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ancestors, of some repute for bows: but now it is not 
so much cultivated for the sake of utility, as for or¬ 
nament. 
It is very hardy, and will flourish in any soil or 
situation; but it prefers the mountain to the valley, 
and it is in wild alpine districts that we must look 
for it in perfection: — 
“ There clings the rowan to the rock, 
And through the foliage shows its head, 
With narrow leaves and berries red.” 
In these, its favourite haunts, it continually presents 
itself to the eye of the traveller. Sometimes it is seen 
adorning the side of a rugged mountain; sometimes 
rising from a rock 
-“ Amid the brook. 
Grey as the stone to which it clings, half root 
Half trunk ;** 
and now, overshadowing a Highland hut,— 
“ Some three strides up the hill a mountain ash 
Stretches its lower boughs and scarlet clusters 
O'er the old thatch.” 
