A 526038
|
|
ļ
!.
im
い
​406
SB
I
4.4
=
arde

ARTES
1837
SCIENTIA
LIBRARY
VERITAS
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
PLURIBUS UNUST
TUEBOR
SI-QUERIS PENINSULAM-AMⱭI NAM `
CIRCUMSPICE

406
MY GARDEN WILD
SB
.H 44
WORKS BY
FRANCIS GEORGE
НЕАТН.
'Books of exquisite charm.'—Bookseller.
1. THE FERN WORLD. Sixth Edition
2. THE FERN PARADISE. Sixth Edition
3. OUR WOODLAND TREES. Third Edition
4. SYLVAN SPRING
•
5. HEATH'S GILPIN'S FOREST SCENERY.
6. PEASANT LIFE. Fourth Edition.
12/6
12/6
•
12/6
12/6
12/6
•
10/6
3/6
7. BURNHAM BEECHES. Second Edition.
8. TREES AND FERNS. Second Edition
3/6
'The ivy seems to cling round his heart, and the
sweet-scented honeysuckle to twine its branches round his
imagination-he writes, as it were, in a bower of wild
flowers, and the sweet scents of the forest and the meadow
hover with balmy freshness round his pen.'
Popular Science Review.
MY GARDEN WILD
AND WHAT I GREW THERE
BY
FRANCIS GEORGE HEATH,/
GILPIN'S FOREST SCENERY
Editor OF THE NEW EDITION OF
AUTHOR OF
THE FERN WORLD' 'OUR WOODLAND TREES
C
SYLVAN SPRING THE
(
FERN PARADISE' BURNHAM BEECHES''TREES AND FERNS
PEASANT LIFE' 'THE ENGLISH PEASANTRY' ETC.

London
CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY
ISSI
All rights reserved
'Beautiful flowers! to me ye fresher seem
From the Almighty hand that fashion'd all,
Than those that flourish by a garden wall
And I can image you as in a dream,
Fair modest maidens, nursed in hamlets small-
I love ye all !
Beautiful children of the glen and dell-
The dingle deep-the moorland stretching wide,
And of the mossy fountain's sedgy side!
Ye o'er my heart have thrown a lovesome spell;
And though the worldling, scorning, may deride-
I love ye all! '
ROBERT NICOLL
1
CONTENTS.
PAGI
1. PREFATORY
7
II.
MY DREAM
17
III.
MY DREAM-CONTINUED
28
IV. A REALITY
35
V. FIRST PRINCIPLES
37
VI. MY GARDEN .
45.
VII.
WHAT FERNS I GREW.
VIII.
FLOWERY GRASS BANKS
107
•
IX. A GARDEN GREEN LANE
165
X. MY HEDGE-BANKS
185
XI. CLUMPS.
201
XII. 'WEEDS'
207
'
XIII. OTHER FLOWERS I GREW
213
XIV. L'ENVOI
257
MY GARDEN KEY
263
23-4032
MY GARDEN WILD.
I.
PREFATORY.
IF, in the surroundings of my old house, there was one
thing which I prized more than another, it was my
garden wild; and if, amongst often-recurring desires
to contribute, in some little way, to the pleasures or
pastimes of fellow-enthusiasts who may be readers of
my books, there be one which may be said to stand out
conspicuously from the rest, it is the wish, nay, the
earnest hope, that my old hobby may be the hobby of
many others.
The world, as understood to consist, not of so many
cubic miles of matter, but of so much flesh and blood,
and so much brick-and-mortar work—the populated,
or residential, as distinguished from the physical or
natural world-is continually increasing. Towns are
getting bigger, and populations are growing denser,
8
MY GARDEN WILD.
ου
and, though natural resources give few signs of falling
off, the struggle for existence is becoming keener.
The town, being of man's making, is, like all man's
works, imperfect. It is, in fact, of all human con-
structions the most imperfect; and citizens, by a natural
and uncontrollable instinct, have always turned from
it, on every opportunity, towards the country.' The
early institution of the garden' furnishes proof of
the ancient existence of this feeling, which has grown
with the growth of cities, and is stronger in the present
day than it has ever been before.
6
Of the various expedients adopted in modern times
to give pleasure to urban populations, and to relieve
the tedium of city life, there can scarcely be one which
is more delightful in every way than the institution
of city gardens. The love of Nature, which is innate.
in most people, has had less and less opportunity of
indulgence as our towns have grown larger and larger,
until city life and country life have become two distinct
phases of existence. But as the augmentation of the
number of human dwellings in any particular place has
caused the country to be pushed, so to speak, further
and further away, the love of Nature has, on the part of
those compelled to live within the lines of bricks and
mortar, become more and more intense in proportion as
the absence from natural objects has become more pro-
PREFATORY.
9
6
longed. If, however, city people cannot always visit
the world of Nature existing outside their own, they
can bring near to themselves the objects of their
admiration. And it is undoubtedly this longing for
communication with Nature that has led to the insti-
tution of the garden,' which, in whatever age and under
whatever conditions it has existed, has always been
established with one object, or rather with one desire,
namely, the growth or cultivation, as adjuncts to the
dwelling-house, and for purposes of beauty or use, of
the vegetable productions of the earth.
Gardening might, indeed, be defined as a sort of
domestication of plants; and not only the universality
of the practice, but its predominance over other kinds
of domestication--the domestication of animals, birds,
and fish-proves how deep is the hold it has taken on
the fancy of mankind. The universal popularity of
gardening is doubtless due to the ease with which the
pastime can be followed; but it is more especially due
to the larger measure of success attending the culti-
vation of plants than that which attends the attempts
to domesticate animals, birds, or fish. The caged
animals or birds, or the fish confined within the cir-
cumscribed limits of pond or aquarium, are never ‘at
home' in the sense in which plants are at home' in
'the garden,' for the reason that the natural conditions
10
MY GARDEN WILD.
under which all wild life exists can so much more
readily be extemporised in the one case than in the
other.
Yet, in the case of plants, the cultivators of gardens
have not been content to let Nature run her free course;
and a practice has grown up--it has been the growth of
centuries—of supplying abnormal, instead of natural,
conditions, and of distorting the inhabitants of gardens
into unnatural shapes to please a morbid and unnatural
taste. In ancient times the art of topiary was con-
sidered-by the Romans, for instance-as the highest
and most valuable accomplishment of the gardener,
and the degree of success in the practice of the art was
measured by the more or less faithful likeness of the
clipped tree or shrub to the animal, bird, or other
object which the landscape gardener' of those times.
set before him as his model. The more the distorted
plant could be made unlike its natural self, the greater
would be the triumph of the distorter. It was in vain
for Nature to resist and endeavour to regain its own
form. The attempt was vigorously repressed by the
free use of the inexorable clippers.
'
The growth of towns, which made city life a phase
of existence distinct from country life, was no doubt the
first cause of a change of public feeling with regard to
the character of gardening. Topiary became less and
PREFATORY.
11
6
less practised. But, even in the last century, it still
found many admirers. Towards the close of that cen-
tury, however, Gilpin's writings did much to correct the
prevalent taste. In his Forest Scenery' he says, ‘All
forms that are unnatural displease;' and he mentions,
amongst the subjects of his particular displeasure, trees
in hedge-rows lopped into maypoles, clipped yews, lime
hedges, and pollards-describing them as 'disagreeable'
to the eye. Continuing, in his simple and unaffected
style, he remarks: Not only all forms that are un-
natural displease; but even natural forms, when they
bear a resemblance to art, unless, indeed, these forms are
characteristic of the species. A Cypress pleases in a conic
form; but if we should see an Oak or an Elm growing
in that or any other constrained shape, we should take
offence. In the Cypress, Nature adapts the spray and
branches to the form of the tree. In the Oak and Elm,
the spray and branches produce, naturally, a different
character.' Such writing had influence on the public
mind, because it appealed to a natural feeling, and
because the taste against which it was directed had
been artificially created. Even now, however, the prac-
tice of topiary lingers in remote places; but it is fast
dying out.
From the monstrosities of this art-falsely so
called-it is perhaps a great step to the eccentricities
12
MY GARDEN WILD.
of horticulture as practised in our own day. To these
eccentricities we are, doubtless, to a large extent, slaves.
Modern life is largely artificial and intensely unnatural.
We cannot help it, and must remain subject to many
of its peculiarities. Perhaps it would be ungrateful to
complain of the system which provides us with our
modern vegetable food-the newest system of agricul-
ture and horticulture. Modern existence is the out-
come of a state of things which man has himself
brought about. The fruits of the garden are acceptable
to modern appetites, and the most recent appliances of
science to agriculture and horticulture-the invention
and application to their purpose of the ingenious com-
pounds known as 'chemical food for plants '—have all
contributed to furnish modern tables with new fruits,'
or old fruit under new names and assumed characters.
We must needs eat and be thankful. We may ven-
ture, however, to believe that, although chemistry was
unknown to our first parents, although pruning and
grafting were unnecessary, and hothouses,' and the
institution known as the greenhouse and conservatory,'
still undiscovered, Eden was, nevertheless, a paradise,
and yielded food and fruit not, at any rate, inferior in
'quality' to that of our own times.
6
6
With mazy errour under pendent shades
Ran nectar, visiting each plant, and fed
PREFATORY.
13
Flowers worthy of Paradise, which not nice art
In beds and curious knots, but nature boon
Pour'd forth profuse on hill, and dale, and plain,
Both where the morning sun first warmly smote
The open field, and where the unpierced shade
Imbrown'd the noontide bowers: thus was this place
A happy rural seat of various view;
Groves whose rich trees wept odorous gums and balm,
Others whose fruit, burnish'd with golden rind,
Hung amiable (Hesperian fables true,
If true, here only), and of delicious taste.'
But there grew, also, in Eden, on
'Another side, umbrageous grots and caves
Of cool recess, o'er which the mantling vine
Lays forth her purple grape, and gently creeps
Luxuriant.'
Horticulture, or rather market gardening,' is
doubtless necessary to the existence of the inhabitants
of a thickly populated country, living under artificial
conditions of life. But having conceded so much as to
the useful phase of the system, this part of the subject
may be dismissed from consideration with the remark
that Nature left alone can and does produce fruit which
no skill of horticulture can emulate, though the con-
ditions of its production are not such as can exist in
the immediate proximity of a region of cities.
Admitting that horticulture, as a system for the
supply of food in a convenient form, is adapted to the
requirements of modern town life, and thus fulfils a
strictly useful purpose, there remains for consideration
14
MY GARDEN WILD.
its professed function of ministering to the popular
desire for the beautification of dwelling-house surround-
ings. There is utility in beauty, but the function of
beauty, considered in the abstract, is to please the eye,
and, through it, the mind; and horticulture, as com-
monly practised, has sought to do this by the distortion
of native plants into unnatural forms and gaudy colour-
ing. Its great vice is that it is never content with
Nature. If a wild flower be what is called, in gardening
slang, ‘single,' the aim of the ordinary gardener is, by
divers arts, to make it double.' If Nature produces a
'double' flower, the horticulturist will never rest until
he has forced the same plant to bear a 'single' flower.
He endeavours to distort the simple leaf into a com-
pound form, and the compound form he determines to
make simple. Should will Nature make a blossom
white, the gardener must make it blue, or red, or yellow.
If the colour of field, or hedgerow, bloom be blue, or
red, or yellow, then ingenious arts must be exercised
to make a garden variety' that shall be white.
6
It is the same throughout. Nothing which is
natural pleases this horticultural taste. All the natu-
ral conditions of growth are altered-soil, position,
temperature—and altered of set design to manu-
facture,' so to speak, some variety' that shall minister
to a morbid fancy. In short, these manufactures' of
6
6
PREFATORY.
15
"
the modern gardener have had applied to them the
alliterative designation of florists' flowers,' and the
'triumphs' of gardening art are certainly not the
flowers of free Nature.
But signs are not wanting of a tendency to revolt
against this system of cultivation. No exception is
here taken to artificial aids designed to extemporise
natural conditions for the growth of exotic or other
plants requiring peculiar treatment, but only to the
vicious practice of forcing results by subjecting plants
to unnatural influences to please an unnatural and false
taste.
To endeavour to correct this false taste, and induce
a healthier and more natural system of pleasure gar-
dening, is the aim of the succeeding chapters.
17
II.
MY DREAM.
A REALITY which has furnished me with the most
delightful pastime of my life owes its existence to a
dream, that came about in this way.
6
My love of the country had always been a passion
It was my good fortune to be born in a singularly
beautiful part of the fairest county of England.' The
place was town and yet country; and there, less perhaps
than elsewhere, did it require demonstration that man
had made the one and God had made the other-for
Nature firmly held her own, rich in choicest gifts, spread,
with lavish grace, alike along gentle slope, over craggy
steep, and through winding lane. She defied even the
engineering devices of man, compelling the homage of
the builder by forcing him to build in accordance with
her wayward fancies. Hence there was a delightful
commingling of town and country-the town struggling
for pre-eminence, but the country always having it. In
most towns the line of demarcation between houses and
B
18
MY GARDEN WILD.
fields is sternly drawn by bricks and mortar. It is the
builder's fault that it is so. But, in my birthplace,
there was sweet communion between paved roads and
green lanes. At half a dozen points in the high street
one might turn either to the right or to the left and
find himself in the winding maze of a green lane;
forgetting, in the instant presence of wild flowers, ferny
tufts, and moss-covered stones, that he had just passed
from a prospect of busy streets. To get to 'the top of
the town' it was necessary to climb the steep sides of
a hill; yet, on reaching the level of the highest house,
the hill still rose steeply upwards. Continuing its
course, now narrowed into a green and winding lane, for
a full mile upwards, a height was reached from which
one could look down on a view of blended trees and
houses spread below and appearing to nestle in the
hollows of a delightful valley, through which flowed,
glistening, the waters of a rushing stream winding its
way along by many a wooded upland from a rugged
moor that, in gloomy grandeur, bounded the view in
the far distance. The prospect from above of the little
town below-built on and amongst hillocks which lay
at the feet of the bills rising above them-was irre-
sistibly tempting, making one long to explore all the
ins and outs of the nooks of greenery so delightfully
strewn amongst the white-walled dwellings. But it
MY DREAM.
19
was not an easy matter to unravel the mazes of paved
streets and green lanes which formed this delightful
commingling of town and country. The little place
was full of curious surprises. Houses were built, and
flower and fruit gardens laid out, in almost impossible
positions. Nowhere was there uniformity. Within a
few minutes the visitor would half a dozen times find
himself going up hill and down hill; now meeting and
now following active little streams which ran by his
pathway, sometimes on one side and sometimes on
both; now climbing with difficulty a steep lane with
ferny hedge-banks and overarching foliage; now de-
scending by some white-walled cottages, with ample
gardens stretching in their rear; anon passing away
from every sign or hint of dwellings once more into a
green lane; then across a bit of main street, with a
turning to the right and one to the left, into green
lanes and congeries of green lanes. The whole place
was musical with its running water, which oftentimes
in winter made a chorus of loud sounds that in summer
were mellowed into gurgles of dreamy softness. The
natural rock of the district, rich red sandstone, furnished
the material out of which dwelling-house and garden
walls were largely built. These, left in their native
hue, contrasted with others of whitewashed brick or
stone or coloured rubble work. The pervading and
B 2
20
MY GARDEN WILD.
exceeding greenness of its surroundings was the especial
charm of this little town, and in spite of the stone wall
enclosures of its dwellings, the native flora of the district
made itself thoroughly at home, growing not only in
gardens but on garden walls, and even on house walls.
Conspicuous on garden walls, amidst Moss, Stonecrops,
Wall Pennywort, and, here and there, Herb Robert and
Round-leaved Cranesbill, were Hartstongue and Poly-
pody, with Wall-rue and other Spleenworts, thriving in
the moist seams of soil that had accumulated in the
stony interstices. But I am not going to enumerate,
much less to describe, all the flowers and ferns that
crowded so familiarly into the quaint streets and half-
rural lanes of my birthplace, for to do so would require
the space of a whole volume. The wildings came and
were welcome; and, not having been educated in a
strictly horticultural' school, I got to love them, and
soon began to feel resentment against the prim
gardeners who elsewhere regarded my favourites as
'weeds.' To me they always seemed far more beautiful
than the flowers of the garden, and I considered it a sort
of crime that they should be ruthlessly pulled up and
flung ignominiously over garden walls whenever they
ventured to steal in, from outside, upon gravelled paths
or neatly kept 'borders.'
Pleasant recollections of the friendly commingling
MY DREAM.
21
of wild flowers and garden flowers in the gardens of my
native town very frequently came to me in after-years,
and the subject in other ways occupied a good deal of
my attention. I had seen much, in the interim, both
of private and of public gardens, and had noticed the
stiff and artificial methods of cultivation adopted in
them. Perhaps the, to me, most painful sight of all
was what may be termed the slave-market of garden
flowers, namely, the institution called a nursery,' in
which masses of plants are crowded in inexorable
squares or put in serried ranks, the young together and
the aged together, with separate accommodation for
every set of intervening ages. But most public gardens
and many private ones are only nurseries' in another
form, for the same aggregation of individual plants is
effected with equal disregard of a natural arrangement.
6
6
It chanced that, some years after I had left my
native town, and had gone to reside in another and
distant part of the country, I was invited by a friend
to visit his London suburban garden; and, to enable
me to witness the beauty of his season of floral glory,
it was proposed that I should come a short time after
the period of bedding out,' to see the effect' of his
unique arrangement of colours. The day I selected
for my visit my friend happened to be from home; but
having come so far to see his garden, which was a
6
22
MY GARDEN WILD.
large one for a London suburb, I determined to take a
quiet walk over it and carefully note its salient features.
Immediately in the rear of the house was a spacious
courtyard, which had been turned into a large green-
house by a covering of glass. A low wall, which
formed the support for the framework of one side of
this greenhouse, was pierced by a doorway that led
down by stone steps into the garden behind, which was
on a much lower level than the ground on which the
house was built. On descending these steps I found
myself in a space some two acres in extent, surrounded
on all sides by high walls, and so situated that neigh-
bouring eyes could not peer into it from any of the
detached villas adjoining it. My first glance showed
me that my friend had done his best, or rather his
worst, to produce a blaze of colour.
The day was very hot, and the glowing summer sun-
shine tended to heighten very materially the effect'
of this unique parterre, the plan of which could almost
be taken in with one sweep of the eye. The enclosure
was almost geometrically square, and was bounded by
four walls. Its exact centre was occupied by a square
piece of turf, in the middle of which was a faultlessly
artistic fountain.' The figure of a mermaid was
represented in the act of blowing up from her mouth
an endless supply of water, which soon fell in a sym-
MY DREAM.
23
6
6
metrical shower into a series of three carved basins
below. Artificial birds were perched on the edges of
these basins, and appeared in the act of pecking at real
watercress. Around the edge of the lowest basin were
scattered approved clumps of vitreous-looking clin-
kers,' amongst which grew an abundance of dwarf
Nasturtium. The surrounding 'lawn' was close-shaven
to a marvellous smoothness, and not even the boldest
Daisy had succeeded in escaping the inevitable 'mower.'
At the four corners of the lawn' were four large round
beds-one a glowing mass of scarlet Geraniums in full
bloom; another with an equally gorgeous display of
Calceolarias; the third full of blue Nemophilas; and
the fourth of white Candytuft. Standard Rose-trees,
whose every superfluous twig had been carefully
'pruned off,' stood in lines upon the turf, like soldiers
on drill. The whole of the rest of the garden was
'laid out' in an arrangement of beds in the form of
square or parallelogram, with straight gravelled walks
between; each bed or part of a bed devoted to a mass
of bloom from bedders out,' or to stiff rows of small
shrubs, or to tall and narrow annuals.' From one bed
came a gleam of scarlet Geraniums; in another, a
small army of Stocks-scarlet, purple, white, and
' various reared their tall forms, each at equal dis-
tance from each; in another, Balsams of varying hues
6
6
24
MY GARDEN WILD.
6
were growing with the most admired primness. Zin-
nias, yellow, orange, and white, occupied another bed.
Others were given up to mixed Peas,' to Cinerarias,
dark blue and light blue, crimson, and purple, and
white; to Sweet Williams, to Clarkia elegans, to
Candytuft, lilac, and crimson, and carmine,' and
white; and to Verbenas, rose, and purple, and scarlet,
and white. Bed borders were formed of Box, clipped
with mathematical precision, or Pyrethrum or Fever-
few;' whilst around the entire garden, by the walls,
standing up gloomily like a cordon of sentinels, were
lines of tall, herbaceous, but, as yet, flowerless Dahlias.
The entire 'tableau' was dazzling in the extreme. It
was colour, colour, everywhere, and its effect was de-
cidedly somnolent. The day being hot, and my pre-
vious walk and the 'walk round' this model suburban
garden having proved somewhat fatiguing, I was soon
glad to sit under the friendly shelter of a handsome
'pagoda,' near the entrance to the grounds, and behind
which a tall Aspen reared its head, its leaves twinkling
with a dreamy rustling that was eminently soothing in
its effect.
Reclining in a garden chair, just where the shadows
of Aspen and pagoda made the air coolest, a drowsi-
ness came over me that soon settled into sound sleep.
How long I slept I do not know. But a very curious.
MY DREAM.
25
dream, or rather series of dreams, intervened between
sleeping and waking. It may be that, soon after be-
ginning to doze, the sun had become momentarily ob-
scured under some passing clouds. In any case, I was
sensible of a delicious feeling of coolness that came
over me, and I awoke, as I thought, upon a mossy shelf,
or ledge, at the foot of a tall rock, which reared itself
above me and seemed to shut out the sun's rays. At
the same moment I heard a pleasant sound of running
water, that I soon perceived came from a cascade on
my right, formed by a gentle stream that was making
its way, half noisily, half dreamily, over the surface of
another rock, after falling from which it ran down the
little dell at one end of which I was lying, or rather
half reclining. Something in its size and general
form seemed to make this dell familiar to me; and yet
it was strange in other respects.
size of my friend's suburban garden.
It was about the
Indeed it seemed,
The
at first, like that garden in disguise; but a change soon
took place that removed all trace of likeness.
dell had no straight lines. In place of four square
walls there was a rounded boundary of grass banks,
sloping upwards to woods which hemmed in the hollow
all round. In the centre, a depression in the ground
caught and retained the little stream which, at first, had
attracted my attention, but retained it only until the
26
MY GARDEN WILD.
water, rising on the opposite side, bad there over-
flowed the bank of the pool, and had then gurgled
away over loose stones and disappeared between some
bushes. Low shrubs of Hawthorn and Bramble, Dog-
rose and Honeysuckle, grew in the hollow and upon
the sides of this small woodland dell, about which, too,
were scattered, here and there, moss-grown and lichen-
covered rocky masses.
The time seemed early spring, and the mild softness.
of the air, together with momentary shadows cast upon
the ground by cloud-masses floating under the eye of
the sun, were suggestive of April, but early April.
Upon the sloping grassy banks the sweet pale forms of
Primrose blossoms were clustered, in places thickly, in
others sparsely, with the delightful irregularity which
is characteristic of Primrose ground; and, nestling under
projecting tree-roots and jutting pieces of rock, here and
there amongst the Primroses, were the blue flowers of
abundant Wood Violets. Anemones raised their blush-
ing cups from amongst the low-lying sprays of the
bushes which grew in the hollow of the dell; and min-
gled with their beautiful leaves and flowers, making
sweet confusion and filling the air with fragrance, were
clusters of Wild Hyacinths. Near the mossy shelf of
rock on which I reclined the tiny stream which watered
this woodland dell, partially arrested in its course to-
MY DREAM.
27
wards the central pool by the levelness, at that spot, of
the grassy bottom, spread sideways into a quaggy space
from out of which gleamed glittering cups of Marsh
Marigold. There was a gleam of gold, too, from above,
where clumps of flowering Gorse fringed the edge of the
surrounding woodland.
29
III.
MY DREAM-continued.
THE sky presently seemed to darken so much as almost
to obliterate the fair scene on which I had been de-
lightedly looking. But the change was only moment-
ary. Yet when the sun shone out again, it revealed
a distinct change in the aspect of the dell before me ;
for now, whilst here and there a cluster of Primrose
blossoms could be seen amongst the grass, the greater
number of these flowers had disappeared, and the sloping
banks of this forest hollow were blue and white and
gold from thousands of Wood Violets, Daisies, and But-
tercups which thronged them. I could see no more
Anemones, but in their places, and based on slender
flower-stalks that carried them above the bushy clumps
of the grassy hollow, were the pretty and conspicuous
blossoms of the Stitchwort, growing side by side with
Red Robins. The delicate Cuckoo-flower, too, was
abundant, and the white blossoms of the Water Crow-
foot crowded the course of the stream from the point
30
MY GARDEN WILD.
where it flowed over the rock to its junction with the
pool below. I could no longer see Wild Hyacinths,
but gusts of perfume which could come from no other
blossoms were intermittently borne to me on the soft
breeze that was blowing. The blossoming of Gorse had
not yet ceased on the upper lands above the hollow, but
the gold of this beautiful flower was now contrasted
with the white bloom which overspread the Hawthorn
shrubs.
I felt instinctively that it was a bit of May land-
scape upon which I now looked; for the leafage of
shrub and tree was delightfully fresh, and the cheery
songs of birds singing around and the lazy flitting of
butterflies, from wild flower to wild flower, deepened the
impression that it was the especial month of spring
blossoms.
Curious and incomprehensible are dreams-during
which, though the brain is ordinarily active, the judg-
ment generally sleeps. It now seemed that I lay on
my ledge and slept-what appeared to me to be a long
time; for when I awoke the scene had again changed.
The glory of summer was flung over the little woodland
dell in which I had been dozing so pleasantly, and it
now had the aspect of veritable fairyland. The change
and the charm were wrought by the almost mysterious
presence of ferns, which clothed the bottom of the
MY DREAM.
31
hollow and draped its grassy sides. Great glossy fronds
of Hartstongue hung down against the wall of rock
which rose above me, whilst, peeping from the spreading
moss, and jutting from every shady corner, angle, or
coign of vantage, were pretty plants of Wall-rue and
Maidenhair Spleenwort. Almost hiding from view the
course of the stream which ran down the dell were
Lady Ferns, graceful in habit and luxuriant in growth,
whilst, in the hollower ground, upon the sloping banks,
and far up and away into the woods, grew stately fronds
of the beautiful Bracken. But higher even than these
were the flowering spikes of Foxgloves, the hue of whose
blossoms richly empurpled the surrounding greenery,
and lent an especial beauty and dignity to the scene.
Amongst the grass were ten thousand stars of the ever-
present Daisy, with Birdsfoot Trefoil and heads of
Clover bloom, with Tormentil and Creeping Cinquefoil;
whilst, upon the upper sides of the grassy slopes, the
ground was blue, in places, by the presence of the
Germander Speedwell. Sweet gusts of perfume were
now borne to me from the Honeysuckle which, in full
blossom, was displayed from the tangled bushes of
Briar, Dog Rose, and Hawthorn through which it had
climbed; and, in the shrubbery beneath the cream-
coloured corollas of this exquisite woodland flower,
were displayed blossoms of Wild Rose and Bindweed,
32
MY GARDEN WILD.
the small star-heads of the Stitchwort, and the rich
bloom of the Red Robin; and, lower still, hiding
amongst the grass, were the slender and beautiful forms
of Bell-flowers, revelling in the depth of their delicious
blue.
The rays of the sun, falling almost perpendicularly
upon the clear pool which occupied the centre of the
dell, brought into prominence the great leaves upon
which rested the magnificent blossoms of the White
Water Lily; whilst, on the pool borders, were masses of
pink bloom upon the tall stems of flowering Rush and
Greater Willow Herb, and below them a delightful
undergrowth of Bog Pimpernel and Forget-me-not.
I now became sensible of a great increase in the
heat of the sun, which was shining with such resplend-
ency upon the little forest dell. Bird-songs, which
had been filling the woods all around with delicious
harmony, ceased almost suddenly, and the sultry air got
still-not even a twig or blade of grass showing sign of
motion. An odour of new-mown hay rose from the
ground near my feet; the only movement was that of
a magnificent Purple Emperor butterfly which suddenly,
coming from whence I knew not, settled upon some
stunted Sallow leaves that grew in the marshy margin
of the stream. Even sounds seemed hushed, the busy
murmur of insects changing to a gentle hum, and the
MY DREAM.
33
noise of the flowing water settling into a dreamy
gurgle.
But soon the heat became so intense as to be
oppressive, and I awoke and found that, in the interval
of my sleep, the shady position in which I had placed
myself had been altered, and that my head, from which
my hat had fallen, was exposed to the direct and
scorching rays of the sun.
35
IV.
C
A REALITY.
My dream made a very deep impression upon me, and
I determined to turn it to practical account. I had
often wished to have a wild garden, or a garden of
wildings a garden devoted to wild flowers and ferns-
one from which all florists' flowers' should be rigidly
excluded. How delightful it would be, I thought, to
have close by one's dwelling a little bit of the field, the
lane, or the wood; to extemporise a little forest dell,
or dingle, by one's very door; to see, in one's garden, the
flora of riverside or brookside; to bring, in short,
within the region of the town a fragment of the
country'-the real country'-a reality so dear, so
prized, so loved and longed for, in these days of hard
toil, exhausting brain-work, and never-ceasing worry!
·
6
And how easy would be the carrying out of such an
idea! No costly accessories would be required. Nature
gives all that she has with a free and bountiful hand.
Gardening,' in the ordinary sense, is more or less
<
c 2
36
MY GARDEN WILD.
expensive. Something must first be paid for an arti-
ficial soil, after the necessary labour has been expended
on the initial preparation of the ground. Then the
plants themselves must be purchased, and greenhouses
or other conservatories, glass frames, hot-beds, hot-
water pipes and stoves, must be furnished to aid the
cultivator of a villa garden.
A delightful wild garden could be established, I
believed, with few artificial aids, at a small cost, and
with little trouble. It was just such a garden that
I desired to establish; and the measure of my success,
and the measure of my enjoyment, will, I trust, be
the measure of the success and the enjoyment of
others who may read what I have to write on the
subject.
37
V.
FIRST PRINCIPLES.
THERE is one teacher far more apt at instruction than
Her book is ever open
any other, and that is Nature.
at some page, and is always accessible, in some degree,
even to those who have the smallest leisure for studying
it. That part of her domain which we call the plant
world is continually extending its boundaries and seek-
ing to reconquer regions which have been taken from
it. Civilised man is engaged in constant attempts to
acquire portions of the vegetable world and attach
them to his own world-the world of bricks and mortar.
Trees are cut down, underwood is destroyed, and
herbaceous plants are rooted up to make way for new
dwellings. But no sooner has the work of destruction
been completed than the recuperative forces of Nature
begin to operate. The air is full of minute plant-germs
which are always being encouraged by the pervading and
penetrating moisture, conveyed by the same medium,
to develop into active and visible life.
Thus we
38
MY GARDEN WILD.
account for the curious and mysterious appearance or
presence upon our dwelling-house walls, upon our cloth-
ing, upon our furniture, upon our food, and upon or
within almost all the accessories of civilised life, of mould,
mildew, 'rust,' smut, or other fungi; and for the presence
upon damp stone, brick, or earth, of lichens, liverworts, or
moss. The germs, too, of plants which are ranked in
orders higher than those which include such tiny plants
as these are borne by the restless winds-sometimes on
the wings of the wind, and sometimes on wings of
their own-into almost every nook and cranny of our
towns, developing at once into green life where the
necessary conditions of such growth are present; and,
where these conditions do not exist, remaining often-
times for long periods in uncongenial hiding-places,
and, with strangely persistent vitality, awaiting the
possible accident that may call their dormant powers
into activity.
If the curious and half-mysterious manifestations
of minute forms of vegetable life are made upon seem-
ingly uncongenial objects—upon old clothes or leather,
for instance-what manifestations may not be expected
upon so tempting a ground as the natural soil of a
garden? Who that has carefully noted the flora of a
garden enclosure that has, as a model gardener would
contemptuously phrase it, run wild,' can have failed
6
FIRST PRINCIPLES.
39
to marvel at the curious and beautiful vegetation which
has, with singular rapidity, sprung up in it? Whence
does it come?
Nature is always willing, and constantly waiting,
to fashion things of wondrous beauty. Only make
habitable conditions for her children and they will
come in troops, unbidden but never unwelcome, to those
who really love them. I confess that, to me, it was
always a genuine pleasure to walk into what is called a
garden run wild.' I do not mean a garden strewn
with débris—this is the most euphonic term for broken
bottles, bits of paper, and fragments of torn clothing
or other rejectments-but one overrun with so-called
' weeds.'
6
The flora of a neglected garden' will naturally
depend upon the nature of the soil. The soil cannot
be so uncongenial as to refuse asylum to every wilding.
Some hardy little outsider-be it only Grass or Chick-
weed, or Groundsel or Dandelion-is sure to obtain a
footing on the most unpromising domain, be it a region
of little else than soot and cinders and broken crockery-
ware. Take trouble, however, to imitate in a garden
enclosure the natural conditions of lane or meadow, of
heath or moor, of copse or forest, of marsh or sandy
common, or even of country roadside or village hedge-
bank; bring in the soil of such places, and take
40
MY GARDEN WILD.
measures, if you please, to kill all vegetable germs
which may lurk within the imported soil; and, so long
as you do not by the process interfere with the character
or destroy the nature of the soil itself, you may be
certain that a species of vegetation will be developed
upon it in keeping with the nature of the flora which
such soil produces in its normal state.
Coincident with my resolve to establish a wild
garden, I resolved that it should be my constant en-
deavour, in all I did, to copy Nature. I determined
to abjure anything like 'cultivation '—understanding
that expression to indicate a more or less artificial
method of domestication-but to endeavour, in every
possible way, and by means of a close and careful study
of the subject, to supply to all the plants in the garden
natural conditions of growth. The soil of no one.
garden would be adapted to the natural conditions of
all plants. Yet by a very simple arrangement I might,
it occurred to me, make it suitable to a great variety of
wildings.
It is not generally known, even by many of those
who profess some knowledge of horticulture, and some
of those who have studied the subject of the growth
of wild plants do not sufficiently recognise, how much
successful development depends on the mechanical
condition of the soil, that is to say, on its capacity or
FIRST PRINCIPLES.
41
incapacity to retain moisture and to admit atmospheric
gases as contributions to plant life. If a soil were
composed of heavy clay, it would suit a few species,
but, without mechanical porousness, it would disagree
with the great majority, unless special provision were
made for accommodating them. Plants, of course,
need food, and they obtain the food they require from
the earth in which they grow, and from the air above
them, and from the rain which descends upon them.
But however abundant may be the actual supply of
food in air and water suited to the particular needs
of the particular plant, the supply would be useless
for assimilative purposes without such a condition of
the soil-the medium in which the plant lives-as
would enable the vital forces to reach the organs which
they are destined to renew.
Nature in every part is rich in materials from which
the most beautiful and delicate organisms are re-
plenished. The mystery of creation and the almost
equal mystery of growth are beyond our powers of
understanding. We cannot comprehend the beginnings
of plants, and, though we can trace their movements
through all their stages, and though we do know before-
hand-from experience of the workings of natural laws
-the nature, direction, and object of those move-
ments, we cannot fathom the secret of the power which
42
MY GARDEN WILD.
moves. Speculation on this head only leaves us lost in
wonder.
It is, however, wild Nature that produces the
greatest subjects for wonder; and there is no more
interesting study than that of the marvellous manifes-
tations of plant life upon what I may call, for instance,
the arable soil of a garden. Let me take the case of a
town garden, which has been left untilled for several
years. It may have become covered with a mixed
growth of cultivated and wild plants. Let the owner
of such a garden order, if he please, the destruction,
'root and branch,' of every growing thing, and take
pains to see that nothing has been left that is green.
It will be all in vain. One season, in spring or summer,
of rain and sunshine, will produce on such soil a mar-
vellous crop of green wild things, without any seed-
sowing. In the same garden let a trench be cut several
feet deep, and then let alone for a year or two. Upon
the perpendicular sides of this trench there will appear
forms of cryptogamic vegetation frequently quite foreign
to the known or recognised flora of the immediately
surrounding neighbourhood.
But if Nature thus liberally and spontaneously
gives good things-for they are good, because beautiful
—from her green lap, what may we not have if we take
the trouble to seek, in wood, in lane, and in stream, for
FIRST PRINCIPLES.
43
the choicest wildings? When so many wild plants
come unbidden into our garden enclosures, it is natural
to assume that very many others, somewhat more coy
than their fellows, would thrive in the same enclosures
if provision were made for supplying to them their
natural conditions of growth. And success in growing
wild flowers and ferns in gardens depends upon the
greater or less success attendant on an imitation of
these conditions.
C
Two things, then, which may be said to constitute
the first principles' of success, must be borne in mind
in any attempt at wild gardening. The first is to
study the natural habits of the plants to be grown in
the garden, and the next is to make these plants at
home,' by supplying normal instead of abnormal con-
ditions of existence.
45
VI.
MY GARDEN.
My house, like many others, lay midway between two
gardens, one in front of it, and the other behind.
When I entered into possession I found that the front
garden was laid out very much after the manner
approved by dwellers in houses. There were shrubs,
flower-beds, and gravelled paths, and I determined to
allow that arrangement to stand without alteration.
The larger space in the rear, separated from the house
by a short courtyard and enclosed by four walls, pre-
sented, however, a different aspect. My predecessor
had apparently preferred a promenade to a garden, and
he had accordingly been content to plant Lime-trees
along its sides, leaving within them merely a gravelled
enclosure with central turf and a few shrubs. With
great good sense he had refrained from clipping, or, in
any way, interfering with the Limes, and hence they
grew in full freedom, and formed in spring and summer,
by the interlacement of their twigs, a mass of foliage
46
MY GARDEN WILD.
that effectually shut out the sight of the surrounding
neighbourhood.
Here then was a field for establishing the very
paradise of a wild garden-for creating a green and
shady nook which might be shut in from the gaze of
the outer world. It was only the groundwork of a
garden; but I felt that it was suggestive of great
possibilities, and that I might establish there a really
delightful imitation of some wild spot in the real
country which lay beyond the boundaries of the town
in which I had fixed my dwelling.
Almost at a glance my eye took in the situation,
and at once I mentally determined upon the change
which I proposed to effect in my boundaries-the walls
which enclosed my domain. Against these walls I
decided to pile broken rock, in such a way as to destroy
the dead uniformity of the straight stony surfaces.
The Limes I determined to let alone, putting my rock-
work between them, for the trees would form such
shade and shelter as I should need for my ferns and for
such wild flowers as would naturally require shady
habitats. Having done so much-built ramparts
against the outside world and formed the walls of my
paradise-I could proceed to fill up in detail, as time
and opportunity might permit, the internal parts of the
enclosure, taking lessons for all I did from the lanes,
MY GARDEN.
47
woods, and fields outside. The establishment of
my garden would thus, I felt, be somewhat slow;
but if every feature of it were made after a study,
and in imitation, of wild Nature, I knew that I must
succeed.
I had, indeed, opened a wide field for delightful
recreation. My pastime, it will be understood, was to
be of two kinds. There were first lessons to learn;
journeys into the surrounding country to note the habits
and habitats of the wild flora of the district; and then
the transplantation of ferns and flowers to my garden
would follow. My wanderings afield should be, I de-
termined, of varying lengths and duration, depending
upon the time I could spare upon each occasion, and
also upon the particular object of each visit. Some-
times I might require more time than at others to note
the especial conditions of growth of a plant before ven-
turing to remove it to my garden. Occasionally, when
I had not sufficient time, or the weather was not quite
suitable for continuing my transplanting operations, I
might usefully occupy what leisure I had in finding my
specimens and marking them for early removal. Occa-
sionally I should secure assistance in getting up and
bringing home my treasures; but more frequently my
pilgrimages could be made alone; and then, with a
small fork and a trowel and a little bag in which to
48
MY GARDEN WILD.
carry my flower or fern roots, I could easily obtain what
I wanted.
My plan of proceeding in every case was to take the
utmost care to get my plant with sufficient soil to pre-
vent any disturbance of roots or rootlets. By that
means I was sure of bringing home with my specimens
the particular soil which was suited to each; and so
successful was this method of transplantation that, when
carefully carried out, it was possible to remove a plant
in full bloom without the least damage to it, and with-
out stopping or even temporarily arresting its growth
or the progress of its blossoming. My garden subsoil
was, I ascertained, sufficiently porous to allow of the
free percolation through it of the rain. Underneath
the thin coating of gravel, which had been hardened on
the surface to admit of being freely walked upon, there
was a subsoil of sandy loam. The whole could be
easily loosened; and I determined to effect the neces-
sary disturbance of the surface only as, from time to
time, I required a particular spot or area for the intro-
duction of some new wildings, and found it expedient
to provide underneath them for plenty of free root-
room.
I have spoken of transplantation, and the mention
of the word reminds me how little the act which it re-
presents is understood. There are few persons who do
MY GARDEN.
49
not think they thoroughly understand how to remove a
plant from one place to another.
That is at least,
they think, the easiest part of gardening. There is a
great and growing fondness on the part of townspeople
for gathering, during their periodical holidays, some
little root or roots, from country lane or wood, and
replanting it in some little corner of the garden ‘at
home.' Their fancy is commonly limited to the col-
lection of one or two wild flowers, which they bring in
partly to contrast with the regular garden flowers, and
partly as mementoes of pleasant outings. But it is to
the method of transplanting or pulling up' that I wish
to call attention. If the plant be not actually dragged
with violence from its habitat in such a manner as to
leave half or two thirds of its roots behind it in the soil,
the least possible trouble is ordinarily taken to loosen
the earth around it; and though it may appear to
retain a certain quantity of roots, great damage is done
to it, from which it will take some time to recover.
plant which may strike the attention of the wanderer
afield will frequently be found with its roots intermixed
with those of some other plants-perhaps moss, and the
desire to possess only the particular specimen which has
been noticed will cause it to be disentangled from a
network or ramification of roots, and thus materially
injured. Much that is beautiful and interesting is also
D
A
50
MY GARDEN WILD.
in this way ruthlessly discarded; for rare, unrecognised
seedlings may often lurk amongst the mossy accessories
of the 'find.' It is forgotten by such careless flower-
gatherers how long it usually takes a plant to construct
its system of roots and rootlets, and that the slow work
of weeks and months, or it may be of years, is destroyed
by the ruthless process. In addition to and extending
beyond the principal mass of roots, there are tiny, soft,
and brittle root-fibres which are thrown out to seek
moisture for the plant during periods of drought. They
are the primary collectors of essential liquid nutriment,
and the rudiments of future roots. Scores of these may
be snapped by careless transplantation; and yet, when
a plant is thus roughly removed from its habitat, dis-
appointment is caused if it does not thrive in its new
sphere. It doubtless involves a little more trouble to
remove a plant with its roots embedded, undisturbed,
in the soil in which they may be growing, but the
trouble is not thrown away, and the success of trans-
plantation is secured by the additional care bestowed
upon the process.
But apart from this consideration, there is another
and very important one. Its native soil is certain to be
better for the plant removed from the lane or the wood
than the extemporised soil of the garden; and the
quantity of soil which must necessarily be brought in
MY GARDEN.
51
with the roots to secure their being absolutely undis-
turbed will be oftentimes sufficient for the entire plant
for a very long time.
I had noticed, shortly after occupying my new
garden, that a little stream, skirting for a short distance
the roadway near my house, suddenly disappeared under
an archway of rounded tiles, and reappeared, as it
seemed, some little distance away in another part of the
district. Tracing its direction from the one point to
the other, I concluded that it ran under my garden, and
I was soon delighted to find that such was actually the
case, and that it ran, in fact, a little way only beneath
the surface of the garden soil. Here was good fortune
indeed! I lost no time in uncovering the tile duct,
and so altering the appearance and course of the little
stream as to make it wind-between open banks-
through my garden. What use I made of this extem-
porised brook will be seen in the course of the succeed-
ing chapters.
D 2
53
VII.
WHAT FERNS I GREW.
PRE-DETERMINING to have in my garden wild only those
of the hardy inhabitants of the open country that would
grow without such expensive and troublesome artificial
aid as that of a covering of glass-plants that might
find protection, by their position, from frost in winter
and from the scorching sunshine of summer, I knew
that I should have to exclude a few species of native
ferns, selecting those about whose success there could
be no doubt.
Experience taught me that there were certain
conditions of growth not easy to supply-conditions
depending not so much upon the soil in which the
plants grew as upon the atmosphere to which they were
exposed. Very many plants appear quite indifferent to
such conditions, whilst others seem very sensitive to
them. Nature, although she lets us learn a good deal
concerning her workings, does nevertheless conceal
some things from us; and there are many mysteries of
plant life as yet entirely unsolved.
54
MY GARDEN WILD.
The sea air appears, for instance, to be absolutely
essential to the outdoor growth of some ferns, notably
to that of the True Maidenhair (Adiantum capillus-
veneris) and the Sea Spleenwort (Asplenium mari-
num), which, though growing with great luxuriance on
several parts of our coasts, will not grow in the open
air anywhere inland. But a glass covering, such as that
afforded by a closed case or a conservatory, will supply
conditions nearly equivalent to sea air; and under such
treatment the ferns will thrive. I am strongly inclined
to think that careful study of the subject will lead to a
discovery by which these two especial ferns may be
grown out of doors in such a position and under such
conditions as will insure their prosperity. But I
excluded them from my open garden.
As those plants which are commonest '-I use the
word to mean plentiful, and not in its more vulgar ac-
ceptation—will have especial attention in my pages,
because of their accessibility and consequent 'aptitude,'
so to speak, for ministering to the enjoyment of man-
kind, I shall first speak, in the enumeration of the ferns
I grew, of three which are the most abundant, and
amongst the hardiest and most easily grown. These
are, putting them in the order of their abundance, the
sturdy Male Fern (Lastrea filix-mas), the luxuriant
and graceful Bracken (Pteris aquilina), and the
WHAT FERNS I GREW.
55
Common (but beautiful) Polypody (Polypodium vul-
gare).
And here for a moment, whilst speaking of the rarity
or plentifulness of plants, fern-lovers (who are legion)
and others will forgive me if I digress a little to call
attention to a very useful and interesting account which
has been published-called the 'London Catalogue of
British Plants'—as to the distribution of the British
flora. The object of this little brochure being to show
the relative abundance of the various species of British
wild plants, the compiler, Mr. Hewett Watson, has
divided Britain, as a whole, into a hundred and twelve
botanical districts, and against the name of each plant
in his list he records the number of districts in which
it is to be found. Hence the catalogue may be regarded
as a kind of census of British plants; but a census, so
to speak, of dwelling-places and not of inhabitants.
The list is most interesting and instructive, for a glance,
almost, will convey an idea of the comparative rarity
or abundance of the various plants throughout the
country. No species of plants has been recorded, in this
list, as occurring in every one of the hundred and twelve
districts-which, by the way, are nearly conterminous
with the British counties,-for the reason that, as will
be more fully explained hereafter, the reports from
which it has been compiled are not quite complete.
50
MY GARDEN WILD.
The most widely distributed plants have been reported
only from a hundred and three districts, and none, con-
sequently, from them all.
The abundance of the Male Fern, the Common
Polypody, and the Bracken will be understood when it
is stated that each of the first two has been recorded
in a hundred and two botanical districts, and the
Bracken in a hundred and one. All other British ferns.
range below them in point of abundance.
It is needless to describe the Bracken, a fern which
literally clothes forest glades and hill-sides with its great
triangular fronds. If on the sunny surface of a sandy
common, the Bracken may grow to a height of little
more than a foot, but in the depths of moist woods it
will rise six, eight, ten, and even twelve feet. If the
surface-soil be shallow and dry, it becomes a pigmy: if
deep, rich, and moist, it assumes grand proportions.
The secret of growth above ground lies in the depth to
which the roots can plunge in congenial soil.
My Bracken, I determined, should be mostly placed
in the higher parts of my wall-rockeries, so that their
rhizomas would have a great depth of earth to penetrate.
For the foundations of this rockery I had obtained some
large blocks of red sandstone. These I caused to be
arranged along my garden walls in such a manner that
when they had all been put into the position I planned
·
WHAT FERNS I GREW.
57
for them they took away entirely the square appearance
of the enclosure. The spaces, between these big masses
of stone and the walls, I had filled with loam, obtained
from the shady part of a wood in which Bracken grew
in great luxuriance. This soil, whilst it was sufficiently
porous, contained nevertheless enough clay to enable it
to retain a supply of moisture as a reserve for penetrating
roots in seasons of drought; and having been largely
enriched, as all soils under forest trees are, by deposits
of leaf-mould, it made the best possible foundation for
the rockery. Upon the larger and lower blocks smaller
ones were placed, and so graded (with earth between)
towards the top as to present a natural appearance.
Here, as in other cases, I had taken my model from
Nature, and examples were not far to seek.
The planting of my Bracken, when the entire rock-
ery was finished, necessitated careful attention to first
principles. It is a common error that transplanted
Bracken will not grow: the very hardiness, plentifulness,
vigour, and prolificness of this beautiful fern ought to
dispel the illusion. Doubtless those who, holding a
Bracken frond in one hand, dig down around it an
inch or two into the soil, and then carelessly 'pull up'
what looks like a root-because there is a short length
of black rhizoma and one or two fleshy root-fibres at
the end of the stipes-are disappointed at the result of
.
58
MY GARDEN WILD.
replanting. To understand the secret of Bracken
growth one must know the habit of the plant. The
roots of large specimens will sometimes penetrate to a
depth of fifteen feet; but the depth will vary with the
size of the plant and with the nature of the soil. In
transplanting, it is best to select specimens that are not
too large, growing in somewhat shallow soil, so that the
fern can be dug out with its rhizomas undisturbed. If
it be desired to obtain a large specimen, special tools
will be required to get it up, and special means of
transport must be provided. I took the utmost care to
secure specimens embedded in square blocks of turf,
and I got them removed with rhizomas and rootlets
intact. So soon, therefore, as they were placed in my
rockery they were at once at home,' being in fact in
their own soil, and they commenced at once to grow
with vigour-fronds which were unrolling upwards when
they were being removed going on to unroll as if
nothing had happened. The plants revelled in the
position in which I put them, and they developed so
rapidly that in a very short time they had formed
around my garden a little forest of graceful fronds,
which shut in the space enclosed as with a fairy border,
The mass of earth and the solid substance of the large
stones which formed the rockery, furnished, in conjunc-
tion with the external wall, a warm barrier against the
WHAT FERNS I GREW.
