Mr. Editor: Before me I have a volume of Sears' Pictorial Library, and coming across an article headed " Legends respecting Trees," I thought I would copy a few paragraphs from time to time, for occasional insertion in the Horticulturist. As the " Legends" are highly interesting, I presumed it would be a valuable acquisition to the pages of your valuable journal.

Yours, truly, Wm. H. Alexander.

"The Whits Poplar, according to ancient mythology, was consecrated to Hercules, because he destroyed Cacus in a cavern of Mount Aventine, which was covered with these trees; and, in the moment of his triumph, bound his brow with a branch of one as a token of his victory. When he descended into the infernal regions, he also returned with a wreath of White Poplar round his head. It was this, says the fable, that made the leaves of the color they are now. The perspiration from the hero's brow made the inner part of the leaf white; while the smoke of the lower region turned the upper surface of the leaves almost black. Persons sacrificing to Hercules, were always crowned with branches of this tree; and all who had gloriously conquered their enemies in battle, wore garlands of it, in imitation of Hercules. It is said that the ancients consecrated the White Poplar to Time, because the leaves are in continual agitation; and being of a blackish-green on one side, with a thick white cotton on the other, 'these were supposed to indicate the alternation of day and night.

"The Black Poplar is too less celebrated in fable than its congener above-mentioned. According to Ovid, when Phaeton borrowed the chariot and horses of. the sun, and, by his heedless driving, set half the world on fire, he was hurled from the chariot by Jupiter, into the Po, where he was drowned; and his sisters - the Heliades - wandering on the banks of the river, were changed into trees-supposed, by most commentators, to be Poplars. The evidence in flavor of the poplar, consists in there being abundance of Black Poplars an the banks of the Po; in the Poplar, in common with many other aquatic trees, being so surcharged with moisture as to have it exuding through the pores of the leaves, which may thus literally be said to weep; and in there being no tree on which the sun shines more brightly than on the Black Poplar, thus still showing gleams of parental affection to the only memorial left of the unhappy son whom his own fondness had contributed to destroy.

"The Apple-tret, so singularly connected with the first transgression and fall of man, is distinguished alike in the mythologies of the Greeks, Scandinavians, and Druids. The golden fruits of the Hesperides, which it was one of the labors of Hercules to procure, in spite of the sleepless dragon which guarded them, were believed by the pagans to be apples. Hercules was worshipped by the Thebans under the name of Melius, and apples were offered at his altars. The origin of this custom was the circumstance of the River Asopus having, on one occasion, overflowed its banks to such an extent as to render it impossible to bring a sheep across it which was to be sacrificed to Hercules, when some youths, recollecting that an apple bore the same name as a sheep in Greek (melon), offered an apple, with four little sticks stuck in it, to resemble legs, as a substitute for sheep; and after that period, the pagans always considered the apple as especially devoted to Hercules. In the Scandinavian Edda, we are told that the goddess Iduna had the care of apples which had the power of conferring immortality, and which were consequently reserved for the gods, who ate of them when they began to feel themselves growing old.

The evil spirit, Loke, took away Iduna and her apple-tree, and hid them in a forest, where they could not be found by the gods. In consequence of this malicious theft, everything went wrong in the world. The gods became old and infirm, and, enfeebled both in body and in mind, no longer paid the same attention to the affairs of the earth; and men, having no one to look after them, fell into evil courses, and became the prey of the evil spirit. At length, the gods, finding matters getting worse and worse every day, roused their last remains of vigor, and combining together, forced Loke to restore the tree.

"The Druids paid particular reverence to the apple-tree, because the mistletoe was supposed to grow only on it and the oak, and, also, on account of the usefulness of its fruit. In consequence of this feeling, the apple was cultivated in Britain from the earliest ages of which we have any record; and Glastonbury was called the apple-orchard, from the quantity of apples grown there previous to the time of the Romans. Many old rites and ceremonies are therefore connected with this tree, some of which are practised in the orchard districts even at the present day. 'On Christmas Eve,' says Mrs. Bray, 'the farmers and their men, in Devonshire, take a large bowl of cider, with a toast in it, and carrying it in state to the orchard, they salute the apple-trees with much ceremony, in order to make them bear well next season.' This salutation consists in throwing some of the cider abont the roots of the tree, placing bits of the toast on the branches, and then forming themselves into a ring, they, like the bards of old, set up their voices and sing a song, which may be found in Brand's Popular Antiquities. In Hone's Every-Day Book, this custom is mentioned, but with some slight variation. . "The wassail bowl - drunk on All-Hallow E'en, Twelfth Day Eve, Christmas Eve, and on other festivals of the Church - was compounded of ale, sugar, nutmeg, and roasted apples, which every person partook of, each taking out an apple with the spoon, and then drinking out of the bowl.

