OW delightful, especially to a town-bred boy, is

the prospect of a holiday in the country! How the very name seems to bring with it the idea of pleasant rambles, and pedestrian excursions, and woodland adventures in summer, and boisterous enjoyment in winter! Now, we have something to say to our young friends about country pleasures, and it is this: Have you ever studied the country? In walking through the woods, for instance, has it ever occurred to you to make a collection of the leaves of the different trees? Have you noticed their variation of form and colour? Do you know the particulars and history of each kind of tree? Again, can you tell an eatable mushroom from a toadstool, when you see one? Have you ever studied the habits and voices of birds? Have you-but hold! We will not catechise you further, but proceed to give you a few particulars concerning these wonderful things, trusting that

you will, for your own sakes, pursue the subject of which we pretend only to give a sketchy outline.

Fancy a country walk at evening-how many sounds and sights of beauty surround us! Well has the poet described the scene :

"When day declining sheds a milder gleam,
What time the may-fly haunts the pool or stream;
When the still owl skims round the grassy mead,
What time the timorous hare limps forth to feed: ;
Then be the time to steal adown the vale,
And listen to the vagrant cuckoo's tale;
To hear the clamorous curlew call his mate,
Or the soft quail his tender pain relate;
To see the swallow sweep the dark'ning plain
Belated, to support her infant train:
To mark the swift, in rapid giddy ring,
Dash round the steeple, unsubdued of wing.
Amusive birds!-say where your hid retreat
When the frost rages and the tempests beat?
Whence your return, by such nice instinct led,
When Spring, soft season, lifts her bloomy head?
Such baffled searches mock man's prying pride,
The GOD OF NATURE is your secret guide!
While deep'ning shades obscure the face of day,
To yonder bench leaf-shelter'd let us stray,
Till blended objects fail the swimming sight,
And all the fading landscape sinks in night;
To hear the drowsy dor come brushing by
With buzzing wing, or the shrill cricket cry;
To see the feeding bat glance through the wood;
To catch the distant falling of the flood;

While o'er the cliff th' awaken'd churn-owl hung

Through the still gloom protracts his chattering song;

While high in air, and poised upon his wings,
Unseen, the soft enamour'd woodlark sings."

And now, kind young readers, without more preface, you must come out for a walk; and in our ramble such things shall be pointed out to you as will, it is hoped, induce you to seek out others for yourselves; for wherever we walk we shall find creation teeming with varied and beautiful forms of animal and vegetable life. Take, for instance, the subject of insects and plants. The number of insects distributed over the surface of the globe, Mr. Kirby estimates to be 400,000 species; and Mr. M'Leay says that 100,000 are to be found in our cabinets. In the Systematic Catalogue of Mr. Stephens (1827), 10,000 British insects are enumerated, and of these upwards of 4,000 belong to the class Lepidoptera. It has also been calculated that the number of plants supposed to exist is about 44,000 species, of which 38,000 have been described. Mr. Loudon, in his valuable Encyclopædia of Plants, has published a description of 16,712 indigenous, cultivated, or exotic plants, which are now found, or have been introduced, into this country.

And so, on every side, we see around us things strange and beautiful, and which seem to call aloud to us to examine and understand them. Let us do so, commencing with the forest trees themselves.

ERE we are fairly in the woods. Let us at once set about our work; and it seems to us the most fitting thing to begin at once with an enumeration of the trees. Our British oaks have been our pride for many centuries; and there are other forest trees in England, less famous indeed, but exceedingly useful and beautiful, and well worthy of having a due share of notice and praise. Of these we have now to speak in their due order, beginning with A, the alder, and concluding with Y, the yew.

ALDER TREE (Alnus).-This tree is indigenous to this country; and it may be described as having roundish leaves, very much jagged on the margin, and somewhat glutinous, bemg downy at the branching of the veins beneath. It may be found on the margins of nearly all our streams and rivers, and on

any damp, marshy, or even swampy grounds; but the soil must be good, as well as wet, for this tree to flourish; and, under such circumstances, it is not uncommon for it to reach to the height of fifty or sixty feet, with a trunk measuring several feet in circumference.

It is still held in estimation for remaining long sound under water, and is therefore very useful for forming piles, &c., for the support of buildings in boggy situations. It is also employed for the construction of pumps, sluices, &c. As a wood, the roots and knots are valued for cabinet work, being often beautifully veined. The bark is used by dyers, tanners, and leather-dressers. Charcoal made from this tree is highly estimated for the manufacture of gunpowder.