59
frosts of winter; whilst, similarly, the thickness of the
embankment, which soon became consolidated, served to
keep in, during the hottest days of summer, sufficient
moisture for the summer sustenance of roots.
Few rural lanes, stream-sides, or woods fail to con-
fess the presence of the Male Fern, which is almost
as plentiful as the Bracken. The shuttlecock shape of
its robust-looking, broadly lance-shaped fronds, thrown
up with sturdy grace around the scaly crown, makes it
look extremely picturesque when it happens to grow in
positions which enable it to rise clear of neighbouring
objects. The fine, rust-coloured scales which are thickly
spread upon the stipes and rachis of each frond con-
trast well with the cheerful green of the leafy parts.
The Male Fern is singularly hardy, and when once
firmly established will steadily grow, and develop in
time, in almost any soil, into a magnificent plant. The
reader is sure to know that the appellation of Male
Fern does not signify what it appears to do, for it is its
bold appearance and style of growth which have earned
for it its name. As in other cases, I obtained plants
which were embedded in the sides of a high embank-
ment, but without disturbing any of their rootlets; and
they, equally with the Bracken, at once commenced a
vigorous growth. I put them in various positions,
some higher and some lower than others, but all of
60
MY GARDEN WILD.
them raised a little above the ground, so that, after
leaving the crown or upper part of the root-stock--
which commonly rises an inch or so above the soil—
the fronds could be displayed without injury to their
bold and symmetrical appearance.
As not only in the forks of trees, but on many wall-
tops, in the moist crannies of ruined stone-work, and
in the clefts of rocks, the Common Polypody grows, so
in the higher parts of garden rockery this interesting
fern will succeed, if only due attention be paid to its
requirements. Few mossy walls are without the pretty
adornments of this well-known plant, and it frequently,
as I have intimated, grows in the forks of old tree-
stumps, in woods and hedgerows. The light green (and
sometimes golden-coloured) stem or stipes of the frond
is ordinarily about the same length as the leafy part,
and the latter is what is called pinnatifid, that is,
cleft on each side nearly down to the mid-stem or
rachis, the lobes thus formed being of a roundish,
oblong, or egg shape, with blunt points; the entire
frond being also acutely egg-shaped, broad at the base,
broader about the centre, and pointed at the apex. But
my readers will seldom find a mature plant of this
species which has not some remains of the spore-cases on
the back of its fronds; and these-ranged in double
rows of little round sori, or heaps, at the backs of the
WHAT FERNS I GREW.
61
I
upper lobes of the frond, golden when young, and
orange-coloured later on-will assist identification.
Then its creeping, half-concealed rhizomas, or surface
roots, will help to make it known. It loves the leaf-
mould which collects in the crannies in which its roots
are snugly ensconced, and in my garden I selected
shallow holes in the higher, half shady, half sunny parts
of my rock-work, in which to place my Polypodies,
carefully pressing in the branching rhizomas, the
'many feet,' of the plant, with the depending rootlets,
upon shallow beds of leaf-mould, so that each specimen
would nearly fill the chosen cranny-of course covering
the rootlets and partly covering the rhizomas.
always found it desirable to choose hollows in the rock-
work for my Common Polypodies, with small crevices
in their sides and bottoms, so that the fibrous rootlets
might find their way into them as time went on. But
I did not forget to secure the plants with abundance of
soil adhering to the masses of their rootlets. These
rootlets, ordinarily, under congenial conditions of
growth, become, in the fork of some hedge-bank tree-
trunk or shrub, a compact mass-roots and leaf-
mould being oftentimes a foot square. Occasionally the
rootlets may be found intertwined with pieces of de-
cayed wood, or attached by the adhesion of the smallest
fibres of the root-mass to pieces of stone when the
62
MY GARDEN WILD.
ferns are growing in wild, rocky habitats. In such
cases I removed the whole mass so as to avoid any
unnecessary disturbance of the elaborate growth which
had been the work of a long period of time. By these
means I was assured that the plants would thrive, and
would not at once begin to dwindle in size, as is com-
monly the case when the specimens are roughly re-
moved from the places of their growth, and a large
quantity of the root-fibre is left behind. The Common
Polypody grows by the elongation of its rhizomas,
which, as they travel about, give out from below fibrous
rootlets, that penetrate the crevices adjacent to them,
and thus serve to hold the rhizomas to the soil, or
rocky surface over which they creep, and at the same
time to promote the firmer establishment of the entire
plant. Whilst the Bracken is deciduous, and the Male
Fern is ordinarily so, the Common Polypody, when
sheltered, is an evergreen, and thus the old fronds will
oftentimes remain on the rhizomas during the winter,
and until the new ones begin to unroll in the succeed-
ing spring. It is a most accommodating plant as to
the situation in which it grows, for it will be content
with a dry position on the side of a wall or rock, pro-
ducing, however, in such a place, tiny fronds of only
an inch or two in length; but on the tops of old walls
where much soil has accumulated, or in the moist
WHAT FERNS I GREW.
63
forks of trees where there have been similar accretions
of leaf-mould, it will attain a length-for stem and
leafy part of frond-of twelve and eighteen inches;
and in the dankest part of the hedge-bank of a deep
Devonshire lane I have found fronds of this attractive
plant two feet and a half long.
Ranging, as to wideness of distribution, next below
the most familiar of the British many-footed' ferns is
the Hard Fern (Blechnum spicant), whose hard-looking,
glossy fronds justify its common name. The Hard
Fern occurs in, at least, ninety-nine out of a hundred
~ and twelve districts, and can scarcely be inaccessible to
any one. There is a peculiar and noticeable wiriness
about its short frond-stems, and the leafy portion of its
barren fronds is pinnatifid after the manner of the
Common Polypody, though the lobe-like divisions are
much more leathery and are narrower than those of
Polypodium vulgare, and they dwindle in size, towards
the base of the frond, to tiny leafy protuberances or
expansions. There are two kinds of frond, barren and
fertile, the fertile ones-bearing on their backs the
densely clustered, dark-brown spore-cases-being much
taller and, in all ways, more attenuated than the others.
No kind of soil, in the damp woods where Blechnum
spicant abounds, so well suits this glossy evergreen as
leaf-mould with a subsoil of clay or very strong loam,'
64
MY GARDEN WILD.
which means clay earth; but, oftentimes, it grows in
great luxuriance upon the higher parts of steep banks,
frequently, too, growing splendidly in woods upon
sloping ground over which oozes some stream of water.
The especial and favourite habitats of Primroses in
many a woodland bottom are also oftentimes those
of the Hard Fern. So my garden stream-side was, I
knew, the best position for my wild specimens. Along
the course of my garden stream I had had placed some
big blocks of red sandstone, some in mid stream-
and around these the water whirled, forming two little
channels on either side-and other blocks along the
stream-sides. Selecting the shadiest possible position
at the bases of the boulders, I had excavated a small
space, into which I placed some rather heavy' soil, and
upon this my Hard Ferns. The natural soil of the
places where these ferns grow to perfection is, as I have
already said, much intermixed with clay; and where a
plant grows in a clay soil it is always easy to take it up
with a consolidated mass around its roots of almost any
required size. It is the lightest soils that from their
friability cannot without difficulty be gathered com-
pactly around a plant; and however much care be used
in the act of removing plant and earth, the latter is
continually liable to slip away from the roots. This,
however, obviously does not apply to plants on 'clay
WHAT FERNS I GREW.
65
soils.' Roots do not travel so quickly, as a rule, through
heavy soil, and hence, if Blechnum spicant be taken
up with enough earth to include its ultimate rootlets,
the supply of soil thus obtained will probably last it
for a very long time. My specimens were quite at
home beside my garden stream, and always looked fresh
and natural.
Still observing my preference for the commonest
ferns (to me, I confess, there is a charm in their pro-
fusion), I must here give some description of my garden
Lady Ferns. Botanists call the Lady Fern, Athyrium
filix-foemina, but the common popular designation is
very appropriate. It has been recorded in ninety-seven
out of a hundred and twelve of the botanical districts of
the 'London Catalogue,' and in the dampest of its damp
and shady habitats its fronds will grow to a length of
five feet. Its greenness and its herbaceous delicacy
are amongst its prominent features. The green stipes
carries a lance-shaped frond, whose pinnæ or secondary
divisions, also lance-shaped and pointed, are again
divided into pairs of indented, oblong pinnules. The
concave habit of the under-sides of fronds, pinnæ, and
pinnules gives prominence to the drooping gracefulness
of the Lady Fern. Its being found in the damp
bottoms of woods and on stream-sides, frequently in
company with the Hard Fern, gives appropriateness, in
E
66
MY GARDEN WILD.
another way, to my introduction of this inhabitant of
my garden wild next to my reference to Blechnum
spicant. But though its damp or water-side proclivi-
ties are the same, it does not require so heavy a soil,
preferring a preponderance of leaf-mould, which is
always light and porous, and an admixture of loam that
is largely composed of sand. Though so beautiful, it
is amongst the hardiest of ferns, and I put it in my
garden by the side of my Hard Ferns along the stream-
side. It is interesting to note how very readily Athy-
rium filix-fœmina will adapt itself to a new habitat
in the garden. Even if not very tenderly or carefully
dealt with in transplantation, it is wonderfully forgiving,
and will speedily overcome temporary injury to its
roots. But if it be taken up without any disturbance
of roots or rootlets, it will exhibit astonishing vigour,
and new fronds, should it be the summer season, will
spring up with great rapidity. When placed in my
garden I took care to give the plants such positions as
would enable them to display their arching, graceful
habit. In several instances I gathered specimens from
the woods growing in the same clump as Hard Ferns,
and in these cases I left them undisturbed, for they
furnish a striking contrast when compared with the
more rigid, more glossy, and darker-coloured Blechnum
spicant.
WHAT FERNS I GREW.
67
Three members of the pretty family of the Spleen-
worts now claim attention by virtue of their position
next after those I have named in the order of relative
abundance. The Wall-rue or Rue-leaved Spleenwort
(Asplenium ruta-muraria), the Black Maidenhair
Spleenwort (Asplenium adiantum-nigrum), and the
Common Maidenhair Spleenwort (Asplenium tricho-
manes) have been recorded each in about ninety-four
out of the hundred and twelve botanical districts.
Rocky habitats are mostly those favoured by these
ferns, though the two last named will sometimes grow
with great luxuriance in the shady side of a hedge-bank,
especially when sheltered by shrubbery, and when their
roots are embedded in the crevices of loose slate-rock, or
other stone which may form part of the structure of a
hedge-row. The triangular form of the dark-green,
glossy, leathery-textured fronds of the Black Maidenhair
Spleenwort, taken in conjunction with the shining
purple stipes and the triangular and beautifully-divided
forms of the pinnæ, will help to make it recognisable.
It is like no other plant found in the same positions,
whilst the rich, dark-brown clusters of sori on the backs
of the fronds will show its relationship to the crypto-
gamic class of the vegetable world. The fronds of Asple-
nium adiantum-nigrum, like those of the wall and
rock-growing Polypody, are small or large, stunted or
B 2
68
MY GARDEN WILD.
finely developed, exactly according to the more or less
favourable position of the plant, varying from one inch,
in its most stunted form, to twenty-four in its most finely
grown state. I planted my specimens, which I had care-
fully obtained so as not to cause the slightest disturbance
of the roots or fibrous ramifying rootlets, in little crevices
of shaded rockwork filled with soil which was almost
pure leaf-mould, taking means, in the especial case of
this fern, to place the root-stock well under jutting
portions of rock. Close observation had shown me that
the finest natural specimens of the Black Maidenhair
Spleenwort were almost invariably those whose root-
stocks, though not covered with soil, were half hidden
in the darkness of stony crannies. Such positions en-
gender a moist atmosphere immediately around the
crown of the plant, a condition which is conducive to
vigorous growth. A position-by the stream in my
garden-amongst loose stones on the shady side of a
piece of sandstone rock, was also found suitable to As-
plenium adiantum-nigrum. Its tiny relative the
Wall-rue, or Rue-leaved Spleenwort-the most diminu-
tive of wall ferns, seldom having fronds more than a
couple of inches long, more commonly an inch long,
and, less frequently, three, though in rare instances five
or six-must be unknown to very few persons, though
its small size renders it ordinarily inconspicuous. Yet
WHAT FERNS I GREW.
69
it is easily identified by its leathery, dark-green, persist-
ent, wedge-shaped fronds divided into pinnæ, including
sets of, commonly, three wedge-shaped pinnules. On the
backs of these the spore-cases are frequently crowded so
densely as to cover the entire surface of the tiny lobes.
They are of a dark-brown colour, which contrasts forcibly
with the evergreen, dark shade of the leafy portion.
To succeed in transplanting the Wall-rue it is abso-
lutely essential that the little plants should be got out
from their habitats intact. They form, though so very
small, compact and considerable masses of root-fibres.
These must not be injured or disturbed by removal;
and, in replanting them in rockwork, the crown of the
plant, though kept free from soil, should be concealed
under some protecting bit of stone, and in a somewhat
horizontal position. I planted my specimens six or seven
feet above the ground, taking care that the earth around
them-sandy leaf-mould-should be firmly pressed in.
The persistence of its little fronds, for they are ever-
green, adds a feature of especial interest to this pretty
rock-loving species. By removing them from their wild
habitats embedded in small lumps of rock and earth,
so that the wiry rootlets were untouched, I secured
their successful transplantation. The Common Maiden-
hair Spleenwort (Asplenium trichomanes), though
small in size-three or four inches in length as ordi-
70
MY GARDEN WILD.
narily seen-at once arrests the eye on wall or rock,
because it is so especially distinct from any other
species of plant likely to be growing in the same
neighbourhood. Each frond consists of a prominent
purple mid-stem, continuing the short purple stipes,
with dark-green pinnæ, roundish oblong in shape, set
on it usually in opposite pairs, but sometimes in alter-
nation, the pinnæ or lobe-like leafy extensions of the
frond being largest about its centre, and diminishing in
size towards its base and towards its apex. The pretty
little fronds grow in dense clusters around the crown
of the plant, and the roots are embedded in the moist
crannies of walls and rocks, being very tough and wiry.
Sometimes the Common Maidenhair Spleenwort may be
found growing upon the soft soil of a hedge-bank, and
then, if sheltered behind some bush, its fronds will attain
a considerable length-sometimes as much as eighteen
inches. Precisely the same care must be taken, in re-
moving this species from its rocky home to the garden, as
that adopted in the case of the two pretty members—
already mentioned—of the same family group. I put the
specimens in my garden wild in the same positions on
my rockwork as the other two kinds. But I also put
some in small holes on the shady side of the big boulders
which I had placed along my garden stream, taking
care, however, in each case to give them an airy position,
WHAT FERNS I GREW.
71
for these little plants are impatient of the reeking
moisture which is absolutely essential to the life and
healthy growth of many ferns. Little fragments of
sandstone for all three of the Spleenworts I have named
should be placed along with the sandy leaf-mould soil in
which they are planted, for the most minute of the root-
fibres will attach themselves to the stone, their points
entering the stony pores and benefiting thereby. When
taken from the positions in which they grow wild, it will
often be noticed that, in withdrawing the roots of the
plants, fragments of stone will adhere to the ultimate
fibres, the capillary attraction of the stony pores having
drawn into their minute cavities the root-hairs, which
gather thence what moisture they contribute towards
the sustenance of roots, crown, and fronds.
Next in the order of plentifulness to the Ferns
already mentioned is one of the finest and handsomest
of the entire class the Broad Buckler Fern (Lastrea
dilatata), which certainly, both for beauty and hardi-
ness, I found second to none in my garden of wildings.
The Broad Buckler Fern has been reported from
ninety-one out of the hundred and twelve districts
alluded to on a previous page. Its spreading and
arching character is indicated by its specific name of
dilatata, and in the depths of shady lanes, in the damp
parts of sheltered woods, and by the margins of moor-
72
MY GARDEN WILD.
ர்
land streams, it will, not unfrequently, attain a length
of frond of five or six feet. The general shape of the
frond is almost triangular. On each side of its rachis,
or central stem, grow, in opposite pairs, triangular
pinnæ, and these are again divided into opposite pairs
of pinnules, also triangular in form; and the pinnules
in their turn are cut, nearly or quite down to their mid-
stems, into oval-shaped lobes, which are beautifully
indented. The pinnules are concave on their under-
sides, and this feature gives a peculiarly graceful ap-
pearance to the plant, and heightens the effect of its
generally drooping habit. The stipes is clothed with
dark, purple-coloured scales, and the crown is similarly
covered with dark scales. Standing alone in a deep
lane or wood, it is difficult to conceive an appearance
of greater beauty than Lastrea dilatata presents.
Growing wild, these ferns may be found of all sizes, and
it is better to obtain specimens which are small than
larger ones, for the reason that it is so much more
easy to successfully transplant, because it is so much
less difficult to get up the entire roots of, the smaller
The roots of very large specimens extend so far
that it would be a work of some magnitude to secure
them all intact without any disturbance of the soil in
which they grow. I selected the most moist and shady
spots in my garden for my Broad Buckler Ferns, plant-
ones.
WHAT FERNS I GREW.
73
ing some at the feet of my side rockeries--but in such
a manner as to leave them free to display their arching
habit without touching any adjacent piece of rock-
work—and one or two, in shady nooks, at the base of my
stream-side boulders. Having always found that the
finest and most luxuriant specimens grew in those parts
of deep, damp, sheltered lanes, and of moist shady
woods, where overarching vegetation had caused, by
annual deposits, the richest accumulation of leaf-mould,
I took care to imitate such conditions in my garden,
letting there be, however, an admixture of peat and
sand with the leaf-soil. No fern amongst the hardiest
in my whole garden succeeded better than my Broad
Buckler Ferns.
Though not quite so widely distributed as Lastrea
dilatata, no fern can be better known in the districts.
in which it does occur than the Hartstongue (Scolopen-
drium vulgare), whose common name suggests its
tongue-shaped, simple form. Though so unpretending
in appearance, this species had a great attraction for
me, and I grew a number of Hartstongues in my
garden. They amply repaid me for the considera-
tion I showed them-a proof that even inanimate
Nature is not insensible to thoughtful regard. Perhaps
the reason of my liking for the Hartstongue was that
it was a plant that had always had a strange interest for
74
MY GARDEN WILD.
me-an interest first suggested by a belief, in my child-
hood, that the curious-looking, snuff-brown, raised marks.
on the backs of the fronds were caterpillars. At one
time I remember I had a sort of dread of it, believing
it to be something between the vegetable and the insect
world. But when I got to know that it was a Fern,'
that it consequently never flowered, and that the
singular-looking, double rows of brown things placed at
the backs of the fronds in almost parallel lines, each
row of parallel lines so arranged that each line ran
diagonally from the green mid-ribs to the wavy, entire
margins—when I got to know, I say, that these curious
excrescences were seed storehouses, or aggregations of
minute spore-cases, enclosing a number, innumerably
vast, of infinitesimal seed, my keenest interest was
excited, and my half repulsion turned to attraction.
It can scarcely indeed be a subject of wonder that
'fern seed' should have been regarded, in times past,
with a certain amount of suspicious awe. It is the
closer study of Nature, in our own day, that has led to
the discovery of facts which, though wonderful in them-
selves, are found to form part of a regular and beauti-
ful system, founded upon the workings of fixed laws,
instituted and regulated by a beneficent Creator. But
though the belief in certain mysterious powers said to
be possessed by fern seed' is now almost, though not
6
WHAT FERNS I GREW.
75
quite, extinct, less than a hundred years ago it was still
one of the faiths of the remote country-side. The
'black spots,' as the clusters of spore-cases were called,
came suddenly, it was believed, upon the backs of the
fronds on midsummer eve,' and if then caught' by a
6
6
particular method it would-provided 'evil spirits' did
not interfere with the process of 'catching' it—confer
on the collector certain mysterious powers, amongst
these being the ability to walk invisible.'
6
But to return to my garden and to my Hartstongues.
There was no more cheerful element in all my wild
parterre than the greenness of the glossy fronds of these
delightful plants. If Nature did not produce some of
her works after the simplest possible models, we should
not admire so much her elaborately beautiful creations.
The mind and the eye both seek relief, from time to
time, from the sameness of particular forms of beauty;
and, when we are tired of looking at what is simple, we
renew our pleasure by turning to objects higher in the
region of created handiwork. But from such contem-
plative heights we return again, and again with pleasure,
to simpler forms. Yet the Hartstongue, as if wearying
of its own simplicity, varies its own normal habit by
assuming five hundred variations from the common
standard. I never cared much for these variations, in-
teresting as they doubtless are, preferring the ordinary
76
MY GARDEN WILD.
or normal form from which they have all sprung,
the green, or it may be purple, and scaly stipes, the scaly
crown, and the delightful fronds, with green so deep and
glossy on their upper sides, and the strange brown mark-
ings underneath. From minute tufts of fronds little
more than an inch in length, when growing on dry walls
or the dry and sunny sides of rocks, the Hartstongue will
become a great plant, with fronds three feet in length,
when its habitat is the damp soil under brook-side
shrubbery, the dank, shady hedge-bank of a deep
green lane, or the moistest hollows of a woody bottom.
I planted mine wherever I needed a refreshing con-
trast from the more finely cut and elaborate forms
of other ferns, and also on my Primrose and Violet ground
hereafter to be mentioned. Often in my rambles after
wild roots I came upon clumps-on the lower side of a
sloping, shady hedge-bank, or close by the water's edge,
in a streamlet meandering through a wood-of Harts-
tongue and Lady Fern, with roots intertwined and fronds
also, both species thriving under precisely similar con-
ditions. In such cases I always took them up without
attempting any solution of continuity of individual
roots and rootlets, but with big lumps of soil that hid
all roots from sight. Why, indeed, should I have
ventured to undo what Nature had done? She often
joins things in such copartnership, and no contrast
WHAT FERNS I GREW.
77
could be more delightful than that so conspicuously
exhibited in the mingling of Lady Fern and Harts-
tongue fronds, the perfection of graceful lacework
with the perfection of simplicity. Both these ferns
like not only moisture and shade for their roots, but
moisture around their crowns and around their fronds ;
and hence no position is better for them than a water-
side one, especially if they may occasionally get the
dash of spray upon them. In a soil of leaf-mould, with
an admixture of heavy loam and sufficient peat to
absorb and store up watery nutriment, they are sure to
succeed, if but the simplest attention be paid to their
natural requirements.
I did not mention that the Hartstongue is re-
corded in eighty-nine out of a hundred and twelve dis-
tricts; and the next fern I shall mention is, in point of
abundance, nearly on a level with it. This is the Hard
Prickly Shield Fern (Polystichum aculeatum), which is
recorded in eighty-eight such localities. Oftentimes this
beautiful fern, like the Lady Fern, grows side by side
with the Hartstongue, and I obtained several such
twin growths for my garden wild.
In the general
lance-shaped form of the frond there is similarity be-
tween Polystichum aculeatum and the
mon Buckler Fern, already referred to.
Male or Com-
But the frond
of the latter is broader than that of the former, and
78
MY GARDEN WILD.
the form and indentation of the pinnules or ultimate
divisions are widely different. The clustering of rust-
coloured scales upon not only the stipes of the frond
of the Hard Prickly Shield Fern, but upon its entire
under-side, though chiefly along the under-sides of the
mid-stems, constitutes a beautiful feature of the species.
The stipes is short, the entire frond lance-shaped, the
more or less opposite pairs of pinnæ also lance-shaped,
each pinna being again divided into more
or less
opposite pairs of distinctly wing-shaped and prettily
indented pinnules or lobes. About its fronds there is
a hard, rigid, spiny look, and they sometimes, in favour-
able situations, attain a height of four feet, though com-
monly the size will be found to be less. Half-evergreen
as it is, and especially robust in its habit, I found it
did not dislike a little sunlight, so that it could be
planted almost anywhere in my garden.
My garden stream of water enabled me to intro-
duce the Mountain Buckler Fern (Lastrea oreopteris),
which is much like its near relative the Male Fern
in the blunt-pointed lobes or secondary divisions of the
fronds, but is distinctly unlike it in its golden-green
hue, in the diminution in length downwards of the
pinnæ from the centre to the base of the frond, where
the opposite pairs of pinnæ are dwindled to very small
leafy protuberances, and finally, though chiefly, in the
WHAT FERNS I GREW.
79
beautiful lemon-scent which its fronds emit when
pressed upon or handled. In the case of this hand-
some fern especial care is needed in removing it, so
that its roots may not in the least be interfered with.
I found that the best soil for it was one consisting very
largely of peat, with some small portions of leaf-mould
and sand, to assist the mechanical action of the soil.
In mountainous or hilly districts and on high moor-
lands this species will often be found fringing streams,
and in growing it in the garden a water-side position
amongst little masses of rock will be the best for it.
It will then add to its garden surroundings not only
the beauty of a singularly graceful and symmetrical
appearance, but the particular attractiveness of bal-
samic perfume. Though absent entirely from some.
parts of the country, its distribution, nevertheless, is a
pretty wide one, for it has been recorded in eighty-seven
out of a hundred and twelve botanical districts.
A curious little fern which I grew in my garden-
not very much like ferns in general-was the Moonwort
(Botrychium lunaria), about which there is some
especial fairy lore. It occurs in at least eighty-six out of
a hundred and twelve botanical districts, and the places.
where it is found are heaths, moors, and open pastures;
and, though it likes moisture, its habitats are not those
which are especially damp. Sometimes only two
80
MY GARDEN WILD.
inches in length, it may occasionally be found as
long as ten inches. Its brittle, fleshy, thick root gives
rise to a reddish-brown sheath, a green succulent-
looking stipes, and two kinds of frond, the one leafy
and the other a seed-bearing stem, rising from the point
where the leafy branch diverges, and having at its
apex a series of lateral stems, upon which are clustered
the round spore-cases, coloured when ripe a reddish
brown. In opposite pairs on the rachis of the leafy
frond are fan-shaped or half-moon-shaped-the lunar
form has probably suggested the name of the little
plant-pinnules of a deep green colour. However
readily most hardy plants will recover from any dis-
turbance of their roots, though the time of recovery
will always depend upon the extent of the disturbance,
it is fatal to a Moonwort if it be pulled up by the
roots without the accompanying mass of grass roots
with which its own are intimately mixed. An impres-
sion has consequently gained ground that Botrychium
lunaria is a sort of parasite on grass roots, and the
reason for it is that if the grass roots die after removal
the fern will die also. Of the effect there can scarcely
be a doubt, but it is probably ascribed to the wrong
cause. The death of the grass roots indicates an un-
healthy condition of the soil, which is doubtless equally
fatal to the fern; so that, if care be taken to keep the
WHAT FERNS I GREW.
81
soil in a wholesome and natural condition by ordinary
methods, the successful transplantation of the Moon-
wort may be assured. As in removing other plants, so
with this one, the rule should be observed not to make
the slightest disturbance of roots or rootlets, but to
take up the fern snugly ensconced in the green turf on
which it is growing, digging deeply enough underneath
to be quite sure that everything, even to the remotest
filament, is included.
I must not forget, in speaking of the Moonwort, to
include a little plant-in the enumeration of those in
my garden-bearing a certain relationship to it, and
like it growing in grassy ground, in field, heath, or moor,
though preferring a damper soil and a larger admix-
ture of clay in the soil than does Botrychium lunaria.
I refer to the Adder's-tongue (Ophioglossum vulgatum),
which bears a sort of double frond-a green, leafy ex-
pansion, in shape like the leaf of a Lily of the Valley,
and a taller stem clasped at its base, sheath-like, by a
prolongation of the lower part of the leafy expansion,
and bearing at its upper end a spike of spore-cases,
roundish in form, and arranged in a double row on each
side of the stalk which carries them. In some places
this little fern is very abundant, and it is almost as
widely distributed as the Moonwort, having been re-
ported as occurring in seventy-nine out of the total
F
82
MY GARDEN WILD.
number of botanical districts. To remove it for success-
ful transplantation, care must be taken to get it up,
with the grass roots amidst which it is growing, undis-
turbed. But it may, and should, be planted in a more
moist and shaded position than that selected for its
near relation last referred to.
About the centre of my garden I formed a pool by
the simple process of having the soil removed to some
depth, lining the bottom with clay, and letting the
water run in from the stream until it filled the hollow
and flowed out on the other side. Around the margin
of the little lake I thus constructed I had some mis-
shapen blocks of stone placed, but so placed as to give
the appearance to the whole, when finished, not of a
bordered, artificial basin, but of one of the delight-
ful little rocky pools which one may often find in
moorland country, formed by the widening out of the
moorland streams. In such pools the continual re-
newal of the water prevents stagnation, and their mar-
gins are hence surrounded by ferns and by those
aquatic plants which love the sparkle and purity of
running streams. On the borders of this garden pool
I planted some Royal Ferns, just where their crowns
would be above the water level, but their matted roots
could secure an abundance of moisture. The Royal
Fern (Osmunda regalis) is a truly regal plant, as its
WHAT FERNS I GREW.
83
name suggests, attaining a height sometimes of twelve
feet, but only in those positions in which it can secure
a spongy peat soil, shade, and abundant moisture for
its roots. Its root-stock is raised, in the largest speci-
mens, to a height of a couple of feet above the ground,
and when this is the case it assumes very much the
form of a small tree-fern. The frond is broadly
lance-shaped, divided where, at the termination of
the stipes, the leafy portion commences, into lance-
shaped opposite pairs of pinnæ, which are again divided
into almost opposite pairs of oblong blunt-pointed
pinnules, and are terminated, at their apices, by single
pinnules. This, at least, is the form of the barren
fronds. But it must be noted that the fruitful or spore-
bearing fronds, though of the same general shape as
the others, have their ultimate pinnules contracted,
and they bear upon their margins the clusters of
roundish spore-cases which, when ripened, give, by their
light-brown hue, to the apex of the frond the appearance
of a flower-an appearance which has gained for this
species the popular name of the Flowering Fern.' On
account of the large size of its root-stock and of the
abundance of its roots, it is not an easy matter, unless
the operation be attempted with adequate aids, to re-
move, without injury, a finely grown specimen of 08-
munda regalis; and it is most essential, in transplant-
6
F 2
84
MY GARDEN WILD.
ing, to avoid any disturbance of the roots. I obtained
moderately-sized plants, and brought with them earth
enough to last them for a considerable time. But, in
anticipation of ultimate growth that would extend be-
yond the circumscribed limits first provided, I obtained
from the soil immediately contiguous to that in which
my ferns were growing a good supply of sandy peat,
which I placed underneath and around my garden
Osmundas. The straw colour of the stipes and of the
rachis and its branches, and the golden-green hue of
the leafy portion of the frond, give a light and elegant
aspect to this royal plant. My specimens throve ad-
mirably, and added a distinct element of beauty to
their ferny surroundings. In marshy and boggy places,
and at low levels by moorland streams, this species is
to be found, sometimes clustered in great abundance ;
and it has been recorded as growing in seventy-seven
districts out of the total number already enumerated.
The marshy tracts of many woods will enable the
fern-hunter to make acquaintance with a beautiful,
moisture-loving member of a group already mentioned
-the Lastreas. The Prickly-toothed Buckler Fern
(Lastrea spinulosa) is by no means a formidable
species, as its name might perhaps suggest. A long
green stipes, with a few scales scattered upon it, a
triangular-shaped leafy portion consisting of opposite
WHAT FERNS I GREW.
85
.*
pairs of triangular pinnæ-these again divided into
pairs of deeply indented or fringed pinnules-such is
the Spinulose or Prickly-toothed Buckler Fern. It
will be frequently found growing in company with
Osmunda regalis, and will always be admired for the
perfect regularity and symmetry of its form. It is to
be found in at least seventy-one out of a hundred and
twelve botanical districts. In my garden I planted it in
the immediate vicinity of my Royal Ferns, providing for
it similar soil to that I obtained for Osmunda regalis,
and keeping it in absolute shade.
My Beech Ferns or Mountain Polypodies I greatly
prized, and chiefly because of association, for they
recalled a delightful holiday spent amongst wild and
beautiful moorland scenery. I gathered my specimens
from near a great waterfall, upon a ledge placed, indeed,
within reach of its spray; and I never looked at them
afterwards without picturing in imagination the glorious
landscapes opened up from every point of the district
in which they grew. The Beech Fern (Polypodium
phegopteris) is a delicate and gentle relative of
Polypodium vulgare; but, unlike it, it cannot bear
sunshine and exposure on dry rocks or walls, but
seeks the coolest and moistest nooks. It has not a
close resemblance to its better-known and more widely
distributed relative, but, like it, it has a creeping root.
86
MY GARDEN WILD.
or rhizoma, which finds its way along amongst the moss
and other roots which grow on the wild ledges where
it loves to find a home. The leafy portion, which
continues the long, slender, brittle, and pale-green
stipes, is also pale green, triangular in shape, and
divided into opposite pairs of slender pinnæ, which are
deeply incised, the incisions forming blunt lobes in
the lowermost pinnæ, but becoming less and less deep,
and finally disappearing towards the apex of the frond.
It is interesting to see how any peculiarity of the wild
character of a plant is continued and perpetuated in
a garden. The lowermost pair of pinnæ in the
Mountain Polypody exhibit a peculiar habit, for they
droop instead of standing out from the rachis, as the
others do, and their tips point towards the ground.
My specimens preserved the same peculiarity. I so
managed as to place them in such a position, low down
by the course of my garden stream, that a tiny rill of
water flowed over their rhizomas, whilst their fronds
secured the moistest emanations from the stream.
Leaf-mould and peat form the natural soil of the
Mountain Polypodies, and, though in removing mine I
took care to obtain an abundance of soil, I knew that
their rhizomas would travel so rapidly that it would
be necessary to provide congenial root-room in the im-
mediate vicinity of the spot in which I planted them.
WHAT FERNS I GREW.
87
Very plentiful in some, chiefly mountainous, districts,
Polypodium phegopteris is entirely absent from many
others. It is to be found in at least sixty-nine out of a
hundred and twelve botanical districts.
Running it close in the matter of abundance is another
delicate and beautiful fern (Cystopteris fragilis), a little
plant as frail as its name suggests. The Brittle Bladder
Fern, though a very delicate, is withal a very hardy fern,
and loves especially the coolest and dampest nooks.
In sixty-six out of the total of a hundred and twelve
districts Cystopteris fragilis can be obtained. From six
to fourteen inches, according to their situation and
conditions of growth, is the length of its fronds, which
are produced in tufts from the crown of the root-stock.
Its name indicates the brittle, herbaceous nature of
these fronds. The stipes is somewhat long, though
very variable in length, and the leafy portion, broadly
lance-shaped in general form, is divided into opposite,
or irregularly-placed, pairs of pinnæ, which, in their
turn, are again divided into opposite, or irregularly-
placed, pairs of deeply-notched pinnules, in luxuriant
specimens the notches being so deep as to almost divide
the pinnules into distinct lobes. Inconspicuous at a
distance, on account of its small size, the Brittle Bladder
Fern proves to be very graceful and beautiful on close
examination of its crisp green fronds.
It was very
88
MY GARDEN WILD.
easy, in removing my specimens from the spot where
they were found, to get an abundant supply of earth,
because there was a good depth of soil, and the roots
had not penetrated the crevices of the adjacent rock.
Cystopteris fragilis oftentimes grows on walls and in
the moist earthy seams of rocks, and in such cases
removal of the plant uninjured is somewhat difficult.
It is so hardy a fern that if taken up with a small
quantity of root it will recover the effects of disturbance
in a comparatively short time; but the greater the
care taken in transplantation, and the less disturbance
there is, of any kind, of roots or rootlets, the more certain
will be the success. I put my plants of this species in
the rockery at the side of my garden, and in long
narrow crevices the length of which enabled them to
spread, as it is their habit to do, by the multiplication
of their crowns. Growing wild, many rock plants, in-
cluding this species, are found in crevices just large
enough to hold them, and the ability to closely press
the rocky sides of their habitats seems congenial to them.
Nature is the best of teachers, and so it is well to
imitate all she does, especially when we know that
there is always a reason for everything. Certain ferns,
for instance, can bear an amount of exposure to sun
and wind that would be fatal to others. Those species.
which are thus exposed always acquire an especial
WHAT FERNS I GREW.
89
hardness and closeness of fibre. The more succulent
and tender kinds would shrivel and die under such
conditions, and moisture and shade are the life of
these. The Brittle Bladder Fern is one of the delicate
herbaceous kinds, and exposure to the air of a large
surface of the earth over its roots would be injurious to
it, unless the soil could be kept continually moistened.
On the sides of rocks such a condition of moisture would
frequently be impossible, and hence the friendly stone
when pressed on each side against the root-stock and
crown of the plants prevents the too rapid evaporation
of moisture from the earth underneath in which the
roots are growing. How beautiful yet how simple such
a provision is will be recognised when it is remembered
that the pleasant and genial rain, which it is so good
to see falling upon thirsty earth, frequently tarries in
its coming; and, if Nature did not make arrangements
in anticipation of such periods of drought, the country,
over wide areas, would soon lose its fair mantle of green,
and especially would its stony places' be stripped of
the pretty contrasts which the waving tufts of greenery
adorning them so delightfully afford.
I must repeat, lest I should be misunderstood, that
my order of precedence in the mention of the wild
plants which I grew in my garden is generally the order
of prevalence, rather than the botanical order. Hence
90
MY GARDEN WILD.
why, in taking my reader from one corner of my garden
to another, I introduce him first to the commonest (not
the most vulgar in a depreciatory sense) of its inhabit-
ants, and lead him next to those which come after in
my established category of preference. My reason for
this is that what is both beautiful and very abundant
gives more pleasure in the abstract than does that
which, though equally beautiful, is less abundant, be-
cause the greater abundance of a thing makes pleasure
possible to a larger number, and it is most important
to give prominence to those enjoyments which are most
easily accessible. I have therefore discarded the
methodical arrangement of genus and species, content-
ing myself with giving the botanical as well as the
common name of each plant I mention, so that the
botanical relationship may be traced by those who
desire to do so.
Distributed over nearly the same number of dis-
tricts—namely, over at least sixty-six out of the total
number-as the little fern last referred to, is the Oak
Fern, or Three-branched Polypody (Polypodium dryo-
pteris), a plant whose golden-green hue is delightful.
As its name indicates, the triangular frond, which
grows from six inches to a foot in length, is distinctly
three-branched. Each branch, starting from the top
of the very slender, brittle and delicate stipes (one
WHAT FERNS I GREW.
91
taking a perpendicular and the other two a horizontal
direction), is triangular in form, and again divided into
pinnules, the lower series of these being subdivided
into lobes, whilst the higher one is merely notched
or entire. The pretty little fern occurs in woods in
mountainous or moorland districts-sometimes, in such
districts, in moist hedge-banks, on the margins of
streams, on rocky ledges and in stony fissures, loving
especially a soil of rich leaf-mould, and a position
absolutely shady. Its slender rhizomas are rapid
travellers, and, as they creep along the surface of the
soil, they throw up numerous fronds, each of which, just
before becoming unrolled, presents the curious appear-
ance of three little green balls supported on the three
main branches of the frond. I found, by experience
of the nature and habits of Polypodium dryopteris,
that little moist nooks of my garden rockery, perfectly
shaded and situated a little, in some cases, above the
ground, best suited the plants I had. They soon began
to multiply, the rhizomas finding their way along
little rocky grooves, taking root wherever any moistness
lurked or seams of earth existed, and sending out
speedily from their new territory crowds of their
delicate little fronds.
Discoursing of the 'Oak Fern '—a ponderous name
(suggested by a fancied resemblance of the frond to an
92
MY GARDEN WILD.
oak-tree) for a tiny plant-I am reminded that another,
and very beautiful, rock-loving species-a species partial
also to old walls-is exactly in the same position
with regard to abundance as Polypodium dryopteris.
The fern I mean is the Scale Fern (Asplenium
ceterach), related to the elegant little plant family
some members of which I have already passed, so to
speak, in review. The Scale Fern, or Scaly Spleenwort,
though sometimes only an inch or two in length, may
not unfrequently be found-in positions where, in its
rocky habitats, deposits of leaf-mould have been made
and left undisturbed for long years-developed to a
length of eight inches. A frond held at arm's length,
so that its flat side was presented to view, would bear
a curious resemblance to a screw, for its form is that
of a single leaf so deeply and broadly indented on each
side, by indentations not quite reaching down to the
mid-rib, as to present the appearance of a series of lobes
or of a small double edged saw with blunt teeth. The
upper side of the frond is a bluish green, the under
side is densely clothed, over every part, with rust-coloured
or light reddish-brown scales, amongst which are en-
sconced the spore-cases. The stipes, very short, is also
thickly set with scales of a similar colour; and the
entire aspect of the little fern, when seen with all its
fronds springing in tufts from its crown, is extremely
WHAT FERNS I GREW.
93
beautiful. I once found on the top of an old wall,
which lay under the shelter of some overlapping trees,
a great number of these pretty ferns, whose matted
fibrous roots had run together and formed a mass quite
a foot square. Large flat stones formed the coping of
this wall, and the ferns were growing out from the
under-side of these stones as well as from the crevices
between them on the top. The secret of their
luxuriance for some of the fronds had attained their
maximum length-was, clearly, an exceptionally large
deposit of leaf-mould, augmented, from year to year, by
the annual fall of leaves from the overhanging trees.
The flat coping-stones afforded protection to the mass
of roots by keeping them moist; and hence their vigour
and luxuriance. It was from this old wall, which
formed the boundary of an ancient park, that I ob-
tained several specimens of the Scaly Spleenwort; and,
before transferring them to my garden, I did not fail to
note how the plants grew in their wild state, and thus
discovered that their method of growth was peculiar.
Most of them grew from interstices in the perpendicular
face of the wall, their roots being inserted in the
crevices formed by the crumbling of the mortar.
Their crowns thus protruded slightly beyond the per-
pendicular level of the wall; but the fronds, instead of
assuming an upright method of growth, as do those of
94
MY GARDEN WILD.
many wall, or rock-growing plants, spread around the
crown, upwards, downwards, and laterally. To imitate,
therefore, not only its natural conditions as to soil,
moisture, and shade, but the especial position of the
crown in relation to the consequent position of the
fronds, was my first care. The whole process needed.
thoughtful consideration; but by applying this to the
attempt to successfully transplant the Scale Fern from
the walls where it grew I had the satisfaction of finding
that my efforts were not in vain. As in the interstices
of rocks as well as in those of walls there is sure to be
a certain quantity of sand, it is necessary to put sand
or sandy loam with the soil prepared for all wall or rock
ferns grown in garden rockery.
There are, for reasons which it is not easy to ex-
plain, certain wild plants which, much less readily than
others, adapt themselves to growth under extemporised
conditions; and, closely as one may imitate or endeavour
to imitate natural conditions, it is not always possible
to succeed absolutely in the attempt. The closer the
study of the natural habits of plants, the greater will
always be the success in these endeavours. But failure,
or partial failure, arises, doubtless, from inability to
probe all the secrets of Nature.
The range of particular kinds of vegetation is,
as is well known, determined by altitude or position
WHAT FERNS I GREW,
95
above the sea-level. It appears that some plants are
indifferent to the variation in the pressure of the
atmosphere or other peculiar conditions incident to
altitude, and grow with equal luxuriance at all heights
within certain maximum limits, whereas other plants
are never found below or above, as the case may be, a
certain level. In such cases plants which are so sensi-
tive to these especial conditions cannot be grown suc-
cessfully in a garden which does not, in the matter of
position with regard to the sea-level, supply their re-
quirements. Sometimes it is a question, not of actual
existence, but of comparative luxuriance; and, though
certain plants will thrive better in certain positions,
they will not refuse to grow, with at least a minimum
amount of vigour, in others. It is in such cases merely
a question of degree. This subject is one of consider-
able interest, and should be separately pursued by those
who have the necessary leisure. Meanwhile it is
pleasant to know that a very large number of our
native plants are so hardy as to be indifferent to mere
position as regards their height above the sea-level;
and my object in these chapters is to give especial
prominence to such typical individuals as are the most
hardy, the most readily obtainable, and the most easily
grown in the open garden, under ordinary, and easily
extemporised, conditions of growth.
96
MY GARDEN WILD.
6
One very beautiful fern (the Soft Prickly Shield
Fern), amongst all those which I grew, gave me especial
pleasure, from the fact that it appeared to be quite as
much at home, to thrive quite as well, and to grow quite
as luxuriantly, as in the country lanes where I gathered
it. It only required to be left alone—a golden require-
ment with regard to all wild plants. We do not find
that Nature prunes branches or digs around' her
plant roots. She periodically loosens the surface
soil by the action of frosts, and admits the essential
air; but she will do this equally in our open gardens
as in the woods and fields. Possibly, with regard
to this especial action of frost, more loosening of
the soil may be necessary in the case of some town
gardens, the atmosphere over which is not of the fresh-
ness and purity of the air of the moorland and the
meadow; and doubtless in the operations of agriculture
and horticulture it is equally essential. But I did not
find it to be so in my garden wild, and my success was
due, I am convinced, to my letting Nature alone to work
in her own way, only taking care that such free working
was not interfered with by any artificial obstacles. To
return, however, to the Soft Prickly Shield Fern (Poly-
stichum angulare). It is very closely related to one
which has been already mentioned (Polystichum acu-
leatum), the chief distinction being that the first-named
WHAT FERNS I GREW.
97
species is more lax and drooping in habit, and more
densely clothed, on frond and stipes, with rust-coloured
scales, whilst its pinnules, though wing-shaped, like those
of the Hard Prickly Shield Fern, are more angular than
the latter (hence the name), and are attached to the
pinnæ by tiny, though distinct, stalks. Though not so
widely distributed as its congener, occurring in only
one half of the botanical districts mentioned by the
• London Catalogue,' whilst Polystichum aculeatum
occurs in three-fourths of them, yet in some districts it
is very abundant, being found in almost every hedge
and in every copse, whilst the Hard Prickly Shield
Ferns, in the same locality, are either very rare or en-
tirely absent. Specimens of both these species can be
obtained of any size, and they will be found growing
most luxuriantly where the subsoil is rich loam and the
surface soil leaf-mould. Plants of a moderate size are
the most convenient for removal, because it is easier,
in their case, to secure a sufficient quantity of earth un-
disturbed about their roots. I found that these ferns
throve in any part of my rockery. Some large roots
I obtained fully grown preserved their vigour un-
diminished, and the smaller ones grew steadily though
slowly. Their extreme hardiness enables them to re-
sist the hardest frosts, even in the open parts of a garden.
But I never touched my Shield Ferns, having once taken
G
98
MY GARDEN WILD.
care to put them in a congenial position, and they
thoroughly appreciated my treatment of them.
From these robust inhabitants of wood and hedge-
bank I must turn for a little while to give the results
of an interesting experiment which I tried in my garden
for the growth of Marsh Ferns. Lastrea thelypteris,
one of the Buckler Ferns, is distinctly and especially a
marsh fern, growing ordinarily in the liquid soil of
bogs, in which its roots and rhizomas are immersed.
It is, for the reason that its range is confined to marshy
or boggy districts, not very widely distributed, occur-
ring in about forty out of a hundred and twelve botanical
localities. In appearance the Marsh Buckler Fern may
be said to resemble a very delicate and attenuated
specimen of the Male Fern. A slender, green and very
brittle stipes supports a similarly thin, delicate-green
rachis, on which occur, alternately on opposite sides, a
series of very narrow pinnæ, divided into small, bluntly
oval-shaped, delicate green pinnules. This fern looks
very pretty and graceful when seen, as I have seen it,
growing along with Sphagnum moss, upon the black
surface of a bog under the shadow of trees. In such
congenial situations this Marsh Fern grows oftentimes
in large quantities, the barren fronds-for there are
two kinds—attaining a length of sometimes four feet,
but the ordinary length being less. Few ferns like
WHAT FERNS I GREW.
99
6
their roots or rhizomas to actually touch the surface
of water; but Lastrea thelypteris is distinctly excep-
tional, and its rhizomas-for its creeping habit has
induced some botanists to include it amongst the Poly-
podies or many-footed' ferns-oftentimes actually float
on the liquid surface of marshy places. They speedily
multiply by the spreading of their rhizomas, which give
rise to a network of clustered crowns, the common origin
of which may be easily recognised by the connection
between them-for on lifting one from the bog it will
be frequently found joined to a dozen or more of others.
The constituents of the liquid soil of such bogs as lie
under the shelter of trees are easily discovered. The
decayed moss and the mossy and other roots provide
an element of peat, and the periodical fall of the leaves.
overhead produces leaf-mould. So in the garden it is
necessary to extemporise a small marsh if it be desired
to grow the beautiful Lastrea thelypteris. My plan
was as follows. Near the end of my garden stream, just
where it was about to disappear from my 'territory,'
I had planted an Osier, sometimes called the Twiggy
Willow. The species will be accurately indicated by
its botanical name, which is Salix viminalis. I had
obtained from the side of a wet meadow a large and
vigorous specimen, and I soon succeeded in getting it
to grow well, by giving it a very moist position by my
G 2
100
MY GARDEN WILD.
stream-side. So soon as my Osier had become well
established, I had the earth removed near it to the
depth of a foot, but in such a way as not to interfere
with the Osier roots. The hollow thus formed I then
had lined with clay to
make it water-tight, and upon
the clay I had a layer of
a quantity of leaf-mould. Upon the whole I admitted,
by a small breach in the side of its channel, water from
my stream. When finished, my garden marsh was just
under the shade of the Osier boughs, and upon it I
planted specimens of Lastrea thelypteris. Here and
there over the marsh I raised the submerged soil by
the addition of more peat and leaf-mould, and on the
little mounds or tiny hillocks just raised above the
general level I placed some sheets of Sphagnum moss.
On the hillocks of moss thus formed I planted Hard
Ferns and Spinulose, or Prickly-toothed, Buckler Ferns,
reserving the marshy margins for other bog plants
of which I shall have, anon, to speak. By sufficient
attention to prevent any modification-such as by
drought or neglect of the conditions of growth I was
thus enabled to provide, I succeeded in keeping in
health and vigour my little piece of marshy ground, with
its delightful accompaniment of flowering bog plants, of
ferns, and of moss.
peat placed, and upon the peat
Less widely distributed than the Marsh Buckler
WHAT FERNS I GREW.
