Sidebilder
PDF
ePub

the part of the plant, for though most caterpillars devour the leaf, some subsist on the roots; others on the buds, flowers, fruit', and indeed on every other part of the plant, shrub or tree.

[ocr errors]

'It is not always possible, if one kind of food cannot be procured with convenience, to determine from the quality of that food, what other kind will best suit the creature ; sometimes plants of the most opposite nature have nourished the same caterpillar. The phalana antiqua has devoured leaves of the thorn, and of the rose; and has throve well when fed on the poisonous laurel and the deadly nightshade.

They should always have an abundance of food, for some kinds devour a very considerable quantity in a few days the papilio brassica, cabbage butterfly, eats in one day twice its own weight of food .'

River fish leave their winter retreats, and again become the prey of the angler:

The trout in his moss-fashioned bed,
Observe all his gay-speckled pride!
How bright are his patches of red,

Like rubies that bleed in the tide !

Now, warily, behind the half-leaved bush
The angler screened, with keenest eye intent,
Awaits the sudden rising of the trout:
Down dips the feathery lure; the quivering rod
Bends low; in vain the cheated captive strives
To break the yielding line: exhausted soon,
Ashore he's drawn, and, on the mossy bank
Weltering, he dyes the primrose with his blood.

GRAHAMБ.

Phalana pronuba, large yellow underwing, on the roots of grass.-Phalana humuli, ghost, on the roots of burdock. 2 Phalana salicella, rose moth, on the rose buds. 3 Phalana pomonella, codling-moth, in the apple. 4 Phalana psi, grey dagger, bark of fruit and willow-trees.Sphinx apiformis, on the internal part of the wood poplar.-Phalana cossus, goat, on the internal part of the wood of most trees. 'Donovan's Instructions for Collecting and Preserving various Subjects of Natural History, p. 25-26.

Dry weather is still acceptable to the farmer, who is employed in sowing various kinds of grain, and seeds for fodder, as buck-wheat, lucerne, saintfoin, clover, &c. The young corn and springing-grass, however, are materially benefited by occasional showers.

Description of Forest Trees.

[Continued from p. 97.]

ELM (ulmus campestris).-The elm naturally delights in a stiff, strong soil, where it grows comparatively slow; but, if it be planted in rich, light land, it vegetates most luxuriantly. In the latter case, however, its wood is light, porous, and of little value.

This beautiful tree is of great value, and well adapted for planting shady walks. The elm does not destroy the grass, and its leaves are relished by horses, cows, goats, hogs, and sheep, all of which eat them eagerly. Its wood, being hard and tough, is used for making axle-trees, mill-wheels, keels of boats, chairs, &c. it is also frequently changed by art, so as completely to resemble mahogany.

:

This plant affords subsistence to a variety of insects that prey upon it, but more particularly to the aphis of the elm, which generally causes the leaves to curl, so as to make them a secure shelter against the weather.

We know not a finer rural object than an antient avenue of elms: there are many walks of this description in various parts of England, and a very fine one near London, called Camberwell Grove. Long may these avenues remain free from the assaults of the unhallowed axe, too often raised at the nod of some spendthrift heir! then, indeed, the man of sentiment joins the poet in regretting the absence of those

Venerable elms, whose boughs had made
From winds a shelter, and from heat a shade;
That formed a vista arched with living green,
Through which the distant seat was grandly seen;

Where cawing rooks were wont their nests to throng,
And feathered minstrels thrilled their morning song.

This stately tree was too striking an object among the inhabitants of the grove, to be neglected by the poets. It is frequently alluded to by Virgil. From the manner of the growth of this tree, its use, as a support for the weak and curling vine, was universally deduced; nor is any rural circumstance more often mentioned by the poets, in simile or description. Virgil, indeed, selects the junction of the elm and vine, as the discriminating topic of one whole book of his Georgics. This circumstance is beautifully displayed by Catullus (lxii, 49), as a comparison for the state of a single female:

As on the naked plain th' unwedded vine

Nor lifts the head, nor forms the generous wine,
But sinking with its weight, its tallest shoot
Reflected, bends to meet the distant root;
Unhonoured, worthless, and forlorn it stands,
Untilled by lab'ring steers or rustic hands:
But should a husband elm its aid extend,
Both lab'ring steers and rustic hinds attend.

