MARCH. 21 



and a distilled water made from it is as injurious 

 as the laurel water. 



The profuse flowering of the almond- tree 

 was formerly considered as indicative of an 

 abundant harvest. This is alluded to by 

 Vii-gil— 



" Mark well the flowering almond in tlie wood ; 

 If odorous blooms the bearing branches load, 

 The glebe will answer to the sylvan reign, 

 Great heats will follow, and large crops of grain. 

 But if a wood of leaves o'ershade the tree, 

 Such, and so barren, will the harvest be; 

 In vain the hind shall vex the threshing floor, 

 For empty straw and chaff shall be thy store." 



In Egypt a paste made of almonds is used, 

 through which to filter the water of the Nile, 

 when muddy, at the time of the annual flood, 

 and by this mode of filtration it is rendered 

 sweet and pleasant, even to those who, but for 

 some process of this kind, could not drink it. 

 At the Cape of Good Hope the wood of the 

 almond-tree is made into heels for shoes. 



One or two pretty flowering shrubs, of the 

 genus coronilla, are daily putting forth more 

 blossoms. The nine- leaved species (Coronilla 

 valentind) is a great ornament of the green- 

 house, with its pretty yellow, butterfly-shaped 

 flowers; and, like the seven-leaved species, 

 {Coronilla glauca,) blooms both in winter and 

 summer, though it flowers most freely in this 

 and the following months. The latter plant 

 has bluish green leaves, and its flowers are 

 fragrant during day, though scentless at night. 

 The most frequent of our garden kinds is the 

 scorpion senna, {Coronilla emerus,) which 