The wood of the alder is soft, but buried under ground, or submerged in water, it is almost imperishable: if exposed to alternations of dryness and moisture, it soon decays The use it is now most commonly applied to is the formation of herring-barrel staves, for which purpose great quantities are annually felled in the Scottish Highlands. It is most successfully propagated by seed, which should be gathered in autumn and sown the following March.

ASH, COMMON (Fraxinus).-This tree, both for beauty and magnitude, ranks in the first class of our forest trees; for though it must yield, in circumference and girth of trunk, to our ancient oak, yet it frequently overtops that tree itself in height. The ash has been called the "Venus of the Forest;" and for its grace and beauty it well deserves this title, having a light thin foliage of pale green pendent leaves, which are generally winged, consisting of five or six pair of small ones, and having an odd one at the end. When planted singly, or standing on the borders of woods, it not only carries up a leading stem, but throws out numerous side branches at acute angles with the stem; but as these branches advance in age and increase in foliage, they bend down with a graceful sweep, which gives them that elegant appearance so much admired in the full-grown ash. When planted near water, they assume so much of this dependent character as to resemble the weeping willow in their mode of growth. From the readiness with which its winged seeds are borne by the winds, it is very frequently found to adorn the crumbling remains of ancient walls and buildings. The timber of the ash is very useful for the purposes of the husbandman: from it are generally manufactured ploughs, wagons, carts, and various other farming utensils, besides those employed in the dairy. It is very tough, which adapts it for the purpose of poles, tool-handles, &c. The coachmaker, cooper, and turner also employ the wood of the ash very extensively.

BEECH (Fagus).- The common beech tree is the Fagus sylvatica of Linnæus. This is one of our native trees, and it attains to a great magnitude, frequently equalling the oak in size. When standing alone it exhibits the appearance of a round-headed and spreading tree; but when it is surrounded by other lofty trees it loses its characteristic, from being drawn up by them. The leaves are ovate, of a thin texture, and of a bright shining green when they have attained their maturity. The seed is an angular or three-cornered nut, containing one or two kernels in each separate capsule, which opens with four valves for the emission of the seed. These nuts ripen in autumn; the kernels are sweet and oleaginous, neither unpleasant in flavour nor unwholesome. They form a favourite food of deer, pigs, squirrels, dormice, &c. Several birds, such as pigeons and pheasants, feed freely on them. The seed may be sown at any time from October till February, but care must be taken to protect it from field-mice, who will readily devour the nut.

The roots of the trees lie near the surface, and spread to a considerable distance. The wood of the beech is employed by cabinet-makers, turners, and wheelwrights, for its hardness and freedom from brittleness. In the dockyard it is found useful for wedges and similar purposes. Musical instrument makers also employ this wood for their sounding-boards, and coopers for clap-boards, &c. The refuse parts are used in the vicinity of large towns as billets. It forms good charcoal; and the ashes produce a good quantity of potash.

BIRCH (Betula).-The birch is comparatively a small tree, but it makes up in lightness and elegance for its deficiency in size. It has been well characterised as the "light, airy, pendent birch." The bark of the stem is white, leaves oval, tapering to a point, and serrated. The male flowers are in a scaly catkin, which contains four chives. The female flowers are produced on the same tree, and are also in a scaly catkin. Each flower is succeeded by a single seed.

This elegant tree is one of the chief ornaments of our wild and mountainous scenery, particularly in Wales; and in Ireland few hilly or wild tracts are destitute of the

"Well lettered birch,

Which supplies law, and physic, and grace for the Church."

It grows well on a poor, light, or sandy soil; and it is asserted to have Sourished at the height of three thousand five hundred feet above the level of the sea in Scotland, which exceeds the height at which any of our indigenous trees will grow; but when found at such extreme altitudes it is merely a bush or low tree.

The slender twigs are used for brooms, and the bark is a valuable aracle. Various utensils are formed from it, and even houses are covered with it in the north. It affords an excellent material for fuel, being full of resin; and it is frequently employed for torches. The Laplanders make curious waterproof boots, without seams, by taking the legs entire from the trees.

CHESTNUT, THE SPANISH (Castanea).-Though, as its name implies, this tree is not originally a native of Britain, yet it is now very commonly found in our parks and plantations. The oak is justly considered as "the monarch of the wood," but in size, beauty of appearance, and even in longevity, it has a formidable rival in the chestnut. Its circumference is, however, inferior to that of the oak, and the trunk may readily be distinguished by the deep and wide clefts with which it is marked. It may be styled beautiful, as this circumstance adds much to its picturesque appearance. The soil most congenial to the chestnut is a rich sandy loam. In such soils, particularly in the south of England, the chestnut makes rapid growthin its youth exceeding in rapidity the growth of the oak, making annual