The Work Of Nature In The Months.

emit a strong aromatic odour . Bishop Mant describes its pretty floAvers , generally however of a lilac colour , Avhich grow in threes betAA'een the stalk and leaf" And there upon the sod below , Ground Ivy ' s purple blossoms show , Like helmet of Crusader Knight , In anther ' s cross-like form of Avhite . ' "

few animals will eat this plant , which is said to be even injurious to horses . Villagers , however , prize it highly , using an infusion of it as a cure for coughs . Formerly the p lant Avas known as Ale-hoof ancl Tun-hoof , being used in earlier ckiys as a substitute for Hops . Even in recent times a quantity of the plant has been thrown into a vat of ale to clarify it , and the liquor thus treated has been deemed a remedy in certain skin diseases . In the Autumn small hairy tumours may be observed on the leaves of the

Ground Ivy . These galls , Avhich are caused of the puncture of an insect , are sometimes eaten by the peasantry in Prance ; but Reaumur remarks that " it is doubtful if they will rank Avith good fruits ; " as they have a strong flavour of the plant on which they are formed , Ave think that Ave can conscientiousl y . endorse his opinion . Another Avee blue flower may be found not far off , the Ivy-leaved Veronica . Its blossoms are so small ancl delicate , and its stems lie so close to the ground , that it is in

no small danger of being passed over . Other names for it are the Small Henbit , and the Ivy-leaved ChickAveed Speedwell ; from its earl y blossoming , country people call it Winter-weed . This plant has lost its reputation as a medicine . We may noAv gather the blossoms of the Barren Strawberry , so called from the dry , hairy character of its fruit ; Avhilst in the West of England may be found the blue blooms of the two-leaved Squill . Now , too , in its full luxuriance is the sweet Primrose , with its relatives the Cowslip and Oxlip . Who , seeing them , can ever forget the song of Shakespeare ' s sweet Ann

Page—I know a bank Avhereon the Wild Thyme blows , Where Ox-lips and the nodding Violet grows ?—" which calls to mind , too , that sweetest of our English flowers , that treasure of the Spring par excellence , the Violet . By the wayside , and in the woodland alike , we find this much beloA'ed floAver , and many an English copse reminds us of our poet's description" Where purple Violets lurk , With all the lovely children of the shade . "

The praises of this floAver , though , are not confined to poets any more than is its growth to England . Mahomet declared that it excelled all other floAvers . The modern Arabians compare the eyelids to a Violet dropping dew ; whilst the odour of the half-hidden flower makes it a fit emblem of modesty . Lane , in his "Arabian Nights , " says that Sheihert is made of its flowers by pounding them and boiling them Avith sugar . In Palestine it HOAVS , Avith the Narcissus , in January ; ancl in Barbary , Japan , and China , it is in full

bloom through the Winter . At Stratford-on-Avon this plant Avas formerly cultivated for its medicinal properties , —and Syrup of Violets is still used by nurses and employed , perhaps more profitably , by chemists as a test . A larger species , called the -uog Violet , is common ; its blossoms , being planted on longer stalks , are often so conspicuousl y placed as to render the Avhole bank on which they groAV of a lilac tint . \ vr aJ ) 3 ^ sweefcest scented , as well as the most delicate of all its varieties , is the lute

« . Ballad singers , as well as our more sober poets , have SUIIR of the Yiolet : thus * "The Friar of Orders Grey : - " AVcep no more , lady , weep no more , Thy sorrow is in viiiu ; l *' or Violets plucked tho sweetest showers "Will uo ' er m . ike irrow imam . "