'230 CHAPTERS ON BRITISH BOTANY. [July , 



They said, " Don't you see a cock drawing more than a yoke of 

 oxen could move?'' He replied^, ^^ You foois^ they are only two 

 windle-straws (bents) !"^ 



The Rowan or Mountain Ash is probably the most celebrated 

 of all our plants employed for superstitious purposes. The E<ev. 

 Mr. Lightfoot, the author of the first 'Flora Scotica/ "thinks 

 there are sufficient traces in the Highlands of the high esteem in 

 which the Druids held the Quicken-tree or Mountain Ash, Sorbus 

 or Pyrus Aucuparia." He states that "it is more frequently 

 than any other tree found planted in the neighbourhood of Dru- 

 idical circles of stones, so often seen in Scotland." The tree was, 

 and is probably still, planted about farmhouses and cottages as a 

 preservative against the charms of witchcraft and the " evil eye." 

 Some say it is planted in churchyards, but this is not the case, or 

 if it be, it is only to a limited extent. Its celebrity in the north 

 of Europe dates from a period very remote, long prior to the in- 

 troduction of Christianity. The ancient belief in incantations, 

 charms, and witch- and wizard-craft, and their pagan antidotes, 

 the light of the Gospel has never quite eradicated in some places. 



In the beginning of the present century a ploughman used a 

 shoot of the Rowan-tree for the handle of his pettle, the instru- 

 ment with which he cleaned the mould-board of his plough. 

 While this wood was present, no power could stop his labour 

 without his consent, the cantraips of sorcerers had no poten- 

 tiality. A bit of Rowan-tree placed over the lintel of the byre- 

 (cowhouse-) door, effectually preserved the cows from the influence 

 of the evil eye, and secured their milk to the right owners. 



On the subject of the superstitious uses of this tree enough 

 and more than enough has been already published in these pages. 



St. John's Wort, Hypericum perforatum, was also a notable 

 remedy or preventive of all the ills that witches and warlocks 

 can inflict on the human race, by bewitching either them or 

 their cattle. One of the most intelligent mfen of the part of the 

 country where he lived, and who has been dead scarcely forty 



* Shamrock is the common Trefoil, T. repens. 



" Where'er they pass, a triple grass 



Shoots up with dewdrops streaming, 

 As softly green, as emeralds seen 



Through purest crystal gleaming 

 Oh, the Shami'ock ! 



Chosen leaf of bard and chief; 



Old Ei'in's native Shamrock." — Moore. 



