ning to deck the shrub in lesser number as early as February. Indeed, there is no season of the year in which we might not find a furze-branch adorned with flowers; and its perpetual bloom is alluded to in more than one of our familiar English country proverbs. In summer, when it contrasts with the purple Heath and Ling, and shadows the beautiful Harebells, few plants are more attractive. Hardy as the shrub seems on our open heaths, exposed to the coldest winds which sweep among the boughs, yet it is affected by climate more than some plants which we usually regard as tender. Both heat and severe cold are unfavourable to it; and while, on the one hand, it rarely grows wild farther south than Provence, it is unknown in the north of Europe, except as a cultivated plant. In Sweden and Russia it is kept in the greenhouse, and Gerarde relates of it, in his day, that about Dantzic, Brunswick, and Poland, not a branch of it was growing, except some few plants and seeds which he had sent thither, and which "were most curiously kept in their fairest gardens." The delight of Dillenius on seeing it in profusion on the English common, and the rapture of Linnæus, when he knelt on the sod thanking God for its loveliness, can be well understood by the lover of flowers. Mary Isabella Tomkins, in a little poem, written for this volume, refers to the emotion experienced on this occasion by the great Swedish botanist :

"A strong man kneeling, and in tears,
Beneath June's azure sky,

Strange is it, strange, when joy appears
Grief's outward form so nigh!

Is it some exile who hath found
Again his native shore?

A stranger he-this heathy ground
He never trod before.

"Is it a pilgrim who hath sought
Some deeply hallow'd spot,
And sunk, o'erpower'd at the thought
Of faith that dieth not?

Is it a warrior on the plain

Where meeting myriads fell?
No, here the only purple stain
Is of the Heather-bell.

"No; none of these-the naturalist
By his true heart impell'd,
Could not this meed of praise resist
For what he then beheld;

An open heath, where thick was spread
The Gorse of golden hue,
With heavy perfume round it shed
That well the wild-bee knew.

"And he that wept gave thanks to God

This glorious sight to greet,
And sank upon the thymy sod

That spread beneath his feet;

He who had scann'd wide Nature's page
With loving eyes, and keen,

Had yet attain'd to middle age

Before that sight was seen:

The thanks Linnæus gave that day,

I also would repeat,

When these gold blooms in rich array
On the rough heath I greet."

The Furze-bush is sometimes planted for hedges; and the poor in the neighbourhood of a common frequently use it for fuel. In places where coals are very expen

sive and peat rare, it has even been cultivated for that purpose. It gives a good degree of heat while burning. It is, in villages, esteemed a valuable remedy for jaundice, but probably this is owing to the colour of its flowers, many yellow objects, as oranges, yolk of eggs, &c., being popularly considered as cures for that malady. Many animals eat the young tops as food, and its seeds afford a good store for the birds. In autumn, when these are quite ripe, we hear their pods crackling, as they open to discharge their contents, sometimes making a loud report, and mingling with the gentle waving of the trees, and the singing of birds, the sounds seem sweet and musical to the wanderer on the heath, over—

"Moors where hares abound,

While throbbing Furzes heart-struck burst their pods,
Scattering ripe seeds amidst the moss around."

The plant is on some spots much entangled with the pink threads of the parasitic dodder, which form an entangling mass about its branches.

The French call the Furze Ajonc, or Jonc marin, the latter name alluding to its growth near the sea, for the bush thrives well on cliffs, or other rocky soils, visited by the sea-breeze. It has been found in Devonshire with double blossoms, the variety which is now so generally cultivated for the sake of its gorgeous masses of golden blossoms. It is the only papilionaceous plant which is known to have double flowers. The variety called Irish Whin is also a frequent shrub in gardens and nurseries. Our furze does not grow wild in Germany, but its name in that country is Der

Europäische stechginster, and it is the Heybrem of the Dutch.

2. Ulex nánus (Dwarf Furze).-Calyx downy, with the hairs lying close to the surface; bracts small; wings about as long as the keel. Plant perennial. This species, which is altogether smaller than the other, begins to flower in July, and remains in blossom till November or December. It has much of the general aspect of the Common Whin, though essentially different from it, its chief characteristics being its minute and scarcely perceptible bracts, and its shorter and more spreading wings. It differs also in not throwing its seeds out of the pod immediately upon ripening, as they remain closed on the shrub long after being fully matured. This species is from one to three feet high, and grows on many English and Irish heaths, especially in mountainous districts, and on some few Scottish lands.

2. GENÍSTA (Green-weed).

1. G. tinctória (Woad-waxen, Dyer's-whin, Dyer'sweed, or Green-weed). -Stems and branches without thorns; leaves narrow, acute, nearly smooth; flowers in clusters; legumes flattened, smooth. Plant perennial. This low shrub is frequent in pastures, thickets, and field-borders of England, especially where the soil is of clay, but it is rare in Scotland and Ireland. It is about one or two feet high, its leaves of very dark but rich green hue, and its pale yellow flowers, which expand during July and August, are on short stalks. The milk of cows feeding on this plant is said to acquire a bitter

flavour, rendering the butter and cheese made from it very unpalatable. A decoction of the seeds was formerly used medicinally, and the ashes of the burnt twigs are considered a valuable remedy in some diseases. The latter medicine is prized in the Ukraine as a cure for canine madness, but its reputation for this malady cannot be regarded as established. Both the English and Latin names of the plant refer to its uses by dyers, for its young tops have long been employed to give a yellow colour to yarn. Mr. Knapp, in his "Journal of a Naturalist," remarks;-"Our poorer people, a few years ago, used to collect it by cart-loads about the month of July, and the season of 'Woad-waxen' was a little harvest to them; but it interfered with our haymaking. Women could gain each about two shillings a-day, clear of all expenses, by gathering it; but they complained that it was a very hard and laborious occupation, the plant being drawn up by the roots, which are strongly interwoven in the soil. The dyer gave them eight-pence for a hundred weight, but I fear the amount was greatly enhanced by the dishonest practice of watering the load for the specious purpose of keeping it green; and the old woad-waxers tell us that without the increase of weight which the water gave the article, they should have had but little reward for their labour. Greediness here, however, as in most other cases, ruined the trade; the plant became so injured and stinted by repeated pullings, as to be in these parts no longer an object worth seeking for: and our farmers rather discourage the practice, as the green-weed preserves and shelters at its roots a considerable quantity of coarse