ODOUR OF ELDER TREE. 143 



a native of the south and middle of Europe, and of 

 the mountains of Siberia, where it assumes a low form. 

 The prominent buds of its young shoots are very 

 ornamental, the young wood yielding racemes of 

 flowers which open with the expanding leaf in spring, 

 the foliage being of bright green, pinnate and deeply 

 serrated. 



The common black-berried elder is a native of 

 Europe, the north of Africa, and some of the colder 

 districts of Asia. 



It is not a favourite tree, the blossoms and foliage, 

 when grown extensively, emitting a sickening odour, 

 which is believed to be unwholesome in hot weather. 

 The plant has long been used medicinally, the inner 

 bark of the tree being an active cathartic, while the 

 flowers are used for fomentations and cooling oint- 

 ments. These and similar applications were doubt- 

 less held in greater favour at a time when domestic 

 medicines were more largely resorted to than in the 

 present day. 



As a screen in bleak exposures and maritime 

 situations, the tree is however very useful, and it 

 generally rises under the most adverse circumstances 

 with a vigour that is seldom equalled by any other 

 plant. On the other hand, it is apt to get bare at the 

 bottom when used as a fence, and its roots, from the 

 long range they take, impoverish the neighbouring 

 crops. 



It is easily propagated from young shoots, the 

 buds or joints of which are usually from six to ten 

 inches apart, and each cutting should have a joint 

 close to its lower extremity, from which the roots will 

 spring. These will readily take root when inserted 



