BLACKTHORN. 



Primus commmns. Nat. Ord. t 

 Mosaceee. 



EW of our hedgerow shrubs are 

 more noticeable than the black- 

 thorn, or more different in 

 appearance at different times 

 of the year. The holly bursts 

 into a crimson glow during 

 autumn's declining days, and 

 stands out in its evergreen 

 brilliancy of foliage amongst 

 the leafless shrubs that surround 

 it, but its flowers are small 

 and inconspicuous, and not one 

 in a hundred who have noticed 

 the crimson clusters of berries 

 could describe the blossoms that 

 precede them. The hawthorn, 

 with its masses of fragrant 

 and snow-white blossoms, is as beautiful a plant as the 

 blackthorn in the spring, but its crimson berries will not 

 compare with the rich purple bloom of the sloes. Com- 

 parisons, however, are proverbially odious ; and as we recall 

 the sunny masses of guelder-rose blossom and its rich 

 crimson bunches of luscious-looking berries, or the coral-like 

 and quaintly -formed fruit of the spindle-tree, or the sombre 