101
Ferns, another species of the genus Lastrea now comes
in for notice, namely, the delightful Hay-scented
Buckler Fern (Lastrea recurva). From the steep and
luxuriantly clothed bank of a Devonshire 'green lane'
I obtained a number of individuals of this perfumed
species of the Fern family; and I lost no time in
transplanting them, selecting parts of my rockery as
the most congenial positions in which to grow them.
I have already described the Broad Buckler Fern, and
I need now only say that the Hay-scented Fern is very
much like it, excepting in the matter of its smaller
size, its hay scent (when drying), and its recurved pin-
nules, which are nearly convex (instead of concave, as
in Lastrea dilatata) on its under side. It is an espe-
cially elegant and beautiful little fern, and a most de-
lightful addition to a garden. It occurs in about twenty-
six botanical districts out of a hundred and twelve; and,
though not very rare in the districts where it is found,
it is often difficult to find. I remember, many years
ago, walking with an experienced fern-collector and
dealer in ferns five miles to obtain my specimens. These
were only to be had in one particular locality, the deep
green lane to which I have already referred. Although
there was an abundance of such lanes in the district, it
was only in one that Lastrea recurva was to be found,
and there it grew in such profusion that the high, leafy
102
MY GARDEN WILD.
hedge-bank was crowded with it. When looking for it
the fern-hunter is sure to stop and examine small spe-
cimens of the Broad Buckler Fern, which bears so close
a resemblance to it that at first sight the one species.
would be taken for the other. Size will usually be the first
mark of distinction. If the plant be more than two feet
in length, it is not likely to be the Hay-scented species,
for the maximum length of that species is two feet, and
it is usually found much smaller, whereas Lastrea dila-
tata may attain a length of five or six feet. The curving
back of the pinnules, making their upper sides some-
what concave, a peculiar bluish hue of the entire frond,
and especially the unmistakable hay-scent, which is
always to be detected when a frond is pressed in the hand,
are further distinctive marks. Leaf-mould is the life of
this beautiful fern, whose luxuriance in its wild state in
wood or hedge-bank may always be seen to depend upon
the greater or less amount of richness of the leafy soil
in which it grows, and the more or less moist or exposed
situation of the plants.
In constructing my rockery I did not forget to make
one portion of it of large blocks of limestone, so arranged
as to leave a number of small but somewhat deep cre-
vices for the especial benefit of the Limestone Polypody
(Polypodium calcareum), a very interesting fern, and
one of the little group three of whose attractive mem-
WHAT FERNS I GREW.
103
bers have already had mention in this chapter. Though
plentiful in various limestone districts, Polypodium
calcareum is not widely distributed, for it occurs
in only nineteen out of a hundred and twelve botanical
districts. It bears a strong general resemblance to the
Three-branched Polypody already described, the three-
branched appearance of which is occasioned by what is
really an enlargement of the lowermost pair of pinnæ on
the frond, each of which is nearly as large as the whole of
the upper ones. The gradation of pinnæ being more re-
gular in the Limestone Polypody, there is no appearance
of three branches, as in the Oak Fern. The frond is
distinctly triangular; the pinnæ are arranged upon it
in opposite pairs, and each pinna is again divided into
pinnules which at the base of the lowermost pinnæ are
cleft deeply into oblong, blunt-pointed lobes, the com-
pound form of division becoming less and less, as is
ordinarily the case with ferns, both towards the point
of each pinna and towards the apex of the frond. The
Limestone Polypody is not only of larger growth than
the Oak Fern, reaching a length sometimes of eighteen
inches, though usually less, but has a very distinctive
hue of bluish green, instead of the golden-green colour
of Polypodium dryopteris. Its many feet' delight
to find their way in amongst the crevices of limestone
rocks, where congenial soil permits and encourages the
6
104
MY GARDEN WILD.
advance. I said that I had left small-by which I meant
narrow-crevices in the limestone portion of my rockery.
The reason for this was that a small surface only of the
enclosed soil was thus exposed to the air, and when my
ferns were planted the little cluster of the stipites of the
fronds nearly filled the aperture. Moisture was thus ar-
rested, because rapid evaporation was prevented, and the
development of the rhizomas of the ferns was thus pro-
moted. More robust than the Oak Fern, Polypodium
calcareum can better bear exposure to sunshine; but
the shadiest nooks I always found most conducive to
growth. In the soil which came with my specimens
were little pieces-fragments of the rock surrounding
their habitat—of limestone. These fragments could be
seen protruding from the lumps of soil which enclosed
my roots.
I did not therefore forget, in preparing the
soil with which I had first half filled the crevices pre-
pared for the limestone ferns, to put broken pieces of
limestone with the leaf-mould and sandy loam. To
show their appreciation of my care and attention, the
year following that in which I planted them not only
was there a noticeable increase in the number of fronds
produced by the rhizomas which were obtained when
the specimens were taken from their habitat, but new
rhizomas had been produced, and had found their way
by mysterious passages unknown, or at any rate pre-
WHAT FERNS I GREW.
105.
$
viously unobserved, by me, and fronds started up from
adjoining chinks of my rock-wall. One circumstance,
which will serve to illustrate my previous remarks, I
will mention, for the benefit of those of my readers who
may like to closely imitate my modus operandi. The
longest and finest fronds were always produced from
the narrowest crevices of the rock-work. Will not
fellow fern-hunters bear me out in acknowledging that,
when seeking rock ferns, the finest specimens are always
those most difficult to 'get out,' from their firm ensconce-
ment behind sharp and immovable blocks of stone?
Oftentimes fronds temptingly long and luxuriant peep
out from inaccessible recesses in the rock-side, and the
most laborious and long-continued efforts only produce
a fragment of root, with perhaps a couple of fronds
attached to it, and the fern-hunter has to be satisfied
with one or two plants from softer or more yielding
crevices adjoining. Let me repeat what I have, in sub-
stance, said before, that a congenial position is as
essential for the free and luxuriant growth of ferns
as congenial soil.
I have indicated what ferns I grew in my garden
wild, and it will be seen that the number of species
enumerated is twenty-four. All of these my readers
can easily obtain, or at any rate can obtain with little-
trouble. A number of them I obtained in my own.
106
MY GARDEN WILD.
locality. Others I myself gathered from more distant
places, whilst one or two species came to me in other
ways. Those species which I have omitted I did not
grow in my garden-I mean in my open garden-in
which I included only those about whose success I had
no doubt. I think all those who may wish to follow
my example will find abundant pleasure in the pastime,
and quite enough to occupy their available leisure, if
they are content to grow only those ferns which I have
mentioned.
107
VIII.
FLOWERY GRASS BANKS.
NATURE offers, to the tired wanderer across summer
meadows or forest glades, no more luxurious couch than
that of a grassy bank bestrewn with flowers. If there
are moments in life during which mere existence is a
pleasure, they are surely those when the holiday-maker,
seeking rest and relaxation of mind and body, after
long-continued and laborious work, finds himself in the
country, and absolutely free from any obligation of
work-free to indulge in the luxury of doing nothing.
How delicious at noontide to stretch one's listless
length' upon the grassy face of an open meadow, and
look up into the far heights of the sky at the masses
of fleecy white cloud which may be floating under the
eye of the sun, descrying the tiny black specks, which
reveal the position of the delicious songsters, whose fresh,
cheerful notes are being rained down upon the earth:
how delightful to recline upon the flowery margin of a
brook, and, whilst one's cheeks are softly fanned by the
108
MY GARDEN WILD.
gentle air set in motion by the rapid course of the
current, to watch the little eddies of the stream where
the water weeds are gracefully swaying to and fro: how
delightful, too, whilst half reclining upon sweet fresh
Grass, to lean upon one's elbow and look upon the flo-
ral wealth immediately contiguous-upon the golden
Buttercups, the Daisy stars, and the delicate blush of
the Cuckoo Flower-to breathe the pure breath of the
green blades, and to listen to the mellow voice of the
cuckoo !
I had often thought, when looking upon such scenes,
how delightful it would be to bring into one's garden
a bit of open field or genuine forest glade—to have,
not a prim 'lawn' or close-shaven piece of turf,'
from which conventional custom excludes every plant
but Grass, but the real thing. To accomplish my
desire and include in my garden 'glade' all the flowers
which I wished to be there, I knew I should have to do
to such an extemporised glade what artists do to their
pictures when they wish to present them on a smaller
scale-I should have to reduce' it. I must give less
proportionate space to Grass, and more to other flowering
plants, so as to have the variety I desired; and, just as
in many a forest glade one may find several species of
Grass and a great number of flowers, and in different
forest glades one may find still greater variety, so I
FLOWERY GRASS BANKS.
109
determined to collect them in one of a moderate size-
to photograph, so to speak, the larger scenes, so as to
represent their salient features in my smaller scene.
The mere idea of attempting the introduction of so
delightful a feature gave rise in my mind to feelings
akin to enthusiasm. I cannot adequately express the
pleasure I experienced in endeavouring to fulfil my
intention; and that my reader may apprehend the
enjoyment which the pastime actually afforded me, and
the exact method which I adopted in the carrying out
of my plan, I must make it clear how I proceeded. I
had now completed what I may call—or at any rate
what I always liked to consider as my natural out-
works. Four walls of rock that hid my garden walls.
from view shut me in from the outer world. In the
enclosure—a wide and spacious area-there were only,
as yet, my garden stream, my central pool, and the
little marshy tract near where the stream disappeared
under the rocks and finally took its departure. The
stream I had caused to make its way along a meander-
ing though somewhat central course; and some of the
plants I grew along my stream-side, by the margin of
the pool and on the marshy borders, I have already
mentioned. At this period, however, in the history
of my garden, little but a desert of gravel lay on
each side between the stream and the rocky borders of
110
MY GARDEN WILD.
my ground. But I determined to carpet this desert
with Grass and wild flowers, beginning at the stream-
margins and carrying the green garment, on each
side, towards the rocky boundaries. From the water-
margin it was my wish that the grassy sward should
not, in its course outwards, uniformly preserve a dead
level, but should gently rise over the greater part of
its area and form a series of grassy slopes-in places
rising to a height of four or five feet with a rapid
descent on the opposite side (towards the rockeries),
but in other places preserving a level course, in such a
manner that, at irregular intervals, there should be
breaches in the continuity of the mounds or grass
banks. It will be seen that the innermost spaces of my
garden-those between the stream-sides and the crests of
the grassy banks-formed a kind of dell, with a stream
of water winding through its bottom. Upon the
surface of this garden dell I laid the foundations of
forest clumps of shrubbery by planting roots of Haw-
thorn, Gorse, Briar, Bramble, and Honeysuckle, suffi-
ciently close to each other to enable them, as they
grew, to mingle their twigs and foliage. Of these, how-
ever, I shall have more to say by-and-by. I had, of
course, to use imported soil in large quantity for the
formation of the ground plan' of my raised banks; and
I commenced by having the earth placed in the proper
6
FLOWERY GRASS BANKS.
111
position some time before I was ready to cover it with
grass or other plants. In this way ample opportunity
was afforded for the necessary subsidence of the earth
by successive falls of rain. I obtained, for this subsoil,
the subsoil of a forest glade wherein grew Bracken and
Heather; and with the peat and sandy loam which
formed its chief constituents I mingled rich leaf-mould
from a neighbouring wood. Then I began the work of
carpeting my dell with Grass and flowers.
It
But the mention of Grass suggests a green world of
infinite beauty. I can only tread upon its confines.
would be rash in these brief chapters to venture further,
though I shall give some indications of its typical
loveliness. Grass!-a word that to the unknowing and
the unthinking merely means the green plant that
comes everywhere and produces blades' in place of
leaves, and an appearance which very few people recog-
nise as flowers, but put down to be 'seeds.' Do you
know, dear and unreflecting reader, that the green isles
of Britain alone furnish about a hundred and twenty
species of Grass? I should like to have had them all
in my garden, had it been large enough. But I was
content with a few of these wild flowers-for flowers,
and very beautiful flowers, they are, encompassed round
by the bristling awns and enclosed in glumes or chaffy-
looking scales, with their stamens and pistils—all these
112
MY GARDEN WILD.
organs being gathered into spikelets, and these collected
upon the spikes, panicles, or racemes which rise from
every green place. What would the world do if it
were not for its Grass-the vigorous, hardy, enterprising
plants that find no place too dreary for their presence,
no soil too uncongenial for at least some member of
their family? Simple in structure, these interesting
plants illustrate a great principle of growth in the
arrangements of the vegetable world—the principle of
growth from within as distinguished from growth from
without, for all flowering plants come within one of
these two systems of development. The development
of the largest and most important part of our native
vegetation is caused by external additions to bulk,
the accretions being made by concentric layers of
tissue, and the name exogens (I produce outwards')
is given to plants in this great group. Grasses, sedges,
lilies, orchids, tropical palms, and others, produce
their new tissues from within, and are called endo-
gens (I produce from within'). Take the nearest
blade of Grass and see at once the kind of growth of
which it is an example. A split sheath or cylinder
gives off from its summit a blade or leaf. Within the
first sheath is a second and similar one, which, rising a
little above the summit of the lower one, similarly gives
off a leaf. The second leaf-sheath encloses a third,
FLOWERY GRASS BANKS.
113
which, in its turn, rising above the second, also gives
off a leaf. Thus the plant increases, each new growth-
sheath and blade-emerging from within the one last
formed. Similarly from within a cylindrical case rises
the flowering stem, and then proceeds the process of
reproduction.
There is, as I have said, a world of interest and a
world of beauty in Grasses, whose floral splendour adds
many a hue of tender colour to lane, field, and wood;
and certainly those which are commonest and most
easily obtainable are amongst the most beautiful. Let
me enumerate those which I grew in my greensward,
premising that each kind which I introduced I ob-
tained in the form of what, for want of a better word,
may call a 'turf,' but a turf or lump of roots and
earth, with as much soil attached underneath as I
could conveniently secure for the best soil is the
native soil, and Grasses, like other plants, have their
preferences and dislikes.
I
By my stream margins I planted eight species of
wild Grass, four of these on the stream edge. One of
these was the Reed Meadow Grass (Poa aquatica), a
handsome broad-leaved plant, growing to a height of
from three to five or six feet, with a conspicuous com-
pound panicle of blossom, that opens in July, consist-
ing of a main stem or rachis, upon which the branches
H
114
MY GARDEN WILD.
are arranged in alternation, in the form of half-whorls
or half around the stem-a whorl being an arrange-
ment of leaves, or flowers, or branches, in a circle, on
the same level around a common centre. Each up-
right, bud-shaped spikelet on the branches consists of
from four to eight florets or little flowers, the upper
ones of which are the largest. The plant is recorded
in seventy botanical localities.
Very distinct, both in leaf and flower, is the Float-
ing Fox-tail Grass (Alopecurus geniculatus), which I
placed in the same position as the Reed Grass with
relation to the water. Rooting in ditches and stream-
banks, the leaves of this Grass may sometimes be found
floating upon the water, though this particular position
is frequently, perhaps, due to a rise in the level of the
water, and is consequently more or less accidental. All
aquatic plants are subject to such accidents, so that
their normal position with regard to the water can only
be learnt by close and constant observation. The Float-
ing Fox-tail Grass grows to a maximum height of some
fifteen inches, when in congenially moist positions, but
is smaller in size when growing, as it often does, else-
where. The form of its simple flowering panicle, which
is usually one or two inches long, has suggested the
common name of the little group of Grasses to which
it belongs, though this form does not much resemble
FLOWERY GRASS BANKS.
115
that of a fox's tail. It has been recorded as occurring
in ninety-eight botanical districts.
Pigmies, of course, are our ordinary Grasses to the
Reed (Phragmites communis), which is a true Grass
nevertheless, and is recorded in ninety-three districts.
I planted my Reeds one or two around my garden pool,
and one or two along my stream, taking care, however,
to put them in the water, so that their roots should
be covered. The Common Reed grows sometimes, as
every one is aware, to a height of ten feet, and it is
so hardy that I anticipated little trouble in inducing it
to thrive in my enclosure; and I was not disappointed.
I think none of my readers are unacquainted with the
blossom of the Reed-a handsome compound panicle,
drooping curiously on one side, and gracefully spread-
ing the light-brown spikelets of which it is composed.
Another pretty aquatic species of my garden Gra-
minacea, which I planted in the water, was the Water
Whorl Grass (Catabrosa aquatica). The lower portion
of this plant ordinarily floats in the water in a hori-
zontal position, rooting in the bottom, whilst the upper
portion, including the inflorescence, rises a foot or a
foot and a half above it, the entire length of the
plant varying from one to two feet. The blossom is in
the form of a panicle with branches which are unequal
in length, and are loosely spread upon the central
H 2
116
MY GARDEN WILD.
rachis. The leaves are short, more especially the upper
ones, broad, for their length, and obtuse at their tips.
Its vivid green blades, green and purple blossom, and
the whorled form (hence its name) of the branches of
its panicle of blossom make this common weed' very
pretty. Eighty-one botanical districts, at least, possess
the Water Whorl Grass.
A moist position near but not in the water I had
to reserve for four other of my Grasses, and these I
placed, in forming my greensward, immediately next
the edge.
First of these let me mention the very beautiful
Tufted Hair Grass (Aira caespitosa), which may be
only a foot when fully grown, or may be, under congenial
conditions, three feet or even more in height. It is
recorded in ninety-nine botanical districts, grows often-
times in large tufts, has long narrow acute leaves,
stems and leaves being rough to the touch, and the
numerous spikelets which form its graceful panicle
of blossom are spread, as it were, upon a system of
delicate, green, hair-like stalks.
The Purple Melic Grass (Molinia cærulea), a plant
inhabiting the damper parts of moorland country, and
recorded in ninety-five botanical districts, comes next.
Its leaves are of a dark-green hue, growing from a foot
to two feet in length, narrow and much drawn out at
FLOWERY GRASS BANKS.
117
the point, and the bunchy and somewhat irregular
arrangements of the short branches of its panicle of
blossom give to the inflorescence, as a whole, a some-
what depauperated appearance. The flowers are em-
purpled by their large and conspicuous anthers, which
hang out beyond the calices.
Very elegant is the third of my four moisture-
loving Grasses, the Slender False Brome Grass (Brachy-
podium sylvaticum), with its acutely pointed, broad,
and handsome leaves, and raceme of blossoms, cylin-
drical, alternately-placed spikelets, each containing
about ten (in opposite rows of five each) florets
enclosed in bristle-guarded awns. From one foot to
two feet is the length of this Slender False Brome
Grass, which may be found in not less than ninety-
one botanical localities.
Last of my four damp-growing Grasses is the
Spreading Millet Grass (Milium effusum), very pro-
perly so named. In woods and other shady places this
beautiful plant may be found. It has been recorded
in seventy-three districts, its length being sometimes
as much as three or four feet, and its leaves short and
broadly lance-shaped. Its blossom is peculiarly and
characteristically elegant, consisting of a panicle,
somewhat triangular in general form, on whose cen-
tral rachis are set whorls of branches, bearing at the
118
MY GARDEN WILD.
end of long stems little clusters of spikelets. The
lowermost whorls of branches droop, whilst those higher
in the rachis spread outwards horizontally or upwards
diagonally.
Coming now to speak of and describe the Grasses I
grew indiscriminately upon my greensward, I will speak
first of the commonest of all, and which falls little short
of being literally 'everywhere.' This is the Perennial
Rye Grass or Darnel Grass (Lolium perenne), which may
be found in pastures a foot and sometimes two feet in
height. It has sharp-pointed, lance-shaped leaves, and
its blossom is in the form of a spike, with thick bushy-
looking spikelets arranged in two rows alternately on
the rachis of the flowering stem. It has been recorded
in a hundred and three botanical districts.
Next in point of abundance to the Darnel Grass
come the Crested Dog's-tail Grass (Cynosurus cristatus)
and the Fine Bent Grass (Agrostis vulgaris). The
first of these loves a clay soil, and I remembered this
circumstance when preparing the ground immediately
underneath the station I had assigned for them before
putting in my specimens. It attains a length of a
foot or a foot and a half, bears narrow, flat, sharp-
pointed leaves, and upon the top of each flower-stem a
panicle of blossom, brown when ripe, broader at the
base than at the top, and with spikelets closely set
FLOWERY GRASS BANKS.
119
together. The Fine Bent Grass, a pretty little plant
growing from a foot to fifteen inches in height, has short,
flat, pointed leaves, and a panicle of prettily spread-
ing purplish branches of spikelets. Both of the
grasses I have just mentioned are very plentiful, both
having been recorded as occurring in a hundred and
two out of a hundred and twelve botanical districts.
A plant that loves a shady position is the Meadow
Soft Grass (Holcus lanatus), which grows from a foot
to eighteen inches and sometimes more in height, and
begins to flower in July. Though so plentiful, re-
corded in a hundred and two botanical districts, it is very
beautiful. Its leaves are flat, somewhat broad, acute
at the points and hairy, and the sheaths enclosing them
are downy to the touch. Its panicle of blossom, poised
at the end of a long stem, is of a purplish-pink colour,
somewhat triangular in shape, and consists of thickly
clustered branches-less diffuse, however, when fully
opened—of soft spikelets. I planted this pretty Grass
on the shady sides of my clumps of wild shrubbery.
Very distinct from the one just mentioned is the
Soft Brome Grass (Bromus mollis), with its upright
hairy stem, streaked, narrow, lance-shaped, hairy, bluish-
green leaves, and its simple panicle of blossom. The
flower-stem is long, and the flower-panicle at its
upper end consists of stalked, oval-shaped, bristling
120
MY GARDEN WILD.
spikelets, each of which contains about from six to ten
florets. The length of the panicle is ordinarily from
one to three inches, and the entire length of the plant
varies much, being sometimes only a few inches, and at
others a foot and a half or two feet. It is very abun-
dant, recorded in a hundred and one districts, and will
thrive on almost any soil. I adopted with this Grass
the same plan as I adopted with others. Wherever I
found a little patch of the particular species I wanted,
I took it up, sometimes a piece about the size of a
square foot, and sometimes a larger piece, cut out in
the form of a turf, and of an average thickness, so that
I could lay the various pieces side by side and make of
them, when I had finished, a continuous greensward.
Equally common with the Soft Brome Grass was
another species which I put beside it. This was the
Rough Cock's-foot Grass (Dactylis glomerata). Its long,
slightly indented, broad leaves are rough to the touch,
as its name indicates; it grows to a height of two and
sometimes three feet, and its blossoms consist of a com-
pound panicle, including branches, somewhat long-
stemmed, bearing, at the apex of the stems, dense,
tufted, oval-shaped clusters of spikelets. Each spike-
let contains about three florets, the awns of which are
of a vivid green colour. The hairy roughness which
characterises this Grass is noticeable in all its parts.
FLOWERY GRASS BANKS.
121
1
When its flowers are in full bloom, the stamens, rising
beyond their enclosing glumes, display their anthers like
little standards hoisted over embattled fortifications.
Not alone in meadow and field but in almost every
waste place this Grass is to be found, for it is recorded
as occurring in a hundred and one districts.
The delightful odour of hay is due to the presence,
amongst the drying blades, of the Sweet-scented Vernal
Grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum). But it is not only
when the Grass has been cut that this pleasant perfume
is emitted. Who is there that has not often been aware
of its presence when walking across summer fields on
which the sun has been shining, or in the cool evening
after a sunny day? To me no perfume is more sweet ;
and I determined that my greensward should largely
consist of this pretty Vernal Grass, which flowers so early,
oftentimes in April, and goes on flowering through
succeeding months. It grows a foot or a foot and a
half high, has pale-green, narrow, ribbed, and somewhat
hairy leaves, and produces its flowers in the form of a
simple, oblong, spike-like panicle, an inch or occasionally
several inches in length. The spikelets are closely set.
on the panicle or principal spike, and, when the flowers
are open, the purple, oblong anthers-widely cleft at
each end-of the stamens, are projected beyond the
glumes, poised at the end of the delicate stamen fila-
122.
MY GARDEN WILD.
ments, thus making them very conspicuous. Sometimes
the anthers are yellow, and the glumes also become
yellow, when the seed is fully ripened. The Sweet-
scented Vernal Grass is recorded in ninety-nine districts.
As abundant as the Sweet-scented Vernal Grass is the
Marsh Bent Grass (Agrostis alba), which does not, as its
name might suggest, require an especially damp position.
I therefore planted it in the same situation as Antho-
xanthum odoratum. The Marsh Bent Grass attains
a length of from a few inches to two feet. Its leaves
are short and narrow, and its flowers are borne in a
branched panicle, which, in general form, is somewhat
narrowly triangular. The branches are placed on
alternate sides of the rachis, and are stalked, but they
diminish in size, and the stalks diminish in length
towards the apex of the panicle, thus giving it its
triangular appearance.
I determined that three of the commonest' of
meadow Grasses should find a place in my garden, and
I gave them as hearty a welcome as any of the plants I
had already introduced. And first, the most common
was one that perhaps more than any other conveys the
popular idea to those who recognise no diversity in
these interesting vegetable forms-of Grass. The species
I allude to is the Annual Meadow Grass (Poa annua),
which finds its way, so great are its hardiness, enter-
FLOWERY GRASS BANKS.
123
prise, and persistence, everywhere. If my reader, on
perusing this last sentence, will walk into his garden, or
into the nearest place where he is likely to find a bit
of earth and a stray 'weed,' he will probably find that
the first Grass root he encounters will be Poa annua.
It is a little Grass, sometimes only an inch or two in
length, and not exceeding a foot or fifteen inches. Its
leaves are bright green and narrow, and its terminal
panicle of flowers-from one inch to three in length-
spreads in a triangular form, is green or purple-hued,
and consists of branches placed alternately on the
rachis or in opposite pairs, and divided into a number,
usually from five to eight, of ovate spikelets. The
Annual Meadow Grass is something more than‘annual,'
for it flowers and seeds from the spring through the
summer and well into autumn, so that its ubiquitousness
can scarcely be a matter for wonder.
A near relative of this Meadow Grass is the next of
my three common Grasses. This is the Smooth-stalked
Meadow Grass (Poa pratensis), found in ninety-eight
districts, whose slender stems reach a length of a foot,
and sometimes of two feet. Its flowers are somewhat
similar to those of its congener just mentioned, the
panicle being triangular in shape, but the branches are
arranged in separate clusters, whorl-like, around the
rachis, and the glumes of its lower florets are webbed.
124
MY GARDEN WILD.
Next of the three comes the Roughish Meadow
Grass (Poa trivialis), whose stems and stem-sheaths are
ordinarily rough to the touch, and whose leaves are
broad and acute-pointed. Its panicle of blossom is
somewhat similar to that of Poa pratensis, as the
plant seldom exceeds eighteen inches in length, and it
is
very abundant equally abundant with the species I
have just described.
6
Equally common' too-but none the less was it
welcome in my garden-is the creeping Couch Grass or
Wheat Grass (Triticum repens). It grows from a foot
to two feet or more in height, has long, broad, acute-
pointed, handsome leaves, and a spike of blossom, some-
times only two, and sometimes eight, nine, and ten
inches long, consisting of oval spikelets placed in close
alternation on the rachis. Each spikelet includes five
or six florets, out of the glumes of which, as in the
Sweet-scented Vernal Grass and in other species, peep
the curious double-cleft anthers of the stamens.
The Sheep's Fescue Grass (Festuca ovina), a pretty
little plant of a few inches in height, although some-
times as high as two feet when growing under unusually
favourable conditions, I also included in my green-
sward. On hillsides, woods, and moors it abounds.
its small form it grows in little tufts of small, pointed
blades, with tall flower-stems, at the tops of which are
In
FLOWERY GRASS BANKS.
125
the spikes of bloom, each spike ordinarily divided into
oval-shaped spikelets placed in close alternation along
on each side of the rachis, and, when ripening, of a pur-
plish hue. It is recorded in ninety-seven districts.
Very common on moorlands and also on waste places
where the soil is sandy is the Mat Grass (Nardus
stricta), which forms dense little bristling tufts of rigid
channelled leaves and very slender spikes of blossom, the
slender lance-shaped spikelets of which, containing each
one flower, are ranged in two rows on one side of the
rachis. Its hardy persistence induced me to place it in
my garden along with the other Grasses. It may be
found in, at least, ninety-four districts.
The cylindrical flower-spikes of the Meadow Fox-
tail Grass (Alopecurus pratensis), mounted on the tops
of their tall stems, and showing when their blossom is
ripe the yellow anthers of the stamens, rendered them
distinct enough from the species last named to induce
me to place this species next to Nardus stricta in my
garden. It is one of the most edible of Grasses, and its
flat, sharp-pointed leaves are somewhat rough on both
upper and under sides. It is not fond of too much
moisture, though it likes an admixture of clay in the
soil in which it grows. It is as abundant as the species
last described.
If the flower-spikes of the Foxtail Grasses are not
126
MY GARDEN WILD.
much like the vulpine appendage which has suggested
their name, I can hardly say I think that the name
of another Grass which I grew in my garden, side by
side with Alopecurus pratensis, has a better ap-
pellation. Phleum pratense, or the Cat's-tail Grass, is
the species I refer to. It grows to a maximum height
of two feet, but is often much less tall. Its noticeable
feature is its very long cylindrical flower-spike, which is
pretty uniformly oval throughout, and is sometimes as
much as six inches in length. It is densely crowded by
green spikelets, each of which contains a single flower.
Its leaves are somewhat short, broad-pointed, and bluish
green in colour. It is recorded in ninety-five districts.
My desire to introduce as much variety as possible
in the contiguous Grasses of my greensward induced me
to put next to Phleum pratense the Wavy Mountain Hair
Grass (Aira flexuosa), an exceedingly pretty species, with
very narrow, acute leaves, which grow in tufts from the
crown of the plant and with a loose spreading com-
pound panicle of flowers, the sparsely arranged spikelets
of which contain each a couple of florets-the colour of
the entire inflorescence being, when ripe, a rich light-
brown colour. The almost hair-like leaves are of a
dark-green hue, and the entire plant attains a height of
from a foot to a foot and a half. Its presence has been
recorded in ninety-one districts.
FLOWERY GRASS BANKS.
127
Growing with equal abundance is the Decumbent
Heath Grass (Triodia decumbens), a little plant-two
or three inches and sometimes a foot high-that grows
on heaths and moors. Its short, narrow leaves grow in
tufts, and their sheaths, slightly hairy, have a fringe of
hairs at the top just where the leaf emerges. The
flowers are produced at the end of a short stem in small
panicles, each of which contains five or six egg-shaped
spikelets. It is recorded in ninety-one districts.
I introduced two other Hair Grasses in addition to
those I have already mentioned, and I planted them
near my patches of Decumbent Heath Grass. The first
of these was the Early Hair Grass (Aira præcox), which
derives its common name from the early period—
May—at which it flowers, and ripens its seed—early
that is to say, by comparison with the other species.
of its genus, which are a month or two later. It is
a little Grass, only a few inches, though sometimes
twelve, in length. It has rather rough and narrow
leaves, and numerous panicles or spikes of blossom, very
upright in habit and carried upon the ends of long
stems, each panicle consisting of a few closely arranged
spikelets provided with bristling hairs. Ninety-two
botanical districts, at least, possess this species.
The beautiful Silver Hair Grass (Aira caryophyllea),
that is recorded in ninety districts was the next I intro-
128
MY GARDEN WILD.
duced. It is a little plant from six to twelve inches in
length, with small, narrow, and somewhat rough leaves,
and branched and spreading panicles of silvery-hued
blossom, and it grows in tufts, and may ordinarily be
looked for in dry and sandy spots. Its stems are some-
times purplish in colour.
6
All the Grasses I have thus far mentioned are so
abundant that the last of them, though the least
plentiful, has been recorded, as I have shown, in ninety
out of the hundred and twelve botanical districts referred
to in the London Catalogue.' Beautiful as these
plants are, they will mostly thrive in poor soil, and they
thus give proof of their great adaptibility for the beau-
tification of the meanest places of the earth. One very
beautiful species that I took the earliest opportunity of
including in my garden greensward was the Common
Quaking Grass (Briza media), whose beautiful, trian-
gular-branched panicle of spreading spikelets, each of
which, poised on a long and delicate stalk, is so curi-
ously like a Scotch Fir Cone, green at first and then
becoming purplish, must be familiar to almost everybody,
for it is to be found in, at least, eighty-six localities.
I have not especially mentioned in each case the
flowering time of the Grasses I grew, but it was scarcely
necessary, because, taking them generally, they are
essentially summer-flowering plants, usually blossoming
FLOWERY GRASS BANKS.
129
in June, and perfecting their seeds in the following
month. Sometimes the processes may be a month
earlier or later, but the midsummer season is usually
the time when they are at the height of their glory.
The Meadow Fescue Grass (Festuca pratensis) found
a place in my garden. It is an abundant species, re-
corded in eighty-three out of a hundred and twelve
botanical districts. Its blades are small, narrow, and
acute-pointed, and its flowers are produced in branched
panicles which are alternately placed upon the rachis,
and include bristling, oval-shaped spikelets of florets.
It is very hardy, and will grow almost anywhere.
I have nearly finished the history of my garden
Grasses, and only three remain to be mentioned. The
first of these-a species recorded in seventy-eight
botanical districts out of the total number-is the
Wood Melic Grass (Melica uniflora).
This very
beautiful plant loves moisture and a clay soil, and
acquires a length of from a foot to eighteen inches. Its
leaves are long, thin, acute-pointed, and somewhat
rough to the touch. But its distinct and noticeable
feature is its inflorescence, which is extremely elegant,
consisting of slender, branched panicles, each branch
upon the main rachis having a long stem and two or
three stalked spikelets, the spikelets being oval-shaped,
or urn-shaped, and light brown in colour.
I
130
MY GARDEN WILD.
The pretty Wall Barley, Wild Barley, or Barley
Grass (Hordeum murinum), is familiar to most
children. Where is the country boy who does not re-
member to have often put a spike of this imitation
barley in his sleeve in order to see how far it would
travel, aided by the prickly roughness of its stem and
bristling spikelets? It grows on walls or rocks, wher-
ever there is a moist inviting seam of earth, and its
crowded, bearded spikes are, in general appearance, so
much like miniature barley that particular description
is not necessary.
The last species which I introduced into my
greensward-and there were, in all, no less than thirty-
three kinds-was the Bearded Rye Grass, or Darnel
Grass (Lolium temulentum), whose especial peculiarity
is its curiously twisted or zigzag rachis, upon which are
placed, in two rows, alternating with each other, the
upright spikelets. This interesting Grass has been re-
corded in sixty-five out of a hundred and twelve bota-
nical localities: each of its spikelets includes about
five or six florets, and its leaves are lance-shaped, in
form acute-pointed, rough on their surface, and slightly
indented upon their edges.
My list of the Grasses I grew is now exhausted. But
though I have only given about one-fourth of the
number which might have been included of our native
FLOWERY GRASS BANKS.
131
6
Grasses, I have, I think, included all the types of
beauty; and I especially selected the commonest
species, because they were so easily obtained, and were
not, on that account, any the less beautiful. It is too
much the habit of this world to praise and value what is
rare, simply because it is rare, and not because of its
intrinsic beauty. Whatever may be the case with
some things whose rarity may be proportioned to their
beauty, it is not so with plants. On the contrary, the
most beautiful types are often the commonest, if beauty
be estimated, not by the standard of rarity, but by
elegance of form and harmony of colouring.
In describing my flowery grass banks I have first
dealt with the Grass itself, in order to show that its
blossom makes no small share of contribution to the
beauty of the whole. But though I have thus kept my
Grass flowers separate from the others which adorned
my banks, it must not be understood that all my Grass
was introduced first, and all my other flowers after-
wards. It was very seldom that I found Grass of any
kind alone. Some other field flower was certain, in
some stage of its existence, to be growing with it and
mingling its roots with the grass roots; and, faithful
to my principles, I took them up together just as I
found them, and thus transplanted them.
As on my grass-collecting excursions no plants
I 2
132
MY GARDEN WILD.
forced themselves, so to speak, so prominently upon
my notice as the Buttercups, they are fairly entitled
to be mentioned first in the enumeration of my green-
sward flowers. I cannot dwell, within the limits of
this chapter, upon the delightful associations which
crowd in upon my mind at the mere mention of these
more than harbingers of spring. It would be quite
impossible to measure the enjoyment-it is so vast and
far-reaching—which these charming plants have given
to millions. Suffice it that the mere thought of them,
and of all that they represent and suggest, is enough to
excite a glow of intense pleasure even in the town-weary
man in mid-winter. My readers have experienced this
pleasure, and I know they will follow my description of
my Buttercups and of those Buttercup relations which
I introduced into my garden grass land. The Buttercups
belong to a big family of varied relationships bearing
the comprehensive ordinal designation of Ranuncu-
laceœ-a name partly derived from the word rana,
meaning a frog, and intended to indicate, in its appli-
cation to the vegetable world, plants which love, like
frogs, to live in damp places. Frogs must surely be de-
lighted by the association-not the ordinal association-
but the real association with the plants themselves. Ast
tadpoles they must get pleasure in wriggling between the
mazy green tracery of Ranunculus aquatilis ; later they
FLOWERY GRASS BANKS.
133
find luxurious shade under the floating crowfoot leaves,
and finally, in the meadow ramblings which vary the
monotony of a waterside life, who can say that they
do not intensely enjoy the sight of the golden cups
which sway aloft as they look up from the cool and
cosy depths of clustering grass blades?
I grew just a dozen kinds of Buttercup, or rather
I should say of plants of the genus Ranunculus, because,
though close relations of the golden flowers which
covered the meadows, they were not all Buttercups. I
grew these, besides the Wood Anemone and the Marsh
Marigold, two plants which, if they do not come quite
within that group in the arrangement of the botanists,
belong nevertheless to the great order Ranunculaceæ.
Certainly the typical Buttercups of the fields, though
so very common, are second to none of the interesting
group for beauty. The commonest of these are the
Upright Meadow Crowfoot (Ranunculus acris), the
Creeping Meadow Crowfoot (Ranunculus repens), and
the Bulbous Crowfoot (Ranunculus bulbosus). The
two first mentioned of the three often grow together
and are commonly confounded with each other. But
one or two marks of distinction will be sufficient to
note. The Upright Meadow Crowfoot-it is the leaf
which is the (fanciful) crow's foot-may be only six
or eight inches high, and it may be three feet, in which
134
MY GARDEN WILD.
case it exceeds by a foot the maximum height of
Ranunculus repens. Its more upright habit, its
more slender stems, the narrower segments of its upper
leaves, and the form of its footstalks, which are cylin-
drical and not furrowed like those of its congener,
distinguish it from Ranunculus repens. The rootstock,
too, of Ranunculus acris is straight, and it is not
furnished with the creeping scions which characterise
the Creeping Meadow Crowfoot. The Bulbous Buttercup
(Ranunculus bulbosus) may, as its name suggests, be
distinguished from the other two by its bulbous root,
or rather the bulbous character of the base of its stem,
and by the circumstance that the sepals of its calyx are
reflexed or bent down after the manner of the sepals of
a ripe raspberry. Of the three species the Bulbous
Crowfoot is the smallest, its maximum height seldom,
if ever, exceeding a foot. In the matter of their
distribution, whilst Ranunculus bulbosus is recorded
in eighty-nine out of a hundred and twelve botanical
districts, its two congeners are recorded in a hundred and
three. Looking for these Buttercups in the fields, one
may often find them almost monopolising the ground
even to the exclusion in places of the ubiquitous
Grass. I obtained my specimens in large patches,
sometimes a foot square, without disturbing in the
least their roots. They are wonderfully hardy.
FLOWERY GRASS BANKS.
135
There were few things more pleasant to do in all I
did for my garden than to go out in May, when the
fields were glowing with the gold of the Buttercups, and
bring in little masses of these beautiful plants in full
bloom. So successful was my method of transplanta-
tion that my plants bloomed on as if nothing had
happened. The open flowers continued, as they would
have done in their native fields, to hold up their sunny
cups during their full term, and the buds, unopened
at the time of removal, displayed their golden interiors
in due course.
In the matter of soil I found what I
had prepared admirably suited them. But the field
Buttercups are among the most contented and least
fastidious of plants, and the commonest soil of any garden
would please them sufficiently to induce hardy growth.
Not because it
'Comes before the swallow dares
And takes the winds of March with beauty,'
nor because it is a favourite of the poets, and especially
of Wordsworth, do I confess to an especial fondness for
another Buttercup, the Little Celandine (Ranunculus
ficaria), but because I never could resist the especial
charm of this delightful and beautiful plant. Though
I had taken several large patches into my garden, I
always found it difficult to resist taking in more when-
ever, in succeeding seasons, I came upon them. I think
136
MY GARDEN WILD.
it is their earliness and their especial freshness which
attract me and win my particular regard. The first
sprinkling of gold upon the meadows, noticed by early
wanderers afield after the cheerless reign of winter, is
ordinarily believed by them, if they are not of those
who observe closely, to arise from the first blossoming of
premature Meadow or Creeping Crowfoot, because it is
usual to look for the Little Celandine on moist hedge-
banks, and on the slopes of streambanks. But closer
inspection will show-it may be as early as January or
February, and not often later than March or April-that
the yellow cups have eight or more petals instead of the
five of the better-known Buttercups; that, instead of
being modelled upon the Crowfoot pattern, the leaves are
heart-shaped, glossy, and beautifully veined; that their
dark-green colour is contrasted by patches of lighter
hue, and that stems and leaves are singularly fresh-
looking, crisp, and fleshy. Though they are often
spread over the entire surface of a meadow, it is mostly
in the damper locality of a moist stream-bank, or on
the wet slope of a wood, or on the high banks of a damp
green lane, that they love to crowd. The especial mois-
ture of clay soil attracts them, and though it is common
to see large clustering patches of small plants, some-
times much larger specimens may be found, six or seven
inches in length, growing under especially favourable
FLOWERY GRASS BANKS.
137
conditions.
A curious feature of the Lesser Celandine
is the little, fleshy, oblong tubers, which may be or-
dinarily seen attached to their roots if a plant be pulled
up. These tubers have the same function as little
potatoes. They serve to propagate the plant, which
seldom perfects its seed. When the stems and leaves
of the mature plant die away at the end of their season,
the tubers remain in the ground, and, in the succeeding
season, develop into little plants. I placed a number of
my specimens of the Little Celandine on my stream-
bank, but others I put out amongst the Grasses of my
greensward. Not even the hardest of winters or the
severest of frosts affected them. Each succeeding
season the pretty little green, fleshy, heart-shaped leaves
came up, where they had appeared before, with singular
persistence.
A huge Buttercup in every sense is the Marsh Mari-
gold (Caltha palustris), though it seldom grows away
from the extreme water's edge, preferring to have its
roots covered with water. It looks very much like
overgrown specimens of the Little Celandine, its leaves
being heart-shaped, deep green, and fleshy, and its leaf-
stems being the same. But it has the especial Butter-
cup blossom, brilliant glossy yellow, with five sepals in
the floral envelope. It will sometimes attain a very
large size, specimens varying from six or eight inches
138
MY GARDEN WILD.
in height to three feet, though the maximum size is
only attained under exceptionally favourable conditions.
The plants of this species which I obtained for my
garden I found growing in a marsh in liquid mud,
which was, however, sufficiently adherent to its roots to
keep these in their normal condition. I planted them
quite down to the stream edge in places, so that the
water touched their roots. Others I placed in my
marshy tract near the edge and in the neighbourhood of
my Marsh Ferns. In both cases the transplantation
was successful, and their brilliant blossoms, coming sc
early in the year, lent an especial element of beauty to
my garden. I must not forget to state that, in addition
to the soil which I obtained with my roots of Caltha
palustris, I was careful to put in the places I had
selected for them subsoil of strong clay loam, and in
that they succeeded admirably. The Marsh Marigold
is found in, at least, ninety-nine botanical districts.
Near my Marsh Marigolds I put a few specimens of
the Lesser Spearwort (Ranunculus flammula), a plant
which grows in just the same positions as Caltha
palustris, and bears yellow flowers of just the Buttercup
pattern. It is, however, more abundant, and is recorded
in a hundred and three districts. But its leaves are
very distinct, and, unlike those of the Crowfoot, are
lance-shaped and slightly indented. Though its yellow,
FLOWERY GRASS BANKS.
139
five-petalled blossoms are smaller than those of the
ordinary field Buttercups, the leaves oftentimes attain
a length of a foot. Of all our species of Ranunculus
the Creeping Crowfoot, the Upright Meadow Crowfoot,
and the Lesser Spearwort are the most widely distri-
buted. Though not quite so plentiful, the others I
grew are very abundant, and I shall speak of them in
the order of their distribution.
Scarcely needing more description than that given
by its name, the Ivy-leaved Crowfoot (Ranunculus
hederaceus) may be recognised by its general Butter-
cup likeness when the distinction is noted that its
flowers are white instead of being yellow, and that it
is a little plant. It has a creeping stem, and pro-
pagates itself by throwing out rootlets from each leaf
axis where the stem touches the ground. As it loves
very moist positions, growing in water where it is
shallow, I placed my little patches of plants, as I ob-
tained them, close by the banks of my garden stream,
letting them keep company with the other more or
less aquatic members of their family. Ranunculus
hederaceus is recorded in ninety-one botanical districts.
And perhaps the most conspicuous of these aquatic
members of the family is the Water Crowfoot (Ranun-
culus aquatilis), an especially delightful plant because
of its association with running water, with forest pools
140
MY GARDEN WILD.
and wayside ponds and streams. Who is there that
cannot remember the pleasure of resting on the green
margin of some brook whilst watching the waving to
and fro of its submerged hairlike leaves swayed by the
motion of the current, and then turning to admire the
beautiful array of its golden-centred, five-petalled
white blossoms? A most variable plant is the Water
Ranunculus, so variable that many botanists have taken
infinite pains, in the ardour of species-making, to
point out such distinctions as would warrant them in
giving separate names to presumed varieties. But
much of the variety of this species of Ranunculus is
doubtless due to accidental conditions of growth. It
is interesting to note how Nature adapts this beautiful
plant to its watery habitat, moulding the lower leaves,
to adapt them to the passage between them of the
water, into hair-like segments, whilst the upper leaves,
which float on the surface of stream or pond, are of au
entirely different form, being divided merely into three,
or five, rounded lobes, the lobes being more or less.
indented. I found it best to plant my Water Ranun-
culus roots, at first, in the shallow parts of the stream
near the edge where the water was little affected by
the current. By this means the plants became es-
tablished without any disturbance of their roots, or of
the soil around them, by the motion of the stream.
FLOWERY GRASS BANKS.
141
Then, as they increased in size and number, they
pushed out into deeper water, but taking a diagonal
course down stream.
In the stream I also grew several specimens of the
Celery-leaved Crowfoot (Ranunculus sceleratus), a
large plant growing sometimes to a height of two feet,
although more commonly met with of smaller size.
It is recorded in eighty-eight districts. It has an up-
right, hollow stem and smooth, glossy leaves which are
three-cleft, each of the three divisions or lobes being
crenated, the indentations being blunt. The flowers are
numerous, somewhat small in size, and pale yellow in
colour; and the resulting carpels, or seed-vessels, are
collected in an oblong green head, which developes as
the petals die away after the periodical flowering. I
planted the Celery-leaved Crowfoot exactly in the same
way as I had planted Ranunculus aquatilis, and I
found it a most vigorous grower.
I must now mention the abundant and beautiful
Wood Anemone (Anemone nemorosa), which, though
not included amongst the genus Ranunculus, is never-
theless a true Crowfoot, and one of the great order of
Ranunculaceae. I hesitate to say that I had an especial
fondness for this charming plant, because my likings
for plants are somewhat too universal.
There is no
wild plant I do not like very much. I confess—and I
142
MY GARDEN WILD.
should not obtrude such a confession upon my readers
did I not feel that I am speaking the thoughts of very
many of them—that I never tire of looking at wild
plants. The contemplation of them, if they are really
wild, and not the forced hybrids or monstrosities of a
garden or a greenhouse, gives me an indefinable sense
of pleasure. To me every growing thing is very beauti-
ful, and if any censorious reader is inclined to sneer at
what he may term my 'sentiment,' I cannot help it.
I love all my wild plants; but, whatever may be my
feelings with regard to the Wood Anemone, I think
that those most insensible to the beauty and charm of
everything in Nature could not look upon this lovely
plant and its lovely blossom without feelings of
pleasure. Its trifoliate, three-lobed leaves, unaccom-
panied by flowers, might appear at first sight, to the
uninitiated, like those of delicate and finely-cut speci-
mens of the Meadow Buttercup. But a darkness and
richness of hue distinguish Anemone nemorosa from
the Ranunculus family, and its drooping blossoms are
unmistakable; for they are large white cups, an inch or
an inch and a half in diameter, of six or seven pieces
delicately flushed with pink, and they gracefully droop
from the end of long stems. The favourite haunts'
(the use of this word pleasantly suggests life and reality)
of the Wood Anemone are the shady sides of forest
FLOWERY GRASS BANKS.
143
clumps, where they snugly nestle amongst the Grass
and small undergrowth. There, always, the earth is
soft and spongy by the long accumulation of fallen
leaves, and there the fibres of the horizontally spread-
ing, woody rootstocks revel in congenial soil. I
brought many beautiful clumps of these delightful
plants, whose roots were snugly ensconced in their
leafy soil, into my garden, placing them, some in shady
clefts of rockery, but most of them close by my green-
sward clumps. I always took with them a lot of soil
from the forest glade whence I obtained them; but I
also put some leaf-mould, gathered from the same spot,
into the corners I chose to grow them in; and so care-
fully did I transplant them that not a single leaf hung
its head upon removal, and the flowers, which I often
brought in full bloom from the wood, went on blooming
as if nothing had happened. The Wood Anemone
grows in not less than ninety-three districts.
I have already mentioned the Lesser Spearwort,
and now I must call attention to its near relative
the Great Spearwort (Ranunculus lingua), a much
larger though a less common, plant, than its immediate
congener. It is recorded in seventy-two districts.
It has lance-shaped, indented, saw-edged leaves, and
large, bright-yellow, five-petalled, though not very
numerous, flowers. Its specialty is its great size, for
144
MY GARDEN WILD.
it is a veritable giant amongst Buttercups, attaining
a height, under favourable conditions, of nearly four
feet. It is essentially a water-loving Ranunculus, and
I therefore planted it in my stream shallows, adopting
exactly the same course as I had done in the case of
my other aquatic species.
