clad with leaves, and are covered when young with a purplish bark, with white spots. The leaves are on pretty long foot-stalks, and are nearly four inches in length and three in breadth in the middle, simple, somewhat cordate, serrate, sevenlobed, bright green on the upper side, and woolly underneath. The flowers are white, in large, terminal, downy panicles; they appear in May, and are succeeded by roundish compressed fruit, similar in appearance to large haws, and ripen late in autumn, when they are brown. If kept till they are soft, in the same way as medlars, they have an agreeable acid flavour.

The Service-tree gives the husbandman an early presage of the approaching spring, by putting forth its adorned buds; and it ventures to peep out even in the severest seasons. As an ornamental tree, its large green buds strongly recommend it in the winter and spring; as its fine large-lobed leaves do in summer, and its large and numerous clusters of rich brown fruit do in autumn.

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The best mode of propagating the Service-tree is by suckers. Of these it puts forth a goodly number and it may also be budded with great improvement. It prospers best in good stiff ground, of a nature rather cold than hot; for where the soil is too dry, it will not yield well. This tree may either be grafted on itself, or on the white thorn and quince. To this may be added the Mespilus, or medlar, being a very hard wood, and of which very beautiful walking-sticks are sometimes made. The timber of the Service-tree is

useful for the joiner, and it has occasionally been used for wainscoting rooms. It is also used for bows, pulleys, screws, mill and other spindles; for goads to drive oxen with; for pistol and gun stocks; and for most of the purposes for which the wild pear-tree is serviceable. It is valued by the turner

in the manufacture of various curiosities, having a very delicate grain, which makes a showy appearance; and it is very durable. When rubbed over with well-boiled linseed oil, it is an admirable imitation of ebony, or almost any Indian wood.

One of the finest specimens of the Service-tree in England is said to be at Arley Hall, near Bewdley. This tree is fifty-four feet six inches high; the diameter of the trunk, at a foot from the ground, is three feet six inches; and that of the head is fifty-eight feet eight inches.

[Salix Nat. Ord.-Amentifera; Linn.-Dioec. Diand.]

The willow tribes that ever weep,

Hang drooping o'er the glassy-bosom'd wave.

BIDLAKE.

THE Willows are chiefly natives of the colder parts of the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. More than two hundred species of this

*Generic characters. Catkins oblong, imbricated all round, with oblong scales. Perianth none. Stamens 1-5. Fruit a 1celled follicle with 1-2 glands at its base.

genus have been described by botanists, of which sixty-six are considered indigenous in this country. These are subdivided into scientific and economic groups. The economic groups are:-for growing as timber-trees, for coppice wood, for hoops, for basket-rods, for hedges, and for ornamental trees or shrubs.

It

The Babylonian or Weeping Willow, S. Babylonica, the portrait of which heads this article, is the most picturesque and beautiful tree of this genus. is a native of Asia, on the banks of the Euphrates, near Babylon, whence its name; and also of China, and other parts of Asia; and of Egypt, and other parts of the north of Africa. It is said to have been introduced into England by the poet Pope, who planted it in his garden at Twickenham, where it was known until about 1800 as "Pope's Willow;" but it was more probably brought to Europe by the botanist Tournefort, before 1700. Of the Weeping Willow, Miller says, "It grows to a considerable size. I have one in my view whilst I am writing, which is four and a half feet in circumference at three feet above the ground, and is at least thirty feet in height; the age is thirty-four years. This tree is remarkable, and generally esteemed for its long slender pendulous branches, which give it a peculiar character, and render it a beautiful object on the margin of streams or pools. The leaves are minutely and sharply serrate, smooth on both sides, glaucous underneath, with the midrib whitish; on short petioles. Stipules, when present, roundish or semilunar, and very small; but more