ABIES. — TAXXJS. 189 



dark-green "plantings" have mostly disappeared, but straggling 

 trees remain to tell of their existence in many places ; and few sights 

 are to me more impressive, on our silent wide moors, than a long 

 irregular row of ungainly weather-beaten Firs that stand like sentries 

 at an outpost, and mark where a former culture had in vain attempted 

 to infringe on the heath. 



The neighbourhood of fir woods is said to be beneficial to bees, for 

 the furnishing of resin. By children the leaves are termed netUXesi 

 ant ptixfi. 



28. Abies pectiiiata=Pinus picea, Linn. €iit ^tlbtr dfir. In 

 plantations. Endures a moist or wet soil. 



29. A. excelsa=Pinus abies, Linn. Wi)t Spruce jTir. In plan- 

 tations. Loves a wet moorish soil, wherein it rises to a stately and 

 elegant tree, of which there are many fine specimens in Blackadder 

 plantations. A noble series lines the road between them. The large 

 cones afford a favourite plaything to children. 



37. ^. fen> = Larix europaea = Pinus larix, Linn. W^t Earci). 

 In plantations. The Larch is more extensively planted in our di- 

 strict than any other Fir or Pine, and succeeds well. For information 

 on whatever relates to the tribe, reference may be made to Selby's 

 British Forest Trees. It sows itself, and may be considered as per- 

 fectly naturalized ; but within a very recent time it has been observed 

 that the species seems to have been affected with an ill-understood 

 decay. See Notes and Queries, vi. p. 269. 



532. JuNiPERus COMMUNIS. Slunipcv : Sltnnyper hui"^. Deans 

 and on moors ; and on some parts of our sea-banks, as at Hudshead. 

 — The green branches of Juniper are, by some, preferred for smoking 

 bacon. The abundance of pollen in the shrub is of frequent remark ; 

 and every peasant knows that it bears a three years' crop. The 

 gathering of " Jennypers " is a rural period equally noted with the 

 Blaeberry season. The berries are steeped in whisky to give it the 

 flavour of Geneva. They are a popular medicine, and for this reason 

 a winter store is frequently collected. It is their peculiar spicy and 

 hot flavour that has given name to the shrub. " Bishop Grouthead, 

 offended thereat, wrote Pope Innocent IV. such a juniper letter, 

 taxing him with extortion and other vicious practices." Fuller, Ch. 

 Hist. i. p. 359. 



30. Taxus baccata. Ci)« ©tJu. — Clarke in Trans. Berw. N. Club, 

 ii. 128. In pleasure-grounds and gardens. In Dunglass dean, where 



to be akin to the dullard's analysis of a pun ! Grizel Cochrane was un- 

 doubtedly there at the time and place appointed, for, as our learned 

 Recorder affirms, there is, in these traditions, " a kernel of truth" (Trans. 

 Tyneside Nat. Club, ii. p. 134), and we know that the kernel is the best 

 part of the nut. The gallant highway Grizel became Mrs. Kerr of Morris- 

 ton in Berwickshire. She is " represented in her picture as a gentle girl 

 of seventeen, with handsome features of sweet expression, leaning on a 

 table, on which are pistols, and the disguise she wore." Chambers in his 

 Life and Works of Burns, ii. p. 117- 



