April 24, 1889.] 



Garden and Forest. 



203 



Hon. In form the trees vary greatly, some being broad and 

 flat-headed, and others extremely slender, with drooping 

 branches hanging close to the trunk. 



It was a pleasure to see among all these new faces a few old 

 friends, which seemed perfectly at home. The Norway 

 Spruce, so common in the east, does remarkably well, and 

 occasionally I see a specimen with a peculiarly graceful sweep 

 of the lateral branches, which is equalled only by the Hima- 

 layan Spruce {Picea Morinda). I have only seen two of these 

 trees here, both on the Flood estate. In contoiu- they resem- 

 ble those Norway Spruces, which throw out their arms a little 

 below the horizontal. But beyond this there is no comparison 

 between the trees. The leaves of the Himalayan Spruce are 

 twice as long as those of the other, much stronger, set evenly 

 around the branches, and in color are an indescribably lovely 

 green on both sides. The dark-colored buds are remarkably 

 large, and the male flowers much larger than those of the Nor- 

 way Spruce. The cones, too, are much larger, with scales 

 over half an inch wide, rounder, thicker, of a warm cinnamon 

 color, and looking like a fine piece of cabinet-work, with an 

 oil finish. 



In place of the native Firs, which I missed, I find Abies 

 Nordmanniafia, doing wonderfully well, and making a perfect 

 tree when standing alone. 



Palo Alto, Cal., March loth. Robert DoUglas. 



Recent Publications. 



The Folk-Lore of Plants. By T. F. Thistelton Dyer. D. Ap- 

 pleton & Co.: New York. 1889. 



No more charming book as a gift for the lover of flowers 

 could be found than this one of Mr. Thistelton Dyer's, which 

 recently appeared in England, and has been re-issued here, in 

 attractive shape. The author says, in his preface : " Much 

 has already been written on the folk-lore of plants, a fact which 

 has induced me to give in the present volume a brief sum- 

 mary — with a few illustrations in each case — of the many 

 branches into which the subject naturally subdivides itself." 

 Perhaps the best-lcnown book of its class is Friend's " Flower- 

 lore." But this consists of two large, thick volumes filled with 

 a mass of information and anecdote that, valuable in itself, is 

 badly arranged, confused by frequent repetitions, and too vol- 

 uminous to attract any but the most enthusiastic student. 

 Other writers, who have taken up the entire subject or have 

 devoted themselves to some single branch, have usually pub- 

 hshed their essays in periodicals which are difficult to obtain, 

 and sometimes have written in a rather dry way from a 

 strictly scientific point of view. There was a real need, there- 

 fore, for a small book which should cull the most interesting 

 facts and fancies from previous publications and present them 

 in a clear and readable form. This book Mr. Thistelton Dyer 

 has given us. The information it contains will satisfy almost 

 all readers, while its copious foot-notes will lead more inquir- 

 ing minds to other reservoirs of knowledge. 



The first chapters deal with primitive and savage notions 

 concerning plants and with the plant-worship of ancient peo- 

 ples. Plants in demonology, in fairy-lore, in folk-medicine, in 

 religious ceremonials and in the calendar are severally dis- 

 cussed ; and chapters are given to plant-names, to children's 

 games, to dream-plants, love-charms and a number of simi- 

 lar subjects. Of course a book which consists of a mass of 

 anecdotes, brief bits of infoi-mation, quotations and illustra- 

 tions cannot be systemadcally reviewed. All one can say of 

 it in a general way is that it covers a wide field, all parts of 

 which are equally well tilled, and offers many interesting and 

 curious facts, not only to the lover of flowers, but to the stu- 

 dent of myths, traditions and ethnographic reladonsliips. Yet, 

 as it is a book to be sincerely recommended, we may try to 

 prove the interest and variety of its contents by extracting a 

 few passages at random here and there. 



" Briefly noficing the antecedent history of plant-worship," 

 says the author, " it would seem to have lain at the foundation 

 of the old CeUic creed, although few records on this point 

 have come down to us. At any rate we have abundant evi- 

 dence that this form of belief held a prominent place in the 

 religion of these people, allusions to which are given by many 

 of the early classical writers. Thus the very name of Druid- 

 ism is a proof of the Celtic addiction to tree-worship, and De 

 Brosses, as a further evidence that this was so, would derive 

 the word kirk, now softened into church, from Qiiercus, an 

 Oak, that species having been peculiarly sacred. . . . One of 

 the last and best-known examples of the veneration of groves 

 and trees by the Germans after "their conversion to Christian- 

 ity is that of the 'Stock am Eisen,' in Vienna," which, as Fer- 

 gusson explains, is " the sacred tree into which every appren- 

 tice, down to recent dmes, before setting out on his' Wander- 



jahre, drove a nail for luck. It now stands in the centre of 

 that great capital, the last remaining vestige of the sacred 

 grove round which the city has grown up, and in sight of the 

 proud cathedral which has superseded and replaced its more 

 venerable shade." 



