THE PLTJM. 51 



France, never above 15 ft., and it is generally far below 

 that altitude. Its creeping root throws up such nume- 

 rous suckers that, if left undisturbed, a single plant 

 would in the course of a few years spread over an acre 

 of ground a peculiarity which has led the French to 

 bestow upon it the title of " Mere du Bois;" for not only 

 does it thus multiply itself to an enormous extent, but 

 its suckers affording shelter to any seeds of timber-trees 

 that may be dropped among them by birds, these too 

 thrive unusually, and thus, under the direct and indirect 

 influence of the Sloe, the field, in the course of a few 

 years, becomes a forest. This encroaching disposition 

 makes the plant very unsuitable for boundary hedges, as 

 the limits of neighbouring property may be indefinitely 

 varied by its growth ; and when once established, it is no 

 easy task effectually to serve an ejectment upon it, since, 

 even when grubbed up by the roots, every fibril left in 

 the soil will spring up again and become a separate plant, 

 making the very measure taken to extirpate it only a new 

 means of multiplication. The only sure method of making 

 head against such pertinacious power of vegetation is to 

 oppose to it the force of animal voracity; and as all 

 cattle, and especially sheep and goats, are fond of the 

 leaves of the Sloe, whether fresh, or dried, by calling in 

 their aid the stems are gnawed down even to the quick, 

 the shoots rise next year very feebly, and, again con- 

 sumed, give up the contest in despair, seldom appearing 

 again at all in the third year. 



The taste for Sloe-leaves is shared in also by beings of 

 higher nature, though the pleasure they impart is mostly 

 partaken of in unconsciousness of its source, they being 

 more often used as an adulteration than avowedly as a 

 substitute, but really taking the place of tea better than 

 any other European plant yet known, having a peculiar 

 aromatic flavour (shared in by the meadow-sweet and 

 some other plants), which oners some resemblance to the 

 delicate perfume of China's peerless leaf. Besides its 

 leaves, the branches are thickly armed with sharp thorns, 

 the wound from which is so much less easy to heal than 

 those made by the hawthorn, that "Withering suspects 



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