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SYLVAN SKETCHES. 



remedy from every hedge, either for sickness or wound. 

 Yet,"" continues he, " I do not by any means commend 

 the scent of it, which is noxious to the air ; and therefore, 

 though I do not undertake that all things that sweeten 

 the air are salubrious, nor all ill savours pernicious, yet, 

 as not for its beauty, so neither for its smell, would I 

 plant Elder near my habitation; since we learn from 

 Biesius, that a certain house in Spain, being seated 

 among many Elder-trees, diseased and killed almost all 

 the inhabitants ; which, when at last they were grubbed 

 up, became a ver}^ wholesome and healthy place.*" 



The scent is said to occasion violent head-aches to those 

 who remain long near them. 



There is a variety of the Elder, with white berries, 

 and another of which the ripe berries are red; of this 

 last the leaves are eaten by the red-deer, and the berries 

 by partridges, moor-game, &c. It is a native of Ger- 

 many, Switzerland, Italy, and Siberia, and was cultivated 

 here by Gerarde in 1596. 



The Canadian Elder, Samhucus Canadensis^ is smaller 

 than the common species; the berries also are smaller, 

 and less juicy. This flowers from June to August ; it 

 was cultivated here by Miller in 1768. 



According to Mr. Hall, the Elder is called by the 

 lower orders in Scotland the Arn-tree : " It is a fact,'' 

 says he, " that from the bark of the Elder, or Arn-tree. 

 as the common people call it, the juice of ragweed, and 

 a few other productions of the country, the women in the 

 interior, even at this day, as has been done in all ages, 

 produce in their tartans, &c. as various and vivid colours 

 as the dyers in England can do with their foreign drugs.'' 



Sannazaro celebrates the scent of the Elder-flowers; 

 he speaks of the eve preceding the festival of Pales : 



