208 June The Ash. 



XXXVIII. 



The Ash Cantharides The Elder-flower Elder-flower Wine 

 Elder-tree Honeysuckle Forget-me-Not Coloring of the For- 

 get-me-Not Dislike to certain Trees The Robinia Robinia 

 and Birch Branching of the Robinia Odor of the Flowers of the 

 Robinia Wild Thyme Beloved by Hares and Bees Honey- 

 suckle Creeping Bugle Veronica Galium Goldfinch This- 

 tle Lime-tree. 



THE ash comes into full leaf in June, and is one of 

 our finest and most artistic trees. The country 

 people about the Val Ste. Veronique have a proverb to 

 the effect that it neutralizes poisons: 



' Dessous le frane venin ne regne.' 



Certain insects have also an especial belief in the 

 salubrity of the ash, or at least in its suitableness to 

 their own constitutions. Those remarkable insects, the 

 cantharides, fix upon it as a lodging for their colonies. 

 The Val is sufficiently far south for this to happen 

 occasionally, and when it does happen the effect is 

 most curious. The trees are entirely covered with the 

 glossy green insects, which emit such a pungent odor 

 that it is almost impossible to remain under them or 

 near them. 



A much more agreeable, yet rather heavy and in- 

 toxicating fragrance, is that of the elder-flower, which 

 is abundant towards the middle of June. In grape- 

 producing countries the wine made from this flower is 



