140 A TOUE ROUND MT GARDEN. 



are known by the name of osiers. These flowers attract a 

 great number of bees. 



A vast deal is said of willows by the ancients. 



The Psalmist relates that the Israelite slaves suspended 

 their musical instruments from the willows of Babylon. 

 Virgil describes Galatea hiding herself behind the willows : 



" Malo me Galatea petit, lasciva puella, 

 Et fugit ad salices et se cupit ante videri." 



He speaks in a hundred place* of the hitter willows upon 

 which the goats browse, and of the willows of a blue green, 

 which bees are fond of. 



The satined white stem of the birch shoots up without 

 knots to a great height, and gives to the wind, upon branches 

 of extreme delicacy, its light foliage which trembles at the 

 least breath. It was the birch that had the honour of sup- 

 plying our ancient universities with rods. The Finlanders 

 substitute the leaves of birch for those of the tea-plant j the 

 Swedes extract a syrup from the sap, of which they make a 

 spirituous liquor. In London, they make champagne of it. 

 The most virtuous uses to which it is applied, are brooms and 

 wooden shoes. 



Pliny speaks of the birch and of the rods : 



" Betula, terribilis maffistratuum virgis." 



The dwarf-elder spreads in the sun, at about three feet from 

 the ground, its rich umbels of white flowers, each umbel as 

 large as my two hands ; its black berries are full of a violet- 

 coloured juice, with which, according to Virgil, the god Pan 

 had his face smeared, in compliance with a whimsical custom 

 of the ancient Eomans, who painted their gods on solemn 

 occasions. 



And here my rivulet disappears under the grass, under the 

 yellow-blossomed Iris, under a crowd of aquatic plants and 

 trees, which love coolness and moisture. It is necessary to 

 make the tour of a group of trees, if we wish to meet with it 

 again at the spot where it throws itself into a sort of large 

 pool, surrounded by willows, reeds, and Iris. 



