The light upspringing from the ground, Now Winter with dead leaves is crowned, Where gleams the fire on Milton's bust, It shall not be a time of gloom! With happy light will we illume And nightly make our Winter room The Whortleberry, or Bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus), is in the Linnæan class Octandria, and order Monogynia; and in the Natural order Vaccinia. THE BARBERRY, OR BERBERRY. Berberis; L. L'épine-vinette; Fr. Der sauerdorn; Ger. Berberis; Dutch and Sp. Crespino; Ital. Tomara-Soo; Japanese. Bar bariss; Russ. Ciernie biale; Pol. HERE and there throughout England and Scotland, as we walk through copses and woods, we may occasionally, not seldom indeed, observe a thick shrub, about four, or five, or six feet high, called the Berberry tree. If in the month of June, it may be at once known by a stalked raceme, growing from the axis of the leaves. This consists of a number of pale yellow flowers, pendent from amid the tuft of leaves. Each flower is furnished with a slight footstalk, springing from the axis of a lanceolate bractea. The flowers emit a faint smell, which is oppressive when near, but agreeable at a little distance, when diluted, so to speak, with pure atmospheric air. The leaves are abundant, obovate, small, oblong, tapering into a footstalk. They are on the upper side of a yellowish green, beneath of a pale glaucous green. The pendent racemes of flowers, contrasting with the green foliage, produce a very elegant appearance. As time advances, the flowers gradually disappear, but the racemes still remain, at first scarcely perceptible at a little distance, then, as the fruit increases, assuming a pale green appearance; and, gradually changing, at length are seen pendent branches of scarlet berries, when the whole shrub looks as it did in spring, the flowers seemingly merely changed in colour. The Berberry is at the same time a highly orna mental shrub; a serviceable fruit tree; a valuable hedge plant; a beautiful dye; an esteemed drug; and a supposed enemy of the corn cultivator. As we have seen, it is an elegant and graceful object, from the time of its blooming in spring, until the ripe fruit has been gathered. Although wild, this shrub is frequently cultivated for the berries. These are either pickled for garnishing dishes, or being preserved with sugar they become candied, and form a pretty dish for dessert; or boiled with sugar they are made into an agreeable rob, or jelly. Medicinally, the fruit is regarded as a mild restringent acid, serviceable in hot, bilious disorders. In Poland, the bark, the wood, and the root, are used for dyeing leather of a fine yellow colour. 66 'The Berberry is remarkable from the circumstance of the curious elasticity of the filaments, which, upon the slightest irritation, suddenly contract and throw the pollen from the anthers upon the stigmas, and in a short time they recover their former elasticity, and are again sensible to the application of any irritating cause; and this curious example of irritability may be repeated several times in the same flower, so that insects attracted, either by the odour of the flowers, or the glowing colour of the glands at the base of the filaments, are the unconscious cause of an occurrence in the wise appointment of which barrenness seems almost impossible." Different kinds of insects are very partial to the Berberry flower. One in particular, Æcidium Berberidis, is thought to have its peculiar locality on this tree, and is also suspected of producing a certain kind of dust injurious to corn. Winds are the evil genii who bear it from the bush, and spitefully shower it over wheat and other growing cereals, where the dust germinates and gives rise to a minute fungus, called Puccinia, which hermetically seales the pores of the leaves, and presents the appearance of mildew or rust. As is usually the case, there are names of great men adduced who have contended for and against this hypothesis. One thing seems to be perfectly clear, that the mildew on wheat is a fungus. The Berberry (Berberis vulgaris) is in the Linnæan class Hexandria, and order Monogynia; and in the Natural order Berberidea. A kindred shrub is the Berberis, now called Mahonia Aquifolium, the Holly-leaved Mahonia. It is of a dwarf habit, and is an elegant denizen of our shrubberies at all seasons of the year. Its foliage is evergreen, yet many of its leaves are variegated at different periods. In early spring it is beautified by its long racemes of bright yellow flowers, and these are succeeded by rich purple berries, which not only decorate the shrub, but afford an agreeable food for birds. THYME. Thymus; L. Le thym; Fr. Der thimian; Ger. Gemeene thym; Dutch. Teino; Ital. Tomillo; Sp. Tomilho; Port. Fimiane; Russ. Tym; Pol. Timian; Dan. BETWEEN the months of June and September, when the beautiful little flower of the Thyme sheds its sweet fragrance, there are few who do not like to tread the noble downs on which it is most abundant. While the sun rides majestically through the heavens, we may ramble over them, cheered and refreshed by the delicious breeze which has wafted over the surface of the ocean. We may look from the borders of these downs on the wide expanse of waters, and see the gallant ships proudly ploughing o'er the buoyant waves, and feel no exhaustion from summer's heat. There we may sit inhaling the sea air, perfumed with the fragrance of Wild Thyme. And in our recollections of happy hours spent by the sea with happy friends, we can say with the immortal Shakspeare— "I know a bank whereon the Wild Thyme blows," though we cannot add the remainder of these lines in connection with the sea-shore. We must look further inland, in more sheltered spots, in groves or copses, "Where oxlips and the nodding violet grow, With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine." But on the extensive downs, as well as in the interior of our happy land, richly diversified as it is by hill and dale, by wood and field, he who loves nature can perceive that there is present the spirit of beauty; |