ARBERRY. Berberis Vulgaris. Class 6, HEXANDRIA. Order: MONOGYNIA. The common barberry is abundant in many parts of the United States. Its close branches and thorns render it peculiarly fit for hedges, and its brilliant red berries are very ornamental to the fields which it encircles.

These berries, worn in the hair, have been mistaken for coral ornaments. Preserved in sugar, they form a cheap but much valued dainty among the farmers of New England. The fruit of the barberry is so very acid that birds will seldom eat them. The tree is armed with thorns, and the flowers are so irritable, that at the slightest touch all the stamina close around the pistil. Thus this tree bears all the characteristics of persons whose temper is sharp and irritable.

SHARPNESS. SOURNESS OF TEMPER.

Happiness courts thee in her best array;
But, like a misbehaved and sullen wench,
Thou pout'st upon thy fortune and thy love:
Take heed, take heed, for such die miserable.
SHAKSPEARE.

He reads much;

He is a great observer, and he looks

Quite through the deeds of men: he loves no plays,
As thou dost, Antony; he hears no music:
Seldom he smiles; and smiles in such a sort,
As if he mock'd himself, and scorn'd his spirit
That could be moved to smile at any thing.
SHAKSPEARE.

She is peevish, sullen, froward,
Proud, disobedient, stubborn, lacking duty;
Neither regarding that she is my child,
Nor fearing me as if I were her father.

SHAKSPEARE.

ASIL. Ocimum Basilicum. Class 14, DI-
Po-
Order: GYMNOSPERMIA.

DYNAMIA.

verty is sometimes represented under the figure of an old woman covered with rags, seated near a plant of basil. It is commonly said, that hate has the eyes of a basilisk, because this name has been given to a fabulous animal, which is stated to produce death by a single glance. Basil, however, is a name derived from the Greek, which signifies royal, and indicates the excellence of this fragrant plant.

HATRED.

I had much rather see

A crested dragon, or a basilisk;

Both are less poison to my eyes and nature.

No voice of friendly salutation cheer'd him,

DRYDEN.

None wish'd his arms might thrive, or bade God speed him:
But through a staring ghastly-looking crowd,
Unhail'd, unblest, with heavy heart he went.

ROWE.

Oh, that I could but mate him in his might,
Oh, that we were on the dark wave together,
With but one plank between us and destruction,
That I might grasp him in these desperate arms,
And plunge with him amid the weltering billows,
And view him gasp for life.

They did not know how hate can burn

In hearts once changed from soft to stern;

Nor all the false and fatal zeal

The convert of revenge can feel.

MATURIN.

BYRON.

AY-BERRY, or WAX-MYRTLE. Myrica cerifera. Class 22, DIŒCIA. Order: TETRANDRIA. The Bay-berry, or Wax-myrtle, is a shrub found in the Northern and Middle Atlantic States, growing chiefly in barren soils. The name is derived from a waxlike substance, of a greenish colour and

pleasant odour, which is obtained from the berries, and in some districts very abundantly.

INSTRUCTION.

She taught the child to read, and taught so well,
That she herself, by teaching, learn'd to spell.

BYRON.

'Tis pleasing to be school'd in a strange tongue
By female lips and eyes- that is, I mean
When both the teacher and the taught are young,
As was the case at least where I have been;
They smile so when one's right, and when one's wrong
They smile still more, and then there intervene
Pressure of hands, perhaps even a chaste kiss;
I learn'd the little that I know by this.

Culture's hand

Has scatter'd verdure o'er the land;
And smiles and fragrance rule serene,
Where barren wild usurp'd the scene.
And such is man -a soil which breeds
Or sweetest flowers, or vilest weeds;
Flowers lovely as the morning's light,
Weeds deadly as an aconite;
Just as his heart is train'd to bear
The poisonous weed, or flow'ret fair.

BYRON.

BOWRING.

AY. Laurus Nobilis. Class 9, ENNEANDRIA. Order: MONOGYNIA. The Laurus Nobilis, or Sweet Bay, though but a shrub in our country, in Asia and the southern parts of Europe, its proper birth-place, attains to the height of twenty or thirty feet. It grows very freely on the banks of the river Peneus, in Thessaly; and hence, perhaps, the fable of the metamorphosis of Daphne, daughter of that river. It also, with classic propriety, adorns mounts Ida and Athos.

REWARD OF MERIT.

Not around the peaceful bower

Should thy verdant branches twine,
Though thy leaves through wintry hour
With unchanging lustre shine:

There are fitter scenes than this for thy bloom.
On the poet's lofty brow

Let thy classic garlands glow,

Or, if he lieth low,

On his tomb.

Or, return'd from well-fought field,

When the victor throws aside

Both his dinted helm and shield

And his sword in crimson dyed,

O'er his trophies let thy green branches wave;
For what so fit a meed

From the country he has freed,

As the laurel-wreath decreed

To the brave?

ANON.

EE ORCHIS. Orchis. Class 19, SYNGENESIA. Order: MONOGYNIA. This plant is singularly beautiful in its appearance, which so much resembles the bee, that it is frequently mistaken for one resting on the plant. It commonly grows near woods, and in the open meadows. The most successful method of cultivation is by choosing a soil and situation as natural to them as possible, and by suffering the grass to grow around them.

ERROR.

Well boots it the thick-mantled leas
To traverse: if boon nature grant,
To crop the insect seeming plant,
The vegetable Bee; or nigh
Of kin, the long-horn'd Butterfly,
White, or his brother purple pale,
Scenting alike the evening gale;
The Satyr flower, the pride of Kent,
Of Lizard-form, and goat-like scent.

BISHOP MANT.

O hateful Error, Melancholy's child!

Why dost thou show to the apt thoughts of men
The things that are not? O error, soon conceived,
Thou never com'st unto a happy birth,

But kill'st the mother that engender'd thee.
SHAKSPEARE.

When people once are in the wrong,
Each line they add is much too long;
Who fastest walks, but walks astray,
Is only furthest from his way.

PRIOR.