2020

ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART III..

the tree thrives best on a calcareous loam on chalk or rock; but in Scotland it is found on granite, basalt, and freestone.

History. The first mention that we find of the hazel tree is in the Bible ;where, in Genesis (c. xxx. v. 37.), we are told that “ Jacob took him rods ofgreen poplar, and of the hazel and chestnut tree, and pilled white strakes inthem, and made the white appear which was in the rods,” in order to makethe cattle under his care conceive streaked young. This has excited much dis-cussion among commentators; and the general opinion seems to be, thatluz (Heb.) is rightly translated hazel; though great doubt exists as to the treethere designated the chestnut; which most commentators suppose to be theplane. (See p. 1992.) The hazel nut was known both to the Greeks andRomans: the latter especially frequently mention it. The filbert is said tohave been brought originally from Pontus; whence it was called by the RomansNux Pontica. The hazel, or Nux Avellana, we are told by Virgil, in theGeorgies, was considered by the Romans to be as injurious to the vines, onaccount of its spreading roots, as the goat was for its propensity to browse onthe young shoots ; and the keepers of the vineyards used to sacrifice the goatto Bacchus, and roast its entrails on hazel spits. Virgil also mentions thatthey used hazel twigs to bind their vines. The common hazel was called bythe Romans Nux Avellana, from Avellino, a city in Naples; where, Swinburnetells us, in after times, nuts were cultivated in such abundance, as, in favourableseasons, to produce a profit of 11,250/. “ I do not,” says Evelyn, “confoundthe filbert Pontic, or filberd, distinguished by its beard, with our foresters, orbald hazel nuts, which, doubtless, we had from abroad, and bearing the namesof Avelan, Avelin, as I find in some ancient records and deeds in my custody,where my ancestors’ names were written Avelan, alias Evelin, generally.”In the dark ages, the hazel was highly valued for its supposed divining powers.The following passage from Evelyn shows the popular belief in his time onthis subject: — “ Lastly, for riding-switches and divinatory rods, for the de-tecting and finding out of minerals (at least, if that tradition be no impos-ture); it is very wonderful, by whatever occult virtue, the forked stick (socut, and skilfully held) becomes impregnated with those invisible steams andexhalations, as, by its spontaneous bending from a horizontal posture, to dis-cover not only mines and subterraneous treasure, and springs of water, butcriminals guilty of murder, &c.; made out so solemnly, and the effectsthereof, by the attestation of magistrates, and divers other learned and cre-dible persons (who have critically examined matters of fact), is certainly nextto a miracle, and requires a strong faith. Let the curious, therefore, consultthe philosophical treatise of Dr. Vallemont (Physique Occult, ou Traite dela Baguet divinatore), which will at least entertain them with a world of sur-prising things.” The belief that certain gifted persons possessed the power ofdiscovering hidden water or metal, by means of a divining-rod, is as old asthe time of the Romans; but the virgula Mercurialis was not always made ofhazel, or even of wood, but sometimes of brass or other metal. About thefifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the art was called rhabdomancy; and personsnaturally gifted for practising it were called rhabdomists. The diviner tooka hazel rod, which was either curved or forked, and held it by the two ends,so that its curvature was inclined outwards. If the person who held the rodpossessed the power of rhabdomancy, and approached any metallic vein, orother magnetic substance, or came near them, a slow rotatory motion of therod ensued in different directions, according to particular circumstances. (SeePhysical and Historical Researches into Rhabdomancy, &c.; Elementi di Elettro-metria Animate, &c. &c.) In other cases, the rod was peeled, and then laidon the palm of the hand, with the but end of the twig on the pulse of thewrist; and the diviner moved slowly along, till the rod pointed to the desiredplace ; the rhabdomist feeling, at the same time, either a violent accelerationor retardation of the pulse, and a sudden sensation of great heat or great cold.(See Heinskingla, eller Suorro Sturluson's Nordlanske Konuga Sagor., p. 1. c. vii.;Martin and Rio’s Disquisitormn Magicorum libri sex.') Sir Walter Scott makes