28 FAMILIAR H'lLD FLOWERS. 



ox-goad. Amongst other uses of this tree or shrub, we 

 find that on the Continent it is sometimes utilised for the 

 making of pipe-stems ; the young shoots, too, make excel- 

 lent charcoal, either for the purposes of the artist or in the 

 fabrication of gunpowder. The seeds are said to yield a 

 good yellow dye when boiled in water, and a green one by 

 the addition of alum ; but all such dyes are ordinarily very 

 fugitive. We have tried several such suggestions found 

 in the books of the old herbalists, but never found them of 

 any real value ; as a rule the colour does not at all come 

 up in brilliancy to what one might expect from the descrip- 

 tion, and in any case it has no lasting beauty. Some old 

 author starts with something that is after all only a guess 

 or a fallacy, and then generation after generation copy the 

 original statement, some writers being too idle to take any 

 trouble in verifying or disproving it, and others regarding 

 it almost as a heresy to throw any doubt on the authority 

 to whom they go for information. 



