94 



THE HAWTHORN. 



any period of its growth. Nor are these all its services ; 

 every plant that grows near it seems to acquire increased 

 vigour from its friendly shelter and vicinity. The snow- 

 drop, fearless of the tempest, displays its earliest flowers 

 amid the thick covert of the Hawthorn ; while the prim- 

 rose, the violet, and the speedwell are generally its beau- 

 tiful associates. 



COMMON HAWTHORN. 



Deprived of its Hawthorn hedges, our rural scenery 

 would lose one of its most interesting features, and present 

 to the eye of the painter and the poet little more than a 

 tame and monotonous expanse of country. Not only do 

 they agreeably diversify our immediate vicinities, but when 

 blended by distance give a rich and unrivalled charm to 

 English landscape. 



The Hawthorn is also one of the earliest harbingers of 

 summer. What can surpass the beautiful and delicate 

 green of its first unfolding leaves 1 After surveying from 



