96 CONVERSATIONS ON THE 



and, as you say, the bright green leaves with 

 which the branches are covered appear very 

 beautiful at a short distance ; but when the 

 flowers are all in full bloom, there is no shrub 

 more lovely. The leaves and berries are 

 poisonous, and you must be very careful 

 never to eat them." 



" I suppose the wood is too small to be good 

 for any thing." 



" No, it is not ; for you must know that in 

 North Carolina the laurels grow larger than 

 they do in this neighbourhood : the trunks 

 there are often three inches thick, and some- 

 times more ; and the wood is so good, that a 

 great deal of it is used for small boxes and 

 screws, and the handles of small tools, and 

 musical instruments, such as flutes and clario- 

 nets, and for carpenters' rulers, and scales. 

 It is very like boxwood." 



" Uncle Philip, what is the other ever-green 

 you said you would tell us of? Is it as beau- 

 tiful as the laurel ?" 



" Perhaps you would think it more beautiful, 

 if you were to see it ; and that you may do 

 very easily in the spring, for it is almost as 

 common as the laurel : in the swamps of 

 New-Jersey opposite New-York^ on Long 



