192 AMENTACE^ 



But besides yielding its store of nuts, the Hazel has many other uses ; and 

 its undergrowth of wood is so serviceable that it might have suggested the 

 old saying, " An acre of coppice-wood is as good as an acre of wheat-land, if 

 not better." Though the wood of the tree is never large enough to afford 

 timber for building, yet it is used in cabinet-making, and for a variety of 

 small and delicate articles of manufacture ; while its exceedingly tough and 

 flexible shoots serve for hoops, crates, hurdles, walking-sticks, fishing-rods, 

 rustic baskets, and fences. In the Vale of Derwent, Hazels are grown 

 especially for the uses of the root-shoots ; and the roots of the tree, when 

 large, aftbrd curiously-veined pieces, used in veneering and for small articles 

 of domestic use ; and many a country oven is heated with the fagot of Hazel- 

 wood. 



That interesting and venerable church, one of the first reared in this land, 

 the church belonging to the Abbey of Glastonbury, is believed to have had 

 the walls of its earliest building made of Hazel-boughs interwoven among 

 stakes ; and walls of this kind, plastered over with mortar, are yet in use 

 for outhouses in country places. Some religious associations appear, too, to 

 have been connected with the Hazel-wood ; and it is supposed by antiquaries 

 to have formed, like the scallop-shell, a token of certain pilgrimages. In 

 several places staves of the Hazel have been found in the graves of ecclesi- 

 astics. A writer in the Archceological Journal states that, when the tomb of 

 Eichard, Bishop of Chichester, was restored, and the effigy and stone table 

 removed, the grave of stone courses beneath was foimd in perfect repair, but 

 the earth which covered the remains had sunk to the depth of several inches. 

 On the surface lay several fragments of Hazel-Avands, probably such as 

 pilgrims had cut down by the way, and which they suspended at the shrine 

 as devout oflFerings. This Bishop died between the years 1245 and 1253. 

 Similar Hazel-branches have ])een found in Hereford Cathedral ; and such a 

 Hazel-wand, roughly trimmed as if cut by the wayside, lay in the tomb of 

 Richard Mayo, Bishop of Hereford, with several sea-shells — tokens, it is 

 supposed, of a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. James. This was probably 

 made when that prelate was sent to escort Catharine of Aragon, the affianced 

 bride of Prince Arthur, on her arrival in England. The use of the forked 

 Hazel-twig as a divining-rod, to indicate the place where metal lies beneath 

 the surface of the earth, is yet frequent in mining districts. It is said to 

 have been thus employed in this kingdom as early as the days of Agricola, 

 and is probably the remains of a custom used in still older periods, when the 

 Prophet Hosea declared of the ancient Israelites, "My people ask counsel at 

 their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them." As Evelyn said, "It is 

 certainly next to a miracle, and requires a strong faith ;" but even in recent 

 days, mines have been sunk in Cornwall, under the belief that the presence 

 of metal is indicated by the bending of the Hazel-twig. 



The tint of the foliage of the Hazel-tree is a somewhat sober green ; and it 

 never wears the light hue of the oak or beech, though the young leaves at 

 the top of the twigs, and sometimes also the larger leaves, are often purplish- 

 red. The leaves are stalked, rough, strongly veined, and have, when young, 

 oblong stipules at their base ; the bark on the trunk is ash-coloured, and on 

 the branches light brown, spotted with white. The Hazel, when allowed to 



