132 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



that there are several varieties, the principal of which 

 are the common hazel, and the filbert. The first is a 

 native of every part of Britain, the shells of the" nuts 

 being found in the bogs even in the coldest parts. 

 The filbert, again, is supposed to be a native of Asia 

 to have been imported first into Italy, and thence to the 

 rest of Europe. The filbert grows more upright, is 

 more tree like, and bears larger and better flavoured 

 nuts than the hazel ; but the wood of the hazel is the 

 tougher, and the better adapted for hoops, though 

 both make excellent charcoal. There is an American 

 species ; and there is also one growing in the vicinity 

 of Constantinople, which bears a nut nearly double 

 the size of the filbert. More than a hundred thou- 

 sand bushels of foreign nuts are annually consumed 

 in this country. 



LABURNUM. 



The Laburnum ( Cytisus} does not appear to be so 

 much cultivated in England, as a timber tree, as its 

 merits deserve. There are about thirty species of the 

 Cytisus, properly so called, but the common laburnum 

 is the one which is most valuable. 



In England the laburnum is principally cultivated 

 as an ornamental shrub, and when in bloom its nume- 

 rous and long branches of yellow flowers have a very 

 shewy appearance. Laburnum is, however, exceed- 

 ingly useful as a tree; and wherever very hard and 

 compact timber is required in small pieces, there are 

 few superior to it. The Romans reckoned it next to 

 ebony; though not so hard, or so perfectly free from 

 grain, it is much more tough and elastic. Its' 

 natural colour, too, is good, and it may be rendered 

 almost black by the application of lime water. It is 

 also a very hardy tree, and will grow in almost any 

 soil; but hares and rabbits, which abound in many 

 parts of England, and are preserved to the destruc- 

 tion, not merely of trees, but of the grain crops of 



