16 



It is at. this season, too, when the wintry winds have 

 scattered the leaves of other trees and shrubs, that the 

 glossy verdure of the clinging Ivy appears to such 

 advantage. Its clusters of yellowish-green flowers are 

 seen in November and December, followed by those brown 

 juicy berries, the food of some of our common birds when 

 other fruits are rare. Equally ornamental and attractive is 

 the dark shining prickly-leaved Holly, with its clusters of 

 bright red berries still used as of yore for the Christmas 

 decoration of churches and homely dwellings. 



As the harsh winds of winter give place to soft vernal 

 breezes it is interesting to note the changes which the hedges 

 gradually undergo. Among the first " to welcome the time 

 of buds, the infant year," appear the snowy blossoms of the 

 Sloe or Blackthorn, (Prunus spinosa], 



" Whose early flowers anticipate the leaf," 



the bare black branches affording a striking contrast to the 

 beautiful white flowers which they carry. Earlier, however, 

 than the Sloe, and sometimes before the pale green catkins of 

 male flowers open, the initiated look for those-crirnson stigmas 

 of the hazel which give promise of the brown nuts of autumn. 

 Most people know the hazel tree, with its roundish leaves of 

 sober green, and many can remember some glorious day or 

 days devoted to a nutting expedition ; but it is not every 

 one who knows that the forked branch of this tree has been 

 used from time immemorial, and is still used, as a divining 

 rod ! By means of it, it is said, certain persons who possess 

 the gift, can discover springs and minerals, lying hidden in 

 the bosom of the earth. In Cornwall about one in forty is 



