THE LAUEEL. 



OF the Laurel, so celebrated in the romance of classical 

 literature, there are only two species in the New England 

 States, the Benzoin and the Sassafras. But those two 

 shrubs, being deciduous, are not associated in the minds 

 of the people with the true Laurel. They have given 

 this name to the Kalmia, which is evergreen and bears a 

 superficial resemblance to the Laurel of the poets. A 

 curious fact is related by Phillips, in his " Sylva Florifica," 

 of the Laurel, which may not be out of place in these 

 pages. In the Middle Ages, favorite poets, who were 

 generally minstrels, were crowned with wreaths of Laurel 

 branches containing the berries ; and this custom was imi- 

 tated in colleges, when they conferred a degree upon 

 graduating students. " Students," says Phillips, " who 

 have taken their degrees at the Universities, are called 

 'bachelors, from the French bachelier, which is derived from 

 the Latin laccalaureus, a laurel-berry. These students 

 were not allowed to marry, lest the duties of husband and 

 father should take them from their literary pursuits ; and 

 in time all single men were called bachelors." 



THE SASSAFKAS. 



The Sassafras-tree is usually a shrub in this part of the 

 country, abounding in almost all woods, and very gen- 

 erally sought for the pleasant aromatic savor of the bark. 

 Occasionally I have seen the Sassafras growing to the 

 height of a middle-sized tree in Massachusetts, but it 