Brief mention of two other of my wild Buttercups
will bring to a close my discussion of the Ranunculacea
which contributed to my garden collection. These are
the Pale Hairy Buttercup (Ranunculus hirsutus) and
the Corn Crowfoot (Ranunculus arvensis). The pro-
minent character of the Hairy Buttercup is indicated
by its name. Though sometimes found growing to a
height of two feet, it is commonly much smaller-
smaller, indeed, ordinarily than the Upright, the Bul-
bous, or the Creeping Meadow Buttercup. It is subject
to much variation, but its normal leaves are thrice-
foliate and indented on their lobe-margins. The
flowers are large, sometimes an inch in diameter, and
stems and leaves are covered with down, by which
mark it is best known. It grows in only about sixty-
six districts.
The Corn Crowfoot seems to delight especially in
the neighbourhood of cornfields, and grows amidst the
growing corn; and it is remarkable for the narrowness
of the segments into which its thrice-foliate leaves are
FLOWERY GRASS BANKS.
145
cut. It sometimes attains a height of two feet, though
it is frequently much smaller, and its blossoms are pale
yellow in colour. The succeeding carpels form a prickly
head of fructification. I grew my specimens on my
open grassy level, and found them thrive with hardy
persistence. The Corn Crowfoot occurs in not less
than sixty-five botanical districts.
Had I wished to do so, I could scarcely have avoided
the Daisy (Bellis perennis). It is the natural ally and
associate of Grass, and appears in every part of the
grass world, if not in blossom and conspicuous, at least
in some stage of its existence. If I had striven to keep
it out of my garden wild, it would unquestionably have
baffled my efforts, and appeared somewhere. It is need-
less to say that no plant is more abundant and more
widely distributed. Possibly its old name of the day's
eye,' from which its modern popular name is derived,
may have been partly suggested by its extraordinary
abundance, for the eye of the day is everywhere.
devoted two whole sloping banks, where the ground
began to rise from its level near the edge of my stream,
to my daisies, and there was nothing in my garden
which gave me greater pleasure, and was more refresh-
ing and delightful to the eye, than my daisy banks
when, in the early summer, they were almost sheets of
white with their delightful bloom. I never pulled
K
C
I
146
MY GARDEN WILD.
up' a daisy root, but always took my plants embedded
in little clumps with the roots of Grass and sometimes-
of Buttercups with which their own roots were en-
tangled. Occasionally I removed a solitary plant with
perhaps one solitary flower; but much more frequently
there were several of the pretty, simple little root-
stocks growing together in close partnership. I always
transplanted the clump with a good thickness of earth,
so that their roots were not touched, and they grew
even whilst I was bearing them home!
From Daisies it is natural to turn to Primroses and
Cowslips. Almost as widely distributed as the beau-
tiful Bellis perennis, the Primrose (Primula vulgaris)
is equally well-known-primrose-roots crowding each
other so closely in the damp corners of some copses as
to allow of nothing else growing between them; the
plants filling the air, when in blossom, with their espe-
cial and delightful perfume. But though the sight of
a great host of Primroses is very beautiful, I think the
most charming and delightful effect produced by these
lovely plants is when, in the flowering time, they are
distributed, not in close profusion over particular spots
of level ground, but in little clusters over the wild rocky
irregularities of some forest dell-in such illustrative
instances as those I have in my mind's eye occupying
every 'coign of vantage' by growing in every conceiv-
FLOWERY GRASS BANKS.
147
able position and aspect, above, beneath, around; some
on level ground, some on sloping banks, some in rocky
corners-nestling in semi-gloom, growing boldly in the
sun; in places content with a dry and breezy position,
in others revelling in the moisture-laden atmosphere of
a waterfall. It is in the early season that a bit of wild
woodland decked with the sweet blossoms of the Prim-
rose looks so delightful, when the scene is bare of other
greenery and of other flowers. The suddenly sweet
reminder of spring when one comes, unawares, for
instance, upon a bit of such genuine Primrose ground
as I am describing is very delightful. It seems veritable
fairyland--so much of refreshing greenness in the ample
leaves and such a wealth of sulphur-coloured bloom.
There was scarcely any corner of my garden in which I
did not put at least one Primrose root-by my stream-
margin, on my open grass bank, in my rockery.
Scarcely any soil suits them so well as rich, clay loam.
It is generally in the damp clay soils of copse or hedge-
row that they are found growing in greatest abundance
and greatest perfection. The weight of the clumps I
removed, when I had earth enough to prevent any
disturbance of the roots, always told me what my plants
liked, and I always took care to supply them with
additional earth of the same kind. Perhaps few plants.
in the whole of my garden gave me so much pleasure at
K 2
148
MY GARDEN WILD.
their particular season as did my Primroses. When
all their leafing and blossoming were over, they tempo-
rarily slipped from my recollection, and my thoughts
and my interest reverted to the flowers that succeeded
them. Time went on and I sometimes forgot my Prim-
roses; autumn succeeded summer, and winter autumn,
and then, when the time for spring again was beginning
to approach, I walked into my garden to find that
empty corners were filled with green leaves and pale
flowers that looked out from their nooks with lovely
complacency, seeming, in the somewhat bleak, half-
wintry scene, as if they had opened, by some mischance,
And yet there are few plants that so well, by
their form and colour, accord with the early days of un-
awakened spring. The Primrose is recorded in ninety-
seven botanical districts.
too soon.
I am tempted to trouble my readers with a little
study of Cowslips. If my description should give a
portion of the pleasure the study itself gave me, I shall
need no apology for introducing it. The Cowslip
(Primula veris) is a plant well worth careful examina-
tion; and for those who love the country I can conceive
of no more delightful occupation by way of varying the
study of Nature as a whole than a minute inspection of
parts of plants which, though inconspicuous at a dis-
tance, contribute to the beauty and usefulness of the
FLOWERY GRASS BANKS.
149
whole. My Cowslips I had planted in various parts of
my garden; many of them on the level grassy sward
that ran on each side of my stream; others on the
slopes which formed my green banks; others again in
portions of my rockery. One plant which I had placed
in a nook of rockery with a south-west aspect, though
small, when I first removed it from an open meadow in
the turf in which it was growing, developed so much
that by the third year it had a cluster of no less than
sixty leaves and six stems of flowers forming quite a
little group. The central stem had fourteen blossoms,
two others had each seven, two others five each, and
the remaining one six. The main flower-stem of the
central bunch was nine inches long, the other stems
being an inch or two shorter. The minute, white,
surface hairs appeared like a delicate white bloom
overspreading the smooth, round flower-stems. The
apex of each principal flowering stem is somewhat
thickened at the point which gives origin to the short,
slender stems of the individual blossoms, and at the
base and outside each of these lesser stems is a small,
green, lance-shaped bract. The pedicels, or little flower-
stems, are of varying lengths and are curved, and the
blossoms half droop, thus somewhat resembling a small
bunch of keys, an appearance which may have suggested
the appellation of Herb Peter, one of the common
150
MY GARDEN WILD.
names of Primula veris. The principal flower-stem
and the secondary or little stems are pale green in
colour, as is also the long, urn-shaped calyx of each
blossom. The calyx is five-ribbed or angled, the
continuation of each rib forming the apex of each of
the five, pointed segments into which its upper part is
divided; and, like the main flowering stem, the little
flower-stems and the surface of the calyx are overspread
by fine, short hairs. The long, cylindrical tube of the
corolla is much narrower than the calyx-tube into the
bottom of which it is inserted. Its colour, where it is
covered by the calyx, is a pale yellowish green, but
where it protrudes beyond the calyx-mouth it is a
bright yellow. The tube is widest at the base, narrow
upwards (unlike the calyx-tube, which is widest about
its centre and narrow at either end), and becomes
suddenly dilated just before it opens out into the five,
spreading, notched lobes of its limb. The part of the
corolla which is thus dilated corresponds to the portion,
on its inside, where the five, oval-shaped, almost sessile,
stamens are inserted; and the latter by this means have
more room. Nothing can be prettier than the small,
concave cup of the Cowslip flower, its colour a deep
rich yellow, its five, notched segments (each, by the
rounded form of the notch, becoming heartshaped)
having five orange-coloured spots at their bases, one
FLOWERY GRASS BANKS.
151
y
spot at the base of each just above the upper end of the
corolla-tube. At the base of and inside the corolla-
tube is the round, shining-green capsule, germen, or
ovary, surmounted by its straight, long, green style
crowned by the stigma, which is in the form of a some-
what cylindrical head, and reaches to within a short
distance of the stamens that, as we have seen, are
inserted, on such short filaments as to be almost sessile,
into the sides of the corolla-tube. The Cowslip flowers
offer a simple example of the simplest form of umbel,
and good and complete examples in each blossom of all
the floral organs.
The sweet perfume of each blossom,
too, makes the work of carefully studying its external
form and structure exceptionally pleasant and delight-
ful. The Cowslip may be found in not less than eighty
botanical localities.
My flowery grass-banks, or rather my level space of
flower-bespangled Grass, would have been sadly defi-
cient in one essential element of beauty had I omitted the
Lady's Smock, Bitter Cress or Cuckoo Flower (Cardamine
pratensis). Its very profuseness in the low-lying or
water-side parts of meadows invited and suggested its
presence in my garden, where I gave my plants a posi-
tion by the stream side. A somewhat near relation to
the Watercress, the Cuckoo Flower, in some parts of
the world, is eaten in the form of salad. But I need
152
MY GARDEN WILD.
scarcely say I did not put mine to so useful a purpose.
The plant can scarcely be unfamiliar to any of my
readers. But if it should be let me just say that its
height varies, according to its more or less congenial
position, from six inches or a foot to two feet, and
that it has two kinds of leaves, both pinnate or feather-
like, the leaflets or divisions of the radical leaves—
hidden usually by the Grass amidst which it is growing
-being somewhat in the form of a rosette, and shorter
and broader than the stem leaves, whose segments are
long, narrow, and linear, or grass-like. Its pretty
lilac, though sometimes white flowers, forming a little
cluster at the end of rather a long stem, are what is
called cruciform or cross-shaped-that is to say, its
four petals are arranged in opposite pairs, which give it
a cruciform appearance. Hence the Cuckoo Flower is
a member of a large order of plants named the Cruci-
feræ on account of the cross-shaped arrangement of
the flower petals of the plants which compose it. Its
roots go down rather deep, so that, to get them up
without disturbing them, attention to the fact I have
mentioned is necessary. I took care to obtain soil
from the spots where my plants were growing in addi-
tion to that which I took away with their roots, so as
to make provision for their future wants; for the
Cuckoo Flower loves a soil which is rich as well as
FLOWERY GRASS BANKS.
153
moist. Though so beautiful it is very plentiful, and
may be found in at least a hundred out of a hundred
and twelve botanical districts.
Perhaps mention of my Violets should not have
been so long deferred, for these are especially flowers
of the grassy bank. But before I speak of them I
must explain that my Grass banks were surmounted
by shrubbery whereof I made hedges; and as I do not
want this history of my garden to suffer by deficiency
of clearness in the detailed description I am giving of
it, I must now relate what I intended to do and what I
did by the raising of my grassy borders, as they spread
away from my stream on either side, to the level of
my tall mounds. The slope upwards was very gradual
as the greensward swept away from the stream, and
the surface of the ground was covered by the various
Grasses and other plants I have enumerated, by
clumps of wild shrubs, by little mounds whereon grew
Gorse and Heather, and by little heaps of broken rocks,
from amidst whose shady recesses Bracken upreared
their tall and graceful fronds. But when my garden
boundaries were neared, formed by the walls of rocks
which shut me in from the outside world, then I had
so arranged that my greensward grounds should
rise more rapidly until they reached the height of
ordinary hedgebanks-a height which, to be more pre-
154
MY GARDEN WILD.
cise and for the guidance of my readers, I must say was
in places five, in others nearly six feet. Then, leaving a
space at their tops of some three feet, the banks fell on
the other sides almost perpendicularly to the lowest
level of my garden-not including the level of the
stream bottom in the comparison. Between the steep
sides of these banks and the boundary of rocks there
was a space of about eight feet, and an alley was
formed which went round the entire bordering edge of
my garden. By planting the tops of these banks with
large shrubs, Hawthorn, Blackthorn, Bramble, Dogrose,
and Dogwood, with here and there sapling Oak, Elm,
and Maple, I had laid the beginnings of a hedge and
turned the alleys between the steep sides of the banks
and my encompassing and bordering rockeries into an
almost continuous and nearly circular lane. I say 'al-
most continuous,' because I had left gaps here and
there in the entourage of banks in order to admit
more sunlight and air than could otherwise have ob-
tained entrance, and in order, also, to give a natural
irregularity or wildness to my garden scenes.
My Sweet Violets will have special mention in the
description of my garden green lane. But on the
greensward side of the bank which formed my lane, I
grew three kinds of Wild Violet, and a fourth near the
waterside, by my marshy ground. And first of these I
name the Pansy or Heartsease (Viola tricolor), a little
FLOWERY GRASS BANKS.
155
plant which is recorded in a hundred and one districts,
and which I am sure I need not describe even ever so
slightly. In the same bank I planted the equally well-
known, though not quite equally abundant, Dog or
Wood Violet (Viola canina), often mistaken at first
sight for its sweet-scented congener, though distin-
guished from it by its more or less upright branching
stems—the leaves of Viola odorata springing direct
from its creeping stems or 'runners.' The Dog Violet
has no 'runners, and that is another mark of distinction.
It is found in sixty-seven districts. The Hairy Violet
(Viola hirta), which grows in sixty-eight districts, is
easily distinguished by the character which its name
indicates, for its stems and both sides of its leaves are
covered by pubescence. Though it has some short
'runners' like Viola odorata, they do not take root as
do those of its perfumed relative. All three of these
Violets, the Pansy, the Dog Violet, and the Hairy
Violet, I removed with abundant earth around their
roots; and the fact that in each case, though in flower
when I obtained them, the blossoms did not droop
and flower-buds began immediately to open, is proof
sufficient that they did not suffer by transplantation. Of
these, as of many other plants, I have observed that
leaf-mould is the life. They are found growing either
on the slope of a hedge-bank or amongst the Grass and
other little plants on the sides of those raised mounds
156
MY GARDEN WILD.
in woods that so often are found covered by shrubbery—
clumps of Gorse, Hawthorn, Dogrose, Bramble, and it
may be Honeysuckle; and both kinds of position are
favourable for the collection of mould from the decay
of fallen leaves. The Violet I grew by the margin of
my garden marsh was Viola palustris, the Marsh
Violet, a species that is recorded in eighty-five districts
and is distinguished by the length of its leaf-stems, the
smoothness of its leaves, and their very distinct heart
shapes. Its rootstock is white and scaly, and its leaves
are crenated along their margins. Though like the
Sweet Violet, the absence of perfume will enable it
to be easily distinguished.
In the same banks on which I grew my Violets, I
planted a number of Lords and Ladies. The Cuckoo
Pint, Wake Robin, or Lords and Ladies (Arum ma-
culatum) always had a charm for me, partly perhaps
because of its familiarity and abundance, but also, and I
think chiefly, because it is one of the very earliest of
green things that push above the bare and leafless sides
of wintry hedge-banks on the approach of spring. I think
the curious purple blotches on the arrow-shaped leaves,
the singular green hood or spatha which, opening on
one side, discloses the curious, purple, club-like arrange-
ment within the spadix so wonderfully resembling
a poker rising up like a spectre from the unseen
FLOWERY GRASS BANKS.
157
depths of the spatha-these peculiar features must,【I
think, have impressed me very much when a schoolboy,
and created a sort of feeling akin to fascination at the
sight of this most interesting plant. Banks, including
wayside banks, are its favourite habitats. It grows in
seventy-six districts. So distinct is the autumnal aspect
of the Cuckoo Pint from its earlier appearance that
those who are not in the secret would not recognise the
green, single stem surmounted by the oblong blunt
spike of glossy red berries that represents the seeding
time of the plant; for in autumn all its spring and
summer habiliments have been cast aside-arrow-
shaped leaves, convolute hollow chamber, and strange-
looking spadix. These have died away, and the half-
hidden fructification, which in the spring was incon-
spicuously placed upon the lower part of the emerging
purple-headed, fleshy-looking poker, has become greatly
developed, and has assumed the brilliant red flush of
glossy ripeness. The spring, as early in the season as
possible, is of course the time for conveniently removing
Arum maculatum from its hedge-side retreat. But
it must be remembered that its tuberous, underground
stem or root goes down somewhat deeply into the earth,
and that to get the whole plant up intact, so that it will
proceed, unchecked, with its curious operations, great
care must be taken. Though it is best to plant it on a
158
MY GARDEN WILD.
bank, it may be put in some deep, earthy hollow of
garden rockery, so that its roots may have room.
In my grassy level and on my grassy banks I soon
introduced the Speedwells. The pretty little group
have a strong family likeness. The oval, heart-shaped
leaves with edges plain or indented and, ordinarily,
hairy, and the bluish or purplish-blue wheel-shaped
four-cleft flowers, the lowest segment or division in
each blossom being smaller than the rest, together
with the reddish or purplish-red hue which oftentimes
overspreads the leaf and flower stems, are features which
must render the little group generally familiar to those
who know anything of field flowers. I must mention
first the Thyme-leaved Speedwell (Veronica serpylli-
folia), the most widely distributed of them all,
growing commonly by waysides and in field hedge-
banks, and found in not less than a hundred and two
districts. Its small, oval leaves are placed in opposite
pairs upon its stem, which branches close to the ground.
Its light-blue flowers are crossed by veins of darker
colour, and the downiness of leaf and stem depends upon
the moistness of its position; for the more damp the
situation the less hairy is the plant.
The Germander Speedwell (Veronica chamadrys)
I grew upon the slopes where the greensward began to
rise rapidly upwards and the ascent was steep. On this
FLOWERY GRASS BANKS.
159
pretty, widely distributed, and familiar plant, which is
recorded in a hundred and one districts, the purplish-
blue flowers grow, as they mostly do in all the species,
in racemes upon long stems which spring from the
axils of the leaves-stems which are often tinted with
red. It has an undivided stem, and egg-shaped,
indented leaves which are very hairy and have a
crumpled appearance by the deep furrowing of their
surfaces caused by the course of the veins. The leaves
occur at somewhat distant intervals along the stem, and
in opposite pairs. On hedge-banks and in fields the
pretty flowers of the Germander Speedwell may often
be seen in abundance, the general blue or purplish blue
of the colouring being contrasted by the darker lines
which traverse the petals.
Sometimes meadows and other grassy spaces are
thickly scattered over with the beautiful blossoms of
the Field Speedwell (Veronica agrestis). Its blossoms
are the prevailing Speedwell colour, but the blue is
light in shade and gives a singularly fresh appearance to
the spot on which they grow when their flowering season
is at its height, and the flowers are growing, as they
oftentimes do, in abundant clusters. All parts of
Veronica agrestis-main stems, leaves, leaf-stems, and
flower-stems-are thickly covered by hairs. The little
plant grows to a height of a few inches only-six or eight,
160
MY GARDEN WILD.
though sometimes twelve. It is branched at the base
of the stem, and the egg-shaped, deeply indented leaves
are usually found placed in opposite pairs. It has been
recorded in ninety-six botanical districts. I planted
some of my specimens upon my grassy level, and others
upon the slopes, always removing them with an abun-
dance of soil around their roots.
I must not forget to mention my Common Speed-
well (Veronica officinalis), whose stems are what is
called procumbent; and hence where it touches the
ground about the axils of its leaves, it there takes root.
The racemes of flowers, which are light-blue in colour,
but are traversed by veins of a darker hue, are long and
are supported by long stems; but though the plant is it-
self procumbent, the flower-stems start erect from the
axils of the leaves. The Common Speedwell is very
abundant, and may be found on heaths and commons, in
fields, in woods, and on banks, extending over ninety-
nine districts. As the Speedwells I have mentioned
are almost equally plentiful, nearly all occurring in
nearly the whole of the botanical districts enume-
rated by the London Catalogue,' visits to hedge-sides or
open fields in the flowering seasons are likely to be re-
warded by the discovery of some members of the
attractive family.
Another very plentiful and also very beautiful little
FLOWERY GRASS BANKS.
161
plant, which I grew on the steeper slopes of my grassy
banks, must come in for a share of attention. This is
the Ground Ivy (Nepeta glechoma), a species which is
one of the Labiatce, the extensive order of plants
with lip-shaped blossoms-of which the Pea blossom is
perhaps one of the most familiar examples-and is no
sort of relation of the Ivy proper, though its leaves
have a not very distant resemblance to those of our
familiar evergreen trailer. The Ground Ivy is a quick
traveller, for its leaf-stems trail upon and creep along
the ground and take root at their joints, whence also,
above the rooting points, the flowering stems-six or
seven or eight, or it may sometimes be eighteen, inches
in length---arise, giving off in their turn the rounded,
obtusely-lobed, hairy, and sometimes empurpled leaves
and the purple, lip-shaped flowers, which are arranged
in the form of a half-circle around the joints whence
they take their origin. When upon a sunny bank, a
rich glow of colour, red and purple, oftentimes over-
spreads the surface of stems and leaves. It is always
easy to get up the roots of Nepeta glechoma with abun-
dance of earth, and those I grew were not in the least
prejudicially affected by the change from their wild bank
to my garden wild. The little plant is reported to
have been found in ninety-one botanical districts.
In few spaces of wild, grassy sward need one look in
L
162
MY GARDEN WILD.
vain for the pretty, golden flowers of the Tormentil
(Potentilla tormentilla), so much like, at first sight,
and oftentimes, doubtless, mistaken for, Buttercups in
miniature. But, apart from the smaller size of the
blossoms, the petals of the Tormentil are ordinarily
four in number, each laterally separated from the other
and broadly heart-shaped, whilst the Buttercup petals
are in number five, and overlap to form the cup.'
The leaves of the Tormentil have no foot-stalks, and
consist of from three to five, though usually three, leaf-
lets, which are oblong, wedge-shaped, and deeply cut or
serrated.
6
Very much like the Tormentil, only larger in leaf-
stem and blossom, is the Common Creeping Cinquefoil
(Potentilla reptans). As its name indicates, its leaves
are five-cleft, and each leaflet of the five is oblong or
wedge-shaped and deeply serrated. The flowers, be-
sides being larger than those of the Tormentil, have
five instead of four petals. But the shape of these is
similar in both plants. With their little clumps of
grass roots I took up many of either species for my
garden wild. These indeed, with my Buttercups and
Daisies, I grew in greater abundance than any other of
my flowers in the levels of my spaces of grassy sward,
and for the reason that, when my Buttercups had
ceased to flower in the summer's prime, my Tormentils
FLOWERY GRASS BANKS.
163
and Cinquefoils went on blooming into gold right into
the latest month of summer, and oftentimes far into
the autumn. The Tormentil is found in not less than
ninety-nine botanical districts, and the Creeping Cin-
quefoil in not less than seventy-eight.
I had almost forgotten my Clovers, of which I
grew two kinds, the Common Red or Purple Clover
(Trifolium pratense), and the White Clover (Trifolium
repens). I am sure I need not describe them, because
they are the 'commonest' of all the pretty, three-leaved
fraternity or sisterhood, each having been recorded in a
hundred and three districts; and those who know Grass
when they see it also know Clover, which comes every-
where, often unbidden.
My chapter on my flowery grass banks must end
here, because I have already enumerated the principal
flowers I grew upon them. But I grew others there,
of which anon I shall give some account.
L 2
165
6
IX.
A GARDEN GREEN LANE.
IN the prime of leafy summer few things are more
delightful than a saunter through a green lane-a
genuine green lane where vegetation grows free and
wild; where the pathway is invaded by wild flowers,
leaving at most, in the centre, a narrow passage for the
pedestrian; and where high banks, on either hand,
occasionally close in,' and foliage, overarching, shuts
out the sunshine. If in wild country, where, though
rocks abound, the soil is rich in every intervening
earthy space, and moisture is induced by many streams,
the 'green lane' is a natural paradise, revealing to the
explorer, where it winds through the narrowest gorge
of a valley, a wild beauty which is oftentimes enchant-
ing-high soft banks on one side, perhaps clothed with
a profusion of wild vegetation; rocks on the other
side, it may be soft slate rock or red sandstone, not
bare and sterile, but half hidden by moss, ivy, and ferns.
I can recall to my recollection many such lanes through
166
MY GARDEN WILD.
which I have delightedly wandered, for to walk through
them has ever been to me the height of enjoyment.
Why might I not have, I had often thought, a
green lane in my garden, if space admitted—a wild,
winding maze of greenery? I determined to make
my desire a reality, and I will tell you, dear reader,
how I set about it, and how I succeeded. I have said
that my garden was surrounded by walls of rockery,
and by a higher and fairer rampart-of Lime-trees be-
hind and between the rocks-a green linden boundary.
Through the centre of the enclosed space ran my rock-
bound stream, from whose borders on either hand
spread my grassy sward, dotted here and there with
clumps of shrubbery, and rising gradually until it
neared the sides, when the steepness of the banks in-
creased, so as to form running mounds, and provide the
foundation for a hedge-bank. On the other side my
raised mounds fell almost suddenly, leaving a space of
pathway between them and the bordering rockery,
varying in width from a few feet to eight or ten and,
in places, twelve feet. The crest of my mounds I
planted with wild shrubs and tree saplings. Of these
more anon. But as they grew they formed a hedge-
bank thicket. Amongst the rocks on the opposite side-
I here and there placed shrubs in alternation with my
Lime-trees, and thus it will be easily seen that a green
A GARDEN GREEN LANE.
167
winding avenue was formed. The avenue or lane
wound, of course, round my entire garden; and being
circular in form and the garden being of large size, the
walk was continuous. I must here state, in order to
preserve the clearness of my narrative and to allow my
reader to follow my proceedings so closely as to be
able to follow my example, that the original entrance
to my garden was by a doorway through one of the
four walls-that immediately next my house—which
encompassed it. In the construction of my bordering
rockery I made an arrangement by which the door-
way was hidden from view. I built, in fact, the imita-
tion of a pass between rocks, and I made this pass
zigzag, so that on opening the garden door the garden
could not be seen, but only piles of rock; and similarly
the door could not be seen from the garden. In inter-
stices of these piles of rock I planted Male Ferns,
Hartstongues, and Broad Buckler Ferns, and on either
side at the top of the narrow passage I placed several
large specimens of Bracken. When these had become
well established, their fronds formed a partial canopy of
greenery. Here and there in the surrounding wall of
rockery I had formed, or rather had left, similar re-
cesses, so that it would not have been easy for a
stranger admitted to the garden to find his way out.
I have already made it clear, I think, that the banks
168
MY GARDEN WILD.
or mounds which formed the inner boundary of my
green continuous avenue were broken here and there by
gaps or fissures. These, whilst relieving what would
have been monotonous and unnatural had the lane been
bounded on its inner side by a uniform circular bank,
had also the effect of admitting sufficient air and sun-
shine into the interior of the avenue to conduce to the
vigorous growth of the more hardy and sun-loving
plants that I placed there. I had provided, in fact, for
two distinct kinds of habitat, the shady and the sunny;
modifications of both, and gradations from the one to
the other. It is essential that my readers should
clearly understand the plan of my 'green lane;' so,
braving the danger of repetition, let me say that, upon
emerging from the short zigzag rocky passage that led
into my garden from the doorway, the visitor would find
himself in a lane leading to the right and to the left.
In front a break in the inner embankment disclosed a
view of the full extent of my garden greensward traversed
midway by the serpentine course of the stream, which
entered the enclosure at a point a little to the right,
passing, within sight, across the lane, entering the open
expanse of the garden through one of the breaks in the
bank which shut in the avenue, and passing out simi-
larly at the further end. By turning into the lane
either way to the right or to the left-the visitor
A GARDEN GREEN LANE.
169
would, from time to time, obtain a view of the central
part of the enclosure, and of the stream which threaded
its way along it. If from the entrance he turned to the
left, the outlooks upon the greensward and the clumps
of shrubbery scattered over it would be on the right-
hand side, whilst if he turned to the right the occa-
sional views would be on the left-hand side; and, which-
ever way he turned, he would, by proceeding onwards,
ultimately return to the place whence he started.
The centre of the pathway, for a width of from two
to three feet, had been hardened sufficiently by putting
down a substratum of gravel and clay, and upon that
small pebbles, to prevent its being invaded by grass or
other vegetation. But the border, on either hand, was
of softer and richer soil; the decay of leaves which fell
upon it from above improved the quality of its richness,
and, in the spring and summer, it was occupied by many
flowering plants. Here and there, along either side
of the path, I had placed large blocks of stone which
might afford seats for those who desired them, whilst
occasional little heaps of rockery provided desirable habi-
tats for such ferns as the Shield and the Buckler Ferns.
At all seasons and in all weathers I could make the
entire circuit of my 'green lane' without inconvenience.
I have already intimated that the width of this con-
tinuous avenue- for such it was-varied. In other
170
MY GARDEN WILD.
ways, too, I had aimed at avoiding sameness.
Parts of
it were open and sunny; others were immersed in
shadow by the overarching of the shrubbery above. It
widened and narrowed, and narrowed and widened, in no
regular order, but just as one might find a natural lane;
and so well did I succeed in imitating natural conditions.
that a few years after its formation I sometimes, in
walking through it, momentarily forgot that I was in my
garden, and fancied that I was in one of the rocky, ferny
lanes so familiar to me in my rambles in the country.
In the space of this chapter I can only mention and
describe a few of the flowers I grew in my green lane.
Allusion I have already made to the ferns I planted in
the crevices of the rockery which bounded it on one
side; and first in the enumeration of flowering plants
must come the Primroses. These I placed everywhere,
in the sun and in the shade, now sparsely, now abun-
dantly, but giving them room, in the whole circumfe-
rence of my avenue. My readers must have known, to
be able to appreciate, the intensity of my pleasure when,
in the early flowering seasons of spring, I took what I
loved to call my primrose walks around my garden
wild. The sweet pale flowers came up each year with
delightful regularity, and to see them crowding my half-
wintry banks almost alone gave me enjoyment which
words cannot adequately express.
A GARDEN GREEN LANE.
171
The same journeys which procured me my Primroses
served to secure me a supply of Wild Hyacinth bulbs.
In the copse whence I obtained them these beautiful
plants were growing together in vast numbers, and they
were so closely intermingled with one another that the
same large lumps of earth enclosed roots of both.
Though much earlier in appearing than the Hyacinth
(Hyacinthus non-scriptus), the Primrose flowers on
into the beginning of the Hyacinth season, and both
may be seen together in the height of their floral glory.
But whilst the Primrose may frequently be found
growing in clay soil, the Hyacinth prefers a lighter,
softer, and richer soil. Hence in moving the roots of
the exquisitely-scented Bluebell greater care is required
to avoid disturbing them. The Wild Hyacinth is re-
corded as occurring in ninety botanical districts.
It was very easy to remove my Sweet Violets from
the place of their growth, because the plants are so
small that earth enough could be taken up with them
to ensure their vigorous vitality during the remainder
of their natural lives. I put them in the shadiest parts
of my green lane; here and there, however, setting
them where they could get a gleam of occasional sun-
light; for even the most shade-loving of plants do some-
times like to coquet a little with the sunshine they com-
monly avoid. My violets grew well; for though they
172
MY GARDEN WILD.
love similar conditions of moisture, it almost seems that
there must be some mysterious bond of sympathy be-
tween Hyacinths, Primroses, and Violets, because each
appears to thrive better whilst in proximity with the
others. The Sweet Violet (Viola odorata) will of
course always be distinguished by its beautiful perfume.
But it may be known from its very similar congener,
the Dog or Wood Violet (Viola canina), by the circum-
stance that its flower-stalks spring directly from the
creeping stems or scions which run along the ground,
whilst the much shorter flower-stems of Viola canina
spring from the various parts of the branched stems of
that species. The twin green bracts, or little leafy excres-
cences, found on the flower-stalks of Viola odorata, are
ordinarily above the middle of the stalk, whilst in the
Hairy Violet, another congener which resembles it in
some respects, the bracts are ordinarily below the middle
of the stalk. The more hairy appearance, too, of the
stems of Viola hirta will indicate the specific differ-
ence. I always found that, as in their native habitats,
the heart-shaped leaves of my Sweet Violets became
enlarged after the plants had flowered. But the
blossoms, unhappily, were of much shorter duration than
those of my Dog Violets, disappearing in May, whilst
Viola canina went blooming on into August. The Sweet
Violet is found in seventy-two botanical districts.
A GARDEN GREEN LANE.
173
Early and special mention I must not forget to give
to the grandest of all my green-lane flowers; I mean
my Foxgloves, which I planted, in the sunnier parts of
my banks, in rich, light earth, containing abundance of
leaf-mould. The Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) may
be found growing to a height of four feet, and some-
times it may be discovered even higher than that; and
it carried its wonderful beauty and vigour, without
diminution, into my garden wild, rising to a height of
quite four feet. I did not actually measure my speci-
mens, but I am inclined to think they were really higher
than four feet. I think most visitors to the country
must know the long, tall, and handsome flowering
stems of the Foxgloves, looking, in the wood, coppice,
or hedgerow, something like floral bayonets garlanded
with the large, drooping, bell-shaped, and purple-
freckled-with-white flowers. Scarcely any other blos-
soms of the wood or hedgerow are so strikingly pro-
minent as are those of Digitalis purpurea. But
the plant itself, before the period of flowering, is
less frequently recognised, though the large, pointed,
broadly lance-shaped, and finely indented leaves, glossy
above, and hoary-looking, and soft to the touch under-
neath, can scarcely be unfamiliar to anyone. The
handsome, conspicuous leaves become smaller and smaller
as the stem ascends, finally as the prolongation of
174
MY GARDEN WILD.
the latter becomes the flowering raceme, dwindling to
mere bract-like leafy appendages. When in its full
glory, and leaves and flowers are fully developed, the
singularly upright, pyramidal appearance of the Fox-
glove renders it sufficiently distinct from any other plant
likely to be growing in its particular neighbourhood.
The abundance of this handsome species is sufficiently
indicated by the fact that it occurs in not less than
ninety-five out of a hundred and twelve botanical dis-
tricts.
Very common indeed, recorded in ninety-nine dis-
tricts, is another well-known hedge-flower that I grew in
the banks of my green lane, and so abundant that it is to
be found almost everywhere. This is the Herb Robert
(Geranium robertianum). It is seldom that one can
look into the tangled mass of greenery to be found in
most wayside hedge-banks without seeing the red, hairy,
branching stems, the five-angled, prettily-cut, shining
leaves-growing in opposite pairs, each divided into from
three to five pinnatifid, deeply-indented leaflets-and the
pretty pairs of light-red flowers. The blossoms are the
most immediately conspicuous part of this plant, for
their long stems enable them to overtop the low, matted
greenery of the hedge-bank. The Herb Robert is the
most abundant of a rather large family, numbering at
least a dozen members.
A GARDEN GREEN LANE.
175
My hedge-banks would scarcely have looked natural
had I omitted the Great Bindweed (Convolvulus
sepium), whose large, white, bell-shaped flowers-‘hedge-
bells,' as they are sometimes appropriately and descrip-
tively called-are found in many hedge-banks. The
plant is found in seventy-five botanical districts. When
there is no blossom, the long, green, trailing (some-
times), but generally climbing, stem, and the single,
large-sized, arrow-shaped leaves, are familiar objects for
recognition. The small calyx of each blossom at the
base of the long tube of the corolla is not only dwarfed
by the great size of the latter, but is actually hidden
from view by an opposite pair of green, heart-shaped
bracts, the points of which are turned upwards in such
a manner that the pair half embrace the corolla-tube.
Very beautiful, though so common,' are the flowers
of the Wayside Mallow (Malva sylvestris), and the
dark-green, five-lobed leaves-each lobe prettily in-
dented the large, handsome, five-petalled flowers being
light pink with veins of darker pink, each petal broadly
indented at its apex. I cannot remember the earliest
time of childhood when I did not know the Mallow.
Its green fruit, so wonderfully like minute 'cheeses,'
and called by all children after the useful product of the
dairy, I have, like every school-boy, often eaten. The
Mallow becomes a large plant, sometimes two or three.
6
176
MY GARDEN WILD.
feet in height, though the wayside specimens are,
ordinarily, half that height. I found places in the sunny
parts of my lane for half a dozen Mallows, and I never
regretted my selection of them as typical plants of the
hedgeside and wayside. Malva sylvestris is recorded
as occurring in eighty-six botanical districts.
6
I have scarcely done justice to my Dead Nettles to
leave them so long unmentioned. But I gave them
early attention in my garden of wildings. As it would
be unnecessary to describe the nettle which stings,'
I need only say that the leaves of the Dead Nettles are
so wonderfully like their formidable namesakes that I
need do no more than allude to the fact. The leaf is
strikingly pear-shaped, but the curious lip-shaped
blossoms are widely different from those of the Sting-
ing Nettle, and are very singular-looking, with the tube
of each corolla drawn up into a sort of hood-like
canopy which is spread above the curious, lip-like pro-
jection of its lower part, suggesting a gaping mouth
and throat. The blossoms are produced in whorls in
the axils of the leaves, and a whorl of them is well
worth a careful examination. The smaller size of the
plant and the distinctive purple colour of the blossoms
—the leaves, stems, and stem and leaf hairs being also
sometimes empurpled-distinguish the Purple Dead
Nettle (Lamium purpureum) from its white-flowering
A GARDEN GREEN LANE.
177
C
congener, the White Dead Nettle (Lamium album).
But leaf and flower in each are the same in general
form. Both are widely distributed. But in this re-
spect the London Catalogue' gives the palm to the
Purple Dead Nettle, which it records in ninety-nine out
of a hundred and twelve botanical districts, whilst
the White Dead Nettle, or White Archangel' as it
is curiously called, is recorded in only eighty-seven.
The fibrous roots of both these plants are abun-
dant, and though they will grow in almost any soil
they are sure to be found most luxuriant in light, rich,
sandy soil in which there is an admixture of leaf-
mould.
The star-like flowers of the Stitchwort (Stellaria
holostea), with their ten, oblong, white petals, peep out
from almost every hedgeside or clump of shrubbery; and
although the long, green, herbaceous stem of this plant
is so fragile-looking, with its narrow, linear and grass-
like leaves, and seems too delicate to struggle with
coarser forms of vegetation, it is singularly hardy. Wher-
ever it grows it is certain to overtop the dwarf shrub-
bery of hedgeside or forest clump; and it is so abun-
dant as to be absent from very few places. I obtained
a number of them and planted them in the ground just
at the base of the thickest clusters of hedge shrubs. It
was wonderful to notice how boldly they clambered into
M
178
MY GARDEN WILD.
*་
the mass of greenery above them. Though dead to all
appearance during the winter, the thin, slender stems
retained their vitality, as they do when growing in
copse, wood, and wayside hedgebank, and in the succeed-
ing season the pretty, green leaves looked out from the
higher parts of my shrubbery, seeming to have rapidly
started from the ground-for the stems, though appa-
rently so, are not deciduous. Stellaria holostea is re-
corded in ninety-three botanical districts.
With the most familiar masses of the tangled shrub-
bery of the wayside hedge-bank the Woody Nightshade
(Solanum dulcamara) has always been associated, and
I took the earliest opportunity of adding this beautiful
flower to the treasures of my green lane. The woody,
straggling, tenacious, flexuous stem of this interesting
plant, which is so often confounded with its 'deadly"
namesake, clambers through the shrubbery in which it
may be growing, and displays at the top its noteworthy
flowers, whose purple petals are bent with their points
downwards, displaying the yellow anthers which stand up
so conspicuously in the opposite direction-united into
the form of a cone-as to contrast strongly with the
corolla and give the peculiarly distinctive character to
the blossoms. The green, glossy, and somewhat narrowly
heart-shaped leaves are singly and rather sparingly dis-
tributed on the stem, and the branched corymbs of
A GARDEN GREEN LANE.
179
flowers elegantly droop, giving them a first-sight re-
semblance to the familiar blossoms of the fuchsia. The
bright, scarlet, autumnal berries of the Woody Night-
shade, so conspicuous in country hedgesides, succeeding
my summer flowers, added their peculiar beauty to
my garden wild. The Woody Nightshade is found in
not less than eighty-four botanical districts.
6
There are two other hedge climbers which, though
not quite so common as the Woody Nightshade, I
wished, moved by old associations and fond memories
of them, to plant in the banks of my green lane.
Though distinct from each other in essential points,
I always like to give them the twin name of the
Bryonies by which they are commonly known.' How
much pleasure, by the way, do we derive in this world
from common things! Popular phraseology is amongst
these common things, and, in spite of all botany and of
all other science, there is a strange amount of pleasure
often produced by the associations called up by even
the misapplied names of common objects. Gilpin, in
his delightful Forest Scenery,' speaking of the para-
sitical plants, which, though absolute retainers,' as he
calls them, nevertheless add much incidental beauty
to the larger plants upon which they grow, goes on to
say: Besides this parasitical tribe the painter admires
another class of humble plants, which live entirely on
6
1 2
180
MY GARDEN WILD.
their own means; yet, spreading out their little tendrils,
beg the protection of the great; whom if they en-
cumber, as they certainly do in a degree, they enrich
with a variety of beautiful flowers and scarlet berries.
Many of these, though classed among weeds, have great
beauty. Among them the Black and White Bryonies
are distinguished. The berries also of many of these
little plants are variously coloured, in the different
stages of their growth, yellow, red, and orange. All
these rich touches, however small, produce their effect.'
The Red-berried Bryony (Bryonia dioica) is a striking
and handsome plant, with its climbing stems and con-
spicuous tendrils, and its large, somewhat palmate leaves,
three or four inches wide, ordinarily divided into five
lobes and heart-shaped at the base, the outline of each
lobe being broadly indented. The flowers consist each
of five, oblong lobes, and are pale green in colour, with
lines of darker colour reticulating, so to speak, over the
surface. Though found to be very beautiful upon
examination, they are not very conspicuous in the
shrubbery of the hedge-bank by reason of their pale-
green hue. It was doubtless the Red-berried Bryony
to which Gilpin more especially referred in the passage
which I have quoted from his Forest Scenery;' for it
is the berries of this plant which turn from green to
yellow, and from yellow to orange, before they finally
A GARDEN GREEN LANE.
181
assume the brilliant red which betokens ripeness.
Bryonia dioica is found in fifty-seven botanical locali-
ties.
The Black Bryony (Tamus communis) I introduced
into my hedge-banks also in sunny positions; for,
though its roots are immersed in shade, it seeks abun-
dance of light for its leaves and flowers. Many of my
readers must personally know this plant, even though
they may not know its name. Its slender, long, green,
twining stems climb through the matted shrubbery of
the hedge-bank or forest, oftentimes spirally ascending
the trunks of trees, unfurling as it goes, alternately, on
its stem, the distinctly heart-shaped, smooth and glossy
leaves which twist on their long green stems into all
sorts of positions. A beautiful gradation is observed
by the leaves, which, from a large size at the base of
the stem, five or six inches and sometimes more in
length, dwindle until, at the apex of the stem, they
are frequently tiny things less than an inch long. The
flowers, produced somewhat sparingly in racemes, are
small and green in colour, and each consists of six, oval-
shaped petals. The succeeding herries are crimson.
Tamus communis grows in sixty-six districts.
In sunny spots along my lane borders I planted
many specimens of the beautiful Silver Weed (Potentilla
anserina), the most common, and certainly very far
182
MY GARDEN WILD.
from the least beautiful, species of its genus.
It occurs
in at least a hundred and one out of a hundred and
twelve botanical districts. The silky softness and silvery
lustre of this plant must make it familiar to almost
every frequenter of the wayside. The ordinary length
of its leaves is about six inches, and their form is
pinnatifid, each oblong pinna or leaflet being lance-
shaped and deeply and beautifully incised on its
margin. The general form of the leaf may be said to
be club-shaped, the leaflets graded from the base to the
apex of the stem, being at the base very tiny leafy pro-
tuberances. But between the pairs of leaflets on the
lower part of the stem is a series of smaller pairs which
modify and interrupt the regularity of the gradation
from small to large. For the size of the plant the
flowers are large. They grow singly on long stems, and
each has five, rounded, deep-yellow petals and ten
sepals in the green calyx underneath. By cutting out
a square turf from the wayside one may secure several
plants, for they grow oftentimes so densely clustered
together that whole banks are covered by them. But
they are always stunted in form, or finely grown, in
proportion to the moistness of the position which
they occupy.
Pleasant recollections of the sweet-scented hedge-
sides where Thyme (Thymus serpyllum) grew in
A GARDEN GREEN LANE.
183
abundance-recollections of the earliest of my country
rambles—made me determine to devote a large amount
of space to this aromatic plant. What better habitat
than the banks of my green lane for the pink, much-
branched stems, the small oval-shaped leaves and
terminal bunches of rose-coloured, lip-shaped flowers-
so delightful in the mass-of Wild Thyme? I loved to
see my Thyme growing in luxuriance and not in stunted
form; so I gave it a half-shady and very moist position,
and it rewarded my care and grew to my heart's delight.
One more of the lip-shaped order of plants I must
specially mention in the enumeration of my green-lane
flowers—namely, the Bugle (Ajuga reptans), which
often grows so abundantly in damp woods as almost to
cover the ground. Its pyramidal form and the dark,
purple-green colour of its leaves, together with its
axillary whorls of blue, lip-shaped flowers, render it
sufficiently distinct and peculiar for recognition. The
leaves are very simple in form, are oval in shape, and are
produced in opposite pairs on the stem, the lowermost
having stalks, but the upper ones being attached without
stalks to the stem. The lowermost leaves are also the
largest and longest, and each pair dwindles in size
upwards. In the sort of concavity formed by the
respective pairs of leaves grow the blossoms, in whoris,
a whorl being produced in the axils of almost every
184
MY GARDEN WILD.
pair of leaves. It is the diminution in size upwards
of the leaves and inflorescence that gives the pyramidal
appearance to the Bugle. It has a creeping stem
which speedily roots, and hence promotes the propagation
of the plant. The Common Bugle is recorded as
occurring in ninety-four districts.
Though not so common in a wild state as most of
the plants in my garden, I found a place in my lane
for the Lily of the Valley (Convallaria majalis), and
then contented myself by doing the best for it--I mean
letting it alone. But if less common as a wilding-it
occurs in fifty-two out of a hundred and twelve districts-
it is made very familiar by the abundance in which it
is cultivated.
So far I have mentioned only the principal, by
which I mean the best known, the most prominent and
conspicuous, of the flowers and ferns which grew in my
garden green lane. I grew many others, of which I
shall have something briefly to say later on. I must
meanwhile pause a little in order to unfold another
part of my plan for the creation of my garden wild.
185
X.
MY HEDGE-BANKS.
THE broken circle of banks which formed the outer
boundary of my continuous green lane, became, as I
have already explained, the foundation for the hedge
which I made. But it will be easily understood that
to establish this hedge occupied some time, because I
desired that the work should be done thoroughly, and
the representative hedge-shrubs I wished to plant were
somewhat slow growers. My previous chapter has partly
anticipated this one, because I had to produce the
necessary shade for several of my green-lane plants
before I could bring the plants in; and the formation
of my hedge, it will therefore be understood, preceded
the introduction into the lane, one boundary of which it
constituted, of such plants as needed absolute shade
and shelter.
But it must be understood that the whole work of
designing and perfecting my garden wild was performed
in instalments, and I had no desire to hurry it—
186
MY GARDEN WILD.
for the carrying out of every detail was an enjoyable
occupation; and it was delightful to watch the gradual,
or rapid, as the case might be, but always certain,
development of my plants. Though when quite com-
pleted, and every detail of my scheme for a garden wild
had been carried out, I derived an ever-present enjoy-
ment from looking at the result of my labours, and was
never tired of wandering round and round my green
lane, across my flower-sprinkled Grass, or along the
border of my garden stream, I sometimes wished that
I could again have the direction and superintendence
of the undertaking which I had carried out so happily,
or at any rate with so large a measure of success. Still,
I always found plenty to do, and plenty of change.
The vegetable world never remains stationary, and so
there was always something new to study and admire or
to watch with interest.
In seeking the shrubs and sapling trees for my
hedges, it was not always practicable, on account of
their size and the depth and ramification of their roots,
to take up my plants without disturbance, and with
soil around them. But I did this as far as I could.
My hedges would doubtless have grown faster had I
been able to adopt the same principles of transplanta-
tion as I did for the smaller kinds of vegetation.
Hedge-shrubs are, however, very hardy, with very few,
MY HEDGE-BANKS.
187
[
if any, exceptions, and mine soon recovered the effects
of removal, even in those cases in which I was not able
to move any of the earth, in which they were growing,
with the roots.
I began with Hawthorn (Crataegus oxyacantha),
planting it here and there over my entire circle of
banks, and leaving ample room for the introduction of
other shrubs between the individual plants of the 'May,'
as it is still pleasant to call it. Few of the com-
mon plants of the hedge-bank are so extremely
beautiful as the Hawthorn. Its upright, hard, woody
stem, its prettily-cut glossy leaves, three or five-
lobed, the lobes acute or rounded, and its clusters of
exquisitely-scented, white blossoms, are certainly second
to those of no other plant in point of elegance. The
shrub is so abundant everywhere that I had no difficulty
in obtaining, in a wild state, all the specimens I needed.
The light and almost golden green hue of the spring
foliage of the Hawthorn gives to the woods where it grows
abundantly their earliest aspect of vernal loveliness.
The Hawthorn is found in a hundred botanical dis-
tricts.
When I had planted my Hawthorns-which grew
at first, after it became established, two feet each year,
for the soil was rich-I commenced the introduction
of the largest Dogroses I could conveniently obtain
188
MY GARDEN WILD.
with sufficient roots and earth, and planted them
also with impartial regularity, so as to distribute them
pretty well over the entire crests of my hedge-
banks. A delightful wilding is Rosa canina, haunting
one's memory with recollections of its singularly beauti-
ful, oblong, rounded, light or dark green, and sharply-
indented, glossy leaflets, and of the handsome, broad,
and open petals, five in number, of its white or blushing
flowers. It is so hardy that it will grow almost in-
differently upon any kind of soil, so long as it is not
too moist. The creeping suckers from the roots I
planted, when these were well established, soon began to
spread along the hedge-bank, so that my efforts to
produce a thicket were admirably seconded by the
plants themselves. Remembering the preference of
Rosa canina for a somewhat dry soil, I planted the
specimens I obtained in the highest and least moist
ositions along the extreme crest of my circular
banks. Rosa canina is found in at least ninety-eight
botanical districts.
