200 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



possessed of the property of driving away witches and evil 

 spirits ; and this property is alluded to in one of the stanzas 

 of a very ancient song, called the Laidley Worm of Spin- 

 dlcton's Heughs. 



' Their spells were vain ; the boys return'd 



To the Queen in sorrowful mood, 



Crying that " witches have no power 



Where there is rowan-tree wood 1" 



" The last line of this stanza leads to the true roading of a 

 stanza in Shakspeare's tragedy of Macbeth. The sailor's 

 wife, on the witch's requesting some chestnuts, hastil) 

 answers, ' A rown-tree, witch !' but many of the editions 

 have it, ' aroint thee, witch !' which is nonsense, and evi- 

 dently a corruption."* 



The European Mountain ash is quite a favorite with 

 cultivators here, and deservedly so. Its foliage is extremely 

 neat, its blossoms pretty, and its blazing red berries in 

 autumn communicate a cheerfulness to the season, and 

 harmonize happily with the gay tints of our native forest 

 trees. It is remarkably well calculated for small planta- 

 tions or collections, as it grows in almost any soil or situa- 

 tion, takes but little room, and is always interesting. " In 

 the Scottish Highlands," says Gilpin, " on some rocky 

 mountain covered with dark pines and waving birch, which 

 cast a solemn gloom on the lake below, a few Mountain 

 ashes joining in a clump and mixing with them, have a fine 

 effect. In summer the light green tint of their foliage, and 

 in autumn the glowing berries which hang clustering upon 

 them, contrast beautifully with the deeper green of the 

 pines : and if they are happily blended, and not in too large 

 a proportion, they add some of the most picturesque furni- 



* Arboretum et Fn ticetum, p. 918. 



