itch Hazcl. 
Hamamelis Dirginiana. Natura Orver: Hamamelacee—Witch Hazel Family. 
2 
? ANADA and various parts of the United States produce this 
large shrub about as commonly as Virginia, from which it 
derives its distinctive qualification; its name, the Greek appel- 
lative of the medlar, has been misapplied by a mistake which 
F: it is now hard to rectify. The small branches were formerly 
\UPEEEESEEEFEE 
used to discover veins of water and precious metals; and 
‘there are those who have inherited sufficient superstition to still have 
faith in their efficiency. We have seen wells said to have been so 
located, but how an unconscious piece of hazel should be more wise 
Nak’ than man, is more than can be divined. A recent theory is, that it 
may be through some law of electricity not yet understood. The mode 
“€ of procedure is in this manner: A branch that is forked is held,. one 
t: branch: in each hand, the main end pointing upward; the moment that 
; it passes over water, it turns around and points to the earth. It is said, 
however, not to turn in the hands of everyone. 
Gitthery. 
HAVE led a life too stirring for those vague beliefs 
That superstition builds in solitude. —Miss Landon. 
UR witches are no longer old 
And wrinkled beldames, Satan-sold, 
But young and gay and laughing creatures, Faintly responding unto ours, 
When the raised lid unvails its glances, 
And the low-breathed and gentle tone 
With the heart’s sunshine on their features; Soft, dreamlike as a fairy’s moan, 
Their sorcery —the light which dances Above its nightly closing flowers. 
—Whittier. 
HAT are these, so wither’d and so wild in their attire, 
That look not like the inhabitants o’ the earth, 
“=a 
‘ 
And yet are on’t? — Shakespeare. 
UT the witch-hazel’s flower KNOW—whereon the sirens sit — 
Of golden velvet, opening when the storm An island in a dark-green sea. 
Comes on the wings of winter to deform, [hour. Oft at the wind’s own will past it 
Charms with contrasting bloom while ruin rules the I sail my boat delightedly. 
\ —Alfred B. Street. —Fames Maurice Thompson, 
fa Vv 321 a 
as aT. 
el 
