14 



hobkirk: leafing of oak and ash. 



slime, 1 sent in its fresh state a fair quantity to Mr. Boswell by the 

 same evening's post. Both of us were I think considerably surprised 

 to find that this second gathering was not Mniiiui lion: urn but 

 Polytrichupi commune, and Mr. Boswell afterwards wrote me, that 

 amongst some loose fragments he had found several bits of another 

 moss — Bryum i^Webera) albicans. 



The tufts of Polytrichum are somewhat sparingly branched and 

 much elongated and attenuated, and the leaves are more distantly 

 placed on the stem, and the same may be said of the Mjiiuni, l)ut 

 bevond this there does not appear to be any structural difference in 

 either stem or leaves, between these specimens and the normal form. 

 Both species also in several instances show distmct iniiovati'ms, thus 

 to my mind proving that they are not a single season's growth, as 

 Dr. Braithwaite seemed at first inclined to believe, but that they 

 must have passed two or more seasons in this unusual habitat, where 

 to all appearance they both grow and flourish, in considerable 

 quantity. 



THE LEAFING OF THE OAK AND THE ASH. 



C. p. HOBKIRK, F.L.S. 



Old superstitions die hard, and this old legend, celebrated m a 

 doggrel couplet, seems to be one of them. There is about as much 

 sense and about as much truth about it as in the somewhat similar 

 superstition connected with St. Swithin's (lay being a prognostic of 

 the state of the weather for the forty subsequent days. 



I am not at all surprised that Mr. Hagger received so many 

 unsatisfactor}' answers from farmers and others on this subject ; 

 it would have been surprising had it been otherwise. As Mr. Hagger 

 says, the gist of them is no doubt conveyed in the second paragraph 

 of his article, and that paragraph contains a full answer to the 

 question. This answer may, perhaps, be put into a more concrete 

 form even than he has there put it. 



The only real and scientific reason and cause of the one tree or 

 the other being in leaf earliest is the kind of weather that has 

 preceded the leafing, not the weather that is yet to succeed. The 

 amount of sunshine, warmth, and rain, or absence of sunshine, cold, 

 frosty, and dry weather, will have their full effect in determining the 

 time of leafing of these two or any other trees, arid also according 

 to the varied habits of these trees will determine priority of leafing, 

 and this will also be affected by the kind of soil, shelter, or exposure 



Naturalist, 