J. A.

The practice of training vines in festoons, over corn and other fields, from one elm or poplar to another, is still common in Lombardy, Tuscany, the vicinity of Naples, and other parts of Italy. Nothing can be imagined more beautiful than the pendent foliage and fruit of the vine, offering the most agreeable shade from the rays of the sun, and enabling the spectator to contemplate the charming scenery around him, in the midst of the most refreshing coolness.

Cattle, we learn, were fed with the leaves of elms, which were a most agreeable repast to them; and Mr. Evelyn mentions the same practice as prevailing in England in his time. The elm, in its natural state of a wide-spreading shady tree, is pitched upon by Virgil (En. vi, 282), as the roosting-place of dreams in Orcus:

Full in the midst, a spreading elm displayed
His aged arms, and cast a mighty shade;
Each trembling leaf with some light vision teems,
And heaves impregnated with airy dreams.

[To be continued.]

PITT.

MAY.

MAY is so called from Maia, the mother of Mercury, to whom sacrifices were offered by the Romans on the first of this month; or, according to some, from respect to the senators and nobles of Rome, who were named Majores, as the following month was termed Junius, in honour of the youth of Rome. The Saxons called May, tri-milki, because, in that month, they began to milk their kine three times in the day.

Remarkable Days.

1.-MAY-DAY.

ANTIENTLY, all ranks of people went out a maying early on the first of this month. • The juvenile part of both sexes, in the north, were wont to rise a little after midnight, and walk to some neighbouring wood, accompanied with music and the blowing of horns; where they break down branches from the trees, and adorn them with nosegays and crowns of flowers. When this is done, they return with their booty homewards, about the rising of the sun, and make their doors and windows to triumph in the flowery spoil. The after part of the day is chiefly spent in dancing round a tall pole, which is called a May-pole; which being placed in a convenient part of the village, stands there, as it were consecrated to the goddess of flowers, without the least violation offered it, in the whole circle of the year.'

To the custom of going out a maying,'_ Shakspeare alludes in his Midsummer Night's Dream, Act i, sc. 1.

If thou lov'st me then,

Steal forth thy father's house to-morrow night;
And in the wood, a league without the town,
Where I did meet thee once with Helena,
To do observance to a morn of MAY,
There will I stay for thee."

May-day is still observed at Great Gransden, in Cambridgeshire. On the evening, or night, preceding May-day, the young men (farmers' servants) go and cut the may or hawthorn boughs, which they bring home in bundles, and leave some at almost every house, according to the number of young persons in it, singing what they call The Night Song. On the evening of May-day, and the following evenings, they go round to every house where they left a bough, and sing The May Song. One is dressed with a shirt over his other clothes, and decorated with ribands, and is called The May Lord; another, in girl's clothes, is called The May Lady, or Mary; this is evidently the remains of The Maid Marian of Shakspeare's time. One has a handkerchief on a pole or stick as a flag, whose business it is to keep off the crowd. The rest have ribands in their hats. The May Song consists of sixteen verses, and is of a very religious cast; the poetry not very good. The money collected is spent in a feast of plum-cake, bread and cheese, and tea. See also T. T. for 1815, p. 159.

1.-SAINT PHILIP and SAINT JAMES THE LESS. Philip was born at Bethsaida, near the sea of Tiberias, the city of Andrew and Peter. Of his parents and trade the Gospel takes no notice; though he was, most probably, a fisherman. He was one of the first disciples, and an apostle. John i, 43-47. James the Less, called also James the Just, and, by the apostle Paul, James, the Lord's brother, Gal. i, 19, was the son of Joseph, afterwards husband to the

« ForrigeFortsett »