent becomes an article 

 of commerce. 



The privet in scientific garb is the Ligustrum vulgare. 

 The genuine name is derived from the Latin word ligo, 

 to bind, the long pliant stems being available for tying 

 up bundles, while the specific name indicates the common- 

 ness of the plant. Why it should be called privet does 

 not very clearly appear. By some of the older writers 

 it is called prim, print, and primprint. It has been 

 suggested that the name prim has reference to the neat 

 and orderly clipping that it is willing to undergo, but 

 while we must perforce admit that every plant-name 

 has a meaning we must be equally ready to admit that 

 this meaning is often obscure or entirely lost. The 

 ancients often mixed up the names terribly, thus in the 

 middle ages the plant they called Ligustrum or privet was 

 what we now know as the primrose, and if we go some 

 centuries back the various names were so interchanged, 