After the Hawthorn and the Dog Rose, I planted
the Sloe or Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa), a shrub of
singular hardiness and persistence, whose indifference
to soil is almost equal to that of the Dog Rose; but,
like it, it needs a dry and airy position, and though it
will grow it will not thrive well in a low and damp
MY HEDGE-BANKS.
189
situation.
Whilst the Hawthorn stem begins to
branch almost at the root, the Sloe stem grows three
or four feet in height before it begins to divide. But,
like the Wild Roses I planted, it soon began to help me
to thicken my hedge, for its suckers made good progress,
and they seemed to appreciate the room I gave them
in which to spread. Had I cut them off instead of
allowing them to run and increase their kind along my
banks, the shrubs would perhaps have become small
trees. But I did not desire them to be unnaturally
large, and made it an absolute rule in my garden wild
to let everything alone, and never to cut, prune, or
in any other way interfere with my plants, leaving
Nature in all cases to work in her own way; and to the
observance of this rule I ascribe my general success.
Contrasted with the elegant cutting and the brilliant
gloss of the Hawthorn leaves the Sloes, side by side
with them, looked somewhat sombre. In form, too, the
dark, bluish-green leaf of Prunus spinosa is very dis-
tinct from that of Crataegus oxyacantha, for instead of
being cut into three or five sharp pointed or rounded
lobes, it is simply ovate in shape, with fine indentations
upon the margin. But, as if to offer some compensation
for the absence of the especial leafy beauty of the
Hawthorn, the Sloe brightens the half-wintry hedge-
banks by its pretty white blossoms, each made up of
190
MY GARDEN WILD.
five, oval-shaped petals seated in a green, five-parted
calyx. The leaves are always preceded by the blossoms;
and if its foliage is less elegant than that of its gayer
rival, it may claim pre-eminence for the exquisite
purple bloom which overspreads the later fruit. The
Wild Sloe is recorded in ninety-three botanical dis-
tricts.
Next in the order of planting my hedge-banks came
the Field Maple (Acer campestre), which, growing in
fifty seven botanical districts, likes a soil neither too rich
nor too barren, and neither too damp nor too dry. But
it likes depth for its roots, and the positions I gave my
plants answered to all these requirements. I think
there is no prettier leaf than that of the Field Maple
to be seen in country hedges; for though a tree in
reality, it often is so dwarfed as never to exceed the
size of a shrub. There is much variation in the size
of the leaf, and some variation also in its form and
colouring; but ordinarily a reddish hue overspreads
stem and leafy surface. The long, purple or red-
stemmed leaf is smooth and glossy, divided into five
rounded lobes which are obtusely indented, and the
veins which traverse its under-sides are red in colour
and very conspicuous.
Where I wanted absolute shade for hedge-bank
plants, there, above, on the crest of the ridge I planted
MY HEDGE-BANKS.
191
Hazel shrubs, because, when the twigs began to multi-
ply, I knew that the leaves would come in dense masses
and shut out even the remotest possibility of sunlight
for the soil immediately underneath. The golden-
green hue of its foliage, too, both early in the spring
and on the approach of autumn, makes it pleasantly
contrast with the dark verdancy of the Sloe. The Hazel
(Corylus avellana) is one of the first of plants to
herald the approach of spring, oftentimes in January
putting out, on its bare and leafless twigs, its curious
blossom in the form of long cylindrical and pendulous
catkins.' Then follow the rounded leaves, abruptly
acute at their apices and slightly heart-shaped at their
bases; and later on the familiar hedge nuts, first green,
then richly embrowned, peep out shyly from between
enshrouding foliage. The Hazel will grow in any soil,
and it loves best just the positions in which it is found
growing upon hedge-banks, airy, free, and moist.
The very denseness of its foliage preserves for it, in fact,
the condition of moisture underneath which suits it
best. The Hazel is recorded in ninety-seven districts.
I always liked the Poplars because of the eminent
cheerfulness of their foliage; and the known rapidity
of their growth induced me to plant some, but spar-
ingly, upon my hedge-banks. My favourite was the
Trembling Poplar or Aspen (Populus tremula), and I
192
MY GARDEN WILD.
introduced no other kind into my garden. Those I
selected were little saplings, and I put them in the
parts of my hedge near my garden stream; for the
Poplars are moisture-loving trees, and their trembling,
glossy leaves seem to need association with the sparkle
of running water. The Aspen leaf is small and
rounded; it has wavy indentations on its margin and
a pointed apex. It has a long stem, the slenderness of
which at the point of junction with the base of the
leaf gives to it its characteristic tremulousness. My
young trees threw out suckers which soon produced
stems that helped materially to thicken the foliage of
the hedge in their immediate neighbourhood. The
Aspen is recorded in seventy-eight botanical districts.
I had now planted many specimens, each of half a
dozen kinds, of shrub in my hedge; but there was still
room for more. I next obtained some fine specimens
of the Common Barberry (Berberis vulgaris). The
leaves of the Barberry are yellowish-green in colour,
egg-shaped in form, rather small in size, and finely and
acutely indented, the points of the serratures being
sharp and bristly. The blossoms consist of depending
racemes of pretty yellow flowers-each flower having
six small, oblong petals-and the stem of the bunch
which starts from the axils of the leaves is protected by
a set of three thorns which look as if they were placed
MY HEDGE-BANKS.
193
there to protect the inflorescence. My plants grew
quickly at first, but afterwards made slower progress,
flowering freely when they had become well established
and producing in autumn rich clusters of scarlet
berries.
Hedge-banks derive much of their beauty from the
changes in the foliage of the plants which crowd them.
In leafage there are the varying greens of spring, the
more sober verdancy of summer, and then the autumn
tinting. All the kinds I had so far introduced made.
various changes with the change of season, but none
changed in so distinct and pronounced a manner as a
very familiar shrub which I had not yet brought in.
This was the Dogwood (Cornus sanguinea), whose
vivid greenness largely augments the freshness of the
summer hedges, and whose autumnal foliage, when
the shrub grows in its normal profusion, dyes entire
hedge-sides with purple. Its oval leaves, pointed at
their apices, unindented at the margins, and provided
with veins which run in pairs with marked regularity
from the midstems to the leaf edges, must be familiar
to the most cursory observer of roadside hedges. The
flowers are produced in the crowded clusters which
botanists call cymes, each blossom of four, greenish-
white petals being produced at the end of a little stem
which branches from the end of another stem, that takes
N
194
MY GARDEN WILD.
its origin, in common with all the flowers of the cyme,
at the apex of a main flower stem. The Dogwood will
grow in any soil, and is one of the hardiest of hardy
wild shrubs. The plants I obtained for my hedge-banks
I put in thickly together in one or two of the sunniest
spots, so that I might see the effect of an empurpled
mass when autumn had dyed the foliage of summer.
The Dogwood is found in sixty-one botanical districts.
Gusts of fragrance from the Wild Sweet Briar
momentarily conveyed to me by a passing breeze when
wandering through copse, wood, or lane, had often
made me long to have some of these deliciously-per-
fumed plants in my garden. But my wish had never
been gratified until I commenced the formation of my
garden wild, and then I determined that I would plant
Sweet Briar in my hedges, and I sought far and wide
amongst woods to which I had access for this delightful
shrub, which, though it often makes its presence felt, is
often sought in vain. So similar is the Sweet Briar
(Rosa rubiginosa) in the general form and appearance
of leaf and blossom to the Dog Rose that it would
often be confounded with the latter but for the unmis-
takable indication of its identity given by its sweet
scent. The footstalks of its leaves are, however, clothed
with short hairs and prickles, and the margins of its
leaflets are oftentimes doubly serrated, whilst their
MY HEDGE-BANKS.
195
undersides are also clothed with hairs. The Sweet
Briar grows to a height of from five to six feet; its
bark is a vivid green, its leaves light green, and its
flowers a deep shade of pink. It likes a dry, airy
position on light gravelly or chalky soil, though it will
grow on any soil. The bumblest country garden is
seldom found to be without at least one plant of the
Sweet Briar, which grows wild in not less than fifty
botanical districts.
My green-lane hedge-banks would scarcely have
been natural without the delightful Bramble, around
which so many sunny associations cluster. I shall not
describe the Bramble-I mean the Common Blackberry
Bramble (Rubus fruticosus), because this interesting
plant has a habit of compelling the attention, even of
the most indifferent passer-by, to its form, character,
and capabilities. But I cannot conceive of a more
pleasant reminder of the country than this handsome,
trailing plant, which is always beautiful in spring time,
in summer, in autumn and in winter-beautiful alike
in stem, leaf, flower and fruit. I planted Brambles in
my hedge-banks, Brambles in my rockery, and Brambles
in the shrubbery clumps on my spaces of greensward.
There is no period in the history of the world during
which the wild fruit of the Blackberry has not been
eaten by children and by adults too, and perhaps there
N 2
196
MY GARDEN WILD.
6
is no plant which, in the same degree, is so much loved
and feared as is this delightful trailer. Gilpin enter-
tained for it a curious and inexplicable aversion, for he
calls it, in his Forest Scenery,' the most insignificant
of vegetable reptiles,' a strange opinion for so keen a
lover of Nature. I need scarcely allude to the propa-
gating power of Rubus fruticosus, for the vigour of
its rooting runners or suckers is only too evident.
Like many common things it prospers on common soil,
seeming indeed to prefer soil that is gravelly and dry.
I left until the last the planting of the Honeysuckle
(Lonicera periclymenum), remembering that it was
not a plant to stand alone, ana that it needed the more
stalwart inhabitants of the hedge upon which to lean
and up which to climb. Something very well worth
examination is the blossom of the Honeysuckle with
the long tubes and the strange twisting and curling of
the upper parts of its cream-coloured corollas. Not
less noticeable is the bristling group of stamens,
crowned, cross-wise, by the oblong anthers which emerge
from the depths of the corolla tube, but are over-
topped nevertheless by the tall style of the pistil. The
Honeysuckle is amongst the first plants of the hedge
or woodland to put on its green dress, for the tiny leaf-
buds sometimes open early in the month of January.
The leaves grow in pairs, are somewhat small for the
MY HEDGE-BANKS.
197
length of the plant, ovoid in shape, pointed at their
apices, glossy green above and bluish green underneath,
and they are produced somewhat sparingly along the
thin and wiry stems. In twining around the stems of
larger plants, the Honeysuckle often compresses them
so tightly as to leave the mark of its presence. Its
own stems are great travellers, often wandering, in the
tangled shrubbery of a hedge, a long way from the
place in which its root is growing. I have seen Honey-
suckle stems which had climbed up the thick trunk of
an Oak, and had hung their blossoms in festoons from
the branches which shot out from the fork of the tree
horizontally above. Both in hedges and in clumps of
forest shrubbery the hard, firm stems and branches of
the Hawthorn are, on account of the facilities which
they offer, most frequently selected by the Honeysuckle
to climb upon. It is almost needless to say that
scarcely any wild plant is more hardy than the Honey-
suckle. It varies much in size, according to the posi-
tion in which it grows, and it will adapt itself to almost
any soil. I planted my specimens in various parts of
my hedge-banks, putting them at first where they
could most easily find support from the surrounding
shrubbery, and then I left them entirely alone to grow
freely where they would. The Honeysuckle occurs in
at least ninety-nine botanical districts.
198
MY GARDEN WILD.
The treatment (or rather absence of treatment)
which consists in letting plants alone after transplanta-
tion, succeeds far better than any kind of interference.
So I found it generally, and so it proved to be with the
Ivy (Hedera helix), which I planted next after all the
hrubs I have named. No soil appears unwelcome to
this familiar and delightful plant. It loves shade, at
least for its roots; but once established, if the bare roots.
have been removed without accompaniment of earth,
and replanted—and in the case of large shrubs this
method of transplantation is necessary--the Ivy will
grow vigorously and well. Those who take pleasure
in country rambles, and have a love for the observation
of growing things, will have noticed the extraordinary
variety and beauty of hedge-side Ivy, especially to be
remarked in the form and colouring of the leaves.
Great leaves nearly six inches square; minute things
of less than an inch each way; varying shades of glossy
green-dark green, light green, vivid green, golden
green—and red and yellow and purple, and combina-
tions of all these colours; five angled forms, and almost
endless varieties of form-all these descriptions apply to
one species of Ivy: and I believe the variations to be
found from the normal form of the species are all pro-
duced by varying circumstances of soil and position.
I remember once spending an hour in examining the
MY HEDGE-BANKS.
199
marvellous variations of colour which existed in a mass
of Ivy that covered an old and ruined wall; and I
noticed that the smaller the leaf the richer and more
varied was the colouring. The sunnier the aspect
and the less moist the position, the smaller and more
richly hued becomes the plant. The subject of Ivy is
to me a very congenial one, and I could say a good
deal more about it if space permitted. But if my
readers would like to know much more about this most
interesting plant I can refer them to a very delightful
book by a very delighful writer-Mr. Shirley Hibberd
a book which is 'A Monograph of the Ivy,' is full of
charming illustrations and delightful gossip, and over-
flows with abundant information. The writer disposes
of the species makers and shows that all our British
Ivies, in spite of their wonderful variations, are of one
species only. I planted Ivy abundantly in all parts of
my garden-in my hedge-banks, in my rockery, at the
foot of my greensward clumps, and by the margins of
my stream.
I have now mentioned and described all the prin-
cipal plants I brought into requisition for the forma-
tion of my garden hedges. The process of making
them occupied some time; but I had never spent any
time more pleasantly, and I was richly rewarded by the
success which crowned my efforts. Plants, like human
200
MY GARDEN WILD.
beings, do not like solitude. There is an influence in their
association with one another that at present is scarcely
understood. I believe that many species that would
never thrive, if planted singly, would grow luxuriantly
when in proximity to others. Part of the reason for
this is doubtless the greater amount of moisture-which
is the life of vegetation and which all plants more or
less like―engendered by association; but this is not the
entire explanation. The intermingling of roots in the
soil beneath is also mutually beneficial, partly because
roots and rootlets improve the mechanical condition of
the soil by making it more porous, and preventing the
stagnation which is fatal to the higher forms of vegeta-
ble life; but partly also for other and unexplained
reasons. Some roots are said or believed to be para-
sitical upon others. To what extent they derive benefit
from mutual juxtaposition remains a mystery in
common with very much else in the natural world.
When we look upon the tangled mass of greenery in an
ordinary hedge-bank it seems inexplicable that so large
a number of vegetable forms should be able to find
sustenance in so limited a space of earth; yet in spite
of what are, literally, miles of roots draining, to all
appearance, the sustenance of the soil, the plants exhibit
a marvellous degree of vigour and luxuriance.
201
XI.
CLUMPS.
My chapter-heading is not euphonious, but I trust it is
suggestive to the lovers of forest glades. I do not
allude to clumps of trees but clumps of shrubs-to the
mixed, irregular, free, wild growths so common in wood-
land glades, heaths and moors. The pleasures of
association made me determine to have some shrubby
clumps in my garden wild. A clump is a miniature
wood. There are incipient trees of various kinds- for
most shrubs will become more or less tree-like under
favourable conditions--there is the undergrowth, and
there is too, to a small extent, the bird and insect
life. I never walk into a wood or through a forest
without examining some of the clumps, because they
contain so much of interest. The first one visits is
almost certain to contain a bird's nest. It may be that
of the plain little Whitethroat; if near water that of
the Reed Warbler; or it may be that of the Yellow-
hammer, an almost gorgeous bird, whose flight, as you
202
MY GARDEN WILD.
molest his domain, makes a golden flash which is almost
startling. At the same moment a gaily painted butter-
fly, which had perhaps settled on some flower in the
clump, sails airily away; and perhaps, if the sun be
shining, one may espy on the green expanse of a leaf a
gaudy insect with all the colours of the rainbow. These
are the immediate and obvious things to note. But if
the eyes be keenly directed to mark everything, a
hundred objects of interest may be observed. Perhaps
the clump is made up of Hawthorn, and Bramble, and
Sloe, Dogrose, and Honeysuckle, with, it may be,
sapling Oak and Beech, Holly and Barberry. Of ferns
there is sure to be the Bracken, and there may be the
Male Fern, the Broad Buckler Fern, and the Hard
Fern, and perhaps the Mountain Buckler Fern. On
the branches of the Hawthorn there will be moss and
lichen. Below, amongst the small undergrowth, one
may find several species of Grass and more than one
kind of Heather. The Greater Stitchwort, the Goose-
grass, the Red Robin, the Wood Anemone, the Harebell
and the Wild Hyacinth are amongst the more con-
spicuous of the flowering plants which nestle amongst
the matted branches of the larger growth which forms.
the clump. The prickly Gorse may be present; but
this is a shrub that seems to have a fondness for grow-
ing alone and forming clumps of its own, though the
CLUMPS.
203
bold front it makes against intruders upon its domain
does not serve to exclude the equally hardy and
aggressive Bramble, and with a chivalrous tenderness it
permits some of the most delicate and fragile of the
flowers of the forest to grow under the shelter and pro-
tection of its rigid spines.
My garden would not have been a 'wild' had I
omitted clumps from its enclosure. Of these I had
several, and placed them upon the grassy spaces that
spread away on either side of my stream. For one I
planted Dogrose, Hawthorn, Bramble, Sloe and Gorse;
for another, Maple, Sloe, Hazel, Sweet Briar, and Bar-
berry; for a third, Holly, Broom, Honeysuckle, and Oak
Saplings; for a fourth, Sweet Briar, Dogwood, Field
Rose and Gorse. One or two clumps were of Gorse
alone, and for the first I obtained a magnificent shrub in
full blossom. The transplantation of this beautiful plant
was one of the greatest of my garden successes.
I had
noticed one summer, when on a visit to the New Forest,
the splendour of the flowering Gorse which covered
the open spaces of the forest as far as the eye could see,
seeming like a cloth of gold covering the surface of the
ground. Why might not I have one of the golden
clumps for my garden? What a pleasure and delight
it would be to bring just one little bit of this lovely
country with me, so that I might enjoy the brilliant
204
MY GARDEN WILD.
flowers of the Gorse during several months and see a
renewal of its blossom in the ensuing season! I deter-
mined that I would at least endeavour to transplant a
Gorse shrub in full bloom, and I thought that if the ex-
periment were conducted with care it would succeed.
I therefore employed two men with shovel and pickaxe
to remove one, with sufficient of the turf and subjacent
soil to prevent any disturbance of its roots and any in-
terference with the gorgeous blossom. It was a work of
some time. I superintended the operation myself, and
finally had the satisfaction of seeing the beautiful shrub,
all covered with its golden inflorescence, raised from the
ground in a solid portion of turf which enclosed its entire
root and rootlets. Bracken and other roots were em-
bedded in the same soil, and I had the latter placed in
a large wicker basket, which it just fitted. Thus snugly
packed, my treasured bit of the forest was transported
to my inn and thence seven miles, by gig, behind myself
and the driver, to the nearest railway station. At the
end of the railway journey it required the combined
efforts of two porters and a cabman to lift it to the top
of my cab, and by-passers in the streets through which
we drove showed some surprise at the unwonted sight of
a mass of Gorse in full bloom. Arrived at home I
placed it in my garden-in a trench, dug the size of
the large turf which contained its roots, planting it on
CLUMPS.
205
one side of my stream, but away from the water's edge,
and arranging the level of the turf so as to correspond
exactly with the level of the ground. Had a stranger
visited my garden five minutes afterwards, or at any
time during the next few days, he could easily have
been persuaded that my Gorse shrub had always been
growing in the spot where I had placed it.
207
XII.
'WEEDS!
I HAVE always been a lover of what are contemptuously
called 'weeds,' and I could never understand how those
who profess an admiration for what they call 'wild
flowers' should openly scorn, persistently maltreat, and
remorselessly exterminate those inhabitants of the great
world of wild flowers which happen to be so hardy and
so abundant as to grow, under the most discouraging
conditions, almost everywhere. Many even of those
who think that there are some wildings worthy of a
place in the garden refuse the slightest consideration
for the claims of weeds,' which they ruthlessly pluck
up and fling ignominiously away, should these humble
plants dare to intrude upon the nicely-trimmed domain
appropriated exclusively to the customary inhabitants
of the garden. They would rather see bare spaces of
black earth round every garden flower than the spaces
occupied by weeds.' They do not expect to see, and
they do not want to see, beauty in 'weeds,' and hence
6
6
208
MY GARDEN WILD.
they never look at, or carefully examine, but only
roughly handle them
"Weeds' give most offence, in the eyes of their
detractors, by their habit of coming uninvited into
gardens. Such conduct is doubtless irritating to the
horticultural mind, but I confess that for me it has an
attraction. I regard the visits of these wildings, when
they are so good as to come into my grounds, as a direct
compliment. How have I, for instance, deserved so
much consideration? What good have I ever done, or
what good am I ever likely to do to the vegetable
world to entitle me to such a favour? If I leave any-
where about my surroundings a plot of bare earth,
Nature straightway plants it with forms of beauty,
arrayed in white and green and purple and gold. It
would be a poor requital for so much goodness to tear
them up by the roots and fling them away to perish.
I confess that it always did me good to see green things
growing, and I loved my 'weeds' as much as I did my
other flowers.
6
The very commonest of all my garden weeds' I
found to be a plant that bears, so to speak, its mark of
Cain' in its very name! It is the Chickweed (Stellaria
media), prized by the birds, and hated, with bitter
intensity, by the model gardener. Perhaps I may
somewhat mitigate judgment on this terrible offender
'WEEDS!'
209
if I tell those who do not happen to know, that this
little plant is closely related, by what I may call blood
relationship, to the beautiful Stitchworts of the lane,
the field-hedge, and the forest; whose star-like flowers
must have attracted the admiring attention of all wan-
derers from town in the spring and summer. The
flowers of the Common Stitchwort or Chickweed are
little noticed by reason of their inconspicuousness; for
the minute white corolla is half hidden by the longer,
five-parted, green calyx, and when the blossom is un-
opened the forms of the calyces are lost in the general
mass of greenery. It is marvellous how rapidly it
spreads by reason of the rooting power of its procum-
bent stems, and its branching habit; and it varies won-
derfully in size, according to the more or less favourable
conditions of growth. In spite of its commonness, and
of its (to a hater of weeds) troublesome luxuriance, I
always regarded a branched piece of Chickweed, with its
delicate green stems, pretty pairs of oval, pointed leaves
and little flower gems, as an exceedingly beautiful
object. These plants never troubled me, and I liked
them especially because they flowered nearly all the
year round, opening up their bright little flowers in the
chilliest days of chilly January. The Common Chick-
weed is recorded in a hundred and two botanical dis-
tricts.
6
210
MY GARDEN WILD.
Then there were the Dandelions, whose forerunners
came in aerial chariots, unasked, of course, but welcome.
They grew in every possible position; in corners of
rockery in my 'green lane,' upon my hedge-banks, and,
abundantly, upon my greenswards. Nowhere in the
early spring were their large, golden blossoms more
welcome than on my open grassy levels. The Dandelion
(Leontodon taraxacum) is well worth study and atten-
tion in all its stages of growth, in leaf, flower, and seed.
The curious turning back towards the root of the points
of the serratures of the leaf are sufficiently like or suffi-
ciently suggestive of dents de lion to give justification
for the common name of the plant.
Groundsel (Senecio vulgaris) also came unbidden,
and I have had it in full blossom in my garden in the
depth of an almost arctic winter, so full of life and
vigour is it. I always felt that the mere fact of its
appearing in full bloom at a time when nearly all other
plants were wrapped in their wintry slumbers gave it
an especial claim on my regard. I should have been
inclined to think that the Dandelion and the Groundsel
were equally common; but I find that the Groundsel
carries off the palm for abundance, though there is not
much difference between the two, the Dandelion being
recorded as occurring in a hundred and one, and the
Groundsel in a hundred and two out of a hundred and
twelve botanical districts.
'WEEDS.
211
About equally common with the two weeds' I have
last mentioned, for it is recorded in a hundred botanical
districts, is the Spear Plume Thistle (Carduus lanceo-
latus), which, similarly, came unasked into my garden.
But though it is perhaps the most stalwart and formi-
dable-looking of the enemies of the gardener and agri-
culturist, attaining oftentimes a height of four feet and
upwards, I always admired its singularly effective
armour, for it is fully armed at all points—its prickly
heads of blossom each crowned at the apex by the
purple plume which gives its name to the plant. I
never dreaded this handsome plant, and it never unde-
sirably encroached upon my garden wild.
I have not space in this chapter to mention all the
'weeds' which grew in my garden. I have named,
however, the most prominent and conspicuous, the
boldest and most persistent, and let me frankly confess
my predilection-the most welcome of them all.
0 2
213
XIII.
OTHER FLOWERS I GREW.
To write a full and complete history of my garden wild.
within the compass of one small volume would be im-
possible. In the preceding chapters I have indicated
and given some description of some of the most pro-
minent of the plants I grew in it, giving or endeavour-
ing to give precedence to the best known and most
plentiful. I have enumerated them as nearly as
possible in the order in which they were introduced, for
my garden, in its complete state, took a considerable time
to establish. But from beginning to end the work of
making it afforded me delightful occupation. It will
be supposed that I was continually adding to my stock
of plants, never losing an opportunity, on the occasion
of a visit to the country, of bringing in something fresh.
It was in this manner that I obtained the flowering
plants which will be found briefly mentioned in this
chapter. I shall not refer to them in the particular
order in which I introduced them, but shall, in a
214
MY GARDEN WILD.
general way, and for the convenience of my readers,
give them very much in the order in which they will
be found in botanical lists where plants are arranged
according to what is known as the Natural System.
The excellent 'London Catalogue' of Mr. Hewett
Watson is such a list; and that will be the order, or
nearly so, which will be followed in the immediately
succeeding pages. Whilst giving prominence to the
most abundant species, I occasionally introduced some-
what rarer plants; but there were none in my garden
that could not be found in at least about half of the
botanical districts of Great Britain.
The Common Meadow Rue (Thalictrum flavum) I
put on the borders of my stream, for it loves a damp
habitat and grows on river and brook margins to a
height of from two to five feet. Its leaves are bi-pin-
nate with leaflets bright green and shining and three-
lobed, each lobe being deeply indented. The flowers
are pale yellow, and grow in crowded and pyramidal
panicles. The Meadow Rue is recorded in sixty-one
botanical districts. It will grow in any soil.
The Mountain Globe Flower (Trollius europaeus)
may be found from six to twenty-four inches in height.
It has leaves not unlike the spread fingers of a hand,
each segment or division of the leaf being wedge-shaped
and deeply cut in or indented. The yellow petals of
OTHER FLOWERS I GREW.
215
the large blossoms, varying in number from five to ten,
are converged into the form of a globe, and hence the
common name of the plant. Its habitats are moist
fields in mountainous districts, and I put my plants on
the upward slopes of my grass banks, mixing some peat
with the actual soil of the banks to provide for the
moisture of the situation. The Globe Flower grows in
fifty-six botanical districts.
My Water Lilies I planted at the end of my garden
where I had extemporised a marsh, as already explained,
in connection with my stream, and had thus preserved
the freshness of the still water by preventing stagnation.
Here I placed the White Water Lily (Nymphaea alba),
whose great, rounded, heart-shaped leaves are sometimes.
a foot in diameter, and float on the water's surface.
The size and magnificence of the pure white flowers,
borne singly on long, round stems, and sometimes as
much as five inches across, seen as they usually are
resting upon and contrasting with the great green
succulent leaves, can be unfamiliar to few persons who,
as anglers or merely as pedestrians, have wandered by
the margins of still ponds or sluggish rivers. Nymphæa
alba is found in sixty-nine districts.
The Yellow Water Lily (Nuphar lutea) is more
widely distributed, and occurs in seventy-eight districts.
Its leathery, large, oval, bright-green leaves, heart-
216
MY GARDEN WILD.
shaped at their bases-the lobes formed by the inden-
tations overlapping each other-also float upon the
water. The blossoms appear singly, and each yellow
flower is formed into a cup-shape by the five or six
sepals of the calyx, which is the most conspicuous part
of the blossom, the petals, much smaller and oblong in
shape, being crowded within.
The brilliant red flowers of the well-known Corn
Poppy (Papaver rhæas) may be seen in at least eighty-
nine botanical districts, and are sometimes as much as
four inches in diameter. The plant may occasionally be
found a yard high, and it is not particular as to the soil
in which it grows. I planted one or two near the
margin of my stream; others at the base of my shrub
clumps, others in my hedge-banks, where there were
sunny spaces, and others again in my open, grassy levels.
The lobes of the pinnatifid leaves of the Common Red
Poppy are oblong in form and indented. The bril
liancy of the large blossoms gave striking beauty to my
hedge-banks by the contrast with the prevailing and less
vivid colours.
I need not describe, but shall only state that I grew
in my stream, some Watercress, whose pinnate leaves
are so frequently eaten that they must be quite
sufficiently familiar to everybody. But everybody has
not seen the white, cross-shaped flowers nor the green
OTHER FLOWERS I GREW.
217
seed pods of the Watercress (Nasturtium officinale),
and probably everybody is not aware that this edible
plant sometimes grows to a length of four feet. I need
scarcely refer to its abundance, but it may be interesting
to state that it is to be found in not less than ninety-
four botanical districts.
The Common Rock Rose (Helianthemum vulgare)
I introduced plentifully.
It is recorded in eighty
botanical districts. The large, yellow flowers are very
beautiful, and my rockery offered plenty of space for
growing it. It is a plant of sunny habitats, and I
treated it according to its natural likings, and as it
sometimes grows on dry banks, I put some plants
of it on dry parts of my banks. The leaves of the Rock
Rose are variable in form, the upper ones small narrow
and oblong, the lower ones more rounded in form. The
stems are often suffused with a red hue that extends on
to the backs of the leaves, which are usually hairy to a
greater or less extent. The calyx consists of five sepals.
Three of these are large and conspicuous, oval in shape
and concave, whilst the other two are much smaller.
The petals of the yellow and sometimes orange-coloured
corolla are also five in number, broad, and rounded with
shallow indentations in their upper margins, and the
centre of the blossom is occupied by the crowded and
somewhat prominent stamens. The little plant is a
218
MY GARDEN WILD.
few inches only in height, sometimes only two or three
but occasionlly as much as ten.
In my marshy space I planted two or three speci-
mens of the Round-leaved Sundew (Drosera rotundi-
folia), a curious little plant which is seldom found more
than six inches high and always in or near marshy
habitats, preferring places where the ground is very soft.
The fleshy, round leaves are thickly covered with red
hairs, which, exuding a kind of gummy sap, make their
surfaces very sticky; so much so that small flies, when
they alight on it, cannot fly away again. From the centre
of the little cluster of horizontally-spread leaves the
single flowering stem of each plant rises to a height of
several inches, bearing on its top one-sided cymes of
small, white flowers, each of five petals, seated in a calyx
of four or five oval sepals. The Round-leaved Sundew
occurs in at least ninety-three districts.
By the margin of the seashore, upon sandy wastes
that lie beyond the reach of the tide, may often be
noticed a plant a few inches-seldom exceeding six—
high with numerous, branching stems, opposite pairs of
oval-shaped, narrow leaves and white flowers, large for
the size of the plants, each flower consisting of five,
inversely heart-shaped petals and an inflated bag-like,
pale-green calyx. This is the Sea Campion (Silene
maritima), a plant that occurs in sixty-five districts.
OTHER FLOWERS I GREW.
219
A more common relative of the same plant (Silene
inflata, the Bladder Campion) is found in ninety districts.
The relationship between the two is at once recognised
by their general resemblance; but the white petals of
Silene inflata, though five in number like those of
Silene maritima, are differently shaped, each petal
being deeply divided into two narrow lobes. Both of
them like sandy soil, and I obtained specimens of both
for my garden.
To the same order of plants belongs the Ragged Robin
(Lychnis flos-cuculi), whose common name is almost
sufficiently descriptive of the plant, and whose general
appearance will indicate a likeness to the Campion.
Its leaves are similarly narrow and lance-shaped, and
they grow in opposite pairs; but the flowers, which grow
in branched, loose panicles, are very distinct by reason of
the ragged-looking form of the petals of the corolla.
These, of a bright pink colour, are five in number, but
each petal is cut, or, as it seems, torn, into four narrow
lobes or segments. The Ragged Robin grows in damp
fields, by stream margins, and sometimes by the road-
side, and it is so plentifully and widely distributed that
it is found in at least ninety-nine out of a hundred and
twelve botanical districts. I always found it easy to get
up the roots of this plant without disturbance by taking
a quantity of soil with them.
•220
MY GARDEN WILD.
The sweet-scented White Campion (Lychnis ves-
pertina), in leaf and flower is very much like the Sea
Campion, but widely differs in size, reaching some-
times a height of three feet, though it is ordinarily not
more than one or two. Stems and leaves are hairy, and
each petal of the five which compose the corolla is
deeply cleft, dividing it into club-shaped lobes. It
may be found in seventy-seven districts.
Very similar to Lychnis vespertina, though more
plentiful-occurring in not less than ninety-eight bota-
nical districts out of a hundred and twelve-is the Red
Campion (Lychnis diurna), but it is not quite so
robust in habit, and it wants the sweet smell which dis-
tinguishes its white-flowered relative, when the moist
coolness of evening begins to creep over field and
through lane. My Red Campions I planted near my
stream, because of their greater fondness for moisture,
and my White Campions I planted along the banks of
my 'green lane."
I found that my pretty Corn Cockles, being annual
plants, took care of themselves, and did not fail to
reappear each season as their time came round. Some
botanists insist upon including this plant (Lychnis
githago) in another genus, to which they give the
name of Githago, but without sufficient reason. It is
clearly, in leaf and stem and flower, a very near rela-
OTHER FLOWERS I GREW.
221
tive of the other members which I have just enume-
rated, of the Lychnis family. It grows sometimes
three feet high, but its height is ordinarily less than
that, and not unfrequently only a foot. Its narrow,
lance-shaped, opposite leaves grow in pairs, and leaves
and stems are hairy. The green calyx of each flower
-the flowers are large for the size of the plant-is
longer than its corolla. The colour of the petals, which,
in each blossom, are five in number, is a pale purple,
almost approaching blue, and the form of each is heart-
shaped. It is so abundant that it may be found in
at least ninety out of a hundred and twelve districts.
Its hardiness and wide distribution prove that soil is
not of much consequence to it, and I put my plants
in somewhat dry positions, but beyond that avoided
any interference with them.
勃
​I could not resist the temptation to introduce into
my garden wild some of the pretty little Mouse-ear
Chickweeds-annual plants-of the genus Cerastium.
The most plentiful of these—for no British plant is
more common-is Cerastium triviale, or the Narrow-
leaved Mouse-ear Chickweed, which grows oftentimes
in dense patches, and will thrive almost anywhere, and
in almost any soil. Its hairy stems, which branch at
the base, are five or six, and sometimes more inches in
height, and bear upon them at regular intervals, and in
222
MY GARDEN WILD.
pairs, the narrow, oblong, 'mouse-ear' leaves. There is
much description in the common name of this little
plant. The flowers are produced in terminal branched
panicles, each branch bearing two or three blossoms,
and each blossom having a hairy, green calyx of five,
oval and lance-shaped segments, and a corolla of five,
white, inversely-heart-shaped petals.
The Common Broad-leaved Mouse-ear Chickweed
(Cerastium glomeratum) is recorded in ninety-eight
districts. It grows to about the same size as its little
mouse-ear relative just mentioned, and, though variable,
is chiefly distinguished from it by the greater breadth
of its hairy leaves. Its blossoms are white, and they
are produced on terminal flowering stems.
In both the species just described of Mouse-ear
Chickweed, the sepals of the calyx are about the same
length as the petals of the corolla. In the Field
Chickweed (Cerastium arvense), the petals are twice
the length of the sepals, and the white blossoms shown
against the green are consequently much more con-
spicuous than is the case with Chickweeds in general.
When, therefore, the plants are growing together, as
they often do in great abundance, they make a striking
show of white blossoms. The leaves of Cerastium
arvense grow sometimes in opposite pairs along the
stems, but occasionally they are produced in fascicles,
1
OTHER FLOWERS I GREW.
223
tufts, or whorls around the stems. The stems are com-
monly a few inches only in height, but are sometimes
as much as a foot. The species occurs in fifty-seven
botanical districts.
C
com-
As the little plants I have mentioned and described
in the last three paragraphs are annuals, they repro-
duce their kind each year by the agency of seed. The
horticulturist will probably consider them very
mon.' But I confess they always bad an attraction for
me, and I preferred always their little masses of
greenery and their snow-white blossoms to the bare
patches of earth which conventional horticulture loves
to see between prim masses of typical garden plants.
Of the St. John's Worts, which may be found in
woods, in hedges, or by stream-sides, I grew two or
three species. The most widely distributed of them
is the Small Upright St. John's Wort (Hypericum
pulchrum), a plant which grows to the height of a foot
or two, and has along its smooth, round, branching
stems, opposite pairs of egg-shaped, stemless leaves, and
large, yellow, five-petalled flowers, which grow in loose
panicles at the ends of the stems. It is recorded in a
hundred and one botanical districts.
Next in point of abundance is the Square-stalked
St. John's Wort (Hypericum tetrapterum), which is re-
corded in eighty-eight districts. Its stem, as its name
224
MY GARDEN WILD.
suggests, is square, and reaches a height of sometimes
two feet, and its dotted leaves are ovate in shape and
grow in opposite pairs on the stem-the flowers of this
species being also terminal.
The trailing habit of the branched stems of the
Trailing St. John's Wort (Hypericum humifusum)
will perhaps best indicate its specific character, as the
other species are very erect in their growth. It is re-
corded in eighty-five botanical districts. Its flowers are
lemon-coloured, and its egg-shaped leaves, which vary
in size and grow in opposite pairs, are of a bright-green
colour. When decaying, they become of a pinkish hue.
Its two-edged stems and the numerous pellucid
dots on its leaves-clearly seen when the leaves are
held against the light-distinguish the Perforated St.
John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum) from its con-
geners. Its flowers are a bright yellow, and the
principal stem, which attains a height of two feet, is
much branched, stem and branches bearing the opposite
pairs of smooth, egg-shaped leaves which are covered by
pellucid dots.
Hairiness of leaf and stem is the special charac-
teristic, as the name suggests, of the Hairy St. John's
Wort (Hypericum hirsutum), which may be found
in seventy-six botanical districts. Its large, yellow
flowers are freely and abundantly produced at the ends
OTHER FLOWERS I GREW.
225
of the upper branches of the stem; and the height of
the plant is ordinarily from one foot to two or three.
Last of my garden St. John's Worts I must mention
the Tutsan (Hypericum androsæmum), which, growing
from a foot to two feet high, is distinguished by its
large, handsome, heart-shaped, opposite pairs of leaves
with prominent venation, and large, yellow, handsome,
five-petalled blossoms produced at the end of the stems
in branched cymes. The calyx of each flower is con-
spicuous, and consists of five, oval, pointed sepals. It
is found in seventy-one botanical districts.
It
Passing from yellow to blue, and from the St. John's
Worts to the Cranesbill genus, I must not forget the
Blue Meadow Cranesbill (Geranium pratense), which
may be found in seventy-four districts of Britain.
is a plant which occurs in damp fields, chiefly in
mountainous localities, grows to a height of three feet
or more, and has opposite pairs of deeply-cut leaves,.
each divided into lance-shaped segments, which are
sometimes five and sometimes seven in number, the
segments being in their turn more or less deeply cut
into more or less pointed lobes. It loves rich soil, and
I planted it on the levels by my stream, giving it
a moist position. The calyx is made up of five, green,
pointed sepals, and the corolla above is formed of five
rounded petals.
Р
226
MY GARDEN WILD.
6
The
A delightful little plant, of extreme beauty, and
sensitive to any care which may be bestowed upon it, is
the delicate Woodsorrel (Oxalis acetosella), a charming
occupant of forest glade and woodland dell. Few plants
are more abundant or widely distributed, for it occurs
in at least ninety-eight of the hundred and twelve
botanical districts of the London Catalogue.' I brought
many patches into my garden of the sweet little tri-
foliate plants, whose clover-like leaves sometimes
densely crowd moist forest banks and glades.
trifoliate leaves are all' radical,' which means that they
do not branch, but are produced, all of them, from the
root, each leaf growing at the end of a pale-green,
herbaceous stem. The three leaflets are heart-shaped,
oftentimes golden-green above and reddish-purple
underneath. The blossoms-large for the size of the
plant, which seldom exceeds two or three inches high
-consist of corollas of whitish flowers, beautifully
striped or veined with purple. During the daytime the
leaves of the Woodsorrel are extended horizontally to
receive the greatest benefit for themselves from the air
and sunshine, and to afford at the same time shelter
or protection from the influence of the sun-rays for the
roots underneath. As evening, however, begins to
close in, the leaflets droop, and the dew can thus roll
from them on to the ground underneath. The little
OTHER FLOWERS I GREW.
227
plant will grow in any soil, but it best loves soft rich
spongy leaf-mould, and is sure to thrive and prosper
under the influence of conditions similar to those it is
accustomed to in its native wilds. I found that I
could always, in bringing Woodsorrel plants into my
garden, bring with them enough of their native soil to
last them for a very long time.
Into the shrubbery of my hedge-banks and also into
my clumps I introduced a few specimens of the Spindle
Tree (Euonymus europaeus), which, in spite of its
name, is hardly a tree, but a shrub of, ordinarily, some
eight or ten feet in height, but sometimes attaining a
height, under peculiarly favourable conditions, of twenty
or thirty feet. Its stems and leaves are peculiarly green,
and the leaves, borne along the stem in opposite pairs,
are rather long, narrow, and drawn out at their points.
The colour of its stalked, four-petalled flowers, which
are borne in little stemmed cymes, is greenish-white,
and the succeeding seed-capsules are scarlet, the leaves
also assuming, in the autumn, hues of crimson and
yellow. The roots of the Spindle Tree are very abun-
dant and fibrous; but they usually keep together, and
do not travel far from the root-stock, so that the
removal of young plants is not difficult. Euonymus
europœus is found in sixty-six districts.
Of the Needle Green Weed or Petty Whin (Genista
P 2
228
MY GARDEN WILD.
anglica) I grew several specimens, planting them upon
my open grassy ground. The plant grows upon moors
and heaths, and is recorded in eighty botanical districts.
Its stem is round, smooth, and leafless in its lower
unbranched part, which is invested with sharp rigid
spines. The leaves and flowers are produced on the
upper, terminal and thornless branches, the leaves
being small in size, smooth, and lance-shaped, and the
flowers, of the pea-blossom kind and belonging to the
natural order Leguminosa, yellow in colour.
Belonging to the same natural order as the Green
Weed just mentioned, and bearing yellow, pea-like
flowers, is the Broom (Cytisus scoparius), which I
planted, as I have already mentioned, in my clumps with
Holly, Honeysuckle, and Oak saplings. Its brown leaves
are trifoliate, and its flowers are by comparison very large
and conspicuous. The plant is recorded as occurring
in ninety-nine botanical districts, and can scarcely be
unfamiliar to anyone.
Growing in habitats somewhat similar to the Broom-
namely, in fields, on heaths, and in woodland wastes —is
the Rest Harrow (Ononis arvensis), another plant with
flowers of the pea-blossom kind. The general appear-
ance, indeed, of blossoms of this particular kind has
been suggestive of butterflies, and hence the term
papilionaceous' has been applied to them, the word
6
OTHER FLOWERS I GREW.
229
being, of course, a derivative of the Latin papilio, a
butterfly. The Rest Harrow is recorded in ninety-one
districts, and grows to the height of a foot and sometimes
more, but it varies very much, according to its circum-
stances of growth, in size and habit, being sometimes
erect and sometimes trailing. Its leaves are egg-shaped
and finely indented along their margins, except at their
basal margins, which are usually smooth or entire, and
they are generally produced, along the somewhat tough
and woody stems, in threes. The flowers, which are of
a very beautiful rose colour, arise singly from the axils
of the leaves.
Another plant of the same natural order and equally
abundant is the Kidney Vetch (Anthyllis vulneraria),
which ordinarily reaches a height of a foot. Its leaves,
vetch-like, are pinnate, the undersides somewhat
downy, the leaflets being oval in shape, produced in
pairs along the mid leaf stem, or rachis, a single leaflet
terminating the stem. The papilionaceous flowers
appear in somewhat crowded, terminal heads at the
end of a long stem, the heads being in pairs, and the
general colour of the petals being pink or rose. I
planted my Kidney Vetches upon my grassy levels,
giving them a dry position, for the plant is hardy and
will grow almost anywhere.
Another papilionaceous, annual flower is the pretty
230
MY GARDEN WILD.
Birdsfoot (Ornithopus perpusillus), which grows from
half a dozen inches to a foot and a half high, and has
pinnate leaves with oval leaflets in opposite pairs, and
a terminating single leaflet at the end of the mid-stem.
The flowers have crimson veins on a ground of light
pink, and the elongated seed-pods growing in threes
are curved and alternately dilated and contracted-
dilated at the spots where the enclosed seeds lie, and
contracted in the spaces between the seeds, somewhat
after the manner of the pods of a pea-thus giving to
them the appearance of a bird's foot. The plant grows
in seventy-five botanical districts, and may be found in
sandy soil, on hedge-banks, and elsewhere.
I had almost forgotten to mention my Birdsfoot
Trefoils, of which I grew two kinds in my garden. The
first to claim attention is the Common Birdsfoot Trefoil
(Lotus corniculatus), a plant that attains a height of
sometimes a foot, though it is oftentimes two or three
inches only in height. Its stem is clothed with soft
hairs, which also extend to the trifoliate leaves. The
leaflets, of which a pair of the three are opposite, and
the third terminates the stem-as is ordinarily the case
with trifoliate leaves-are egg-shaped. The flowers,
which are yellow in colour, grow in heads of a few—
sometimes as many as ten-on each stem, and the long
flower-stalk rises from the axils of the leaves. Accord-
OTHER FLOWERS I GREW.
231
ing to soil and situation, the Common Birdsfoot Trefoil
varies much, the variation, however, being chiefly con-
fined to the greater or less size of the leaves. The
plant is recorded in a hundred and three districts.
The Greater Birdsfoot Trefoil (Lotus major) is less
widely distributed, for it is recorded in only eighty-seven
botanical districts; and it is chiefly distinguished from
its congener just mentioned by the larger size and
greater development of its parts. It is also a more
vigorous plant, and attains a height of two feet, being
at the same time more upright in habit. Its stems are
hollow, and it is more or less hairy, according to its
position as to moisture. Depending, too, upon its more
or less moist position are its general growth and luxuri-
ance.
Seldom do we pass a summer hedge-bank without
espying some species of Vetch in flower; and no plant
is more suggestive of lane or field. The Sweet Milk
Vetch, or Wild Liquorice (Astragalus glycyphyllus),
may sometimes be found three feet high, though
ordinarily smaller. On its stems the leaves grow al-
ternately. They are pinnate, with large pairs of ovoid
leaflets and a terminal one. Its stems trail upon the
ground, and its papilionaceous flowers are light yellow.
The Milk Vetch is found in fifty-eight botanical dis-
tricts, and grows in soil that is more or less gravelly.
232
MY GARDEN WILD.
Blue or bluish-purple flowers immediately distin-
guish the Tufted Vetch (Vicia cracca) from the species
just mentioned. It is recorded in a hundred and two
districts, and is consequently scarcely less common or
widely distributed than any plant in Britain. At the
ends of its pinnate leaves, whose leaflets are sometimes.
opposite and sometimes alternate on their mid-stem,
grow branched tendrils, that assist the climbing habit
of the plant, which attains a height of four, five, and
occasionally even six feet, straggling through and up
the shrubbery of the hedge-bank or thicket where it is
found growing. Its flowers are produced in crowded
racemes whose stems start from the axils of the leaves,
and they are very conspicuous and beautiful, varying
between the predominance or otherwise of blue or
purple shades, according to circumstances of growth.
Vicia sylvatica, the Wood Vetch, is not so widely
distributed as the species last described, for it is found
in only sixty-seven districts. But it is a larger plant,
having been occasionally found eight feet long. Like
Vicia cracca, its pinnate leaves are terminated not by
a single leaflet, but by strong branched tendrils which
cling to every accessible stem or twig in the thickets
in which it grows. The colouring of its flowers is
produced by bluish-purple or purplish-blue veins upon
a ground of white.
OTHER FLOWERS I GREW.
233
The Vetches which have tendrils are naturally
found growing amidst shrubbery of some kind, because
their climbing habits require the support of other and
stouter plants. I therefore in my garden planted them
at the base of my greensward clumps as well as in my
hedge-banks, and left them to climb upon any and
every support which came within their reach.
I must mention one more of the papilionaceous
flowers of my garden wild. This was the Meadow Vetch-
ling (Lathyrus pratensis), a veritable Pea by its leaf and
flowers and its numerous, conspicuous, and ever present
tendrils. Though the meadow has given its common
name to this attractive and well-known plant, it is really
an inhabitant of the hedge-bank, and meadow hedge-
banks doubtless furnish it abundantly enough to warrant
its appellation. It is found in a hundred and one-
botanical districts. Ordinarily one or two feet long,
it sometimes climbs three feet through surrounding
shrubbery. The leaflets, Pea-like, are produced in
twos, and the bright-yellow papilionaceous flowers
appear in racemes at the end of long axillary stalks.
To the shrubs and sapling trees of my hedge-banks
I added the Wild Cherry (Cerasus avium), a delightful
wilding, and found sometimes in hedge-banks and fre-
quently in forest thickets. Its broadly lance-shaped
or ovate leaves are finely serrated on their margins, and
234
MY GARDEN WILD.
the white, five-petalled flowers are produced in little
bunches from near the bases of the leaves and upon
long stalks.
The beautiful Dropwort or Meadow Sweet (Spiraa
ulmaria), or, as it is called, the Queen of the Meadows,
is widely known by its crowded panicles of sweet-smell-
ing, cream-coloured blossom aptly likened to the foam of
the meadow brook. Its leaves are pinnate, the leaflets in
pairs with indented margins, smaller pairs upon the leaf-
stem alternating with the larger ones. Spirca ulmaria
attains a height of several feet, and is so abundant that
it may be found in ninety-nine botanical districts.
