THE LABUENUM. 



Cijlhns labiirnHiii. 



VMILIARITY does not breed eon- 

 tempt when merit and appreciation 

 accompany it. Who could be so 

 profane as to regard with con- 

 tempt the laburnum when flower- 

 ing gaily in the merry month of 

 Mayj as a past Laureate put it, 

 '•' dropping wells of fire " ? One 

 might think fountains of gold a 

 better figure ; but it is too dread- 

 ful to propose any improvement in 

 the lines of such a bard, and we 

 already feel as though guilty of a 

 runaway knock. 



The common laburnum, like 

 the common thorn, is well able 

 to brave the smoke of a city and 

 subsist on the worn-out, sooty soil 

 of the most dejected London 

 garden. In the squares and open 

 places we see fine trees that flower gloriously ; but occa- 

 sionally we meet with pretty good examples in dirty holes 

 and corners that seem to be utterly unfit for any kind 

 of tree-life. But when we have seen these, and been 



