so THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE 



roome with yvie leaves is drest, and every post with holly," 

 how at such a time — 



Without the door let sorrow lie, 

 And if for cold, it hap to die. 

 We'll bury it in a Christmas pye 

 And evermore be merry. 



For centuries it was the custom to hang an ivy bough 

 over the tavern door, as a sign of the business carried on 

 within. Hence our old proverb, " good wine needs no 

 bush," and the French rendering, " «//« vin qui se vend bien, 

 il ne faut point de lierre " ; but indeed this custom and 

 the proverbs based on it go back beyond the Christian era. 



BLACK BRYONY (Tamus Communis) 



The subject of our next illustration, Plate VIII., is the 

 black bryony, the 'Tamus communis. That there should be a 

 black bryony seems to suggest that there must be some 

 other bryony as well, and this is promptly encountered in 

 the equally common red-berried bryony or Bryonica dioica. 

 These two plants, though somewhat similar in name, have 

 no botanical relationship ; they are not, for instance, like 

 two kinds of roses, or two species of buttercup. 



The black bryony throws its long twining and trailing 

 stems for many feet amongst the hedgerow plants, asserting 

 itself with great vigour. " There bee some Plants," Bacon 

 declares, " that shoot still upwards, and can support them- 

 selves ; As the greatest Part of Trees and Plants ; There 

 be some Other, that Creeps along the Ground ; Or Winde 

 about other Trees, or Props, and cannot support them- 

 selves ; as Vines, Ivy, Briar, Bryony, Woodbines, Hops, 