Its congener, the Common Dropwort (Spiroa fili-
pendula), is not so abundant, and only occurs in fifty-
nine districts. It is smaller in size than Spiræa ul-
maria, and seldom grows higher than a foot and a half.
Both are perennials, and both were acquisitions to my
garden wild; for their fragrance in the early summer
was always delicious, and the fresh greenness of the
plants themselves always delightful. The odour of the
blossoms of the Meadow Sweet is not unlike, except in
strength, the smell of Hawthorn, and the form of the in-
florescence is also suggestive of that beautiful shrub.
I planted my Spireas on the sides of my hedge-
banks opposite to those which formed the boundaries
of my green lane.
OTHER FLOWERS I GREW.
235
The Strawberry-leaved Cinquefoil (Potentilla
fragariastrum) is a pretty little plant which must not
be omitted in the enumeration of the flowers of my
garden wild. The Strawberry-like, trifoliate leaves,
with rounded, indented, and silky-looking leaflets, the
creeping, rooting stems, and the pretty, white, five-
petalled flowers must be familiar to many persons,
especially as the plant is so abundant that it is to be
found in not less than eighty-seven botanical districts.
Nor must the Wild Strawberry (Fragaria vesca)
itself—whose miniature ruby fruit I have so often
gathered to eat from the wild banks on which it grew—
be overlooked. Its pretty little flowers are also white;
the rooting power of its trailing runners serves to
promote its vigorous propagation; and it often covers the
banks whereon it grows with a profusion of its trifoliate
leaves. Then the pretty and edible fruit succeeds the
flowers, and adds its charm to this delightful trailer.
Both my Strawberry-leaved Cinquefoils and my Wild
Strawberry plants I grew lower down upon the same
banks as those on which I planted my Spiræas. It will
be remembered that as my banks observed a circular
course around the circumference of my garden they
formed on one side a continuous lane, while the other
sides faced the central part of my garden through which
ran my stream. It was on these more open sides, facing
236
MY GARDEN WILD.
the stream and the contiguous greensward and clumps,'
that I placed both the Spireas and the little Strawberry-
leaved plants last described. By the breaks or openings
in the banks forming my continuous green lane,
entrance to the latter could be obtained at several
points from the central part of my garden, and habitats
were thus provided at the ends of each bank, facing the
apertures between them, for sun-loving and shade-
loving plants. There were in fact, as will easily be
seen, gradations in the characters of the habitats from
the more sunny sides and ends of the banks to the
inner sides, where the high shrubbery crowning them
formed, with the walls of rockery which masked the
garden walls, the most complete shade. By the arrange-
ment of my garden I had in fact made provision for
every kind of aspect for the plants which I grew in it—
sunny, shady, or gradations between the two-positions
facing the morning sun and the setting sun, and exposed
to the north, to the east, to the south, to the west, and to
the various points between all these.
The Field Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla arvensis),
with its downy, fan-shaped, three-lobed leaves alter-
nately placed on the much-branched, hairy stems, is a
thing of beauty. It is an annual plant, and its flowers
are small, light green, and not very conspicuous, its
charm lying mainly in its elegant foliage. Each of the
OTHER FLOWERS I GREW.
237
three lobes forming the leaf is deeply but irregularly
indented; and the flowers, like the leaves, are hairy and
grow in the axils of the latter. Its habitats are sandy
places, including the tops of walls, and it grows only to a
height of a few inches, not exceeding six or eight. The
little plant is recorded in ninety-four botanical districts.
Alchemilla vulgaris, the Common Lady's Mantle, is
a larger plant than the species just described, for it
attains a height of more than a foot, not unfrequently
being found a foot and a half long, though usually
smaller. The plaited leaves which grow from its
rootstock are divided into several lobes, varying from
seven to nine, the edges of which are prettily serrated.
The upper stem-leaves, similarly divided, are much
smaller and have no stalks, whilst the root leaves have
long stalks. The flowers are borne in loose and
irregular cymes or corymbs at the end of the flowering
branches, and are yellowish-green in colour, each
perianth consisting of eight pieces, four larger alternat-
ing with four smaller segments. The Common Lady's
Mantle is found in eighty-one botanical districts.
On the borders of my garden marsh I planted some
specimens of the Marsh Cinquefoil (Potentilla coma-
rum). It grows about a foot high, and has a branched
stem and pinnate leaves, each having from five to seven
broadly lance-shaped, indented leaflets arranged in two
238
MY GARDEN WILD.
pairs or three pairs opposite, with a terminal leaflet
making the fifth or seventh, the undersides of the
leaflets being more or less hairy. The flowers appear
in branched panicles at the end of the flowering stems,
which are what is called terminal. They are of a
reddish-purple colour, corolla and calyx being divided
into ten segments, five larger alternating with five
smaller ones. The Marsh Cinquefoil is recorded in
eighty-eight botanical districts, and may be met with in
marshy and boggy situations. A little care is required,
owing to the greater softness and want of cohesion of
the soil, in removing marsh plants without disturbing
their roots. But the process should always be accom-
plished by the aid of some convenient receptacle in
which to place and carry the little mass of marshy soil
which lies about the roots and rootlets.
Somewhat similar in general appearance to the
Cinquefoils is the Avens or Herb Benet (Geum ur-
banum), a plant which grows a foot and sometimes two
feet high, and has indented, semi-pinnate leaves, the
leafy lobes near the base being smaller than those
above, a large lobe or leaflet terminating the stem, and
the entire leafy edges being indented. The flowers are
yellow in colour, corolla and calyx having each re-
spectively five and ten segments, the five petals of the
corolla being uniform in size, whilst the calyx sepals are
OTHER FLOWERS I GREW.
239
alternately large and small. The Avens is recorded
in ninety-four botanical districts, and grows not only
on hedge-banks but in woods.
The Water Avens (Geum rivale) is somewhat like
its congener the Herb Benet, except that the flowers
are of a dull purplish-brown hue, and droop instead of
growing erect. The Water Avens is recorded as occur-
ring in seventy-eight botanical districts, inhabiting, as
its specific name will suggest, wet and marshy places.
I planted it on the borders of my garden marsh.
I had often been greatly charmed, when wandering
through woodlands in the summer, at the delightful
gusts of perfume that reached me from time to time, so
strongly suggestive of Hawthorn blossom that, but for
the lateness of the season, it would have deceived me.
I soon learnt that the fragrance came from the expan-
ded flowers of the Mountain Ash (Pyrus aucuparia),
which, though a tree, may claim a place by its modest
size, even in a small garden. It will grow in any
situation, even the most exposed, and in any soil.
I obtained several saplings, and planted them in
different parts of my open ground. Pyrus aucuparia
is beautiful in leaf, flower, and fruit. Its leaves are
pinnate, the leaflets being arranged in opposite pairs
along the leaf mid-stem, with a terminal leaflet. The
margins of the leaflets are finely and regularly indented,
240
MY GARDEN WILD.
the indentations, however, ceasing near their bases.
The white, five-petalled flowers are borne in more or less
crowded cymes, and the form of inflorescence strongly
resembles that of the Hawthorn. The Mountain Ash
is recorded in ninety-three botanical districts. Apart
from its beauty of leaf and flower, the brilliant hue of
the scarlet berries which follow the blossoming adds
new loveliness to this attractive and delightful tree.
There is, I think, no plant which makes a richer
contrast of two colours than the Purple Loosestrife
(Lythrum salicaria), whose tall spikes of magnificent
purple blossoms rise above the deep green of its own
foliage on so many stream-sides. There is, it seems to
me, a peculiar softness in the contrast, although it is
so striking, of purple and green-the purple, I mean,
which is sufficiently red to make a striking contrast.
Bright crimson or scarlet is striking when contrasted
with green, but each wants the softness which empur-
pling gives. I have explained that I had bordered my
garden stream with misshapen blocks of stone, not
arranged in regular masses or continuously, but just as
one may often find the sides of moorland streams.
Amongst these rocks I planted my Loosestrifes, which,
in their flowering season, became a marked and striking
feature of my garden. The Purple Loosestrife is re-
corded in seventy-nine botanical districts. It has
OTHER FLOWERS I GREW.
241
branched, four-angled and sometimes six-angled, stems
which rise to a height of from two to five feet according
to more or less favourable conditions of growth, and
lance-shaped, pointed, bright-green leaves which grow
in pairs on the lower parts of its stem, and in threes and
occasionally in fours higher up. The flowers form tall
terminal spikes composed of successive whorls with
alternate leafy spaces between each, and five or six
blossoms in each whorl. The corolla consists of six,
reddish-purple petals seated upon a twelve-ribbed green
calyx. By the whorled arrangement of the blossoms
their somewhat star-like forms face all sides of the
flowering spike.. The leaves of the Purple Loosestrife
are always more or less hairy, especially on their under-
sides, and the stem is oftentimes roughened by the
crowded presence of hairs. Moisture seems more
essential to the successful growth of this handsome
plant than the quality of the soil in which it may be
planted at least, such was my experience after its
introduction into my garden wild.
:
In moist earth by my stream-margin I placed some
little plants allied to the Purple Loosestrife. These
were Water Purslanes, which are recorded in eighty-
three botanical districts. The Water Purslane (Peplis
portula) has prostrate, creeping stems which root at the
leaf-joints, and opposite pairs of inversely egg-shaped or
Q
242
MY GARDEN WILD.
club-shaped leaves, and small, six-petalled, pinkish-
purple flowers produced in the axils of the leaves.
The Greater Willow Herb, or Great Hairy Willow
Herb (Epilobium hirsutum), may claim almost to
rival the Purple Loosestrife, and it is equally abundant.
But the looser arrangement of its long-stalked, pink
blossoms does not strike the eye so forcibly as the more
compact and crowded aggregation of flowers on the
spikes of Lythrum salicaria. The Greater Willow
Herb attains a height of several feet, not unfrequently
five. The long, pointed, lance-shaped, finely-serrated,
willow-like leaves are produced in pairs on the lower
parts of the stems, and in single alternation higher up,
and leaf-stems and flower-stems are tinged with a red-
dish hue which very closely resembles the colouring of
willow twigs. The pink petals of the handsome and
conspicuous blossoms are four in number, and in form
inversely heart-shaped. By my garden stream I placed
my Greater Willow Herbs in precisely the same posi-
tions as those selected for the Purple Loosestrifes.
Besides Epilobium hirsutum I grew the four others
which I shall proceed to briefly mention.
The Broad Smooth-leaved Willow Herb (Epilo-
bium montanum) is a smaller plant than the species
last described, for it does not exceed, ordinarily, two feet
in height. But it is more widely distributed, being
OTHER FLOWERS I GREW.
243
recorded in a hundred and two botanical districts, and
its leaves, though similarly arranged, are broader in
proportion to their length than those of the Greater
Willow Herb. The colour of its blossoms is a pale
pink or pinkish purple, sometimes almost approaching
white. Its habitats are drier than those of its water
congener, and it is found in shady hedge-banks and
sometimes on walls and even on thatched cottage
roofs.
By riversides and in marshy places will be found
another abundant Willow Herb, that is recorded in
ninety-four botanical districts. This is the Narrow-
leaved Marsh Willow Herb (Epilobium palustre),
which, though growing to about the same height as its
broad-leaved relative, may be known by its much nar-
rower leaves. Its flowers, of the Willow Herb type, are
rose coloured.
The Small-flowered Hairy Willow Herb (Epilobium
parviflorum) scarcely needs other distinctive descrip-
tion than that given by its common name, if that be
taken in conjunction with a comparison of the plant
with the other species of its genus. Its flowers are rose-
coloured, and the plant, though often only a foot in
height, may be sometimes found three feet high, and
it should be looked for by riversides and in marshy
places, care being taken not to confound it with
Q 2
244
MY GARDEN WILD.
Epilobium hirsutum, from which it may be distin-
guished not only by its smaller size, its less branched
habit—it is in fact seldom branched at all—but by the
smallness of its flowers.
Epilobium angustifolium, the Rose-bay Willow
Herb, is recorded in eighty botanical districts, and is
an inhabitant of moist places in woods, meadows, and
hedge-banks. It may be known by the large size-the
largest of all our British Willow Herbs--of its flowers.
The plant, too, is the largest British species, attaining a
height oftentimes of six feet, and seldom, when mature
being less than three feet high.
The Common Enchanter's Nightshade (Circæa
lutetiana) I planted in my green-lane hedge-banks. It
is recorded in eighty-six botanical districts. Its flowers
are white or pinkish white, each consisting of a reflexed
calyx of two segments and a corolla of two inversely
heart-shaped petals. They are produced on a loose, ter-
minal raceme, and the leaves are borne on the stems in
pairs, having distinct footstalks. They are heart-shaped
in form and slightly crenated along their edges, stem-
leaves and flower-stalks being more or less downy. The
Common Enchanter's Nightshade grows from a foot to
two feet high, and should be looked for in the damp and
shady parts of woods.
In shallow holes of my rockwork and in moist seams
OTHER FLOWERS I GREW.
245
or interstices in the solid stone I planted a lot of speci-
mens of the little Biting Stonecrop, or Wall Pepper
(Sedum acre), a plant which occurs in at least ninety-six
botanical districts. Its round, procumbent, fleshy stems
root at various points in the moist stony interstices of
rock or wall, and from each rooting point round, smooth,
fleshy, and succulent branches arise to a height of two
or three inches. These, a short way up, are clothed
with the imbricating or overlapping short, round, oval-
shaped, fleshy, succulent leaves. At the top of these
leaf-stems are produced the branched cymes or panicles
of yellow, five-petalled, conspicuous flowers. The Stone-
crops can bear full exposure to the sun, and indeed they
like sunny positions, and thrive in dry sandy or stony
habitats.
Much larger than Sedum acre is Sedum telephium,
the Orpine or Live-long, a plant that grows from one
to two feet high, growing on hedge-banks and other
shady places. It has a smooth, fleshy stem and short,
oblong, indented, flesby leaves and corymbs of purplish-
crimson or rosy flowers. It is found in seventy-two
botanical districts.
Along with my Stonecrops I planted some specimens
of an allied plant, the Pennywort (Cotyledon umbili-
cus), a curious little species which grows from a few
inches to a foot high, and has fleshy leaves like green
246
MY GARDEN WILD.
pennies, with long, fleshy leaf-stalks attached to the
round leaves about their centres, the upper side of the leaf
being depressed opposite the point of attachment under-
neath. The leaves are produced from the lower part of
the stem, and the flowers, terminating the long flower-
ing stalk, appear in the form of racemes of bell-shaped,
yellowish-green blossoms.
In rockery there are always so many little places
where small plants can be put, and as single roots of many
rock or wall-loving species occupy little room, there
is always space either for growing many kinds or growing
numerous individuals of the same kind. Amongst the
small rock-plants I introduced into my garden were
the two species of Saxifrage I am about to mention.
The first of these is the Rue-leaved Saxifrage (Saxifraga
tridactylites), which, occurring in seventy-four districts,
grows from three to five inches in length, has reddish
stems and alternately-placed, palmate or three-cleft,
fleshy leaves clothed with glandular hairs, and small,
white, five-petalled flowers which are produced at the
ends of upright, slender stems.
The White Meadow Saxifrage (Saxifraga granu-
lata) is a larger plant, growing from six inches to a
foot high. It is found in sixty-nine botanical districts,
has an erect, round, more or less hairy stem, and pretty,
long-stemmed, kidney-shaped, indented leaves, which are
OTHER FLOWERS I GREW.
247
also more or less downy. The blossom consists of a
terminal branched corymb of a few large, white flowers,
beautifully veined. The White Meadow Saxifrage loves
gravelly soil, and may be found in fields and hedge-
banks. Upon stems and leaves there is oftentimes a
reddish hue.
Amongst the rocks that bordered my garden stream
I planted the pretty little Opposite-leaved Golden Saxi-
frage (Chrysosplenium oppositifolium), whose round,
wedge-shaped, opposite, golden leaves are placed in pairs
along the stem. The plant is recorded in ninety-two
botanical districts, and grows to a height of one or two
inches, not exceeding four. The flowers are produced
on long stems at the ends of the branches, the corolla
being four-cleft and the colour yellow.
Another Golden Saxifrage I grew was Chrysosple-
nium alternifolium, or the Alternate-leaved Golden
Saxifrage, which occurs in sixty districts. It is dis-
tinguished by having crenated somewhat kidney-shaped
leaves, placed alternately along the stem instead of in
opposite pairs, as in Chrysosplenium oppositifolium.
Its smooth, fleshy stem is seldom found more than
three or four inches high, and its little, four-cleft,
yellow flowers are borne at the ends of the stems. Both
species may be found in stony places that are damp or
wet.
248
MY GARDEN WILD.
The delightful greenness of the large, three-lobed
leaves of the Wild Guelder Rose (Viburnum opulus)
and the beauty of the large corymbs of white blossom
induced me to introduce one or two of these refreshing
shrubs into my hedge-banks and amongst my green-
sward clumps. The Guelder Rose is recorded as occur-
ring in eighty-six botanical districts, its habitats being
woods and forests. The white flowers have, each, five,
egg-shaped petals. The outer blossoms of the corymbs
are always very much larger than the crowded mass in
its centre—a circumstance which gives a curious and
noticeable character to the inflorescence of the Wild
Guelder Rose. Each of the three, large lobes into
which the leaf of this shrub is divided is sharply and
somewhat deeply indented.
My space warns me that I must very briefly describe
those not yet referred to-of the wild flowers of my
garden that I desire to particularly mention.
The Sweet Woodruff (Asperula odorata) grows
from a few inches to a foot high, and is recorded in
eighty-nine botanical districts. It has an upright,
smooth, square stem, whorls of from seven to nine
lance-shaped rough leaves, arranged somewhat shuttle-
cock fashion at intervals around the stem and its
branches, and terminal panicles of small, white, four-
petalled, funnel-shaped flowers. It has a sweet, balsamic
OTHER FLOWERS I GREW.
249
smell, something like new-mown hay, and it loves the
shady parts of woods.
The large, angularly-heart-shaped leaves, fully
grown, of the Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara), which crowd
almost every waste place-for the plant is found in at
least a hundred and two botanical districts-showing,
when the wind blows, their white cottony undersides,
few persons ever fail to recognise. But the earlier
appearance of the plant, when, before the arrival of the
leaves, the yellow flowers, each consisting of crowded
rays or florets like the Dandelion blossom, are raised
on tall stems covered by imbricated or overlapping
scales that point upwards, is less familiar. The young
leaves, too, with rounded edges, roundly heart-shaped
forms, and smooth, glossy upper sides, seem hardly to
bear relation to the huge, angled, wrinkled leaves which
they ultimately become. Though it loves a moist and
rather heavy soil, the Coltsfoot will grow in any soil.
I planted mine by my stream margin, taking them up
when small, so as to easily secure all the roots, without
disturbance, in clumps of earth.
Here and there on my open greenswards I planted
some specimens of the Common Mouse-ear Hawkweed
(Hieracium pilosella), a flower belonging, like the one
last mentioned, to the natural order Compositæ. It
grows about six inches long, has leaves which rise in
250
MY GARDEN WILD.
tufts from the root, and are lance-shaped in form, and
soft and woolly to the touch, and star-like flowers, pale
yellow or lemon-coloured, which rise singly from the
root on long stems.
botanical districts, Hieracium pilosella is the most
abundant species of its genus.
Recorded in a hundred and one
Who does not know the beautiful Harebell (Campa-
nula rotundifolia), whose lovely blue flowers-veritable
bells grow so abundantly on woodland heaths and in
forest glades, on sandy peat soil, and sometimes in fields
and on walls? It is found in at least a hundred bota-
nical districts. Its roundly heart-shaped leaves must
have suggested its common name, though the leaves
higher up on the stems are narrow and lance-shaped.
Elegance and grace are the especial characteristics of
the drooping blue bells of this charming little plant.
I should not have considered my garden a 'wild'
had I not grown the beautiful Heather, of delightful
association and sunny memories. I shall first briefly
notice the most abundant species of the genus Erica,
namely, the Cross-leaved Heath (Erica tetralix), which is
recorded in a hundred botanical districts. The branched
stems of this species are crowded more or less closely
with linear, spreading and somewhat obtuse leaves,
which are arranged in whorls of three and four in each
whorl. The drooping, rose-coloured blossoms-like rosy
OTHER FLOWERS I GREW.
251
eggs open at one end--are borne in heads or umbels
at the upper end of the stems. Sometimes these
blossoms are white or almost white instead of being
rose-coloured.
The leaves of the Fine-leaved Heath (Erica cinerea)
are narrower and more pointed than those of Erica
tetralix. They are similarly arranged in whorls on the
stems-the whorls consisting ordinarily of three-and
the purple blossoms are also arranged in whorls at
intervals upon the stems, but the inflorescence is more
abundant upon the upper parts of the stems.
Forming by the branching of its stems a tufted bush
of, ordinarily, a foot in height, though sometimes two
feet, the Ling (Calluna vulgaris), which is recorded
in a hundred botanical districts, may be distinguished
from the two species just described by the arrangement
of its leaves in imbricated rows of four each on opposite
sides of the stems. The rose-coloured or purplish rose-
coloured flowers of the Ling are produced in one-sided ra-
cemes, usually on the upper parts of the stems. I grew all
three species in my garden, planting them in the most
open parts along with the various Grasses which I have
already mentioned and described. It is easy to take up
the Heather roots-all three come within the popular
designation of Heather '—with earth about them suffi-
cient to prevent any disturbance of the roots and fibrous
252
MY GARDEN WILD.
rootlets; and I always transplanted them with such
care that I could remove them from their habitats
to my garden when they were in full flower without
any injury.
Most of my garden flowers were perennial plants.
But I possessed a few annuals which I always left to
reproduce themselves, a duty which none of them failed
to perform. Amongst these annuals was the Field
Gentian (Gentiana campestris), a plant which grows
from a few inches to a foot high, has three-ribbed,
lance-shaped leaves that grow, ordinarily, in opposite
pairs, and purplish, salver-shaped, four-cleft flowers. It
is found in seventy-nine botanical districts. I planted
mine in the drier parts of my open ground.
To the same natural order as the Gentian belongs.
the Buckbean, or Marsh Trefoil (Menyanthes trifoliata);
but it loves a marshy position, and so I placed it with
my moisture-loving plants. The Buckbean occurs in
ninety-four botanical districts. Its stem is ordinarily
eight or ten inches high, and the long-stemmed, trifoliate
leaves, the leaflets of which are egg-shaped, clasp the
stem at their bases. The flowers are borne upon a
raceme at the end of a long, round, fleshy stalk, and are
of a light pink or rose colour, calyx and corolla being
divided into five, oval, pointed segments.
On the borders of my garden marsh I placed my
OTHER FLOWERS I GREW.
253
Forget-me-nots. I need not linger over descriptions of
the delightful little plant (Myosotis palustris), only
needing to remark that though the affectionate desig-
nation of 'little' is commonly applied to it, its stems
sometimes attain a height of two feet. The curiously
curled or scorpioid form of the upper part of its raceme
of blue, five-petalled, yellow-eyed flowers suggested the
old common name of Scorpion Grass which it used to
bear and by which it is still sometimes called. In
eighty-one districts Myosotis palustris has been re-
corded. No plants gave me more pleasure in my garden.
wild.
In precisely the same positions with regard to
moisture as I gave to my Forget-me-nots, I planted
specimens of the Butterwort (Pinguicula vulgaris),
giving them, however, a more shady situation. It is
found in at least eighty botanical districts. Its leaves
are all radical, egg-shaped, obtuse, fleshy and greasy to
the touch. The flowers, which rise singly and on long
stems from the root, are purple in colour, five-cleft and
spurred.
Yet another of my annual plants was the Scarlet
Pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis), which is recorded in
eighty-six botanical districts. It has much-branching
stems, which attain sometimes a height of eighteen
inches, and numerous very striking and beautiful flowers
254
MY GARDEN WILD.
of a bright red colour, each having a green calyx of five
acute, lance-shaped segments, and a wheel-shaped corolla
of five, rounded petals. The Scarlet Pimpernel grows
in fields and by roadside hedges. Mine I planted,
some in my rockwork, others in my green-lane hedge-
banks, and others by my stream margins.
I had almost forgotten to mention my Comfreys.
The Comfrey (Symphytum officinale) is a big plant,
sometimes three feet high, singularly upright in its habit
of growth, with branching, hairy, winged stems, rough,
hairy, lance-shaped leaves, and urn-shaped, tubular
flowers which grow in curved, one-sided racemes and are
cream-coloured. It is found in seventy-seven districts,
and, though fond of stream sides, it is singularly hardy
and will grow in any soil. I placed my Comfreys near
the stones which bordered my garden stream.
Of the curious Orchis family I must especially
mention two that I grew in my garden. The first of
these was the Early Purple Orchis (Orchis mascula),
which has shining-green, lance-shaped, radical leaves
with dark-purple spots upon them, and spikes of lip-
shaped, spurred, purple flowers. It grows in fields and
woods, and is recorded in eighty-seven botanical dis-
tricts.
Its congener, the Spotted Palmate Orchis (Orchis
maculata), is noticeable by the numerous purple spots.
OTHER FLOWERS I GREW.
255
which mark its lance-shaped, narrow leaves. The tubers.
of this species are palmate in form, and the lips of the
pale, purplish, purple-streaked or spotted flowers, which
grow crowded in the form of a spike, are spreading and
three-lobed. The Spotted Palmate Orchis is more
widely distributed than the species last mentioned, for
it has been recorded in ninety-eight botanical districts.
It should be looked for in woods and fields. The leaves
of this species become gradually smaller as the stem
ascends until they are mere empurpled bracts. I took
especial care, as was necessary, in removing my Orchis
roots, digging deeply and carefully down and around
the plants, so as to include the whole of the bulbs and
subjacent and adjacent rootlets without disturbing
them. By adopting this plan and taking up little
masses of earth including the entire growing plant, I
succeeded absolutely, and could remove them without
the slightest injury in the height of their flowering
season.
Along the edges of my stream I planted the Yellow
Iris (Iris pseudacorus), a species which grows to a
height of from two to four feet, has large, bluish-
green, sword-like leaves, and is well known by its large
yellow or lemon-coloured flowers, consisting each of six
unequal petals. The fact that it is recorded in a
hundred and one botanical districts will testify to its
abundance.
256
MY GARDEN WILD.
And last to be mentioned, in these pages, of the
flowers and ferns which I grew in my garden wild is
the widely-known and beautiful Daffodil (Narcissus
pseudo-narcissus). Though only recorded in sixty
botanical districts, the Daffodil grows oftentimes in
great abundance in the localities where it is found,
prominently displaying its long, lance-shaped leaves,
a foot in length, and its large, bent blossoms, each con-
sisting of a golden-coloured 'bell-shaped crown sur-
rounded by the six, spreading segments of the perianth.
I grew my Daffodils in one little clustered group near
my garden marsh in moist ground, from whence came,
year after year, a gleam of colour, in the earliest season
of flowering which succeeds the sleep of winter.
257
XIV.
L'ENVOI.
My book will have failed to serve its end if it should
not induce its readers to follow my example and begin
to grow wild flowers and ferns in their gardens. I ask
for at least some consideration of my suggestions.
My garden was a large one, and I had the especial
advantage, as I have explained, of a stream of water
running through it-an advantage which enabled me to
grow aquatic plants that I could not otherwise have, so
easily, introduced into my 'wild.' Some of my readers
will be similarly favoured-those who have grounds
through which water actually runs, and others who
could, with little difficulty, divert water from adjoining
streams across their gardens. But the great majority
of those who will read my chapters will probably have
no especial facilities of this kind-by which I mean
natural facilities for the supply of running water. It
will, however, require little ingenuity to extemporise
the means of water supply to, at least, some extent.
R
258
MY GARDEN WILD.
Much may be done by the agency of raised reservoirs,
whether those provided by the companies of persons
who provide water, on payment, for individual use, or
reservoirs especially constructed for the purposes of a
garden. The size and capabilities of reservoirs of this
especial kind become, of course, a question of expense;
but the expense would probably be less than might be
anticipated, and it could be exactly adjusted to the
means of the experimenter. My readers will perhaps
say: Supposing we construct a reservoir, whence shall
we obtain our supply of water, and at what cost?' The
answer to this question is that the clouds will supply
the water, and will supply it free of cost, making no
enquiries as to rentals, and entirely ignoring the ques-
tion of assessments. A simple arrangement will be
necessary in order to utilise the largest possible extent
of roof-surface by means of pipes communicating from
the rain collectors, or shoots, to the reservoir.
If my
readers would like to ascertain, in elaborate detail, how
they can establish independent reservoirs, I beg them to
consult a very able and interesting little brochure,
entitled Water for Nothing,' from the pleasant and
vivacious pen of Mr. Shirley Hibberd, a gentleman
whose name is a household word amongst all lovers of
gardening. But, for the purposes of such gardens of
wildings as I should like to see possessed by every
L'ENVOI
259
householder, the construction of a reservoir might be
effected in the manner I shall proceed to describe. On
the highest part of the garden a mound should be
erected, as high and as wide as means will allow. By
hollowing the crest of such a mound and lining the
depression with clay or cement, an open receptacle for
rainfall would be formed. The incline to the mound
should be so graduated as to enable it to be easily
ascended. Upon its sides and around the edge of this
extemporised reservoir there might be greensward and
clumps of shrubbery, or the surface might be covered
by large pieces of rock, and Bracken, or other ferns,
planted between the stony masses. By concealed pipes
communicating with any adjacent buildings, the entire
rainfall upon every available roof-surface could be
conducted to the bottom of the reservoir, which
might itself become a pool for the growth of still-water
plants. The contents of this extemporised pool or
miniature lake could be conducted out of it into the
garden in the form best suggested by the extent of its
volume. It might be carried by pipes, or otherwise,
slowly, if its volume be not large, down the sides of
rockery lying below it in the garden-after the manner
of a rill or tiny cascade; or it might be made to flow,
in a greater or less quantity, down a channel made by a
slight trench, clay-lined or cemented, and lined and
R 2
260
MY GARDEN WILD.
partly filled by little pieces of rock, thus imitating a
small woodland or roadside stream. This channel
might meander through the garden in such a way as to
traverse a considerable portion of it and reach its lowest
level at a point which might lie in an excavation at the
foot of the rock-covered mound on which the reservoir
had been formed. My reason for making this sugges-
tion is that those who might be inclined to provide a
simple water-pump, which might be cleverly concealed
from the general view of the garden, could pump up
into the reservoir the water which had come from it.
The trench or excavation I propose for the reception of
the water which had flowed through the garden, might
easily be made into a second pool by cementing its
sides and bottom, and surrounding it with rockery or
green, growing things; and the final flow of the extem-
porised garden stream into this lowest level might be
so arranged as to imitate a waterfall. The water, if
limited in quantity, need not be always flowing from
the higher to the lower pool.
But almost a hundred ways will, I am sure, occur to
my readers of altering or adapting my proposals to
meet particular circumstances, when once the simple
principles which regulate the flow of water are under-
stood. They will, I think, equally see that the scale
upon which they are carried out can be easily adjusted
L'ENVOI
261
to meet individual means or appliances; and there is
surely no existing garden so small as to prevent the
adoption of at least a modification of my plan.
Still, pleasant and interesting as would be the work
of carrying out such a plan as that of providing
for running water in a garden, it need not be
attempted if it should involve too much trouble or ex-
pense. A delightful wild garden might be established
with no other adjuncts than those of earth and stones.
If there be not room for the imitation of a green lane
or hedge-banks, rockeries can be established and so
arranged as to form an enticing bit of real wilderness.
As to the plants to be grown, little trouble need be
taken, if trouble be begrudged, to search far and wide
for specimens. The nearest lanes or fields or woods
will furnish them in abundance; and the localities
which possess, apparently, the poorest floras will be found,
by the earnest and enthusiastic searcher for them, to be
surprisingly rich in forms of beauty.
The question of watering is one that need give little
trouble. Make the garden natural by doing as Nature
does-namely, filling up vacant spaces of earth with
green things-and the leaves and roots will retain
moisture for themselves, and make an atmosphere which
will be conducive to vegetable growth and vigour.
Look at country hedgesides, at fields, woods and glades,
262
MY GARDEN WILD.
where man has not stripped off the natural carpeting!
Where can one find vacant spaces of earth? Plants
are eminently sociable, and it is only when their
natural requirements are disregarded that they re-
fuse to grow in health, vigour and beauty!
Finally, then, dear readers, see how NATURE keeps
her gardens, and closely follow her teaching in every
detail. Half of the delight-the charm-of wild
gardening will consist in the rural walk'
'O'er hills, through valleys, and by river's brink,'
to search for—and to study the habits and the likings
of the flowers and ferns to be grown.
263
MY GARDEN KEY.
MY GARDEN KEY' is in the nature of an INDEX to the
plants mentioned in the volume; but it is more than this;
for under the name of each species I shall give a key to the
districts of Great Britain in which it is to be found. Amongst
the most elaborate and valuable accounts ever published of
the distribution of British plants are those written and
compiled by Mr. Hewett Cottrell Watson under the titles
of 'Topographical Botany' and 'Cybele Britannica.'
From the first of these the information given in this
'Key' has, by the kind permission of Mr. Watson, been
obtained. It must be explained that the author of 'Topo-
graphical Botany' obtained his facts, as the result of many
years' labour, from the reports of a large number of cor-
respondents, by means of his own researches, and from pub-
lished and reliable works. The task of collecting informa-
tion of this kind was necessarily a gigantic one, and it was
not found possible by Mr. Watson to make his work quite
complete by obtaining full data from every one of the
botanical districts into which, for the purposes of his arrange-
ment, he had divided Great Britain. Hence he failed to
secure facts as to the presence of the commoner plants of this
264
MY GARDEN KEY.
country in nine out of his hundred and twelve districts.
These nine districts are the following:-In Wales the counties
of Brecon, Radnor, Montgomery, and Merioneth; and in Scot-
land the counties or botanical districts of Wigton, Peebles,
Selkirk, Mull, and West Ross. In most, and in very many
cases in all, of these nine excepted districts the commoner
plants are almost sure to be found. When, therefore, in the
preceding pages plants are referred to as occurring in a hun-
dred and three districts, it may fairly be assumed that the
same plants are to be found in all the hundred and twelve, or,
in short, nearly everywhere. Where the number of districts
in which a plant has been reported to occur reaches or ap-
proaches a hundred, it may also be supposed that it is likely to
be found in all the others. In fact certain lists which have
been published by other compilers with the object of sup-
plementing 'Topographical Botany' prove that many of the
commoner plants do occur in the excluded districts. Against
most of the species whose prevalence is likely to be general
Mr. Watson has made some notes to that effect; and these
will be given between quotation marks in the following
enumeration. A plan adopted in 'Topographical Botany '-
a work which, it should be explained, was only printed for
private circulation-is here followed in the case of the most
widely distributed plants. Instead of giving a list of all the
districts in which plants have been reported to occur, the
list of exceptions from reports is given. Against each plant
in the Key' will be given not the name, but the number,
of the district in which the plant is found or from which it
is absent; and the names of the districts can be at once seen
by reference to the prefixed table of localities. The numbers
and names are those given in 'Topographical Botany.' For
MY GARDEN KEY.
265
the purposes of this arrangement it will be seen that Great
Britain has been divided into eighteen provinces or primary
districts; these into thirty-eight sub-provinces; and the sub-
provinces, in turn, into a hundred and twelve smaller districts
which are either counties or vice-counties. The numbers
(in brackets) given in this 'Key,' immediately following the
names of the plants, are quoted, with some corrections
necessary owing to misprints or for other reasons, from the
'London Catalogue' already referred to, and they indicate
the number of districts out of the hundred and twelve in
which the plants have been reported to Mr. Watson to occur.
The localities in the 'Key' will be given after the botanical
names; but both popular and botanical names will be placed
in alphabetical order, with an indication of the page of the
volume where the plants they represent will be found
described. The words 'and the nine' will be understood to
refer to the nine districts, already named, no reports from
which have been published in 'Topographical Botany.'
I. Divisions of BRITAIN into eighteen PROVINCES.
I. Peninsula.
X.
Humber.
II. Channel.
III. Thames.
IV. Ouse.
V. Severn.
VI. South Wales.
VII. North Wales.
VIII. Trent.
IX. Mersey.
XI. Tyne.
XII. Lakes.
XIII. West Lowlands.
XIV. East Lowlands.
XV. East Highlands.
XVI. West Highlands.
XVII. North Highlands.
XVIII. North Isles.
266
MY GARDEN KEY.
II. Subdivisions of the Primary Provinces into thirty-eight
SUB-PROVINCES and one hundred and twelve COUNTIES
and VICE-COUNTIES.
I.
I. SOUTH PENINSULA.
1. West Cornwall.
2. East Cornwall.
II. MID PEninsula.
3. South Devon.
4. North Devon.
III. NORTH PENINSULA.
5. South Somerset.
6. North Somerset.
II.
IV. WEST CHANNEL.
7. North Wilts.
8. South Wilts.
9. Dorset.
V.
MID-CHANNEL.
10. Isle of Wight.
11. South Hants.
12. North Hants.
VI. EAST CHANNEL.
13. West Sussex.
14. East Sussex.
VII.
III.
SOUTH THAMES.
15. East Kent.
16. West Kent.
17. Surrey.
VIII. NORTH THAMES.
18. South Essex.
19. North Essex.
20. Herts.
21. Middlesex.
IX. WEST THAMES.
22. Berks.
23. Oxford.
24. Bucks.
IV.
X. SOUTH OUSE,
25. East Suffolk.
26. West Suffolk.
XI.
NORTH OUSE.
27. East Norfolk.
28. West Norfolk.
XII. WEST OUSE.
29. Cambridge.
30. Bedford.
31. Hunts.
32. Northampton.
XIII.
V.
SOUTH SEVERN.
33. East Gloucester.
34. West Gloucester.
35. Monmouth.
MY GARDEN KEY.
267
XIV. MID SEVERN.
36. Hereford.
37. Worcester.
38. Warwick.
XV. NORTH SEVERN.
39. Stafford.
40. Salop.
VI.
XVI. SOUTH-EAST WALES.
41. Glamorgan.
42. Brecon.
43. Radnor,
XVII. SOUTH-West Wales.
44. Caermarthen.
45. Pembroke.
46. Cardigan.
VII.
XVIII. NORTH WALES.
47. Montgomery.
48. Merioneth.
49. Caernarvon.
50. Denbigh.
51. Flint.
52. Anglesea.
54. North Lincoln,
IX.
XXI. MERSEY.
58. Chester.
59. South Lancaster.
60. West Lancaster.
X.
XXII. EAST HUMBER.
61. South-East York.
62. North-East York.
XXIII. WEST HUMBER.
63. South-West York.
64. Mid-West York.
65. North-West York.
XI.
XXIV. TYNE.
66. Durham.
67. Northumberland.
68. Cheviotdale.
XII.
XXV. LAKES.
69. Westmoreland.
70. Cumberland.
71. Isle of Man.
VIII.
XIX.
EAST TRENT.
53. South Lincoln.
XXVI.
XX. WEST TRENT.
55. Leicester.
56. Notts.
57. Derby.
XIII.
SOUTH-WEST Low-
LANDS.
72. Dumfries.
73. Kirkcudbright.
74. Wigton.
268
MY GARDEN KEY.
XXVII. NORTH-WEST Low-
LANDS.
75. Ayr.
76. Renfrew.
77. Lanark.
XIV.
XXVIII. EAST LOWLANDS.
78. Peebles.
79. Selkirk.
80. Roxburgh.
81. Berwick.
82. Haddington.
83. Edinburgh.
84. Linlithgow.
XVI.
XXXII. INNER WEST HIGH-
LANDS.
97. Westerness.
98. Main Argyle.
99. Dumbarton.
100. Clyde Isles.
101. Cantire.
XXXIII. OUTER WEST HIGH-
LANDS.
102. South Ebudes.
103. Mid Ebudes.
104. North Ebudes.
XVII.
XXXIV.
LOWER
HIGHLANDS.
NORTH
105. West Ross.
XV.
XXIX.
SOUTH-EAST HIGH-
LANDS.
85. Fife, Kinross.
86. Stirling.
87. West Perth, Clack-
mannan.
88. Mid Perth.
89. East Perth.
XXX. MID EAST HIGHLANDS.
90. Forfar.
91. Kincardine.
92. South Aberdeen.
93. North Aberdeen.
XXXI.
NORTH-EAST HIGH-
LANDS.
94. Banff.
95. Elgin.
96. Easterness.
106. East Ross.
XXXV. UPPER NORTH HIGH-
LANDS.
107. East Sutherland.
108. West Sutherland.
109. Caithness.
XVIII.
XXXVI. NORTH WEST ISLES.
110. Hebrides.
XXXVII. LOWER NORTH
ISLES.
111. Orkney.
XXXVIII. UPPER NORTH
ISLES.
112. Shetland.
MY GARDEN KEY.
269
Acer campestre, Field Maple (57).
3-40, 43, 44, 50, 52–57, 59, 61-66, 83-85
Adder's-tongue.
Agrostis alba, Marsh Bent Grass (99). All districts except
PAGE
Recorded in districts
190
81
'Doubtless to be
122
118
•
46, 80, 97, 107, and the usual nine.
found in all'
Agrostis vulgaris, Fine Bent Grass (102). All districts except
80 and the usual nine
Aira cæspitosa, Tufted Hair Grass (99). All districts except
8, 46, 71, 107, and the nine. 'Likely to be found in
every county'
. 116
Aira caryophyllea, Silver Hair Grass (90). All districts
except 31, 32, 35, 41, 54, 60, 61, 69, 71, 86, 98, 107, 110,
and the nine. 'Doubtless simply overlooked in all or
most of these counties'.
•
Aira flexuosa, Wavy Mountain Hair Grass (91). All districts
except 26, 31, 41, 46, 54, 60, 71, 82, 84, 86, 98, 107, and
the nine. 'Likely to occur in all or in nearly all of the
counties
•
127
126
127
183
Aira præcov, Early Hair Grass (92). All districts except 4,
24, 31, 32, 53, 54, 60, 72, 86, 98, 99, and the nine. No
doubt simply overlooked in these districts'
Ajuga reptans, Bugle (94). All districts except 46, 60, 86, 97,
98, 101, 107, 108, 110, and the nine
Alchemilla arvensis, Field Lady's Mantle (94). All districts
except 46, 51, 60, 86, 89, 97, 98, 108, 110, and the nine 236
Alchemilla vulgaris, Common Lady's Mantle (81). Recorded
in districts 1-3, 5–9, 14, 17, 19–24, 28–30, 32, 33, 35–11,
49, 50, 52, 54-59, 61-70, 72, 73, 75-78, 81-102, 104,
106, 107, 109, 111, and 112
Alopecurus geniculatus, Floating Foxtail Grass (98). All
districts except 46, 71, 97, 107, 108, and the usual nine.
'Almost certain to occur in all'.
•
Alopecurus pratensis, Meadow Foxtail Grass (94). All dis-
tricts except 46, 60, 69, 71, 97, 102, 107, 108, 110, and
the nine. Scarce in the northern counties'
•
237
114
125
•
270
MY GARDEN KEY.
Anagallis arvensis, Scarlet Pimpernel (86).
PAGK
All districts
253
141
•
Al-
•
141
121
. 156
191
except 46, 60, 86, 88, 89, 93, 102–112, and the nine .
Anemone nemorosa, Wood Anemone (93). All districts ex-
cept 51, 53, 60, 97, 102, 107, 109-112, and the nine
Anemone, Wood
Anthoxanthum odoratum, Sweet-scented Vernal Grass (99).
All districts except 41, 46, 72, 107, and the nine.
most certain to occur plentifully in all'.
Anthyllis vulneraria, Kidney Vetch (92). All districts except
18, 31, 32, 44, 51, 53, 75, 86, 97, 98, 107, and the nine. 229
Arum maculatum, Cuckoo Pint (76). Recorded in districts
1-45, 47-52, 51–70, 72, 75–77, 80, 81, 83, and 100
Aspen
Asperula odorata, Sweet Woodruff (89). All districts except
13, 31, 46, 60, 71, 72, 86, 88, 89, 97, 98, 107, 108, 110,
and the nine.
Asplenium adiantum-nigrum, Black Maidenhair Spleenwort
(94). All districts except 31, 53, 60, 61, 72, 86, 93, 97,
106, 107, and eight of the usual nine.
Asplenium ceterach, Scaly Spleenwort (62). Recorded in dis-
tricts 1-15, 17-21, 23, 24, 26, 27, 32-41, 44–50, 52,
56–60, 63–65, 68–70, 72, 73, 75-77, 81, 88, 89, and 98.
Asplenium ruta-muraria, Wall Rue (93). All districts except
31, 46, 53, 71, part of 87 (West Perth), 97, 106, 107,
112, and the nine
Asplenium trichomanes, Common Maidenhair Spleenwort (94).
All districts except 31, 32, 46, 53, 61, 86, 97, 107, 112,
and the nine .
Astragalus glycyphyllus, Sweet Milk Vetch (58). Recorded in
districts 1, 3, 6-10, 13, 16-20, 22-30, 32–34, 36–40, 50,
53, 55, 56, 62-70, 73, 77, 80-85, 89-91, 93-95, and
106
Athyrium filix-foemina, Lady Fern (97). All districts except
28, 31, 32, 53, 97, 106 and the usual nine
Avens
Avens, Water
•
. 248
67
92
67
69
231
65
238
. 239
MY GARDEN KEY.
271
Barberry
Barley Grass, Wild
Bellis perennis, Daisy (103). All districts except the nine
Bent Grass, Fine
Bent Grass, Marsh
Berberis vulgaris, Barberry (72). Recorded in districts 1-4,
6-10, 12, 13, 16-30, 32-40, 50, 54-59, 61-70, 72, 73,
75-77, 80, 81, 83-85, 87-92, 95, 100, 101, 109
PAGE
. 192
€ 130
145
•
118
. 122
Bindweed, Great
Bird's-foot
192
. 175
230
. 188
87
Blackthorn
Bladder Fern, Brittle
Blechnum spicant, Hard Fern (99). All districts except 31,
60, 86, 98, and the nine. 'Likely to occur in all these
counties, unless the first two numbers should be local
exceptions'
Botrychium lunaria, Moonwort (86). Recorded in districts
1-17, 19, 23-27, 29, 30, 32, 33, 36-41, 45, 47–52, 55–73,
75-77, 80-85, 87-96, 98, 100, 104-106, 109, 111, and
112
Brachypodium sylvaticum, Slender False Brome Grass (91).
All districts except 46, 60, 71, 80, 86, 89, 97, 99, 107,
108, 110, and 112
Bracken
Bramble
•
Briar, Sweet.
Briza media, Common Quaking Grass (86).
Recorded in all
the English counties except 60 and 71. In Wales and
Scotland recorded in districts 41, 44, 45, 49–52, 72, 73,
75, 77, 80-85, 87-96, 106, 109 .
Brome Grass, Slender False .
Brome Grass, Soft
Bromus mollis, Soft Brome Grass (101). All districts except
41, 71, and the usual nine. 'No doubt it occurs in every
county'.
Broom
1
63
•
79
. 117
56
195
194
128
. 117
. 119
. 119
. 228
:
272
MY GARDEN KEY.
Bryonia dioica, Red-berried Bryony (57). Recorded in dis-
tricts 3-41, 50, 51, 53-59, 61-68, and 75
Bryony, Black
•
Bryony, Red-berried
Buckbean.
Buckler Fern, Broad
Buckler Fern, Hay-scented
Buckler Fern, Marsh
Buckler Fern, Mountain
Buckler Fern, Prickly-toothed
Bugle
Butterwort
PAGE
. 180
. 181
. 180
. 252
71
. 101
98
78
84
183
253
Calluna vulgaris, Ling (100). All districts except 54, 60, 71,
and the nine. Doubtless to be found in them all
Caltha palustris, Marsh Marigold (99). All districts except
46, 60, 86, 98, and the nine, 'in all of which it is sure to
be found if looked for
•
Campanula rotundifolia, Harebell (100). All districts except
5, 31, 111, and the nine
Campion, Bladder.
Campion, Red
Campion, Sea
•
Campion, White
Cardamine pratensis, Cuckoo Flower (100). All districts
except 46, 97, 107, and the nine; 'but doubtless actually
growing in these counties also '
Carduus lanceolatus, Spear Plume Thistle (100). All districts
except 46, 73, 98, and the nine. No doubt it occurs in
every county'
251
137
250
219
. 220
. 218
. 220
. 151
211
Catabrosa aquatica, Water Whorl Grass (81). Recorded in
all districts except 1, 4, 35, 41, 44, 46, 60, 71, 73, 75, 76,
80, 84, 86, 88, 89, 97, 98, 106–109, and the nine. 'Likely
to be found in most of these; perhaps not in all of them' 115
Cat's-tail Grass
Celandine, Lesser
125
• 135
MY GARDEN KEY.
273
•
Cerastium arvense, Field Chickweed (57). Recorded in dis-
tricts 8, 12, 14-33, 36, 38-40, 50, 53-58, 60-68, 71–73,
77, 80-82, 85, 90–96
Cerastium glomeratum, Broad-leaved Mouse-ear Chickweed
(95). All districts except 32, 46, 51, 60, 86, 97, 98, 107,
and the nine. Likely to occur in all.'
Cerastium triviale, Narrow-leaved Mouse-ear Chickweed (103).
All districts except the usual nine .
Cerasus avium, Wild Cherry (80). All districts except 13, 31,
34, 41, 46, 53, 60, 84, 89, 93, 97-99, 101, 103-108,
110-112, and the nine
Cherry, Wild
Chickweed, Broad-leaved Mouse-ear.
Chickweed, Common
•
PAGE
222
222
221
•
233
€ 233
222
208
222
221
Chickweed, Field
Chickweed, Narrow-leaved Mouse-ear
Chrysosplenium alternifolium, Alternate-leaved Golden Saxi-
frage (60). Recorded in districts 4-9, 12, 15, 17-19, 22,
24, 25, 27, 28, 33, 35-41, 50, 51, 55–70, 72, 73, 75–77,
81-83, 87, 88, 90–96, 99
Chrysosplenium oppositifolium, Opposite-leaved Golden Saxi-
frage (92). All districts except 29, 31, 51, 53, 54, 60,
74, 86, 98, 107, 110, and the nine, likely to be found in
all.
Cinquefoil, Common Creeping
Cinquefoil, Marsh.
