With all the beauties in the vallies bred, Wild mint, that's born with myrtle crowns to wed, RAPIN ON GARDENS. The name given it by the Italians is flammola, the little flame;-at least, this is an appellation with which I have met, and it is quite in the taste of that ardent people. The French are perfectly aimable with theirs-they call it pensée, a thought, from which comes our word pansy : There's rosemary,' says poor Ophelia; that's for remembrance ;-pray you, love, remember; and there is pansies, that's for thoughts.' Drayton, in his world of luxuries, the Muse's Elysium, where he fairly stifles you with sweets, has given, under this name of it, a very brilliant image of its effect in a wreath of flowers :-the nymph says, Her damask roses, white and red, Next place I pinks in plenty, Like stones some chain enchasing; NYMPHAL 5th. Milton, in his fine way, gives us a picture in a word,- The pansy freaked with jet.' Another of its names is love-in-idleness, under which it has been again celebrated by Shakspeare, in the Midsummer Night's Dream.' Oberon says to Puck: 6 • Yet marked I where the bolt of Cupid fell:- Before, milk-white,-now purple with love's wound,— And maidens call it Love-in-idleness. The butter-cup (ranunculus bulbosus) spreads over the meadows; the cole-seed (brassica napus) in cornfields, bryony (brionia dioica), and the arum, or cuckoo-pint, in hedges, now show their flowers. The female glow-worm (lampyris noctiluca) is seen on dry banks, about woods, pastures, and hedgeways, exhibiting, as soon as the dusk of the evening commences, the most vivid and beautiful phosphoric splendour, in form of a round spot of considerable size. The marine plants which flower this month, and which are chiefly found on sea-shores and in the crevices of rocks, are, buck's horn (plantago coronopus), which flowers the whole summer; burnet saxifrage (pimpinella dioica), sea arrow-grass (triglochin. maritimum) on muddy shores; the clammy lychnis (lychnis viscaria); the cerastium tetrandrum'; scurvygrass (cochlearia), sea-kale (crambe maritima) on sandy shores; the sea cabbage (brassica oleracea), the sea stork's bill (erodium maritimum), the slender bird's foot trefoil (lotus diffusus), the mountain fleawort (cineraria integrifolia) on chalky cliffs; and the sedge (carex arenaria) on sea-shores. When we survey the plants of the sea, how discernible is that Wisdom which hath provided for their subsistence and safety in that element! Such as have broad leaves, and would be forced from their station by tides or storms, if their roots were fixed into an earthy bottom, are fastened by the root to weighty stones and pebbles; where, instead of being driven about at random by the agitations of the water, they lie safe at anchor. That they may not be bruised by lying prostrate on the ground, they are rendered pow erfully buoyant, and kept in an erect position, by means of large vesicles of air, variously disposed about their leaves or their stalks, as the difference of their form and structure may require. A similar provision for their preservation is observable in many of the plants which grow upon the land. Such as are tender and flexible, and apt to trail upon the ground, are furnished with spiral tendrils, or other like means, by which they lay hold of other plants that are firm and upright. The leafing of trees, which is, usually, completed in May, takes place in the following order: (1) The willow, poplar, alder, and other aquatics; (2) The lime, sycamore, and horse-chesnut; (3) The oak, beech, ash, walnut, and mulberry; but the whole of the third number are not in full leaf till next month. Mr. Stillingfleet, in his Tracts (p. 142), gives the following as the order of the leafing of trees and shrubs, as observed by him, in Norfolk: January 15, honey-suckle. March 11, gooseberry, currant, elder. April 1, birch, weeping-willow; 3, raspberry, bramble; 4, briar; 6, plum, apricot, peach; 7, filberd, sallow, alder; 9, sycamore; 10, elm, quince; 11, marsh elder; 12, wych elm ;. 13, quicken tree, hornbeam; 14, apple tree; 16, abele, chesnut; 17, willow; 18, oak, lime; 19, maple; 21, walnut, plane, black poplar, beech, acacia robinia; 22, ash, carolina poplar. Not small the praise the skilful planter claims Gives to the humble swain his useful plough, DODSLEY. In reference to an observation made in our last volume (p. 244), respecting the plantation and growth of the oak, it is, we think, but justice to His Majesty's Commissioners of Woods and Forests, to state, that we have had the satisfaction of perusing their last Triennial Report,' and we willingly bear testimony to their meritorious and unceasing labours in performing the important duties entrusted to their The inclosure of the different forests; the various nurseries established for oak plants; the measures adopted generally for the growth of navy timber; the numerous experiments instituted to ascertain its durability; their patient investigation, and beneficial results; are equally creditable to the science and industry of the Commissioners. They have not 'let pass' care. The fair occasion to remotest time Their name with praise, with honour to transmit! Bear commerce; fearless, unresisted, safe. I In this month, the grass is commonly grown so as to afford a good bite for sheep and cows. In parishes which are not inclosed, or, though inclosed, where there is a common, the herd generally go upon it on Old May Day, and continue till Old Michaelmas. The herd in a parish of a moderate size will consist, perhaps, of a hundred. The office of herdsman, like most offices of emolument, is often in great request, and much interest is made to obtain it. He has about six shillings a head for the season, and has one boy to assist him, found by the parish; but, if he wants another, he has to find him himself. The herd goes out between four and five o'clock in the morning, when the herdsman blows his horn, as he passes along the street, as a signal for the cows. to be turned out of the yards. They return between six and seven, when the horn again sounds as a signal for the farmyard gates to be opened to admit. the balmy-breathing kine.' There is generally much confusion among the herd, for the first two or three days, till they have determined their respective strength and precedence. One particular cow usually becomes the leader of the whole herd. The juices of the young springing grass contribute The officers on board the Spanish fleet, in 1588, called the Invincible Armada, had it in their orders, if they could not subdue the island, at least to destroy the Forest of Dean, which is in the neighbourhood of the river Severn. O |