2022

ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART III

Gray, in his Shepherd’s Week, alludes to the magic powers supposed to bepossessed by the hazel nuts: —

“ Two hazel nuts I threw into the flame,

And to each nut I gave a sweetheart’s name.

This, with the loudest bounce me sore amazed,

That with a flame of brightest colour blazed.

As blazed the nut, so may thy passion grow :

For’t was thy nut that did so brightly glow.”

From the custom of burning nuts in this manner on All-Hallows Eve, thatday (the 31st of October) has received, in some parts of the country, thevulgar appellation of Nutcrack Night. Burns alludes to this custom in hisHalloween : —

“ Amang the bonny winding banksWhere Doon rins wimpling, clear,

. Where Bruce ance ruled the martial ranks,

An’ shook the Carrick spear,

Some merry, friendly, countra folksTogether did convene,

To burn their nuts, an’ pou their stocks,

And haud their Halloween

Fu’ blythe that night.”

The following pretty lines on this subject were published in a Collection ofPoems, printed at Dublin in 1801 : —

“ These glowing nuts are emblems trueOf what in human life we view :

The ill-matched couple fret and fume,

And thus in strife themselves consume;

Or, from each other wildly start,

And with a noise for ever partBut see the happy, happy pair,

Of genuine love and truth sincere;

With mutual fondness, while they burn,

Still to each other kindly turn jAnd, as the vital sparks decay,

Together gently sink awayjTill, life’s fierce ordeal being past,

Their mingled ashes rest at last.”

Many other quotations might be given, but we shall content ourselves withonly one more, from Wordsworth : —

■ ■ ■ ■ “ Among the woodsAnd o’er the pathless rocks I forced my way jUntil at length I came to one dear nook,

Unvisited, where not a broken bough

Droop’d with its wither’d leaves, ungracious sign

Of devastation! But the hazels rose

Tall and erect, with milk-white clusters hung,—

A virgin scene! A little while l stood,

Breathing with such suppression of the heartAs joy delights in ; and with wise restraint,

Voluptuous, fearless of a rival, eyedThe banquet Then up I.arose,

And dragg’d to earth each branch and bough with crash,

And merciless ravage; and the shady nookOf hazels, and the green and mossy bower,

Deform’d and sullied, patiently gave upTheir quiet being : but, unless I nowConfound my present feelings with the past,

Even then, when from the bower I turn’d awayExulting, rich beyond the wealth of kings,

I felt a sense of pain when I beheldThe silent trees, and the intruding sky.”

Properties and Uses. The hazel, in a wild state, affords, by its numerousbranches, protection to various small birds : its nuts afford food to the squir-rels, and some other quadrupeds ; to some of the larger birds ; and to manin a wandering and half-civilised state; but there are a few insects that live onits leaves. Considered as a timber tree, the wood is never of a sufficient sizefor building purposes; but it is used in cabinet-making, and for various smallerand more delicate productions. It weighs, dry, 49 lb. per cubic foot. It istender, pliant, of a whitish red colour, and of a close, even, and full grain ;but it does not take a very bright polish. The roots, when they are of suf-ficient size, afford curiously veined pieces, which are used in veneering