Cinquefoil, Strawberry-leaved.
Circæa lutetiana, Common Enchanter's Nightshade (85). Re-
corded in districts 1-41, 45, 49-52, 54-64, 66-73, 75-
77, 80-83, 85, 87, 88, 90-93, 96, 99-101, 108, 109.
Clover, Purple.
Clover, White
Cock's-foot Grass, Rough.
Coltsfoot
Comfrey
Convallaria mujalis, Lily of the Valley (52). Recorded in
247
247
162
. 237
235
244
•
163
. 163
120
249
254
S
274
MY GARDEN KEY.
districts 6-9, 11, 12, 14-24, 26-30, 32, 33, 35-40, 49–51,
54-58, 61-67, 69, 70, 87-90, 96
Convolvulus sepium, Great Bindweed (75). All districts ex-
cept 46, 80, 84-98, 103–112
Corn Cockle .
Cornus sanguinea, Dogwood (61). Recorded in districts 1-41,
45, 50, 52-67, 69, 70.
Corylus avellana, Hazel (97). All districts except 46, 86, 98,
•
•
PAGE:
184
. 175
220
•
107, 110, 112, and the nine
Cotyledon umbilicus, Pennywort (49). Recorded in districts.
1-11, 13, 15, 17, 22, 23, 32, 34–41, 44–50, 52, 55, 57–59,
63, 65, 69-71, 73, 75, 76, 98, 100, 101, 103
. 193
191
Couch Grass, Creeping.
Cowslip
Cranesbill, Blue Meadow
Crataegus oxyacantha, Hawthorn (100). All districts except
46, 107, 111, and the nine .
Crowfoot, Bulbous
Crowfoot, Celery-leaved
Crowfoot, Corn
245,
124
•
148
. 225
187
. 134
141
144
•
134.
>
139
•
Crowfoot, Creeping Meadow
Crowfoot, Ivy-leaved
•
Crowfoot, Upright Meadow
Crowfoot, Water
Cuckoo Flower.
Cuckoo Pint.
•
133
€ 139
. 151
156
118
Cynosurus cristatus, Crested Dogstail Grass (102). All dis-
tricts except 44 and the usual nine
Cystopteris fragilis, Brittle Bladder Fern (66). Recorded in
districts 1, 3-5, 7-9, 13, 17, 33, 34, 36-41, 46–52, 55–58,
62-70, 73, 75-77, 80-96, 98, 100, 104, 106, and 108-111 87
Cytisus scoparius, Broom (99). All districts except 46, 51,
110, 112, and the nine
Dactylis glomerata, Rough Cock's-foot Grass (101). All dis-
tricts except 46, 107, and the usual nine
228
€ 120
MY GARDEN KEY.
275
Daffodil
Daisy
Dandelion
Dead Nettle, Purple
Dead Nettle, White.
Digitalis purpurea, Foxglove (95). All districts except 29,
31–33, 53, 60, 107, 112, and the nine
Dog Rose.
Dogstail Grass, Crested.
Dogwood.
Dropwort, Common
PAGE
255
. 145
. 210
. 176
177
173
. 187
. 118
. 193
. 234
Drosera rotundifolia, Round-leaved Sundew (93). All dis-
tricts except 7, 33, 34, 46, 49, 51, 60, 84, 86, 107, aud
the nine
Enchanter's Nightshade, Common.
•
Epilobium angustifolium, Rose-bay Willow Herb (80).
Recorded in districts 3-24, 27, 28, 30, 33-41, 48–50, 52,
55, 57-59, 62–73, 75, 77, 80, 81, 83–97, 101, 102, 104,
108, 109, 111, and 112
Epilobium hirsutum, Greater Willow Herb (79). All districts
except 46, 49, 53, 71, 86, 88, 92, 93, 94, 95, 97-108, 110,
112, and the nine
•
Epilobium montanum, Broad Smooth-leaved Willow Herb
(102). All districts except 46 and the nine, 'in all of
which, doubtless, it may be found'
Epilobium palustre, Narrow-leaved Marsh Willow Herb (94).
All districts except 31, 32, 34, 41, 46, 54, 72, 86, 98, and
the nine
Epilobium parviflorum, Small-flowered Hairy Willow Herb
(88). All districts except 49, 61, 72, 73, 84, 86, 88, 89,
97, 98, 106–109, 111, and the nine
Erica cinerea, Fine-leaved Heath (96). All districts except
30–33, 54, 60, 61, and the nine
Erica tetralia, Cross-leaved Heath (100). All districts except
32, 33, 46, 54, 60, and seven of the usual nine .
. 218
244
244
242
242
243
243
•
251
•
250
s 2
276
MY GARDEN KEY.
PAGE
Euonymus europæus, Spindle-tree (66). Recorded in districts
1-34, 36-41, 44–50, 52, 53, 55–58, 62–70, 73, 80, 81, 83 227
Fescue Grass, Meadow
Fescue Grass, Sheep's
. 129
124
All districts ex-
124
Festuca ovina, Sheep's Fescue Grass (97).
cept 31, 32, 46, 60, 71, 107, and the nine. 'Presumably
occurring plentifully in every county'
Festuca pratensis, Meadow Fescue Grass (83). All districts
except 32, 45, 46, 51, 60, 71, 80, 84, 86, 93, 95–98, 102,
104, 107, 108, 110, 112, and the nine
129
Forget-me-not .
Foxglove
Foxtail Grass, Floating
. 252
. 173
114
Foxtail Grass, Meadow.
Fragaria vesca, Wild Strawberry (95). All districts except
41, 51, 53, 60, 86, 98, 107, 110, and the nine
•
Genista anglica, Petty Whin (80). All districts except 6, 26,
31, 33, 51, 54, 60, 71, 75, 76, 84, 98–105, 109–112, and
the nine.
125
235
•
227
Gentiana campestris, Field Gentian (79). Recorded in dis-
tricts 1-3, 6-10, 20, 22, 23, 26-28, 30, 32, 39-41, 44, 45,
48–52, 54–59, 61–73, 76, 77, 80-83, 85, 87-104, 106–112 252
'Gentian, Field .
252
Geranium pratense, Blue Meadow Cranesbill (74). Recorded
in districts 2, 3, 6-9, 12, 14, 17-25, 28-42, 46, 50-52,
55-59, 61-70, 72, 73, 75-77, 80-83, 85, 87-94, 98-102. 225
Geranium robertianum, Herb Robert (99). All districts ex-
cept 97, 98, 110, 112, and the nine
174
Geum rivale, Water Avens (78). Recorded in districts 3, 4,
6–9, 11–13, 19, 20, 22, 23, 26-30, 36-42, 45, 49–52,
54–70, 72, 73, 75–77, 80-100, 102, 104, 106, 109, and
111
•
Geum urbanum, Avens (94). All districts except 71, 97,
102, 104, 107, 108, 110-112, and the nine .
239
. 238
MY GARDEN KEY.
277
Globe Flower
Gorse
Ground Ivy
Groundsel
Guelder Rose
Hair Grass, Early
Hair Grass, Silver
Hair Grass, Tufted
Hair Grass, Wavy Mountain
Harebell
Hard Fern
Hartstongue.
Hawkweed, Common Mouse-ear
Hawthorn
Hazel
Heath, Cross-leaved
Heath, Fine-leaved .
PAGE.
214
. 203
. 161
. 210
. 248
. 127
. 127
. 116
•
. 126
. 250
63
73
249
187
. 191
. 250
. 251
. 127
198
Heath Grass, Decumbent
Hedera helix, Ivy (97). All districts except 86, 89, 97, 98,
107, 110, and the nine. 'Likely to occur in all'
Helianthemum vulgare, Common Rock Rose (80). Recorded
in districts 3, 6-20, 22–41, 44-47, 49-57, 59, 61–70, 73,
75, 77, 80-83, 85-92, 94-96, 100, 106
Herb Robert
. 217
. 174
249
Hieracium pilosella, Common Mouse-ear Hawkweed (101).
All districts except 98, 112, and the nine
Holcus lanatus, Meadow Soft Grass (102). All districts ex-
cept 71 and the usual nine. 'Doubtless occurs in all'. 119
Honeysuckle .
Hordeum murinum, Wild Barley Grass (74). All districts
196
in South Britain except 42, 43, 47, and 48. Recorded
for Mid and North Britain in districts 53-59, 62-68, 70,
80-85, 90, 91, 95, and 109
Hyacinthus non-scriptus, Wild Hyacinth (90). All districts
except 46, 53, 86, 88, 89, 97, 98, 107-112, and the nine. 171
130
278
MY GARDEN KEY.
Hyacinth, Wild
•
PAGE
171
225
224
Hypericum androsæmum, Tutsan (71). Recorded in districts
1-25, 27, 28, 32-50, 52, 55, 56, 58-66, 69-71, 74-76,
98–102, 104, 106
Hypericum hirsutum, Hairy St. John's Wort (76). Recorded
in districts 3, 5–34, 36–41, 45, 50, 54-58, 60-70, 72, 73,
75–77, 80-83, 85, 87-95, 100, and 106
Hypericum humifusum, Trailing St. John's Wort (85). Re-
corded in districts 1-34, 36-41, 44, 45, 48–50, 52–59,
61–70, 73–77, 81, 83, 85, 87–95, 97, 100–102, and 109 . 224
Hypericum perforatum, Perforated St. John's Wort (83). All
districts except 32, 46, 49, 53, 71, 86, 87, 95, 97–99,
101–105, 107, 108, 110, 112, and the nine.
Hypericum pulchrum, Small Upright St. John's Wort (101).
All districts except 51, 86, and the nine
Hypericum tetrapterum, Square-stalked St. John's Wort (88).
All districts except 35, 44, 46, 72, 84, 86, 89, 97, 98,
107-112, and the nine
•
Iris pseudacorus, Yellow Iris (101). All districts except 73,
224
223
223
89, and the usual nine
Iris, Yellow.
Ivy.
Kidney Vetch
Lady Fern
Lady's Mantle, Common
Lady's Mantle, Field
•
255
255
•
. 198
229
. 65
237
236
Lamium album, White Dead Nettle (87). All districts except
46, 52, 60, 69, 71, 88, 91-94, 97-102, and the nine . 177
Lamium purpureum, Purple Dead Nettle (99).
except 35, 88, 97, 107, and the nine.
occurs in every county
All districts
'Doubtless it
Lastrea dilatata, Broad Buckler Fern (91). All districts
. 176
MY GARDEN KEY.
279
except 23, 28, 30, 31, 54, 60, 71-73, 106-108, and the
nine
Lastrea filix-mas, Male Fern (102). All districts except 97
and the nine
Lastrea oreopteris, Mountain Buckler Fern (87). All districts
except 8, 24, 26, 28-31, 33, 35, 54, 73, 82, 84, 93, 94, 97,
106, 111, with seven out of the usual nine
Lastrea recurva, Hay-scented Buckler Fern (26). Recorded
in districts 1-5, 9, 11, 14, 16, 36, 40, 41, 45, 49, 62,
68-70, 80, 81, 99, 100, 103, 104, 110, 111 .
Lastrea spinulosa, Prickly-toothed Buckler Fern (71). Re-
corded in districts 1-6, 9-34, 36-41, 49, 51, 52, 55–59
61-71, 76, 83, 85, 86, 88, 90-92, 95, 97-99, 106, and
110
Lastrea thelypteris, Marsh Buckler Fern (40). Recorded in
districts 3, 6, 9–11, 13–19, 22, 25–31, 36, 38–41, 45, 49,
51, 52, 55, 56, 58, 61–64, 68–70, and 90
Lathyrus pratensis, Meadow Vetchling (101). All districts
except 96, 107, and the nine .
Leontodon taraxacum, Dandelion (101). All districts except
41, 74, and the nine
Lily of the Valley
Lily, White Water
Lily, Yellow Water .
PAGE
71
59
78
101
84
98
233
•
210
. 184
. 215
215
. 251
118
Ling
Lolium perenne, Perennial Rye Grass (103). All districts
except the usual nine
Lolium temulentum, Bearded Rye Grass (65). This species
is stated by Mr. Watson to be a colonist,' and he says:
'It seems needless to enumerate counties and authorities
in detail for a plant so uncertain of being re-found in the
same places (fields or even farms) from year to year' . 130
Lonicera periclymenum, Honeysuckle (99). All districts
except 41, 86, 98, 107, and the nine
Loosestrife, Purple
Lotus corniculatus, Common Birdsfoot Trefoil (103). All dis-
. 196
240
280
MY GARDEN KEY.
tricts except the usual nine, in all of which it probably
occurs
Lotus major, Greater Birdsfoot Trefoil (87). All districts
except 30, 46, 49, 51, 86, 95-97, 103–112, and the
nine
PAGE
230
231
Lychnis diurna, Red Campion (98). All districts except 86,
97, 98, 107, 109, and the nine
Lychnis flos-cuculi, Ragged Robin (99). All districts except
46, 49, 51, 97, and the nine
Lychnis githago, Corn Cockle (90). All districts except 45,
46, 49, 51, 60, 69, 86, 88, 97, 98, 104, 107, 110, and the
nine.
220
All
219
220
Lychnis vespertina, White Campion (77). Recorded in dis-
tricts 1-34, 36, 38-40, 44, 45, 51-59, 61-70, 72, 73, 75–
77, 81-83, 85-87, 89-94, and 106
Lythrum salicaria, Purple Loosestrife (79). Recorded in dis-
tricts 1-41, 44, 45, 50, 52-77, 81, 82, 85, 87, 98-102. . 240
Maidenhair Spleenwort, Black
Maidenhair Spleenwort, Common
Male Fern
Mallow
•
Malva sylvestris, Mallow (86). All districts except 46, 49,
73, 86, 88, 93, 94, 97, 98, 101, 104, 107-112, and the
nine
Maple, Field
Marsh Marigold
Mat Grass
Meadow Grass, Annual.
Meadow Grass, Reed
Meadow Grass, Roughish
Meadow Grass, Smooth-stalked
Meadow Rue, Common.
Meadow Soft Grass
Meadow Sweet
•
•
Melica uniflora, Wood Melic Grass (78). Recorded in dis-
•
220
69
67
69
59
•
175
. 175
. 190
137
. 125
122
113
124
123
. 214
119
. 234
MY GARDEN KEY.
281
tricts 1-41, 44, 49-52, 55-59, 61-70, 72, 73, 75-77, 80,
81, 83, 84, 87, 88, 90-92, 95, 98, and 100.
Melic Grass, Purple
Melic Grass, Wood
•
PAGE
129
116
. 129
•
252
Menyanthes trifoliata, Buckbean (94). All districts except
5, 31, 34, 46, 53, 86, 97, 99, 107, and the nine
Milium effusum, Spreading Millet Grass (73). Recorded in
districts 1-34, 36-40, 45, 50-52, 55-59, 62–68, 70, 72,
73, 76, 77, 81, 83–85, 90–93, 95, 96, 98, 101 and 102 . 117
Millet Grass, Spreading
Molinia cærulea, Purple Melic Grass (95).
All districts
except 16, 32, 33, 60, 72, 86, 99, and 107. 'Seldom, if
ever, really absent from a whole county'
Moonwort
Mountain Ash .
Myosotis palustris, Forget-me-not (81). Recorded in districts
1-41, 44, 45, 49, 51-73, 75-77, 80-85, 87, 89, 90, 92,
100
•
Narcissus pseudo-narcissus, Daffodil (60). Recorded in dis-
tricts 1-30, 32-40, 45, 49–52, 54–59, 61-70
Nardus stricta, Mat Grass (94). All districts except 6, 31-
33, 46, 53, 54, 60, 71, and the nine. Possibly 31 and
32 may be real exceptions to a comital generality'.
Nasturtium officinale, Watercress (94). All districts except
46, 49, 60, 86, 97, 98, 107, 109, 110, and the nine, in all
of which it may be held very likely to occur’
Nepeta glechoma, Ground Ivy (91). All districts except 46,
86, 87, 89, 99, 104, 107, 108-112
Nightshade, Woody.
117
116
•
79
239
252
. 255
125
. . 216
Nuphar lutea, Yellow Water Lily (69). Recorded in districts
1, 3, 6–9, 11–34, 36–42, 44-46, 50, 52-59, 61–70, 72, 73,
75-77, 80-83, 85, 90–93, 99, 100, 102
Nymphea alba, White Water Lily (69). Recorded in dis-
tricts 1-3, 6-9, 11, 13–17, 20–31, 37–44, 48, 52, 56–64,
67, 69, 70, 72, 73, 75-77, 83, 85, 87, 90-93, 95, 96, 99,
100, 102, 104, 106, 108, 110, 112
161
178
215
. 215
282
MY GARDEN KEY.
Ononis arvensis, Rest Harrow (91). All districts except 31,
46, 49, 51, 53, 86, 97, 101, 104, 107, 109, 112, and the
nine
•
•
Ophioglossum vulgatum, Adders-tongue (79). Recorded in
districts 1, 3-15, 17-30, 32-41, 45, 49-52, 54–70, 73, 75–
77, 81-85, 87, 89-91, 93, 95, 98, 100, 111, and 112
Orchis maculata, Spotted Palmate Orchis (98). All districts
except 41, 46, 53, 71, 80, and the nine
Orchis mascula, Early Purple Orchis (87). All districts ex-
cept 41, 46, 53, 60, 71, 80, 89, 96, 97, 101, 102, 104, 107,
108, 110, 111, and the nine
Orchis, Early Purple
Orchis, Spotted Palmate
•
Ornithopus perpusillus, Bird's-foot (75). Recorded in dis-
tricts 1-41, 45, 46, 49, 50, 52, 53, 55-59, 61–66, 69–75,
77, 83, 85-88, 90, 94, 95, 99.
Orpine
Osmunda regalis, Royal Fern (77). Recorded in districts 1-
6, 8-14, 16–19, 21-30, 37-41, 44, 45, 48-52, 55, 56, 58–
73, 75, 76, 81, 82, 84, 86-88, 91, 98–100, 102–104, 108–
110, and 112.
Oxalis acetosella, Woodsorrel (98). All districts except 31,
46, 51, 53, 60, and the nine
PAGE
228
81
254
. 254
. 254
254
230
245
81
226
Pale Hairy Buttercup
•
Pansy
Papaver rhoas, Red Poppy (89). All districts except 46, 49,
60, 70, 71-73, 86, 88, 89, 92-95, and the nine
Pennywort
Peplis portula, Water Purslane (83). All districts except 6,
32, 33, 35, 49, 51, 54, 60, 68, 71, 73, 80, 82, 84, 86, 89,
97, 98, 104, 107, and the nine
Petty Whin
. 144
154
. 216
245
241
227
A
125
•
Phleum pratense, Cat's-tail Grass (95). All districts except
46, 71, 97, 98, 103, 105-107, and the nine
MY GARDEN KEY.
283
PAGE
115
. 253
Phragmites communis, Reed (93). All districts except 46,
71, 88, 89, 97, 98, 100, 106-108, and the usual nine
Pimpernel, Scarlet
Pinguicula vulgaris, Butterwort (80). Recorded in districts
3, 4, 9, 12, 20, 22-24, 26-29, 31-33, 35-40, 44, 48–52,
54–59, 61–73, 75–77, 80-102, 104, and 106–112
Poa annua, Annual Meadow Grass (101). All districts except
71, 107, and the usual nine. Doubtless common in every
county'
Poa aquatica, Reed Meadow Grass (70). Recorded in dis-
tricts 1, 3, 5-41, 44, 45, 49, 51, 53-60, 62–68, 72, 75–77,
83-85, 87, 88, 90, 92, 95
Poa pratensis, Smooth-stalked Meadow Grass (98). All dis-
tricts except 35, 46, 71, 97, 107, and the usual nine.
'Doubtless to be found in every county'
Poa trivialis, Roughish Meadow Grass (98). All districts
except 46, 71, 97, 107, 108, and the usual nine. 'Doubt-
less to be found in every county'
Polypodium calcareum, Limestone Polypody (19). Recorded
in districts 6, 7, 23, 24, 33, 34, 36, 39-42, 49, 50, 57, 59,
63, 64, 66, and 69
Polypodium dryopteris, Three-branched Polypody (62). Re-
corded in districts 2-4, 34-41, 43, 45–52, 57–60, 62–70,
72, 73, 75–77, 80, 81, 83-98, 100, 104, 106, 108, 109,
and 112.
Polypodium phegopteris, Mountain Polypody (69). Recorded
in districts 1-4, 9, 14, 33, 34, 36, 39-44, 46-50, 57–73,
75-77, 80, 81, 83-92, 94-102, 104, 106-109, 111, and
112 .
Polypodium vulgare, Common Polypody (102). All districts
except 53 and the nine
Polypody, Common .
•
•
•
253
. 122
113
123
124
102
90
85
60
60
Polypody, Limestone
102
Polypody, Mountain
85
Polypody, Three-branched
90
Polystichum aculeatum, Hard Prickly Shield Fern (88). Re-
284
MY GARDEN KEY.
corded to occur in districts 1-30, 32-41, 44, 45, 49-52,
51-70, 72, 73, 75-77, 80-83, part of 85 (Fife), part of
87 (West Perth), 88-93, 95, 96, 98, 100-102, 104, and
106
Polystichum angulare, Soft Prickly Shield Fern (56). Recor-
ded in districts 1-15, 17-22, 24-27, 31, 33, 34, 36-41, 45,
46, 49–51, 55, 57-59, 62-67, 69–71, 75, 80, 81, and 100.
Poppy, Red
Populus tremula, Aspen (78). All districts except 1-5, 11,
15, 32, 34, 35, 46, 53, 54, 60, 72, 73, 76, 82, 84, 86, 91,
98, 102, 109, 112, and the nine
Potentilla anserina, Silver Weed (101). All districts except
46, 97, and the nine .
Potentilla comarum, Marsh Cinquefoil (88).
Recorded in
districts 1-3, 6, 8-11, 13, 17, 19, 20, 22, 24-31, 36-41,
43-46, 48-50, 52, 54, 55-59, 61-85, 87-96, 98-102, 104,
106, 108-112
Potentilla fragariastrum, Strawberry-leaved Cinquefoil (87).
All districts except 35, 46, 51, 53, 60, 80, 97, 101–105,
109-112, and the nine
Potentilla reptans, Common Creeping Cinquefoil (78). All
districts except 46, 72,
112, and the nine.
76, 84, 86-88, 93, 95-100, 102–
This common plant in England
becomes infrequent in Scotland, and appears to be quite
absent to the north-west of the Caledonian Canal'.
Potentilla tormentilla, Tormentil (99). All districts except
46, 51, 60, 73, and the nine. 'Doubtless actually to be
found in every one of the 112 counties'
Primrose
Primula veris, Cowslip (80). Recorded in districts 1–3, 5–41,
44, 45, 49–59, 61-71, 73, 75, 80-85, 88, 90-94, 108 and
109
Primula vulgaris, Primrose (97). All districts except 41, 46,
53, 60, 86, 107, and the nine. 'Doubtless to be found in
every county'
PAGE
77
96
216
191
181
237
235
162
162
•
. 146
148
146
•
Prunus spinosa, Blackthorn (93). All districts except 75, 89,
97, 98, 104, 107, 109-112, and the nine
188
MY GARDEN KEY.
285
PAGE
Pteris aquilina, Bracken (101). All districts except 35, 60,
and the nine
Pyrus aucuparia, Mountain Ash (93). All districts except 15,
31, 32, 51, 54, 60, 84, 86, 98, 109, and the nine.
Quaking Grass, Common
Ragged Robin
Ranunculus acris, Upright Meadow Crowfoot (103). All
districts except the nine
Ranunculus aquatilis, Water Crowfoot (91). All districts
except 60, 86, 88, 89, 97, 98, 100, 101, 103, 107, 108, 112,
and the nine
35).
Ranunculus arvensis, Corn Crowfoot (65). Recorded in dis-
tricts 1-3, 5–34, 36-41, 44, 47, 50, 53-59, 61–68, 70, 75,
77, 81-83, 85, 111 .
Ranunculus bulbosus, Bulbous Crowfoot (89). All districts
except 53, 60, 69, 84, 86, 97, 98, 101, 104, 106-108, 110,
112, and the nine
Ranunculus ficaria, Lesser Celandine (89). All districts ex-
cept 46, 51, 53, 60, 69, 86, 88, 89, 97, 98, 101, 102, 104,
107, 108, and 110, 'in all of which it most likely does
occur'
•
Ranunculus flammula, Lesser Spearwort (103). All districts
except the nine .
Ranunculus hederaceus, Ivy-leaved Crowfoot (91). All dis-
tricts except 26, 31, 51, 53, 86, 88, 89, 97, 104, 108, 111,
112, and the nine
Scarcely more
56
239
. 128
219
133
139
•
144
•
Ranunculus hirsutus, Pale Hairy Buttercup (66). Recorded
in districts 1-3, 5-11, 13-23, 25-32, 34-37, 39-41, 44-
50, 54–59, 62, 64, 66–70, 77, 83-90, 98.
than a casual plant north of Yorkshire'.
Ranunculus lingua, Greater Spearwort (72). Recorded in dis-
tricts 1, 3–7, 9–16, 19–32, 36–43, 45, 48, 51, 52, 54-59,
61-70, 72, 73, 75–77, 80, 81, 83-85, 87, 88, 90, 92, 93,
•
134
€ 135
138
. 139
144
95
143
286
MY GARDEN KEY.
•
Ranunculus repens, Creeping Meadow Crowfoot (103). All
districts except the nine
Ranunculus sceleratus, Celery-leaved Crowfoot (88). All dis-
tricts except 46, 49, 60, 71, 73, 86, 88, 89, 97, 98, 104,
107, 108, 111, 112, and the nine. Likely to occur in all
of these except the two last'
Reed, Common
Rest Harrow
Rock Rose, Common
Rosa canina, Dog Rose (98). All districts except 97, 102,
104, 109, 110, and the nine
Rosa rubiginosa, Sweet Briar (50). Recorded in districts 1-
4, 6, 9-15, 17-30, 32-40, 50, 52, 55–58, 62–70.
Royal Fern
Rubus fruticosus, Bramble. The miscellaneous records of the
distribution of this species are too unreliable, Mr. Watson
states, to be mentioned
PAGE
134
141
115
228
. 217
187
•
. 194
82
Rye Grass, Bearded
Rye Grass, Perennial
St. John's Wort, Hairy
St. John's Wort, Perforated
St. John's Wort, Small Upright
St. John's Wort, Square-stalked
St. John's Wort, Trailing
•
Saxifraga granulata, White Meadow Saxifrage (69). Recor-
ded in districts 7-9, 11, 12, 15, 17-30, 32, 33, 36-40, 50,
52-59, 61-73, 75-78, 81-95, and 111
Saxifraga tridactylites, Rue-leaved Saxifrage (74). Recorded
in districts 1-41, 44, 45, 48-50, 52, 53, 55-59, 61–70, 82
-85, 90, 92, 93, 96, 106, 107, 109.
Saxifrage, Alternate-leaved Golden
Saxifrage, Opposite-leaved Golden .
Saxifrage, Rue-leaved
Saxifrage, White Meadow
Scolopendrium vulgare, Hartstongue (89). All the English
. 195
. 130
118
•
224
224
223
•
223
224
246
246
•
. 247
247
246
246
MY GARDEN KEY.
287
districts except 42, 43, 46-48, and 53. In Scotland it
has been reported from 72, 73, 75–77, 80, 81, 83, part of
85 (Fife), part of 87 (West Perth), 98, 100–102, 104,
109, 111, and 112
Sedum acre, Biting Stonecrop (96). All districts except 14,
31, 46, 88, 97, 104, 107, and the nine. Likely to be
found in all of them
Sedum telephium, Orpine (72). Recorded in districts 1-4, 6-
30, 32, 34-41, 44, 45, 47-50, 52, 57-59, 61-70, 72, 73,
75-77, 80-83, 85, 87-90
Senecio vulgaris, Groundsel (102). All districts except 97
and the nine
Shield Fern, Hard Prickly
Shield Fern, Soft Prickly
Silene inflata, Bladder Campion (90). All districts except 46,
49, 86, 88, 97-99, 101, 104, 107, 108, 110, 112, and the
nine
Silene maritima, Sea Campion (65). Recorded in districts 1–
6, 9-11, 13, 15, 18, 19, 25, 27, 28, 35, 41, 42, 45, 46, 49,
50, 52, 58, 60, 62, 64-72, 75-77, 81-85, 90-104, 106,
108-112
Silver Weed
Solanum dulcamara, Woody Nightshade (84). All districts
except 46, 84, 86, 88, 91–94, 97-99, 101, 104, 107–112,
and the nine
PAGE
73.
245
245
210
•
77
96
219
218
181
Spearwort, Greater
Spearwort, Lesser
Speedwell, Common .
Speedwell, Field
·
Speedwell, Germander
Speedwell, Thyme-leaved
Spindle Tree
Spiræa filipendula, Common Dropwort (59). Recorded in dis-
tricts 1-3, 6-26, 28-31, 33, 34, 36-40, 49, 52-57, 60–70,
77, 81, 83, 85, 90, 91, 106
Spirea ulmaria, Meadow Sweet (99). All districts except 46,
178
•
143
•
. 138
. 160
. 159
158
•
158
€ 227
234
288
MY GARDEN KEY.
PAGB
86, 98, 107, and the nine; 'doubtless it does occur in all
of them'
Spleenwort, Scaly .
Stellaria holostea, Greater Stitchwort (93). All districts ex-
cept 51, 60, 86, 89, 97, 98, 102, 104, 107, 110, and the
nine. Likely to occur in all these'.
Stellaria media, Common Chickweed (102). All districts except
46 and the nine, 'in all of which no doubt it occurs
Stitchwort, Greater
Stonecrop, Biting.
Strawberry, Wild
234
92
. 177
208
177
. 245
235
218
Sundew, Round-leaved .
Symphytum officinale, Comfrey (77). Recorded in districts 1-
41, 44, 45, 49-51, 54-59, 61-69, 71-77, 81, 83-85, 87,
90–92, 100
Tamus communis, Black Bryony (66). Recorded in districts
1-42, 44-46, 49-67, 69-70. Apparently quite absent
from Scotland, although so nearly general to the counties
of England'
•
254
181
Thalictrum flavum, Common Meadow Rue (61). Recorded in
districts 1, 3, 6-31, 33-41, 44, 50, 52, 54-59, 61-67, 69,
77, 81, 83, 85, 98, 100, and 109 .
Thistle, Spear-plume
Thyme, Wild
•
Thymus serpyllum, Wild Thyme (101). All districts except
31, 60, and the nine
Tormentil.
Trefoil, Common Bird's-foot
Trefoil, Great Bird's-foot.
Trifolium pratense, Purple Clover (103). All districts except
the nine; doubtless to be found in all.
Trifolium repens, White Clover (103). All districts except
the nine. Doubtless it occurs in all
Triodia decumbens, Decumbent Heath Grass (91). All dis-
tricts except 32, 41, 46, 53, 60, 71, 72, 80, 86, 97, 101,
•
214
. 211
182
182
. 162
. 230
231
163
. 163
MY GARDEN KEY
289
PAGE
107, and the nine, ' most of these being counties in which
lists of the commoner plants are least complete'. . . 127
Triticum repens, Creeping Couch Grass (98). All districts
except 46, 71, 97, 107, 108, and the nine.
all'
Doubtless in
124
•
Trollius europæus, Globe Flower (56). Recorded in districts.
35-37, 39-43, 46-50, 57-59, 62-70, 72, 73, 75-77, 80,
81, 83-101, 104, 106, 108, 109, 112
Tussilago farfara, Coltsfoot (102). All districts except 46
•
214
and the nine
Tutsan
249
. 225
Ulex europæus, Gorse (103). All districts except 46 and
eight of the nine
Vernal Grass, Sweet-scented
6
•
Veronica agrestis, Field Speedwell (96). All districts except
41, 46, 84, 97, 104, 107, 108, and the nine. Likely to
be found in every county'
Veronica chamadrys, Germander Speedwell (101). All dis-
tricts except 46, 110, and the nine. Probably in every
county, although it may be that 110 (Hebrides) is a real
exception to comital generality'
Veronica officinalis, Common Speedwell (99). All districts.
except 35, 46, 60, 107, and the nine. 'Doubtless it grows
in every county'
Veronica serpyllifolia, Thyme-leaved Speedwell (102). All
districts except 107 and the nine. 'Doubtless to be
found in every county'
Vetchling, Meadow
Vetch, Sweet Milk
Vetch, Tufted
Vetch, Wood
•
. 203
. 121
159
158
160
158
233
231
232
232
T
290
MY GARDEN KEY.
Tiburnum opulus, Guelder Rose (86). Recorded in districts
2–41, 44, 45, 49–70, 72, 73, 75–77, 80-83, 85, 87, 88, 90–
92, 94–96, 99, 102, 104, 106 .
Vicia cracca, Tufted Vetch (102). All districts except 46
and the nine
Recorded in districts 3-
33, 35-41, 49-52, 54-58,
Ficia sylvatica, Wood Vetch (67).
10, 15, 20, 22-24, 29, 30, 32,
61-70, 73-75, 77, 81-83, 85, 87-96, 99-101, 105, 106,
109
•
•
Viola canina, Dog Violet (67). Recorded in districts 1-22,
24-29, 31, 36-41, 44-46, 52, 53, 55, 58, 59, 62–67, 69–
71, 76-78, 82-87, 90-92, 94, 100, 109
Viola hirta, Hairy Violet (68). Recorded in districts 1-13,
15-24, 26-34, 36-41, 44, 47, 49, 50, 52-57, 59, 61-69,
72, 80-83, 85, 90, 91
Viola odorata, Sweet Violet (72). Recorded in districts 1-41,
44, 45, 50, 53–59, 61–71, 75, 77, 81-83, 85-87, 90, and
111
Viola palustris, Marsh Violet (85).
•
All districts except 5, 12,
19, 20, 24, 26, 29, 31-34, 46, 51, 54, 60, 80, 86, 99, and
the nine, in most of which doubtless it is to be found if
sought'.
•
Viola tricolor, Pansy (101). All districts except 97, 107, and
the nine
•
PAGE
248
232
232
155
155
. 171
156
Violet, Dog
Violet, Hairy
Violet, Marsh
Violet, Sweet.
154
. 155
. 155
. 156
•
. 171
•
Wall Rue
Watercress
Water Purslane
Whorl Grass, Water
Willow Herb, Broad Smooth-leaved
Willow Herb, Greater
•
67
€ 216
241
. 115
. 242
242
MY GARDEN KEY.
291
Willow Herb, Narrow-leaved Marsh
Willow Herb, Rosebay
Willow Herb, Small-flowered IIairy
Woodruff, Sweet
Woodsorrel.
THE END.
JUL 6 1920!
LONDON: PRINTED BY
SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE
AND PARLIAMENT STREET
PAGE
243
244
. 243
248
. 226
( i )
WORKS BY FRANCIS GEORGE HEATH.
OUR WOODLAND TREES.
THIRD EDITION.
BY FRANCIS GEORGE HEATH,
""
AUTHOR OF "THE FERN World,' "THE FERN PARADISE," &c.
"OUR WOODLAND TREES" is Illustrated by Eight Plates, giving Leaves-Photo-
graphed and Coloured from Nature-of all the Trees (61 in number) described in the
Text; by Four full-page Wood Engravings (from_Photographs) of the most beautiful
scenery of the New Forest; by Fifteen Landscape Engravings; and by Woodcuts.
is sumptuously bound in large post 8vo, with gilt edges, and nearly 600 pages,
price 12s. 6d.
CONTENTS.
PART I.
It
The Life of a Tree.-Introductory-The Tree Germ-Early Growth-Structure-
Development-Perfection-Beauty.
PART II.
Some Woodland Rambles.-In the New Forest-At Lyndhurst-Through Glade
and Covert-Where a Norman Fell-By Twilight-On the Uplands-Into the Green-
wood Shade-Along the Streamside-From Brockenhurst to Lyndhurst-Where the
Green Leaves quiver-Through a Green Ride-At Midnight.
PART III.
Trees at Home.-A Study of Young Limes-A Plea for Trees in Towns-Sylvan
Streets-London Trees-More Trees in our Gardens.
PART IV.
British Woodland Trees.-The Wavy-leaved Oak-The Flat-leaved Oak-The
Ilex-The Ash-The Small-leaved Elm-The Wych Elm-The Beech-The Lime-
The Ivy-The Chestnut-The Horse-Chestnut-The Walnut-The__Sycamore-The
Western Plane-The Oriental_Plane-The Maple-The Arbutus-The Privet-The
Mountain Ash-The Spindle Tree-The Guelder Rose-The Wayfaring Tree-The
Black-fruited Cherry-The Red-fruited Cherry-The Pear-The Bird Cherry-The
Wild Service Tree-The Apple-The White Beam-The Honeysuckle-The Hazel-
The Barberry-The Hornbeam-The Acacia-The Black Poplar-The Grey Poplar
-The White Poplar-The Aspen-The White Willow-The Weeping Willow-The
Birch-The Alder-The Hawthorn-The Blackthorn-The Buckthorn-The Alder
Buckthorn-The Dogwood-The Elder-The Box-The Cedar of Lebanon-The
Pinaster-The Juniper-The Medlar-The Silver Fir-The Yew-The Tamarisk-
The Stone Pine-The Larch-The Holly-The Scotch Fir-The Spruce Fir.
SOME PRESS OPINIONS OF "OUR WOODLAND TREES."
Times.
"'Our Woodland Trees' is a work inspired by a genuine and wholesome love of Nature.
There is some pleasant reading in Mr. Heath's pages amid a vast quantity of botanical lore,
some picturesque descriptions of rural and woodland scenery, and an entertaining smattering
of historical and traditional gossip."
(ii)
SOME PRESS OPINIONS OF “OUR WOODLAND TREES” (continued).
Saturday Review.
No writer has done more towards stimulating that passion for sylvan holidays and
recreation in the ferny combe, or under the greenwood tree, which an American essayist has
pronounced to be inherent in English folk. That Mr. Heath has earned for himself a place
amongst philanthropists without boring his readers, and has won favour by one pleasant book
after another upon his pleasant hobbies, we take to be due to the common sense which leads
him to avoid the parade of overmuch science. Of his visit to the New Forest by way of
Lyndhurst, Mr. Heath gives a charming picture. In the study of such books as Mr.
Heath's Woodland Trees,' local Boards of Works and other modern ediles will find much
to help them in their task. The book, as a whole, meets a distinct need; its engravings
are excellent, its coloured leaves and leaflets singularly accurate; and both author and
engravers appear to have been animated by a kindred love of their subject."
•
Spectator.
"We are glad to welcome writers like Mr. Heath, and books like his 'Woodland Trees.'
It is well that there should be men who, like Mr. Heath, have a real devotion to Nature, an
eye for peering into her secrets, and a faculty for opening the eyes of others; who will help
people to raise their minds from grovelling things to the contemplation of something better;
and we are glad that he has taken up this time the subject of trees, since it is one upon which
much ignorance prevails. . . . His coloured plates of leaves, very beautifully and accurately
represented, are a material assistance in identifying the various species. .. The sketches
of different scenes in the New Forest, and at Epping, given by the author in the earlier part
of his book, are very suggestive of enjoyable summer days' rambles, and the engravings that
accompany them are very pretty.... Mr. Heath gives us, too, a curious account of some
old forest customs."
Standard.
•
•
"The genial author of 'Our Woodland Trees' not only claims for himself the possession of
a passionate love for sylvan scenery and all its varied charms, but asserts that this feeling of
love for Nature and its simple beauty is shared by a vast majority of English people.
After a few short introductory chapters on the growth, structure, development, and per-
fection of a tree, in which he writes with the enthusiasm of a true artist and scholar, he
takes his readers pleasantly by the hand and carries them away down into the picturesque
glades of the New Forest-through leafy grass roads and by the side of green coverts-
talking happily and brightly by the way of all the fair sights and sounds ever open to the
loving disciple of Nature. He has made trees his study, and his heart is clearly in every
page of the book, which, adorned with many charming woodcuts, is altogether as pleasant
a companion for a summer ramble as can be wished for. Planes, birches, oaks, elms,
and limes spring up at the magician's command, and fill the volume with cool shade and
gleams of dancing sunlight that all may enjoy who will but take the trouble to listen to their
enthusiastic guide."
•
•
Morning Post.
·
"Quitting his ferny glades, Mr. Heath now directs our attention to the beautiful forms of
trees. In the charming volume before us, we find not only a detailed description of every
one of our indigenous and some of our imported trees, but also beautiful and accurate
drawings of their leaves, the venation being given with singular perfection. The first chapters
describe the life of a tree... and then we come to some of those graceful sketches in
which Mr. Heath excels. All this is very pleasant reading, and conveys at the same
time a good deal of information. . The charming engravings dispersed throughout the
work add very much to the pleasure of reading it."
•
World.
"The good work which Mr. Heath has done for ferns he now does for English forests
great and small.
'Our Woodland Trees' is one of the most welcome books that a Christmas-
fide, not as yet very prolific in literature for those who have outgrown the nursery or the
schoolroom, has produced. It is beautifully printed, and the illustrations are charmingly clear
and picturesque. To dip into its pages is like taking a trip from London in midwinter,
to Arcadia in the full blossom of its leafy summer."
(iii)
Handsomely bound in cloth, gilt edges, about 450 pages, price 12s. 6d.
SYLVAN SPRING.
"Sylvan Spring" could not be better. The country rambles
are inexpressibly charming in the word-painting. A book as
valuable in its peculiar domain as it is attractive in appearance.
MORNING POST.
"Sylvan Spring" is illustrated by Twelve Coloured Plates
(comprising 36 grouped subjects), printed by Leighton Bros. from
Drawings specially made for the Work, after Designs of the Author,
by F. EDWARD HULME, F.L.S., Artist and Author of Familiar
Wild Flowers; by 16 full-page and 6 smaller Engravings, from
Drawings by Birket Foster, Harrison Weir, E. M. Wimperis,
and other eminent Artists; and by One Hundred other Wood
Engravings of the Flowers and Ferns of Spring.
CONTENTS.
Part I.-SYLVAN RAMBLES.-A Woodland Village-Lane and Hedgebank
-The Woods in Early Spring-By the Wayside-Hedge and
Copse-In the Forest-Among Hyacinths and Primroses.
Part II.-JANUARY.-Introductory-Prospective-Early Flowers-Persistent
Greenery.
Part III. -FEBRUARY.—Bird and Insect Life-February Flowers.
Part IV.-MARCH-Foretelling Leaves-March Flowers.
Part V.-APRIL.-Nightingale and Cuckoo-April Flowers.
Part VI.-MAY.-Floral Splendour-Fern Life-May Flowers.
BRITISH QUARTERLY REVIEW.
"In the present volume he has produced some of the best passages of descriptive prose that
we have yet received from him. He not seldom suffuses his picture with the charm of painting
-there is an indescribable aroma of fancy in it sometimes. Yet we feel it is true.
trust it may be widely read, as it deserves.
• •
We
STANDARD.
•
"His enthusiasm delights and instructs the disciples who follow him.
writer of Sylvan Spring' has been ably assisted by a series of coloured plates and by
numerous drawings.
The
•
·
pen
of the
ILLUSTRATED LONDON news.
"Mr. Heath's work is a charming, as well as a strictly accurate, description of the aspect
of rural nature in our English spring time."
(iv)
SIXTH EDITION.
In Large Post Svo, bound in cloth (gold lettered, with ferns on bluish-grey ground),
gilt edges, 470 pages, price 12s. 6d.
THE
FERN
WORLD.
BY FRANCIS GEORGE HEATH,
AUTHOR OF OUR WOODLAND TREES," "THE FERN PARADISE," "THE ENGLISH
PEASANTRY," "THE ROMANCE' OF PEASANT LIFE," &c., &c.
4
ILLUSTRATIONS.
"THE FERN WORLD" is Illustrated by Twelve Coloured Plates-giving complete
figures (sixty-four in all) of every species of British Fern, specially printed from
Nature, and executed in the best style of Chromo-Lithography; by several Full-page
Engravings of some of the choicest of Devonshire Scenery; by a Permanent Photo-
graphic Frontispiece; and by Woodcuts.
CONTENTS.
PART I.
The Fern World.-Introduction-The Germs of Fern Life-Conditions of Growth-
Structure-Classification-Distribution-Uses-The Folk-lore of Ferns.
PART II.
Fern Culture.-Introduction-Soil and Aspect-General Treatment-Propagation-A
Fern Valley-Subterranean Fern Culture-A Fern Garden-Fern Rockery-A Fern
House-Pot Culture of Ferns-Ferns at Home.
PART III.
Fern Hunting.-Introduction-Fern Holidays-Fern Collecting-Frond Gathering.
PART IV.
Some Rambles through Fernland.-Introduction-Down a Combe to the Sea-
The Valleys of the Lyn-The Valley of the Rocks-Clovelly-Sea and Sky, and Waving
green-Torbay-The South-east Coast of Devon-The Home of the Sea Fern.
PART V.
British Ferns: their Description, Distribution, and Culture.-Introduction
-The Bracken-The Hartstongue-The Lady Fern-The Hard Fern-The Royal Fern
The True Maidenhair-The Annual Maidenhair-The Mountain Parsley Fern-The
Bristle Fern-The Moonwort-The Adders-tongue-The Little Adders-tongue-The
Common Polypody-The Mountain Polypody-The Three-branched Polypody-The
Limestone Polypody-The Alpine Polypody-The Hard Prickly Shield Fern-The Soft
Prickly Shield Fern-The Holly Fern-The Brittle Bladder Fern-The Alpine Bladder
Fern-The Mountain Bladder Fern-The Oblong Woodsia-The Alpine Woodsia- The
Male Fern-The Broad Buckler Fern-The Hay-scented Buckler Fern-The Rigid
Buckler Fern-The Crested Buckler Fern-The Prickly-toothed Buckler Fern-The
Mountain Buckler Fern-The Marsh Buckler Fern-The Forked Spleenwort-The
Alternate Spleenwort-The Rue-leaved Spleenwort-The Black Maidenhair Spleenwort
-The Lanceolate Spleenwort-The Rock Spleenwort-The Green Spleenwort-The
Common Maidenhair Spleenwort-The Sea Spleenwort-The Scaly Spleenwort-The
Tunbridge Filmy Fern-The One-sided Filmy Fern.
"
SOME PRESS OPINIONS OF "THE FERN WORLD.”
Athenæum.
Mr. Heath has really given us good, well-written descriptions of our native ferns, with
indications of their habitats, the conditions under which they grow naturally, and under which
they may be cultivated.”
( v )
SOME PRESS OPINIONS OF "THE FERN WORLD" (continued).
Saturday Review.
•
"... The book may be said to comprise, in a compact, and at any rate 'knapsack-fitting"
form, the whole grammar and dictionary of the fern world. . In page 39 an insight may
be gained into the gradual formation of a 'fern-islet' by a process of Nature which is charmingly
described. . . . A delightful addition to the naturalist's library."
British Quarterly Review.
"The book is beautifully illustrated. The ferns are photographed and coloured with an
excellency that we have never seen surpassed. The volume is a very charming one, and
is as fascinating for the general reader as it is useful for the amateur cultivator. Vivid and
felicitous descriptions of natural scenery, touches of poetry, accounts of rambles, a pervading
glow of enthusiasm, and an easy, sparkling style, combine with the useful information to make
the volume one that even those most insensible to the charms of Nature will be glad to possess.
World.
"It is equally charming and useful. No work of the kind could advance a more substantial
claim to popularity of the best kind. It is agreeably free from technical terminology, yet its
descriptions of various growths are accurate enough to satisfy the most scientific of botanists.
The same may be said of Mr. Heath's account of the peculiarities of different ferns, a subject
which he handles as lovingly as he does skilfully.
•
Standard.
,,
"The execution of this work is in every way worthy of the past fame and the present aims
of the author.
"
Morning Post.
"The author of The Fern World' is already well known by former books as an enthusiastic
lover of Nature, his special study being the beautiful form of the fern in all of its numerous
and always attractive varieties. The illustrations in this book are simply perfection.
Mr Heath warms into eloquence, and groups together picturesque details, which convey quite
a little vignette' to the mind's eye His language is poetic, his colouring fresh....
. . He has
produced a very beautiful volume, abounding in knowledge of his pleasant theme, rich in
illustrations, and presented to the botanic student and the reading world in general in an
elegant and attractive form. Mr. Heath leads us out into cool, shady nooks, and 'pleasant
places,' redolent of enjoyment to men of pure thought and poetic fancies.'
•
Mr. GEORGE HENSLOW, in Academy.
Lovers of ferns will hail with delight another and charming volume from the pen of
Mr. Heath. Whether we regard the cover stamped all over with pretty ferns, or the pictorial
embellishments within ... or, on the other hand, the excellent treatment of the subject,
the volume is an attractive one. We heartily recommend it to the reader.”
Spectator.
Many lovers of the quieter aspects of Nature will thank us for directing their attention to
Mr. Heath's 'Fern World.””
Illustrated London News.
"The Fern World' is both instructive and delightful in the highest degree, combining
exact botanical description with the most inviting and enchanting accounts of many a ramble
in the sweetest rural haunts. . . . But in this delightful book the study of botanical, generic,
and specific varieties has obtained a fascinating and most helpful method of representation.
This is done by means of twelve of the finest plates, printed by Messrs. Leighton Brothers
from photographs of fronds, collected and grouped by the author, which are unquestionably
the most beautiful, vivid, and faithful pictures of plant-life that have ever yet appeared in any
work of this class. They have all the freshness of the living hues of Nature.
Queen.
"A beautiful, instructive, and bewitching book. Mr. Heath is a painter who adds colour
to drawing, and produces a picture endued with life and grace. He gilds the pills of know-
ledge which he administers with the most fascinating effect, and we believe the information
given in the volume will be highly prized by fern collectors and amateurs. The author paints
scenery with a glowing pencil; and for such as love the beauties of Nature and who have a
special love for ferns the descriptive portions of the volume will prove a charm. We have
gone through the book with real pleasure. Of the illustrations it is not too much to say
that they are exquisite."
•
(vi)
THE FERN PARADISE' has won its way to a most deservedly high place
in popular estimation."-STANDARD.
SIXTH EDITION.
Large Post 8vo, elegantly bound in Cloth (Ferns in gold on green ground), gilt
edges, 490 pages, price 12s. 6d.
