ON VEGETABLES. 389 



some tea of lime blossoms, and found it a very soft, 

 well flavoured, pleasant, saccharine julep, in taste 

 much resembling the juice of liquorice. WHITE. 



BLACKTHORN. This tree usually blossoms while 

 cold N. E. winds blow ; so that the harsh rugged 

 weather obtaining at this season, is called, by the 

 country people, blackthorn winter. WHITE. 



IVY BERRIES. Ivy berries afford a noble and pro- 

 vidential supply for birds in winter and spring ; for 

 the first severe frost freezes and spoils all the haws, 

 sometimes by the middle of November. Ivy berries 

 do not seem to freeze. WHITE. 



HOPS. The culture of Virgil's vines corresponded 

 very exactly with the modern management of hops. 

 I might instance in the perpetual diggings and hoe- 

 ings, in the tying to the stakes and poles, in pruning 

 the superfluous shoots, &c. ; but lately, I have ob- 

 served a new circumstance, which was, a neighbour- 

 ing farmer's harrowing between the rows of hops 

 with a small triangular harrow, drawn by one horse, 

 and guided by two handles. This occurrence brought 

 to my mind the following passage : 



" ipsa 



Flectere luctantes inter vineta juvencos." 



Georgic II. 



The struggling steers between the vine-rows bend. 



Hops are dioecious plants : hence perhaps it might 

 be proper, though not practised, to leave purposely 

 some male plants in every garden, that their farina 

 might impregnate the blossoms. The female plants, 

 without their male attendants, are not in their natu- 

 ral state : hence we may suppose the frequent failure 

 of crop so incident to hop -grounds. No other growth, 



