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Tills beautiful peculiarity, however, though it does 
sometimes feed fanciful conceits and baseless visions, 
makes it a very valuable addition to the lawn and the 
shrubbery, where it is now no longer the rarity which 
Evelyn describes it to have been in his clay. It is 
valuable also in such situations on another account; 
its old leaves never fall off till replaced by new ones, so 
that it is clothed with verdure all the winter through; 
its foliage, both in shape and colour, has a resemblance 
to that of the bay. “ It rises,” says Miller, “ to from 
twenty to thirty feet in height, but rarely with an up¬ 
right stem. It usually puts forth branches very near 
the ground; the berries are roughened with the tuber¬ 
cles of the seeds.” The Arbutus is a native of the 
south of Europe, and many parts of Asia: it is also 
found wild on the barren limestone rocks near the 
lake of Killarney, where its fruit is eaten by the 
natives: this is also the case in Spain and Italy. In 
very early times we are told this practice was universal; 
but surely not in the golden age to which we have 
before alluded, otherwise we should be tempted to 
believe, that, at least in the article of food, the nine¬ 
teenth centurv surpassed “ those prime of days.” 
This tree is not without classical fame. It is men¬ 
tioned by Virgil, Horace, and Ovid. The former, it 
