ODORS OF VEGETATION. 93 



physiologically, but to treat of the odors of plants 

 chiefly as the cause of agreeable sensations, and as a sort 

 of picturesque attraction, when we are either rambling 

 in the fields or employed in rural occupations. We per- 

 ceive characteristic odors in every wood and meadow, by 

 which we recognize their predominant trees, herbage, and 

 shrubbery. Those of an oak wood are very remarkable, 

 and not to be mistaken for any others. They are not 

 aromatic ; but they have a freshness more agreeable, per- 

 haps, if we constantly breathed them, than a spicy fra- 

 grance. This odor is very similar to that of oak timber 

 when cut and sawed; in one sense, a maritime savor, 

 like that of a ship-yard. To a Briton it is probably a 

 spice of royalty. It comes chiefly from the foliage after 

 it has dropped from the trees ; for the fresh green leaves 

 seem to be scentless. 



In wet grounds covered with alder, when it is in flower, 

 a very agreeable essence is perceptible in the air ; but I 

 have not ascertained its source, whether it comes from 

 the herbage or the shrubbery. It is probably the arorna 

 of its tasselled flowers. I wonder that Darwin, in his 

 " Loves of the Plants," never suggested the idea that the 

 pollen of flowers is guided by these subtle essences to the 

 bosom of its female, when wandering upon the winds. 

 This delicate aroma, perceived when the alder is in 

 flower, is displaced by the more penetrating odor of the 

 azalea in July, and of the clethra in August. The fra- 

 grance of these shrubs, combined with that of the myri- 

 ca and the cranberry-plant, forms the characteristic odor 

 of low grounds, where no stagnant waters are present to 

 mix with it any impurity. It is the primitive odor of the 

 moorlands when covered with their native herbs. 



As we leave the meadows and ramble near the hillside, 

 where the native grapevines abound, we perceive another 

 class of odors, still more agreeable, resembling the per- 