Sometimes the roasted apples were bruised, and mixed with milk or white wine, instead of ale; and, in some parts of the country, apples were roasted on a string, till they dropped off into a bowl of spiced ale beneath, which was called "Lamb's Wool." The reason of this name (which is common to all compounds of apples and ale) is attributed by Vallancey to its being drunk on the 31st of October (All-Hallow E'en), the first day of November being dedicated to the angel presiding over fruit, seeds, Ac, and therefore named La Mas Ubhal - that is, the day of the apple fruit - and this being pronounced lamo-sool, soon became corrupted, by the English, into lamb's wool. Apples were blessed by the priests on the 25th of July, and an especial form for this purpose is preserved in the manual of the Church of Sarum.

"The custom of bobbing for apples on All-Hallow E'en, and on All-Saints' Day, which was formerly common over all England, and is still practised in some parts of Ireland, has lately been rendered familiar by M'Clise's masterly painting of the 'sports of All-Hallow E'en.' A kind of hanging-beam - which was continually turning - was suspended from the roof of the room, and an apple placed at one end, and a lighted candle at the other. The parties having their hands tied behind them, and trying to catch the apple with their mouths, frequently caught the candle instead. In Warwickshire, apples are tied to a string, and caught at in the same manner, but the lighted candle is omitted; and, in the same county, children roast apples on a string on Christmas Eve, the first who can catch an apple when it drops from the string, getting it. In Scotland, apples are put into a tub of water, and then bobbed for with the mouth.

"The Ash, according to heathen mythology, furnished the wood of which Cupid made his arrows before he had learned to adopt the more fatal cypress. In the Scandinavian Edda, it is stated that the court of the gods is held under a mighty Ash, the summit of which reaches the heavens, the branches overshadow the whole earth, and the roots penetrate to the infernal regions. An eagle rests on its summit, to observe everything that passes, to whom a squirrel constantly ascends, to report those things which the exalted bird may have neglected to notice. Serpents are twined round the trunk, and from the roots there spring two limpid fountains, in one of which wisdom lies concealed, and in the other, a knowledge of the things to come. Three virgins constantly attend on this tree, to sprinkle its leaves with water from the magic fountains, and this water, falling on the earth in the shape of dew, produces honey. Man, according to the Edda, was formed from the wood of this tree. Ancient writers of all nations state that the serpent entertains an extraordinary respect for the Ash. Pliny says that if a serpent be placed near a fire, and both surrounded by ashen twigs, the serpent will sooner run into the fire than pass over the pieces of Ash; and Dioscorides asserts, that the juice, of Ash leaves, mixed with wine, is a cure for the bite of that reptile.

"The Oak appears early to hare been an object of worship among the Celts and ancient Britons. Under the form of this tree, the Celts worshipped their god Tnet, and the Britons Tarnawa, their god of thunder. Baal, the Celtic god of fire, whose festival (that of Yule) was kept at Christmas, was also worshipped nnder the .semblance of an Oak. The Druids professed to maintain perpetual fire, and once every year all the fires belonging to the people were extinguished, and relighted from the sacred fire of their priests. This was the origin of the Yule log, with which, even so lately as the middle of last century, the Christmas fire, in some parts of the country, was always kindled, a fresh log being thrown on and lighted, but taken off before it was consumed, and reserved to kindle the Christmas fire of the following year. The Yule log was always of .Oak, and as the ancient Britons believed that it was essential for their hearth fires to be renewed every year from the sacred fire of the Druids, so their descendants thought that seme misfortune would befall them if any accident happened to the Yule log.

" The worship of the Druids was generally performed under an Oak, and a heap of stones or cairn was erected, on which the sacred fire was kindled. Before the ceremony of gathering the mistletoe, the Druids fasted for several days, and offered sacrifices in wicker baskets or frames, which, however, were not of willow, but of Oak twigs, curiously interwoven, and were similar to that still carried by Jack-in-the-green on May-day, which, according to some, is a relic of Druidism. The well known chorus of ' Hey, derry down,' according to Professor Burnet, was a Druidic chant, signifying, literally: 'In a circle, the Oak move around.' Criminals were tried under an Oak-tree, the judge, with the jury, being seated under its shade, and the culprit placed in a circle made by the chief Druid's wand. The Saxons also held their national meetings under an Oak, and the celebrated conference between the Saxons and the Britons, after the invasion of the former, was held under the Oaks of Dartmoor.'1 (To be continued).