200 
LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 
possessed of the property of driving away witches and evi] 
spirits ; and this property is alluded to in one of the stanzas 
of a very ancient song, called the Laidley Worm of Spin - 
dleton’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 rowan-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, ‘ aroint thee, witch !’ which is nonsense, and evi- 
dently a corruption.”* 
The European Mountain ash is quite a favorite 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 planta- 
tions or collections, as it grows in almost any soil or situa- 
tion, takes but little room, and is always interesting. “ In 
the Scottish Highlands,” 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 furni- 
* Arboretum et Fn ticetum, d. 918. 
