JUNE. 105 



of the patriarch Job ; and as, in his day, the 

 rushes and sedges crowded by the edge of the 

 river, so it is now. Their long thin leaves form 

 islets on the stream, or fringe its border with 

 their greenness ; and as a wind sweeps over the 

 current, and ruffles it into waves, we are re- 

 minded of the denouncement, made by the 

 prophet, to the wife of the wicked Jeroboam, 

 " The Lord shall smite Israel, as a reed is 

 shaken in the v.ater." 



The tall bulrush, or clubrush, (^Scirpus la- 

 custris,) is now growing up ; and, by the end of 

 the month, bears its brown and fringed head. 

 Its stems are much used for mats and chairs, 

 and are gathered by country people for sale. 

 The spongy stems are also useful to coopers, 

 for filling up the crevices in casks ; cottages 

 are often thatched with them ; and when pas- 

 turage is scarce, they are eaten by cattle. The 

 salt marsh rusb, (^Scirpus maritimiis,) and se- 

 veral other species, flower by the end of May. 

 The roots of the latter kind are eaten in times 

 of scarcity. The Pi-tsi, or water-chestnut, 

 which the Chinese cultivate in tanks, and value 

 as a dessert, is a species of clubrush. It is 

 dried in the sun, and is eaten either boiled, 

 or uncooked. 



In former times, when rushes supplied the 

 place of modern carpets, and when the ground 

 over which the bride walked to tbe altar was 

 strewed with their leaves, the sweet flag 

 {^Acorns calamus) was much sought for these 

 purposes, and well suited to them, bv its fragrant 



d3 



