204 
LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 
driving away witches and evil spirits ; and this property is 
alluded to in one of the stanzas of a very ancient song, 
called the Laidley Worm of Spindletori’s Heughs. 
‘ Their spells were vain ; the boys return’d 
To the queen in sorrowful mood, 
Crying that “ witches have no power 
Where there is roan-tree wood ?’ 
The last line of this stanza leads to the true reading of a 
stanza in Shakspeare’s tragedy of Macbeth. The sailor’s 
wife, on the witch’s requesting some chestnuts, hastily 
answers, ‘ A rown-tree, witch !’* — but many of the editions 
have it, c aroint thee witch !’ which is nonsense, and evi- 
dently a corruption.”* 
The European Mountain ash is quite a favourite with 
cultivators here, and deservedly so. Its foliage is extremely 
neat, its blossoms pretty, and its blazing red berries in autumn 
communicate a cheerfulness to the season, and harmonize 
happily with the gay tints of our native forest trees. It is 
remarkably well calculated for small plantations or collec- 
tions, as it grows in almost any soil or situation, takes but 
little room, and is always interesting. “ In the Scottish High- 
lands, says Gilpin, “ on some rocky mountain covered with 
dark pines and waving birch, which cast a solemn gloom on 
the lake below, a few Mountain ashes joining in a clump, and 
mixing with them, have a fine effect. In summer, the light 
green tint of their foliage, and in autumn the glowing berries 
which hang clustering upon them, contrast beautifully with 
the deeper green of the pines: and if they are happily 
blended, and not in too large a proportion, they add some 
of the most picturesque furniture with which the sides of 
* Arboretum et Fruticetum, p. 918. 