The Rowan-tree, or Mountain Ash, " has long been con- 

 sidered one of the most powerful antidotes against works of 

 darkness of every kind, probably from its sacred associations 

 with the worship of the Druids. Hence it is much valued in 

 Scotland, and the following couplet, of which there are sev- 

 eral versions, still embodies the popular faith : 



' Rowan-tree and red thread. 

 Put the witches to their speed.' 



But its fame has not been confined to any one locality, and as 

 far south as Cornwall the peasant, when he suspects that his 

 cow has been ' overlooked,' twists an ashen twig round its horns. 



" In Brittany young people prove the good faith of their 

 lovers by a pretty ceremony. On St. John's Eve, the men, 

 wearing bunches of green Wheat ears, and the women, deco- 

 rated with Flax blossoms, assemble around an old historic 

 stone and place upon it their wreaths. Should these remain 

 fresh for some time after, the lovers represented by them are 

 to be united ; but should they wither and die away, it is a cer- 

 tain proof that the love will rapidly disappear." 



Many flower-lovers must have wondered why an humble, 

 graceful little herb (Galium) is called Bed-straw. This book 

 will tell them. It was formerly " Our Lady's bed-straw," be- 

 cause it had filled the manger in which she laid the infant 

 Jesus. Ribbon-grass is called in rural England "Our Lady's 

 Garters," and the Dodder her "Laces." The Lilies-of-the- Valley 

 are her "Tears," and the Maidenhair-Fern is " Virgin's hair." 

 A curious fact is that while at the dawning of Christianity 

 numerous plants which had been consecrated to heathen god- 

 desses were re-dedicated to the Virgin ; in Puritan times they 

 were christened afresh under the name of Venus — flue bitter 

 hatreds of the time making even a pagan deity seem a less 

 dangerous person to invoke or reverence than the Mother of 

 God. 



"The St. John's Wort gets its name from the belief that its 

 blood-like little spots made their first appearance on the day 

 when the saint was beheaded. A German legend informs us 

 that as the Holy Family took its fiight ' they came into a 

 thickly-wooded forest, when, on their approach, all the trees, 

 with the exception of the Aspen, paid them reverential hom- 

 age.' The disrespectful arrogance of the Aspen, however, did 

 not escape the notice of the Holy Child, who thereupon pro- 

 nounced a curse against it, whereupon its leaves began to 

 tremble, and have done so ever since. . . . The mournful 

 tree which formed the wood of the cross has always been a 

 disputed question. . . . According to Sir John Maundeville it 

 was composed of Cedar, Cypress, Palm and Olive . . . the 

 notion being that those four woods represented the four quar- 

 ters of the globe. Foremost among the other trees to which 

 this distinction has been assigned are the Aspen, Poplar, Oak, 

 Elder and Mistletoe. Hence, is explained the gloomy shiver- 

 ing of the Aspen leaf, the trembling of the Poplar, and the 

 popular antipathy to utilizing Elder twigs for fagots. But it is 

 probable that the respect paid to the Elder has its roots in the 

 old heathenism of the north, and to this day in Denmark it is 

 said to be protected by ' a being called the elder-mother,' so 

 that it is not safe to damage it in any way. The Mistletoe, which 

 exists now as a mere parasite, was, before the crucifixion, a 

 fine forest tree ; 'its present condition," says Baring-Gould, in 

 his ' Myths of the Middle Ages,' ' being a lasting monument of 

 the disgrace it incurred through its ignominious use.' " 



Here, finally, are a few old rhymed proverbs with regard to 

 the weather : 



" If the Oak is out before the Ash, 

 ' Twill be a summer of wet and splash ; 

 But if the Ash is out before the Oak, 

 'Twill be a summer of fire and smoke." 



"When the Hawthorn bloom too early shows, 



We shall have still many snows." 

 " Onion's skin very thin. 



Mild winter's coming in ; 



Onion's skin thick and tough. 



Coming winter cold and rough." 

 " When the Oak puts on his goslings grey 

 'Tis time to sow Barley night or day." 

 "When Elm leaves are big as a shilling, 



Plant Kidney beans if you are willing ; 



When Elm leaves are as big as a penny. 



You must plant Kidney beans if you wish to have any." 



