The Work Of Nature In The Months.

plaster . Internally they are white and full of starch ; there is , hoivever , as Avell , some very bitter , and not improbably unwholesome , property . Heat and repeated AA'ashings will render them both Avholesoine and palatable eating . The young shoots

boiled and dressed Avith oil and salt are eaten by the Moors ; but although in spring they possess with us a mild aud , to some , an agreeable flavour , they can hardly be said to repay the risk of the experiment . From the climbers Ave naturally come to

those trees which support them , amongst ivhich ive find many very beautiful at this season ; amongst such are the Wild Service Tree , which groivs luxuriantly on the chalky hills round Caterham in Surrey , as Avell as in many other places in the

suburbs of London . Leaving a description of the leaA'es and flowers of this ornament to our landscape to their proper season , Ave may notice its fruit , Avhich , Avhen touched with frost , is strung round sticks and taken to market for disposal by the coun try-people . The wood is hard and close grained and esteemed by turners .

A someAvhat similar tree is its not unfrequent neighbour the White Beam Tree , the fruit of Avhich is pulpy , and , Avhen frosted , agreeable eating ; from it , by fermentation , can be obtained a kind of beer , and by distillation a very strong spirit ; it seemshowever , hardly fair for so little

, result to deny the Avorthy Hedge-hog this one of his greatest dainties . The Avood of this tree , although small in size , is of more value than that of the Service Tree , as , Avherever iron has not superseded it in mill-Avorkit is much employed

, for the cogs of Avheels ; musical instruments , too , are made of it , as Avell as handles to cutlery , spoons , ancl many small articles for ivhich Box-wood must otherwise be used . Another beautiful berry-bearing tree is

the Mountain Ash , or Eoan Tree . The Thrush is very fond of the fruit , Avhilst Evelyn says that " ale and beer browed AA'ith these berries , being ripe , is an incomparable drink , familiar in Wales . " Coleman adds : " These berries are even eaten

raw as a fruit , but Ave cannot recommend them , except as curiosities , for they are harsh and austere , ivith a nauseous imclertaste , so that , Avith most peisons , one will suffice for a dose . " The other names of

the Mountain Ash , EoAvan , Wiggcn , or Witchen Tree , relate to its supposed power against Avitehcraft : a superstition which still lingers in the more benighted parts of Scotland ancl Wales . Amongst the old burying-places and Avithin the stone circles used by the Druids it is not unusual to find the Eoan Tree stump , having pro . bably been planted by them on account of its sacred shade .

Another neighbour of these trees , ami one perhaps stdl more appreciated , especially Avhen cultivated , is the Medlar , which may be ahvays knoivn by its peculiarly twisted branches . The fruit of this tree is one of those knoAvn to our French neighbours as "fruits de fantaisie ; " not

so , however , that of one of our noblest English trees , the Walnut . Walnut-AVOOCI is too Avell known to need description here , Avhether it be employed in the boudoir or the camp ; for the purposes of the latter it became during the Peninsular

War extremely valuable for musket-stocks ; and about the year 1806 some twelve thousand trees Avere required annually in France . This fact so deeply impressed itself upon a money-loving knight in one of our Midland Countiesthat he actually planted an

, immense area with young AA'alnut-trees , from the timber of which he hoped to add considerably to his already large fortune . Like

himself"Wars have come and Avars have gone , But those trees grow on for—" —Avell—the present I Of the dish of Avalnuts Avith tho bottle of port ( of Avhich latter , by the Avay , so much is not consumed IIOAV that the

fanners keep smaller hedges ; whether it is owing to the consequent diminution in the size of the Sloe bushes ire should not like to say for cettain ) most of us are acquainted , as Avell as with the dish of pickled walnutsAvhichalthough not so

, , readily liable to adulteration as one of the former articles , may yet be susceptible of unwelcome additions . A friend of ours , towards the close of luncheon , Avauting just one more , fished up one ivith no less than four unmislakcable legs ancl an equally

patent tail . Verb . sap . —keep the jars well coA'ored if you have any stray mice about ! The connexion of Nuts and Mice brings to our mind one very extraordinary fact ,