THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



85 



the rosy pink stigmas, protruding from the downy scales in which they are 

 swathed. If one of these flower-buds be dissected at this stage, after the 

 outer scales are removed, the bundle of pink styles will be seen arranged in 

 pairs, with a small hairy scale at the base, the ovary is so small as to be 

 scarcely visible to the naked eye. And, although fertilisation is accomplished 

 at this early season, it is a month or t\$ o before any apparent change takes 

 place in the ovary itself. Iu the course of the summer the outer scales fall 

 off, and the ovary begins to enlarge and assume the nut-like form, whilst the 

 scale at the base developes into a sheathing leaf, with torn and jagged edges, 

 forming the cup-like involucre. Up to the end of summer the nut contains 

 only a milky fluid, and autumn is well advanced before the embyro or kernel 

 has obtained consistency or shape. It is a curious fact that although there 

 are two styles, and the immature ovary is two celled, with two embyros, one 

 of them is almost invariably abortive, and it is very rarely that a nut is found 

 with two kernels, and when it does occur, like the four-leaved clover, it is a 

 lucky presage for the fortunate finder. 



Economically, the hazel is servicable for a variety of uses. Its quickly 

 growing young stems are remarkably tough, pliant and elastic, they are much 

 used for making walking-sticks, fishing-rods, crates, hurdles, and the rougher 

 kinds of wicker work. A curious custom was anciently in vogue, and widely 

 prevalent, in the unprotected graveyards thoughout the country, viz. — the 

 binding the newly laid sod of the graves with osiers or other saplings, to 

 prevent them from being despoiled by irreverent feet. Numerous allusions 

 to this practice is to be met with in the older poets, thus : — 



" But plait a wand o' bonny birk 

 And lay it on my breast." 



Gay repeatedly alludes to it — 



" Stay, let me pledge, 'tis my last earthly liquor 

 When I am dead you'll bind my grave with wicker." 



and again : — 



" With wicker rods we fenced her grave around 

 To ward from man and beast, the hallowed ground, 

 Lest her new grave the parson's cattle raze, 

 For both his horse and cow the churchyard graze. 



The wood of hazel is supposed to make the best charcoal for drawing 

 purposes, as its marks can be easily rubbed out when desired. The expressed 

 oil from its nuts is also prized by painters for mixing their colours, as it 

 dries readily on exposure to the air. The nuts themselves are a very impor- 

 tant commodity, many thousands of tons being annually imported, most of 

 which are devoured by the omnivorous school-boy, who also shares largely in 



