The field, the garden and the woodland, or, Interesting facts respecting flowers and plants in general . uliar fragrance which gives it its greatestcharm. Another plant diffusing a delightful odour whiledrying is the common melilot {Melilotus offici-nalis). This may be met with chiefly amongbushes, and often flowers in the hedges at thesides of lanes and roads. The leaves are broaderat the top than at the part nearest the stalk, andtheir edges slightly serrated (notched like a roseleaf). The fragrance of this plant, though notquite so powerful as that of the sweet woodrufi*,is equally lasting;
The field, the garden and the woodland, or, Interesting facts respecting flowers and plants in general . uliar fragrance which gives it its greatestcharm. Another plant diffusing a delightful odour whiledrying is the common melilot {Melilotus offici-nalis). This may be met with chiefly amongbushes, and often flowers in the hedges at thesides of lanes and roads. The leaves are broaderat the top than at the part nearest the stalk, andtheir edges slightly serrated (notched like a roseleaf). The fragrance of this plant, though notquite so powerful as that of the sweet woodrufi*,is equally lasting; and when the sun,by absorbingits moisture, has withered its freshness, and it ap-pears almost dead, this quality is in perfection. But the most common instance of the sweetsmell of dried plants is afforded by the walk into the pleasant meadows in springand are greeted by no perfume, except that smellof freshness which the green earth at all timesyields; or, if there be a more powerful sweetness,it arises from some of the many-coloured flowersthat are springing up around us, or from the. «^p S^^kf .^^1 ^jlji 140 MEADOW-HAY. blue violet or the fair hawthorn of the meadow-bank. But Mhen the mower has cut down thegrass, and the summer sun has dried its juices,then we experience that odour so grateful to thesenses, which renders the haj-field peculiarly de-lightful, associated too, as it is in our minds, withthe health and cheerfulness that so generallyaccompany the rustic labour of which it is thescene. The fragrance has been long sujjposed toarise solely from one species of grass, the vernalgrass (anthoxdnthum odordtiim); and it hasbeen long proved to exist especially in the jointsof the stem, and not in the flower of this scent of the vernal grass is certainly, whendried, more powerful than that of any other; yetit is now generally believed that other grassesassist in composing the scent of the hay; sinceeven when gathered and dried separately, manyothers
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