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Article THE WORK OF NATURE IN THE MONTHS. ← Page 6 of 8 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Work Of Nature In The Months.
A curious property in the growth of the Bay , ( Avorth quoting in its entiret y , for tlie lesson it conveys , did space permit , ) is noted by Eliza Cook : — " The Bay-Tree is a bonny tree , but never is it knoivn To flourish in tbe richest soil that holds the Bay alone . " The Box is another shrub that lends its aid to Christmas adornment : —
" Bos , like a tough-liv'd annuitant , — Verdant alway , — From quarter-day even to quarter-day . " Although this pretty evergreen giwvs in profusion at Box-hill , near Dorking in Surrey ) it rarely attains a sufficient size te be of much practical value ; the blocks used in Avood " engraving , being mostly cut from AVOOC ! that comes from Turkey . The Evergreen Pine and the Fir , both majestic additions to the landscape in their
native ivilds , are pressed into the service at Christmas-time . Their solid Avorth as timber trees is too Avell recognized to be dwelt upon here . The Larch , though very beautiful in spring Avith its pea-green leaves ancl pink tasselled floAver-spikes , soon groAvs clingy and bare , and is useless except as an outdoor ornament , Avhere its cones dotted over its slender bare branches , give it a A'ery graceful appearance . The Yew seems made for Church-decoration , so closely is it linked to the Churchyard . Fitting place for it : —
" Cheerless , unsocial plant , that loves to dwell Midst skulls and coffins , epitaphs and tombs . " There are many fine specimens of this tree in various parts of the country—on the banks of the Wye , at Buckland near Dover , at Fisbury in Dorsetshire ; at Staines is one of a thousand years old , and at Fortingal , in Perthshire , one that used to measure upivards of fifty-six feet in circumference . The leaves of the Yew are poisonous , not so
its waxen berries . Avhich are much relished by children . With the boAV , as a Aveapou of offence , the glory of the YBAV has Avell-nigh departed ; appropriately , therefore , doeit take up its abode in the corner of the old Churchyard , Of all plants for adornment commend to us the Ivy , for it is a decoration ready-made , and a decoration , moreover , far more beautiful than any art can form ; Avhat more graceful than a simple Ivy-spray negligentltrailing over column or AVIUCIOAVmoulding
y , or architrave ? As an ornament of the person , poets have from very early ages sung the praises of the plant—the very croAvn of the singer being one of its wreatns ; so too was the Bacchanalian garland , Ivy being credited Avith the property of preventing intoxication . Thus Ave find Theocritus , "Virgil , and Ovid A'ersifying its merits , Avhilst nearer our own time , Shakspeare makes "the Passionate Pilgrim " offer to his
mistress'' A belt of straiv and Ivy buds . With coral clasps and amber studs . " Of the value of the Ivy in the economy of nature , hardly enough can be said , nor of the vital importance it is to the feathered world : when other shrubs are leafless and bare , the Ivy bush affords those of our songsters a shelter who are making early arrangements for house-keeping , or rather house-building . The flowers coming late in the Au tumn , present a supply of food to innumerable insects ; whilst its berries , which no frost can touch , are just read y for bird-consumption , when every other species of hedge fruit is exhausted .
The growth of the Ivy , by which we mean shape ancl size of leaf and the like , is a various as are the different modes of growth it adopts , — -one beautiful kind is found mantling the IOAV stones of Mendi p , making them , Avhen Avell-nigh every other leaf than its own is falling dead and discoloured , a very picture of gorgeous colours , from p ink through crimson , to purple , and from primrose-yellow , through every shade of orange , to deepest richest broAvn and almost black . Another pretty sort is that Avhich tAviues along the hedgerow-bottom , deluding the children Avith the idea that spring has conic Clare thus sings of it : —
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Work Of Nature In The Months.
A curious property in the growth of the Bay , ( Avorth quoting in its entiret y , for tlie lesson it conveys , did space permit , ) is noted by Eliza Cook : — " The Bay-Tree is a bonny tree , but never is it knoivn To flourish in tbe richest soil that holds the Bay alone . " The Box is another shrub that lends its aid to Christmas adornment : —
" Bos , like a tough-liv'd annuitant , — Verdant alway , — From quarter-day even to quarter-day . " Although this pretty evergreen giwvs in profusion at Box-hill , near Dorking in Surrey ) it rarely attains a sufficient size te be of much practical value ; the blocks used in Avood " engraving , being mostly cut from AVOOC ! that comes from Turkey . The Evergreen Pine and the Fir , both majestic additions to the landscape in their
native ivilds , are pressed into the service at Christmas-time . Their solid Avorth as timber trees is too Avell recognized to be dwelt upon here . The Larch , though very beautiful in spring Avith its pea-green leaves ancl pink tasselled floAver-spikes , soon groAvs clingy and bare , and is useless except as an outdoor ornament , Avhere its cones dotted over its slender bare branches , give it a A'ery graceful appearance . The Yew seems made for Church-decoration , so closely is it linked to the Churchyard . Fitting place for it : —
" Cheerless , unsocial plant , that loves to dwell Midst skulls and coffins , epitaphs and tombs . " There are many fine specimens of this tree in various parts of the country—on the banks of the Wye , at Buckland near Dover , at Fisbury in Dorsetshire ; at Staines is one of a thousand years old , and at Fortingal , in Perthshire , one that used to measure upivards of fifty-six feet in circumference . The leaves of the Yew are poisonous , not so
its waxen berries . Avhich are much relished by children . With the boAV , as a Aveapou of offence , the glory of the YBAV has Avell-nigh departed ; appropriately , therefore , doeit take up its abode in the corner of the old Churchyard , Of all plants for adornment commend to us the Ivy , for it is a decoration ready-made , and a decoration , moreover , far more beautiful than any art can form ; Avhat more graceful than a simple Ivy-spray negligentltrailing over column or AVIUCIOAVmoulding
y , or architrave ? As an ornament of the person , poets have from very early ages sung the praises of the plant—the very croAvn of the singer being one of its wreatns ; so too was the Bacchanalian garland , Ivy being credited Avith the property of preventing intoxication . Thus Ave find Theocritus , "Virgil , and Ovid A'ersifying its merits , Avhilst nearer our own time , Shakspeare makes "the Passionate Pilgrim " offer to his
mistress'' A belt of straiv and Ivy buds . With coral clasps and amber studs . " Of the value of the Ivy in the economy of nature , hardly enough can be said , nor of the vital importance it is to the feathered world : when other shrubs are leafless and bare , the Ivy bush affords those of our songsters a shelter who are making early arrangements for house-keeping , or rather house-building . The flowers coming late in the Au tumn , present a supply of food to innumerable insects ; whilst its berries , which no frost can touch , are just read y for bird-consumption , when every other species of hedge fruit is exhausted .
The growth of the Ivy , by which we mean shape ancl size of leaf and the like , is a various as are the different modes of growth it adopts , — -one beautiful kind is found mantling the IOAV stones of Mendi p , making them , Avhen Avell-nigh every other leaf than its own is falling dead and discoloured , a very picture of gorgeous colours , from p ink through crimson , to purple , and from primrose-yellow , through every shade of orange , to deepest richest broAvn and almost black . Another pretty sort is that Avhich tAviues along the hedgerow-bottom , deluding the children Avith the idea that spring has conic Clare thus sings of it : —