3/0 WHITE 



BLACKTHORN. This tree usually blossoms while cold north- 

 east 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 form a noble and providential 

 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 corresponds very 

 exactly with the modern management of hops. I might in- 

 stance in the perpetual diggings and hoeings, in the tying to 

 the stakes and poles, in pruning the superfluous shoots, etc., 

 but lately I have observed a new circumstance, which was 

 a neighboring 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." GEORG. 



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 natural state : hence we may suppose the frequent fail- 

 ure of crop so incident to hop grounds ; no other growth, cul- 

 tivated by man, has such frequent and general failures as hops. 



Two hop gardens much injured by a hail-storm, June 5th, 

 show now (September 2nd) a prodigious crop, and larger and 

 fairer hops than any in the parish. The owners seem now to 

 be convinced that the hail, by beating off the tops of the binds, 

 has increased the side-shoots, and improved the crop. Query. 

 Therefore should not the tops of hops be pinched off when 

 the binds are very gross and strong ? WHITE. 



SEED LYING DORMANT. The naked part of the Hanger 

 is now covered with thistles of various kinds. The seeds of 

 these thistles may have lain probably under the thick shade 

 of the beeches for many years, but could not vegetate till the 





