38 REST-HAKROW. 



the flavour of liquorice. The writer was in- 

 formed by some workmen engaged in making 

 excavations, that they and their fellow-labourers 

 were accustomed to suck the juice from these 

 roots, in order to assuage the thirst induced by 

 hard toil under a summer sun. The young 

 shoots are also sweet and succulent, and in 

 some country places they are boiled and eaten. 

 An old Greek writer mentions, that when 

 pickled, they form an agreeable dish ; and in 

 our country they were, during the reign of 

 Queen Elizabeth, sometimes thus prepared for 

 the table. They were also formerly used me- 

 dicinally, and were believed to cure delirium. 

 The Rest-Harrow is very variable in regard 

 to the number of its thorns. In the most 

 barren soils, where it is even more abundant 

 than on richer lands, the thorns are very nu- 

 merous, and become woody and strong. This 

 is the case with some other plants, as the Pear- 

 tree and Sloe, which in a uild state bear 

 numerous thorns, but when cultivated are un- 

 armed. The blossoms of this plant are usually 

 rose-coloured, but are sometimes so pale as to 

 be almost white. 



