THE BROOM. 25 



time, the Baz-lalan, or "Broom walking-stick/' from 

 the circumstance of his always carrying a stick of 

 this shrub with him when engaged on his mission. 

 The broom is known to be a most exhaustive 

 crop, so that a hedge of this plant will impoverish 

 the land on each side of it to a most unlooked-for 

 extent ; a circumstance that, perhaps, accounts 

 for the fact recorded by Sir T. Dick Lauder, that 

 after the parent-plant has passed away, some years 

 elapse before the seeds shed around it will vege- 

 tate; though this is not the case if the seeds be 

 sown in a new soil. It is, therefore, a respite 

 afforded by Nature ; or, rather, a proof that the 

 soil has been deprived by the old plant of such con- 

 stituent parts as are essential to the development of 

 the seedling, and which time alone can replace ; and 

 it also serves to throw a light on the circumstance, 

 that though we usually see all the symptoms of a 

 poor soil where the broom flourishes, yet there is 

 truth in the popular belief that its occurrence is a 

 proof of fertility, since a plant of so exhaustive a 

 nature could not be supplied by a very barren soil, 

 although, as we have before said, it prefers a light 

 and gravelly one. To this also the old proverb, 

 "There is gold under the broom," must point : for 

 the usually alleged reason namely, that grass is 

 found beneath its shelter at an earlier season than 

 in the open fields, is very insufficient, and will 

 equally apply to any sheltering brush-wood or other 

 plant. In Flanders, and especially in the vicinity 

 of Ghent, however, the broom is sown to improve 

 and consolidate sandy ground ; a practice which 



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