THE BAYBERRY.
This species has an odor very similar to that of the sweet-gale, and from its fragrance and its waxy fruit it has obtained the name of the Candleberry Myrtle. It delights in dry pastures upon the hills and uplands, to which it is a humble, but not insignificant ornament. This plant can make no very evident pretensions to beauty, having rough and crooked branches, and imperfect flowers and fruit, without any elegance of form. But its foliage is so regular, so dense, and of so bright a verdure, that it never fails to attract attention. Indeed, it displays some of the finest masses of pure green leafage to be seen among our upland shrubbery. But seldom does any tint except the green of summer appear in the Bayberry. It takes no part in the grand pageant of autumn. The fruit of this plant is a subject of great curiosity. It consists of little greenish-gray berries, stemless, and completely covering the branches like warts, thickly coated with a waxy substance, which is soluble in boiling water. This substance, when collected, makes a very hard wax of a greenish color.