ZbZ BETTTLACEJE. 



far from Rokeby, where Sir "Walter Scott celebrated the praises 

 of this and its companion trees : 



" Hoary, yet haughty, frowns the Oak, 

 Its boughs by weight of ages broke; 

 And towers erect in sable spire 

 The Pine tree, scathed by lightning fire; 

 The drooping Ash and Birch between, 

 Hang their fair tresses o'er the green ; 

 And all beneath at random grow, 

 Each coppice dwarf of varied show." 



The Dutch Myrtle, or Sweet Gale (Myrica gale), is an odori- 

 ferous shrub, with its male and female catkins on different 

 plants. It grows three feet high, and flowers in May. The 

 leaves are lance-shaped. I saw quantities of it about the 

 shores of the Scotch lakes and upon the hillsides last autumn. 

 The catkins were long passed, but the fragrance of the foliage 

 atoned for the absence of blossoms. 



Here is the Alder (Alnus glutinosus), the one British member 

 of its family. This tree grows in watery places, and many of 

 our humbler streams flow along an " Alder- curtained bed." 

 You see the fertile catkins are round, and remain on the tree 

 till they become quite woody ; the barren catkins are slender, 

 and soon fall off. The leaves are roundish, and rather sticky. 

 The wood of this tree is soft, but when kept under water it 

 is very durable, and is therefore often used in the founda- 

 tions of bridges. Yirgil says that the first boat was made of 

 this wood : 



" Then rivers first the hollowed Alder knew." 



And Homer also vouchsafes a notice of it : 



" Around it and above for ever green, 

 The bushy Alders form'd a shady screen." 



This Beech blossom Edward gathered at Elm Hill, near 

 Hawkhurst (Fagus sylvatica, Plate XV., fig. 4). The leaves 

 had just attained their full size, but were yet of a tender 

 green, and fringed with down. The catkins were round : the 

 male ones on long stalks, the female ones sessile. Beech wood 