OF
THE FERN PARADISE:
A PLEA FOR THE CULTURE OF FERNS.
BY FRANCIS GEORGE HEATH,
AUTHOR OF "OUR WOODLAND TREES," "THE FERN WORLD," "THE ENGLISH
PEASANTRY," "THE 'ROMANCE' OF PEASANT LIFE," &c., &c.
"THE FERN PARADISE" is illustrated throughout-the Illustrations comprising
a Pictorial Title-Page, Four Copyright Woodburytype Photographs of Views in one of
the most charming "Green Lanes" of Devon, Eight Full-page Engravings of Scenery
from Drawings by Birket Foster, Eight Plates of Grouped Ferns comprising all
the British Species, and numerous Woodcuts.
CONTENTS.
PART I.
Fernland.-Introduction—A Paradise of Ferns-Ferny Rambles in South Devon-The
Ferny Moorlands-Down a Green Lane.
PART II.
A Fern Paradise at Home.- Introduction-Means to the End-Ferns on the Lawn-
Fern Windows-Ferns and Aquaria-Miniature Fern Caverns.
PART III.
PART IV.
The Hygienic Influence of Plants in Rooms.-Introduction-The Influence of
Plants in Rooms.
Ferns and Fern Culture.-Introduction-What is a Fern?-About Soil for Ferns-
Single British Ferns-Fern Groups-The Polypodies-The Shield Ferns-The
Bladder Ferns-The Woodsias-The Buckler Ferns-The Spleenworts-The Filmy
Ferns-L'ENVOI
SOME OPINIONS
OF THE PRESS.
Saturday Review.
"All lovers of ferns will be delighted with the Illustrated Edition of Mr. Heath's book.”
British Quarterly Review.
"Mr. Heath has rewritten a great part of his popular and charming work. . . . A book
which has passed out of the province of the reviewer and received the imprimatur of popular
approval. In its more sumptuous form it is a very charming drawing-room book.”
Westminster Review.
"
"A charming book for the lover of ferns, and even for those who do not yet care for them,
since it may help to kindle in others the author's delight in green lanes and ferny woodlands.
Morning Post.
"The work is already so well known to the fern lover that it is unnecessary to say much
about it, except to hope that the sphere of its influence may be continually enlarging.
The Illustrated Edition of The Fern Paradise' deserves to have a prominent place in every
collection of fern literature."
(vii)
In Large Post 8vo, handsomely bound in cloth, gilt edges, price 12s. 6d.
GILPIN'S FOREST SCENERY.
EDITED, WITH NOTES AND AN INTRODUCTION, BY
FRANCIS GEORGE HEATH.
THE NEW EDITION of "GILPIN'S FOREST SCENERY" is illustrated by 18 Landscape
and other Wood Engravings, all re-drawn from the Illustrations in the original
Edition; and by a Frontispiece Engraving from a Drawing by Mrs. LISTER KAY) of
Gilpin's Church at Boldre.
(C
Saturday Review.
Those who know Mr. Heath's volumes on ferns, as well as his 'Woodland Trees,'
and his little work on Burnham Beeches, will understand the enthusiasm with which he has
executed his task. The volume deserves to be a favourite in the boudoir as well as in
the library.
เส
•
• •
"
• •
Standard.
•
•
The present Edition has found in Mr. Francis George Heath not only an able
and accomplished editor, but a kindred spirit who enters with enthusiasm into his author's
words, which he has done much to teach this generation to understand and to appreciate.
To the general reader the book will offer pleasant occupation, open it wherever he may; to
the young artist, in dealing with pictures of woodland scenery, it may furnish hints of lasting
value not to be found in works of a far more ambitious and expensive kind.
66
Globe.
•
At last one of the most delightful works ever written in connexion with sylvan scenery is
granted the well-deserved honour of an Edition de luxe. No pains or expense have been
spared, the editor tells us, 'to make this book worthy of the man who wrote it,' and we must
congratulate those concerned on the high measure of success they have conjointly achieved."
PEASANT LIFE
IN THE
WEST OF ENGLAND.
By FRANCIS GEORGE HEATH.
FOURTH EDITION, to which is prefixed the FACSIMILE of an Autograph Letter of Seven
Pages, addressed to the Author on December 28, 1880, by the late LORD BEACONSFIELD.
400 Pages, Crown 8vo. Price 10s. 6d.
British Quarterly Review (January, 1881).
"His picturesque power, his fine sympathy with the peasant, and his desire to improve the
condition of these strugglers, together with his poetic enthusiasm for nature, everywhere
appear. He writes with zest; there is an open-air feeling about his pages, and that is exactly
what is wanted in these days to attract people to find in nature some subject of joy that may
make the sordid life in towns t lerable. Mr. Heath thus aims at bringing great classes
nearer to each other, in sympathy at least, and by the bonds of nature-love uniting the
workers of the town and the workers of the country, while improving the material condition
of both; and he deserves in such a work all success and praise."
Tablet.
"His great art is description. He has taken a wide field of observation, and arranged a
mass of statistics elative to the habits, occupations, wages, dwellings, wants, vices, and
education of the peasantry. . . Full of valuable hints and lively pictures of peasant life.”
(viii)
SECOND EDITION.
Elegantly bound in cloth, gilt edges, price 3s. 6d.
BURNHAM
BEECHES.
BY FRANCIS GEORGE HEATH.
"BURNHAM BEECHES" is illustrated by 8 beautifully-executed Wood Engravings
and by a Map.
CONTENTS,
1. Remnants of the Sylvan Past. 2. Burnham Forest. 3. The Beeches. 4. Burnham and
its Common. 5. A Ramble to Burnham. 6. The Railway. 7. The Walk. 8. The Woods.
Illustrated London News.
"The Burnham Beeches were saved by the liberality of the London City Corporation,
prompted thereto by an accomplished writer of pleasant books about trees and ferns and rural
delights, Mr. Francis George Heath, who addressed the public authorities with earnest
letters of remonstrance. . . . A charming little volume."
Globe.
"Writing with even more than his usual brilliancy, Mr. Heath here gives the public an
interesting monograph of the splendid old trees. . . This charming little work.
"A most readable account of the
Let our readers enjoy Mr. Heath's
summer."
Spectator.
"
Beeches.' There are some very pretty illustrations.
book now, and go to see the Beeches themselves in the
Daily News.
"We have here a pretty description of the Beeches and surrounding neighbourhood, with
its associations, picturesque, topographical, and biographical."
Guardian.
"A charming little volume, illustrated by some choice engravings of woodland scenery,
besides four faithful transcripts of the Beeches in their spring, summer, autumn, and winter
dress.'
1
Journal of Forestry.
"All lovers of forest trees and nature's wildest sylvan haunts, will peruse this charming
volume with feelings of pure delight."
SECOND EDITION.
Elegantly bound in cloth, gilt edges, price 3s. 6d.
TREES AND
FERNS.
BY FRANCIS GEORGE HEATH.
"TREES AND FERNS" contains numerous Illustrations, including Landscapes by
W. H. J. BOOT, BIRKET FOSTER, HARRISON Weir, E. M. WIMPERIS, "E. V. B." and
other eminent Artists.
Westminster Review.
"A welcome introduction to a knowledge of trees and ferns...
We trust it may lead
many readers to seek the fuller pleasure which may be found in the larger works from which
these extracts have been gleaned."
"A charming little volume."
Land and Water,
Scotsman.
"Mr. Heath's love of Nature and botanical enthusiasm are contagious, while he has an
intimate acquaintance with his subject, and unmistakable skill in exposition. The volume is
beautified by numerous woodcuts from the designs of eminent artists.
LONDON: SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, AND RIVINGTON.
CHEAP EDITIONS OF POPULAR NOVELS
BY THE BEST AUTHORS.
Post Svo. Illustrated Boards, 2s. each.
MAID, WIFE, OR WIDOW? By Mrs. ALEXANDER.
READY-MONEY MORTIBOY. By WALTER BESANT
and JAMES RICE.
WITH HARP AND CROWN. By WALTER BESANT
and JAMES RICE.
THIS SON OF VULCAN. By WALTER BESANT and
JAMES RICE.
MY LITTLE GIRL. By WALTER BESANT and JAMES RICE.
THE CASE OF MR. LUCRAFT. By Walter Besant
and JAMES RICE.
THE GOLDEN BUTTERFLY. By WALTER BESANT
and JAMES RICE.
BY CELIA'S ARBOUR. By WALTER BESANT and
JAMES RICE.
THE MONKS OF THELEMA. By WALTER BESANT
and JAMES RICE.
"TWAS IN TRAFALGAR'S BAY. By WALTER
BESANT and JAMES RICE.
THE SEAMY SIDE. By WALTER BESANT and JAMES
RICE.
GRANTLEY GRANGE. By SHELSLEY BEAUCHAMP.
AN HEIRESS OF RED DOG. By BRET HARTE.
THE LUCK OF ROARING CAMP. By BRET
HARTE.
GABRIEL CONROY. By BRET HARte.
SURLY TIM. By F. E. BURNETT.
JULIET'S GUARDIAN. By Mrs. H. LOVETT CAMERON,
DECEIVERS EVER. By Mrs. H. LOVETT Cameron.
THE CURE OF SOULS. By MACLAREN COBBAN
ANTONINA. By WILKIE COLLINS.
BASIL. BY WILKIE COLLINS.
HIDE AND SEEK. By WILKIE COLLINS.
THE DEAD SECRET. By WILKIE COLLINS.
QUEEN OF HEARTS. By WILKIE COLLINS.
MY MISCELLANIES. By WILKIE COLLINS.
THE WOMAN IN WHITE. By WILKIE COLLINS.
CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY, W.
CHEAP EDITIONS OF POPULAR NOVELS
BY THE BEST AUTHORS.
Post 8vo. Illustrated Boards, 2s. each.
THE MOONSTONE. By WILKIE Collins.
MAN AND WIFE. BY WILKIE COLLins.
By
POOR MISS FINCH. By WILKIE Collins.
MISS OR MRS.? By WILKIE COLLINS.
THE NEW MAGDALEN. By WILKIE COLLINS.
By
THE FROZEN DEEP. By WILKIE COLLINS.
THE LAW AND THE LADY. BY WILKIE COLLINS
THE TWO DESTINIES. By WILKIE Collins.
THE HAUNTED HOTEL. By WILKIE COLLINS.
THE FALLEN LEAVES. By WILKIE COLLINS.
FELICIA. By M. BETHAM-EDWARDs.
ROXY. By EDWARD EGGLESTON.
FILTHY LUCRE. BY ALBANY DE FONBLANQUE.
OLYMPIA. By R. E. FRANCILLON.
THE CAPEL GIRLS. By EDWARD GARRETT.
ROBIN GRAY. By CHARLES GIBBON.
FOR LACK OF GOLD. By CHARLES GIBBON.
WHAT WILL THE WORLD SAY? By CHARLES
GIBBON.
IN LOVE AND WAR. By CHARLES GIBBON.
FOR THE KING. BY CHARLES GIBBON.
IN HONOUR BOUND. By CHARLES GIBBON.
THE DEAD HEART. BY CHARLES GIBBON.
QUEEN OF THE MEADOW. By CHARLES GIBBON.
DICK TEMPLE. By JAMES GREENWOOD.
EVERY-DAY PAPERS.
By ANDREW HALLIDAY.
UNDER THE GREENWOOD TREE. BY THOMAS
HARDY.
GARTH. By JULIAN HAWTHORNE.
FATED TO BE FREE. BY JEAN Ingelow.
CONFIDENCE. By HENRY JAMES, Jun.
THE DARK COLLEEN. BY HARRIETT JAY.
By Jay.
QUEEN OF CONNAUGHT. By HARRIETT JAY.
THORNICROFT'S MODEL. By Mrs. HUNT.
OAKSHOTT CASTLE. By HENRY Kingsley.
NUMBER SEVENTEEN. By HENRY KINGSLEY.
CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY, W.
CHEAP EDITIONS OF POPULAR NOVELS
BY THE BEST AUTHORS.
Post Svo. Illustrated Boards, 2s. each.
PATRICIA KEMBALL. By E. LYNN LINTON.
THE ATONEMENT OF LEAM DUNDAS. By
E. LYNN LINTON,
THE WORLD WELL LOST. By E. LYNN LINTON.
UNDER WHICH LORD? By E. Lynn Linton.
DEAR LADY DISDAIN. By JUSTIN MCCARTHY.
THE WATERDALE NEIGHBOURS. By JUSTIN
MCCARTHY.
MY ENEMY'S DAUGHTER. By JUSTIN MCCARTHY.
A FAIR SAXON. BY JUSTIN MCCARTHY.
LINLEY ROCHFORD. By JUSTIN MCCARTHY.
MISS MISANTHROPE. By JUSTIN MCCARTHY.
DONNA QUIXOTE. By JUSTIN MCCARTHY.
THE EVIL EYE. BY KATHARINE S. MACQUOID.
LOST ROSE. By KATHARINE S. MACquoid,
OPEN! SESAME! By FLORENCE Marryat.
A HARVEST OF WILD OATS. By FLORENCE
MARRYAT.
A LITTLE STEPSON. By FLORENCE Marryat.
FIGHTING THE AIR. By FLORence Marryat.
TOUCH AND GO. By JEAN MIDDLEMASS.
MR. DORILLION. By JEAN MIDDLEMASS.
WHITELADIES. By Mrs. OLIPHANT.
HELD IN BONDAGE. By OUIDA.
STRATHMORE. By Ovida.
CHANDOS. By OUIDA.
UNDER TWO FLAGS. By OUIDA.
IDALIA. By OUIDA.
CECIL CASTLEMAINE. By OUIDA,
TRICOTRIN. By OUIDa.
PUCK. By OUIDA.
FOLLE FARINE. By OUIDA.
A DOG OF FLANDERS. By Ovida.
PASCAREL. By OUIDA.
TWO LITTLE WOODEN SHOES. BY CUIDA.
CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY, W.
CHEAP EDITIONS OF POPULAR NOVELS
BY THE BEST AUTHORS.
Post Svo. Illustrated Boards, 2s. each.
SIGNA. By OUIDA.
IN A WINTER CITY. By OUIDA.
ARIADNE. By OUIDA.
FRIENDSHIP. By Ouida.
THE BEST OF HUSBANDS. By JAMES PAYN.
WALTER'S WORD. By JAMES PAYN.
HALVES. By JAMES PAYN.
FALLEN FORTUNES. By JAMES PAYN.
WHAT HE COST HER. By JAMES PAYN.
LESS BLACK THAN WE'RE PAINTED. By
JAMES PAYN.
BY PROXY. By JAMES PAYN.
UNDER ONE ROOF. By JAMES PAYN.
HIGH SPIRITS. BY JAMES PAYN.
THE MYSTERY OF MARIE ROGET. By EDGAR
A. POE.
HER MOTHER'S DARLING.
RIDDELL.
By Mrs. J. H.
GASLIGHT AND DAYLIGHT. By George
AUGUSTUS Sala.
BOUND TO THE WHEEL. By JOHN SAUNDERS.
GUY WATERMAN. By JOHN SAUNDERS.
ONE AGAINST THE WORLD. By JOHN SAunders.
THE LION IN THE PATH. By JOHN and KATHERINE
SAUNDERS.
A MATCH IN THE DARK. BY ARTHUR SKETCHLEY.
TALES FOR THE MARINES. By Walter THORN-
BURY.
THE WAY WE LIVE NOW. By ANTHONY
TROLLOPE.
THE AMERICAN SENATOR. BY ANTHONY
TROLLOPE.
DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND. By T. A. TROLLope.
A PLEASURE TRIP ON THE CONTINENT
OF EUROPE. By MARK TWAIN.
TOM SAWYER. By MARK TWAIN.
AN IDLE EXCURSION. By MARK TWAIN.
CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY, W.
April, 1881.

99.9
CHATTO & WINDUS'S
LIST OF BOOKS.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 35. 6d. each.
The Wanderer's Library.
Merrie England in the Olden Time. By G. DANIEL. Illust.
Circus Life and Circus Celebrities. By THOMAS FROst.
Tavern Anecdotes and Sayings. By C. HINDLEY. Illustrated.
The Wilds of London. By JAMES GREENWOOD.
The Old Showmen and the Old London Fairs. By T. FROST.
The Story of the London Parks. By JACOB LARWOOD. Illust.
Low-Life Deeps. By JAMES GREENWood.
The Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack. By C. HINDLEY.
The Lives of the Conjurors. By THOMAS FROST.
The World Behind the Scenes. By PERCY FITZGERALD.
NEW FINE-ART WORK.
Abdication, The:
Large 4to, cloth extra, 215.
With Seven
An Historical Drama. By W. D. SCOTT-MONCRIEFF.
Original Etchings by JOHN PETTIE, R.A., W. Q. ORCHARDSON, R.A.,
J. MACWHIRTER, A. R.A., COLIN HUNTER, R. MAACBETH, and TOM
GRAHAM.
In preparation.
Crown 8vo, Coloured Frontispiece and Iilustrations, cloth gilt, 7s. 6d.
Advertising, A History of.
From the Earliest Times. Illustrated by Anecdotes, Curious Speci
mens, and Notes of Successful Advertisers. By HENRY SAMPSON.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, with 639 Illustrations, 7s. 6d.
Architectural Styles, A Handbook of.
From the German of A. ROSENGARTEN by W. COLLETT-SANDARS.
Crown 8vo, with Portrait and Facsimile, cloth extra, 7s. 6d.
Artemus Ward's Works:
The Works of CHARLES FARRER BROWNE, better known as ARTEMUS
WARD. With Portrait, Facsimile of Handwriting, &c.
2
BOOKS PUBLISHED BY
Bardsley (Rev. C. W.), Works by:
By
English Surnames: Their Sources and Significations.
CHARLES WAREING BARDSLEY, M.A. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 75. 6ď.
Curiosities of Puritan Nomenclature. By CHARLES W.
Bardsley, Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d.
Bankers, A Handbook of London;
With some Account of their Predecessors, the Early Goldsmiths; toge-
ther with Lists of Bankers from 1677 to 1876. By F. G. HILTON PRICE.
A New Edition, crown 8vo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d.
Bartholomew Fair, Memoirs of.
By HENRY MORLEY. New Edition, with One Hundred Illustrations.
Imperial 4to, cloth extra, gilt and gilt edges, 215. per volume.
Beautiful Pictures by British Artists:
A Gathering of Favourites from our Picture Galleries. In Two Series.
The FIRST SERIES including Examples by WILKIE, Constable,
TURNER, MULREADY, LANDSEER, MACLISE, E. M. WARD, FRITH,
Sir JOHN GILBERT, LESLIE, ANSDELL, MARCUS STONE, Sir NOEL
PATON, FAED, EYRE CROWE, GAVIN O'NEIL, and MADOX BRown.
The SECOND SERIES containing Pictures by ARMITAGE, FAED,
GOODALL, HEMSLEY, HORSLEY, MARKS, NICHOLLS, Sir NOEL
PATON, PICKERSGILL, G. SMITH, MARCUS STONE, SOLOMON,
STRAIGHT, E. M. WARD, and WARren.
All engraved on Steel in the highest style of Art. Edited, with
Notices of the Artists, by SYDNEY ARMYTAGE, M.A.
"This book is well got up, and good engravings by Feens, Lumb Stocks, and
others, bring back to us Royal Academy Exhibitions of past years."-TIMES.
Small 4to, green and gold, 6s. 6d. ; gilt edges, 7s. 6d.
Bechstein's As Pretty as Seven,
And other German Stories. Collected by LUDWIG BECHSTEIN. With
Additional Tales by the Brothers GRIMM, and 100 Illustrations by
RICHTER.
NEW NOVEL BY THE AUTHOR OF “THE NEW REPUBLIC.”
Belgravia for January, 1881,
Price One Shilling, contained the First Parts of Three New Serials,
viz. :-
1. A ROMANCE OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, by W. H. MALLOCK,
Author of "The New Republic."
2. JOSEPH'S COAT, by D. CHRISTIE MURRAY, Author of "A Life's
Atonement." With Illustrations by F. BARNARD.
3. ROUND ABOUT ETON AND HARROW, by ALFRED RIMMER. With
numerous Illustrations.
*
* The FORTY-THIRD Volume of BELGRAVIA, elegantly bound
in crimson cloth, full gilt side and back, gilt edges, price 7s. 6d., is now
ready.—Handsome Cases for binding volumes can be had at 25. each,
CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY.
Demy 8vo, Illustrated, uniform in size for binding.
Blackburn's (Henry) Art Handbooks:
IS.
IS.
IS.
With 40 Illustrations.
With 107 Illustrations.
With 143 Illustrations.
With 150 Illustrations. IS.
With 146 Illustrations. IS.
With 126 Illustrations. IS.
With 68 Illustrations.
در
3
Academy Notes, 1875.
Academy Notes, 1876.
Academy Notes, 1877.
Academy Notes, 1878.
Academy Notes, 1879.
Academy Notes, 1880.
Grosvenor Notes, 1878.
Grosvenor Notes, 1879. With 60 Illustrations.
Grosvenor Notes, 1880. With 56 Illustrations.
Pictures at the Paris Exhibition, 1878. 80 Illustrations.
Pictures at South Kensington. (The Raphael Cartoons, Sheep-
shanks Collection, &c.) With 70 Illustrations.
IS.
The English Pictures at the National Gallery.
Illustrations.
IS.
IS.
IS.
IS.
With 114
The Old Masters at the National Gallery. 128 Illusts. Is. 6d.
Academy Notes, 1875-79. Complete in One Volume, with
nearly 600 Illustrations in Facsimile. Demy 8vo, cloth limp, 6s
A Complete Illustrated Catalogue to the National Gallery.
With Notes by HENRY BLACKBURN, and 242 Illustrations. Demy 8vo
cloth limp, 35.
117 Illustrations. Is.
125 Illustrations. Is.
114 Illustrations.
IS.
UNIFORM WITH “ACADEMY NOTES.”
Royal Scottish Academy Notes, 1878.
Royal Scottish Academy Notes, 1879.
Royal Scottish Academy Notes, 1880.
Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts Notes, 1878.
Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts Notes, 1879.
Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts Notes, 1880.
Walker Art Gallery Notes, Liverpool, 1878.
Walker Art Gallery Notes, Liverpool, 1879.
Walker Art Gallery Notes, Liverpool, 1880.
Royal Manchester Institution Notes, 1878. 88 Illustrations. Is.
Society of Artists Notes, Birmingham, 1878. 95 Illusts.
Children of the Great City. By F. W. LAWSON.
simile Sketches by the Artist.
Demy 8vo, Is.
Folio, half-bound boards, India Proofs, 215.
Blake (William):
95 Illusts. IS.
100 Illusts. Is.
120 Illusts. Is.
112 Illusts. Is.
100 Illusts. Is.
100 Illusts. Is.
IS.
With Fac
Etchings from his Works. By W. B. SCOTT. With descriptive Text.
"The best side of Blake's work is given here, and makes a really attractive
volume, which all can enjoy.
The etching is of the best kind, more refined
and delicate than the original work."-SATURDAY REVIEW.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt, with Illustrations, 75. Ed.
Boccaccio's Decameron;
or, Ten Days' Entertainment. Translated into English, with an lain-
duction by THOMAS WRIGHT, Esq., M.A., F.S.A. With Portrait, and
STOTHARD'S beautiful Copperplates.
4
BOOKS PUBLISHED BY
Bowers' (G.) Hunting Sketches:
Canters in Crampshire. By G. BOWERS. I. Gallops from
Gorseborough. II. Scrambles with Scratch Packs.
III. Studies with
Stag Hounds. Oblong 4to, half-bound boards, 215.
Leaves from a Hunting Journal. By G. ROWERS. Coloured in
facsimile of the originals. Oblong 4to, half-bound, 215.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt, 7s. 6d.
Brand's Observations on Popular Antiquities,
chiefly Illustrating the Origin of our Vulgar Customs, Ceremonies, and
Superstitions. With the Additions of Sir HENRY ELLIS. An entirely
New and Revised Edition, with fine full-page Illustrations.
Bret Harte, Works by:
Bret Harte's Collected Works. Arranged and Revised by the
Author. Complete in Five Vols., crown 8vo, cloth extra, 6s. each.
1. COMPLETE POETICAL AND DRAMATIC WORKS. With Steel Plate
Portrait, and an Introduction by the Author.
Vol.
Vol. II. Earlier Papers-Luck of Roaring CamP, and other Sketches
-BOHEMIAN PAPERS-SPANISH and AMERICAN LEgends.
Vol. III. TALES OF THE ARGONAUTS-EASTERN SKETCHES.
Vol. IV. GABRIEL CONROY.
Vol. V. STORIES-CONDENSED NOVELS, &c.
The Select Works of Bret Harte, in Prose and Poetry. With
Introductory Essay by J. M. BELLEW, Portrait of the Author, and 50
Illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d.
An Heiress of Red Dog, and other Stories. By BRET HARTE.
Post 8vo, illustrated boards, 2s. ; cloth limp, 2s. 6d.
The Twins of Table Mountain. By BRET HARTE. Fcap.
8vo, picture cover, Is. ; crown 8vo, cloth extra, 35. 6d.
The Luck of Roaring Camp, and other Sketches. By BRET
HARTE. Post 8vo, illustrated boards, 25.
Jeff Briggs's Love Story. By BRET HARTE. Fcap. 8vo, picture
cover, is. ; cloth extra, 2s. 6d.
Small crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt, with full-page Portraits, 4s. 6d.
Brewster's (Sir David) Martyrs of Science.
Small crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt, with Astronomical Plates, 4s. 6d.
Brewster's (Sir D.) More Worlds than One,
the Creed of the Philosopher and the Hope of the Christian.
THE STOTHARD BUNYAN.-Crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt, 7s. 6d.
Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress.
Edited by Rev. T. ScoTT. With 17 beautiful Steel Plates by
STOTHARD, engraved by GOODALL; and numerous Woodcuts.
Demy 8vo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d.
Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy:
What it is; its Kinds, Causes, Symptoms, Prognostics, and several
Cures of it. In Three Partitions; with their several Sections, Mem-
bers, and Sub-sections, Philosophically, Medically, and Historically
Opened and Cut-up. A New Edition, corrected and enriched by Trans-
lations of the Classical Extracts.
[In the press.
CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt, with Illustrations, 7s. 6d.
Byron's Letters and Journals.
นา
5
With Notices of his Life. By THOMAS MOORE. A Reprint of the
Original Edition, newly revised, with Twelve full-page Plates.
Demy 8vo, cloth extra, 145.
Campbell's (Sir G.) White and Black:
The Outcome of a Visit to the United States.
CAMPBELL, M.P.
By Sir GEORGE
"Few persons are likely to take it up without finishing it."-NONCONFORMIST.
Post 8vo, cloth extra, 1s. 6d.
Carlyle (Thomas) On the Choice of Books.
With Portrait and Memoir.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d.
Century (A) of Dishonour :
A Sketch of the United States Government's Dealings with some of
the Indian Tribes.
Small 4to, cloth gilt, with Coloured Illustrations, Ios. 6d.
Chaucer for Children:
A Golden Key. By Mrs. H. R. HAWEIS.
With Eight Coloured
Pictures and numerous Woodcuts by the Author.
Demy 8vo, cloth limp, 2s. 6d.
Chaucer for Schools.
48
By Mrs. HAWEIS, Author of "Chaucer for Children."
We hail with pleasure the appearance of Mrs. Haweis's 'Chaucer for Schools.
Her account of "Chaucer the Tale-teller' is certainly the pleasantest, chattiest,
and at the same time one of the soundest descriptions of the old master, his life and
works and general surroundings, that have ever been written. The chapter can-
not be too highly praised."-ACADEMY.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt, 7s. 6d.
Colman's Humorous Works:
"Broad Grins," "My Nightgown and Slippers," and other Humorous
Works, Prose and Poetical, of GEORGE COLMAN. With Life by G.
B. BUCKSTONE, and Frontispiece by HOGARTH.
Conway (Moncure D.), Works by:
Demonology and Devil-Lore. By MONCURE D. CONWAY,
M.A. Two Vols., royal 8vo, with 65 Illustrations, 28s.
•
•
"A valuable contribution to mythological literature. There is much
good writing, a vast fund of humanity, undeniable earnestness, and a delicate
sense of humour, all set forth in pure English.”—Contemporary Review
A Necklace of Stories. By MONCURE D. CONWAY, M.A.
Illustrated by W. J. HENNESSY. Square 8vo, cloth extra, 6s.
<
"This delightful Necklace of Stories' is inspired with lovely and lofty
sentiments."-ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS.
The Wandering Jew, and the Pound of Flesh. By MONCURE
D. CONWAY, M.A. Crown 8vo, clɔth extra, 4s. 6d.
[In the e.
›
6
BOOKS PUBLISHED BY
Crown 8vo, cloth limp, with Map and Illustrations, 2s. 6d.
Cleopatra's Needle:
Its Acquisition and Removal to England. By Sir J. E. ALEXANDER.
Demy 8vo, cloth extra, with Coloured Illustrations and Maps, 245.
Cope's History of the Rifle Brigade
(The Prince Consort's Own), formerly the 95th. By Sir WILLIAM
H. COPE, formerly Lieutenant, Rifle Brigade.
Crown Svo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d.
Cornwall.-Popular Romances of the West
of England; or, The Drolls, Traditions, and Superstitions of Old
Cornwall. Collected and Edited by ROBERT HUNT, F.R.S. New
and Revised Edition, with Additions, and Two Steel-plate Illustrations
by GEORGE CRUIKSHANK.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt, with 13 Portraits, 7s. 6d.
Creasy's Memoirs of Eminent Etonians;
with Notices of the Early History of Eton College. By Sir EDWARD
CREASY, Author of "The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World."
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, with Etched Frontispiece, 7s. 6d.
Credulities, Past and Present.
By WILLIAM JONES, F.S.A., Author of "Finger-Ring Lore," &c.
Two Vols., demy 4to, handsomely bound in half-morocco, gilt, profusely
Illustrated with Coloured and Plain Plates and Woodcuts, price £7 7s.
Cyclopædia of Costume;
or, A Dictionary of Dress-Regal, Ecclesiastical, Civil, and Military-
from the Earliest Period in England to the reign of George the Third.
Including Notices of Contemporaneous Fashions on the Continent,
and a General History of the Costumes of the Principal Countries of
Europe. By J. R. PLANCHE, Somerset Herald.
The Volumes may also be had separately (each Complete in itself) at £3 135. 6d. each:
Vol. I. THE DICTIONARY.
Vol. II. A GENERAL HISTORY OF COSTUME IN EUROPE.
Also in 25 Parts, at 5s. each. Cases for binding, 5s. each.
We have
"A comprehensive and highly valuable book of reference.
rarely failed to find in this book an account of an article of dress, while in most
of the entries curious and instructive details are given.
Mr. Planché's
enormous labour of love, the production of a text which, whether in its dictionary
form or in that of the 'General History,' is within its intended scope immeasurably
the best and richest work on Costume in English,
This book is not only
one of the most readable works of the kind, but intrinsically attractive and
amusing.”—ATHENÆUM.
•
"A most readable and interesting work-and it can scarcely be consulted in
vain, whether the reader is in search for information as to military, court,
ecclesiastical, legal, or professional costume.
All the chromo-lithographs.
and most of the woodcut illustrations- the latter amounting to several thousands
—are very elaborately executed; and the work forms a livre de luxe which renders
it equally suited to the library and the ladies' drawing-room."-TIMES.
CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY.
7
NEW WORK by the AUTHOR OF "PRIMITIVE MANNERS
AND CUSTOMS."-Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 6s.
Crimes and Punishments.
Including a New Translation of Beccaria's "Dei Delitti e delle Pene."
By JAMES ANSON FARRER.
Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, Two very thick Volumes, 7s. 6d. each.
Cruikshank's Comic Almanack.
Complete in Two SERIES: The FIRST from 1835 to 1843; the SECOND
from 1844 to 1853. A Gathering of the BEST HUMOUR of
THACKERAY, HOOD, MAYHEW, ALBERT SMITH, A'BECKETT,
ROBERT BROUGH, &c. With 2,000 Woodcuts and Steel Engravings
by CRUIKSHANK, HINE, LANDELLS, &c.
Square 8vo, cloth gilt, profusely Illustrated, 10s. 6d.
Dickens.-About England with Dickens.
With Illustrations by ALFRED RIMMER and CHARLES A. VANDER-
[In preparation.
HOOF.
Second Edition, revised and enlarged, demy 8vo, cloth extra,
with Illustrations, 245.
Dodge's (Colonel) The Hunting Grounds of
the Great West: A Description of the Plains, Game, and Indians of
the Great North American Desert. By RICHARD IRVING DODGE,
Lieutenant-Colonel of the United States Army. With an Introduction
by WILLIAM BLACKMORE; Map, and numerous Illustrations drawD
by ERNEST Griset.
Demy 8vo, cloth extra, 12s. 6d.
Doran's Memories of our Great Towns.
With Anecdotic Gleanings concerning their Worthies and their
Oddities. By Dr. JOHN DORAN, F.S.A.
Two Vols., crown 8vo, cloth extra, 215.
Drury Lane (Old):
Fifty Years' Recollections of Author, Actor, and Manager.
EDWARD STIRLING.
By
"Mr. Stirling's two volumes of theatrical recollections contain, apart from
the interest of his own early experiences, when the London stage was a very dif
ferent thing from what it now is, a quantity of amusing and interesting facts and
anecdotes, new and old. The book is one which may be taken up in a spare quarter
of an hour or half-hour with a tolerable certainty of lighting upon something of
interest."-SATURDAY REVIEW.
Demy 8vo, cloth, 165.
Dutt's India, Past and Present;
with Minor Essays on Cognate Subjects. By SHOSHEE CHunder
DUTT, Rái Báhádoor.
8
BOOKS PUBLISHED BY
Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 6s. per Volume.
Early English Poets.
Edited, with Introductions and Annotations, by Rev. A. B. GROSART.
“Mr. Grosart has spent the most laborious and the most enthusiastic care on
the perfect restoration and preservation of the text. From Mr. Grosart we
always expect and always receive the final results of most patient and competent
scholarship."-EXAMINER.
I. Fletcher's (Giles, B.D.) Com-
plete Poems: Christ's Victorie in
Heaven, Christ's Victorie on Earth,
Christ's Triumph over Death, and
Minor Poems. With Memorial-In-
troduction and Notes. One Vol.
2. Davies' (Sir John) Complete
Poetical Works, including Psalms I.
to L. in Verse, and other hitherto
Unpublished MSS., for the first time
Collected and Edited. Memorial-
Introduction and Notes. Two Vols.
3.
Herrick's (Robert) Hesperi-
des, Noble Numbers, and Complete
Collected Poems. With Memorial-
Introduction and Notes, Steel Por-
trait, Index of First Lines, and
Glossarial Index, &c. Three Vols.
4. Sidney's (Sir Philip) Com-
plete Poetical Works, including all
those in "Arcadia." With Portrait,
Memorial-Introduction, Essay on
the Poetry of Sidney, and Notes.
Three Vols.
Imperial 8vo, with 147 fine Engravings, half-morocco, 36s.
Early Teutonic, Italian, and French Masters
(The). Translated and Edited from the Dohme Series, by A. H.
KEANE, M.A.I. With numerous Illustrations.
Cannot fail to be of the utmost use to students of art history:
Crown 8ve, cloth extra, gilt, with Illustrations, 6s.
Emanuel
On Diamonds
-TIMES.
and Precious
Stones; their History, Value, and Properties; with Simple Tests for
By HARRY EMANUEL, F.R.G.S. With
ascertaining their Reality.
numerous Illustrations, Tinted and Plain.
Demy 4to, cloth extra, with Illustrations, 36s.
Emanuel and Grego.-A History of the Gold-
smith's and Jeweller's Art in all Ages and in all Countries. By E.
EMANUEL and JOSEPH GREGO. With numerous fine Engravings.
[In preparation.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, with Illustrations, 75.6d.
Englishman's House, The:
A Practical Guide to all interested in Selecting or Building a House,
with full Estimates of Cost, Quantities, &c.
Third Edition. With nearly 600 Illustrations.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 6s.
Evolutionist (The) At Large.
By GRANT Allen.
By C. J. RICHARDSON.
"Mr. Allen's method of treatment, as explanatory of the scientific revolution
known as evolution, gives a sort of personality and human character to the trout
or the strawberry blossom, which invests them with additional charm, and makes
many of his pages read more like a fanciful fairy tale than a scientific work.
Mr. Allen's essays ought to open many a half-closed eye."-MANCHESTER
EXAMINER.
CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY.
9
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, with nearly 300 Illustrations, 7s. 6d.
Evolution (Chapters on);
A Popular History of the Darwinian and Allied Theories of Develop-
ment. By ANDREW WILSON, Ph.D., F.R.S. Edin. &c. [In preparation.
Abstract of Contents :-The Problem Stated-Sketch of the Rise and Progress of
Evolution-What Evolution is and what it is not-The Evidence for Evolution-
Evidence from Development-Evidence from Rudimentary Organs-Evidence from
Geographical Distribution-Evidence from Geology-Evolution and Environments-
Flowers and their Fertilisation and Development- Evolution and Degeneration-
Evolution and Ethics-The Relations of Evolution to Ethics and Theology, &c. &c.
Two Vols., crown 8vo, cloth extra, 215.
Ewald.-Stories from the State Papers.
By ALEX. CHARLES EWALD.
Folio, cloth extra, £1 11s. 6d.
Examples of Contemporary Art.
"
[In preparation.
Etchings from Representative Works by living English and Foreign
Artists. Edited, with Critical Notes, by J. COMYNS CArr.
It would not be easy to meet with a more sumptuous, and at the same time
a more tasteful and instructive drawing-room book."-NONCONFormist.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, with Illustrations, 6s.
Fairholt's Tobacco :
Its History and Associations; with an Account of the Plant and its
Manufacture, and its Modes of Use in all Ages and Countries. By F.
W. FAIRHOLT, F.S.A. With Coloured Frontispiece and upwards of
100 Illustrations by the Author.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, with Illustrations, 45. 6d.
Faraday's Chemical History of a Candle.
Lectures delivered to a Juvenile Audience.
A New Edition. Edited
by W. CROOKES, F.C.S. With numerous Illustrations.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, with Illustrations, 4s. 6d.
Faraday's Various Forces of Nature.
New Edition. Edited by W. Crookes, F.C.S. Numerous Illustrations.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, with Illustrations, 7s. 6d.
Finger-Ring Lore:
Historical, Legendary, and Anecdotal. By WM. JONES, F.S.A. With
Hundreds of Illustrations of Curious Rings of all Ages and Countries.
"One of those gossiping books which are as full of amusement as of instruc-
tion.”—ATHENÆUM.
NEW NOVEL BY JUSTIN MCCARTHY.
Gentleman's Magazine for January, 1881,
"
Price One Shilling, contained the First Chapters of a New Novel,
entitled "
THE COMET OF A SEASON," by JUSTIN MCCARTHY, M.P.,
Author of "A History of Our Own Times,' Dear Lady Disdain," &c.
SCIENCE NOTES, by W. MATTIEU WILLIAMS, F.R.A.S., will also
be continued Monthly.
Now ready, the Volume for JULY to DECEMBER, 1880, cloth extra,
price 8s. 6d.; and Cases for binding, price 25. each.
IO
BOOKS PUBLISHED BY
The RUSKIN GRIMM.-Square 8vo, cloth extra, 6s. 6d. ;
ruskin
gilt edges, 75. 6d.
German Popular Stories.
Collected by the Brothers GRIMM, and Translated by EDGAR TAYLOR.
Edited with an Introduction by JOHN RUSKIN. With 22 Illustrations
after the inimitable designs of GEORGE CRUIKSHANK. Both Series
Complete.
"The illustrations of this volume
are of quite sterling and admirable
art, of a class precisely parallel in elevation to the character of the tales which
they illustrate; and the original etchings, as I have before said in the Appendix to
my' Elements of Drawing, were unrivalled in masterfulness of touch since Rem-
brandt (in some qualities of delineation, unrivalled even by him).
To make
somewhat enlarged copies of them, looking at them through a magnifying glass,
and never putting two lines where Cruikshank has put only one, would be an exer-
cise in decision and severe drawing which would leave afterwards little to be learnt
in schools.”—Extract from Introduction by JOHN RUSkin.
Post 8vo, cloth limp, 2s. 6d.
Glenny's A Year's Work in Garden and
Greenhouse: Practical Advice to Amateur Gardeners as to the Manage-
ment of the Flower, Fruit, and Frame Garden. By GEORGE GLENNY.
"A great deal of valuable information, conveyed in very simple language. The
amateur need not wish for a better guide."-LEEDS MERCURY.
Crown 8vo, cloth gilt and gilt edges, 7s. 6d.
Golden Treasury of Thought, The:
An ENCYCLOPEDIA OF QUOTATIONS from Writers of all Times and
Countries. Selected and Edited by THEODORE TAYlor.
New and Cheaper Edition, demy 8vo, cloth extra, with Illustrations, 7s. 6d.
Greeks and Romans, The Life of the,
Described from Antique Monuments. By ERNST GUHL and W.
KONER. Translated from the Third German Edition, and Edited by
Dr. F. HUeffer. With 545 Illustrations.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt, with Illustrations, 7s. 6d.
Greenwood's Low-Life Deeps:
An Account of the Strange Fish to be found there. By JAMES GREEN-
WOOD. With Illustrations in tint by ALFRED Concanen.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt, with Illustrations, 7s. 6d.
Greenwood's Wilds of London:
Descriptive Sketches, from Personal Observations and Experience, of
Remarkable Scenes, People, and Places in London. By JAMES GREEN-
WOOD. With 12 Tinted Illustrations by ALFRED Cončanen.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt, with Illustrations, 45. 6d.
Guyot's Earth and Man;
or, Physical Geography in its Relation to the History of Mankind.
With Additions by Professors Agassiz, PIERCE, and GRAY; 12 Maps
and Engravings on Steel, some Coloured, and copious Index.
CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY.
Square 16mo (Tauchnitz size), cloth extra, 25. per volume.
Golden Library, The:
Ballad History of England. By
W. C. BENNETT.
Bayard Taylor's Diversions of
the Echo Club.
Byron's Don Juan.
Emerson's Letters and Social
Aims.
Godwin's (William) Lives of
the Necromancers.
Holmes's Autocrat of the
Breakfast Table. With an Introduc-
tion by G. A. Sala.
Holmes's Professor at the
Breakfast Table.
Hood's Whims and Oddities.
Complete. With all the original II-
lustrations.
Irving's (Washington) Tales of
a Traveller.
Irving's (Washington) Tales of
the Alhambra.
Both
Jesse's (Edward) Scenes and
Occupations of Country Life.
Lamb's Essays of Elia.
Series Complete in One Vol.
Leigh Hunt's Essays: A Tale
for a Chimney Corner, and other
Pieces. With Portrait, and Introduc-
tion by EDMUND OLLIER.
II
Mallory's (Sir Thomas) Mort
d'Arthur: The Stories of King Arthur
and of the Knights of the Round
Table. Edited by B. MONTGOMERIE
RANKING.
Pascal's Provincial Letters. A
New Translation, with Historical In-
troduction and Notes, by T. M’CRIE
D.D.
Pope's Poetical Works.
plete.
Moral Reflections.
Com.
Rochefoucauld's Maxims and
With Notes, and
an Introductory Essay by SAINTE-
BEUVE.
St. Pierre's Paul and Virginia,
and The Indian Cottage. Edited,
with Life, by the Rev. E. CLARKE.
Shelley's Early Poems, and
Queen Mab, with Essay by LRIGH
HUNT.
Shelley's Later Poems: Laon
and Cythna, &c.
Shelley's Posthumous Poems,
the Shelley Papers, &c.
Shelley's Prose Works, includ.
ing A Refutation of Deism, Zastrozzi,
St. Irvyne, &c.
White's Natural History of Sel-
borne. Edited, with additions, by
THOMAS BROWN, F.L.S.
Hake (Dr. Thomas Gordon), Poems by:
Maiden Ecstasy. Small 4to, cloth extra, Ss.
New Symbols. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 6s.
Legends of the Morrow. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 6s.
Medium 8vo, cloth extra, gilt, with Illustrations, 7s. 6d.
Hall's (Mrs. S. C.) Sketches of Irish Character.
With numerous Illustrations on Steel and Wood by MACLISE, GIL-
BERT, HARVEY, and G. CRUIKSHANK.
"The Irish Sketches of this lady resemble Miss Mitford's beautiful English
sketches in Our Village,' but they are far more vigorous and picturesque and
bright."-BLACKWOOD'S Magazine.
Post 8vo, cloth extra, 4s. 6d.; a few large-paper copies, half-Roxb., 10s. 6d.
Handwriting, The Philosophy of.
By Don FELIX DE SALAMANCA. With 134 Facsimiles of Signatures.
12
BOOKS PUBLISHED BY
Haweis (Mrs.), Works by:
The Art of Dress. By Mrs. H. R. HAWEIS. Illustrated by the
Author. Small 8vo, illustrated cover, Is. ; cloth limp, 1s. 6d.
"A well-considered attempt to apply canons of good taste to the costumes
of ladies of our time.
Mrs. Haweis writes frankly and to the
point, she does not mince matters, but boldly remonstrates with her own sex
on the follies they indulge in.
We may recommend the book to the
ladies whom it concerns."-ATHENAUM.
The Art of Beauty. By Mrs. H. R. HAWEIS. Square 8vo,
cloth extra, gilt, gilt edges, with Coloured Frontispiece and nearly 100
Illustrations, 10s. 6d.
The Art of Decoration. By Mrs. H. R. HAWEIS. Small 4to,
handsomely bound and profusely Illustrated, ros. 6d. [In the press.
*See also CHAUCER, p. 5 of this Catalogue.
'SPECIMENS OF MODERN POETS.-Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 6s.
Heptalogia (The); or, The Seven against Sense.
A Cap with Seven Bells.
เ
Of really good parodies it would be difficult to name more than half-a-dozen
outside the Anti-Facobin,' the Rejected Addresses, and the Ballaas of Bon
Gaultier.'
It is no slight praise to say that the volume before us bears
comparison with these celebrated collections.
But the merits of the book
cannot be fairly estimated by means of a few extracts; it should be read at length
to be appreciated properly, and, in our opinion, its merits entitle it to be very
widely read indeed.”—Sr. JAMES'S Gazette.
Cr. 8vo, bound in parchment, 8s.; Large-Paper copies (only 50 printed), 155.
Herbert.—The Poems of Lord Herbert of
Cherbury. Edited, with an Introduction, by J. CHURTON Collins.
[In the press.
History of Hertfordshire.
By JOHN EDWIN CUSSANS.
This Magnificent Work, ranging with the highest class of County
Histories, the result of many years' labour, is now completed, and in course
of delivery to Subscribers.
It is comprised in Eight Parts, imperial quarto, each containing the
complete History of one of the Eight Hundreds into which the County is
divided, with separate Pagination, Title, and Index. Each Part contains
about 350 pages, and is printed in the most careful manner on fine paper,
with full-page Plates on Steel and Stone, and a profusion of smaller En-
gravings on Wood of objects of interest in the County, and the Arms of
the principal Landowners, together with elaborate Pedigrees (126 in all),
now for the first time printed.
The price to Subscribers is Two Guineas each complete Part. Pur-
chasers are guaranteed the possession of a work of constantly increasing
value by the fact that only three hundred and fifty copies are printed, the
greater number of which are already subscribed for.
Seventy-five copies only, numbered and signed by the Author, have
been specially printed on Large Paper (Royal Folio), price Four Guineas
each Part,
CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY.
13
Complete in Four Vols., demy 8vo, cloth extra, 125. each.
History of Our Own Times, from the Accession
of Queen Victoria to the General Election of 1880. By JUSTIN
MCCARTHY, M.P.
“Criticism is disarmed before a composition which provokes little but approval.
This is a really good book on a really interesting subject, and words piled on words
could say no more for it."- SATURDAY REVIEW.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 5s.
Hobhouse's The Dead Hand:
Addresses on the subject of Endowments and Settlements of Property.
By Sir ARTHUR HOBHOUSE, Q.C., K. C.S.I.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 45. 6d.
Hollingshead's (John) Plain English.
"I anticipate immense entertainment from the perusal of Mr. Hollingshead's
Plain English,' which I imagined to be a philological work, but which I find to
be a series of essays, in the Hollingsheadian or Sledge-Hammer style, on those
matters theatrical with which he is so eminently conversant.”—G. A. S. in the
ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS.
Crown 8vo, cloth limp, with Illustrations, 2s. 6d.
Holmes's The Science of Voice Production
and Voice Preservation: A Popular Manual for the Use of Speakers
and Singers. By GORDON HOLMES, L. R. C. P. E.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt, 75. óð.
Hood's (Thomas) Choice Works,
In Prose and Verse. Including the CREAM OF THE COMIC ANNUALS.
With Life of the Author, Portrait, and Two Hundred Illustrations.
Square crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt edges, 6s.
Hood's (Tom) From Nowhere to the North
Pole: A Noah's Arkæological Narrative. With 25 Illustrations by
W. BRUNTON and E. C. BARNES.
"The amusing letterpress is profusely interspersed with the jingling rhymes
which children love and learn so easily. Messrs. Brunton and Barnes do full
justice to the writer's meaning, and a pleasanter result of the harmonious co-
operation of author and artist could not be desired.” — TIMES.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt, 75. 62.
Hook's (Theodore) Choice Humorous Works,
including his Ludicrous Adventures, Bons-mots, Puns, and Hoaxes.
With a new Life of the Author, Portraits, Facsimiles, and Illustrations.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 75.
Horne's Orion:
An Epic Poem in Three Books. By RICHARD HENGIST HORNE.
With a brief Commentary by the Author. With Photographic Portrait
from a Medallion by SUMMERS. Tenth Edition.
14
BOOKS PUBLISHED BY
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d.
Howell's Conflicts of Capital and Labour
Historically and Economically considered. Being a History and
Review of the Trade Jnions of Great Britain, showing their Origin,
Progress, Constitution, and Objects, in their Political, Social, Eco-
nomical, and Industrial Aspects. By GEORGE HOWELL.
"This book is an attemp, and on the whole a successful attempt, to place the
work of trade unions in the hast, and their objects in the future, fairly before the
public from the working man s point of view."-PALL MALL GAZETTE.
Demy 8vo, cloth extra, 12s. 6d.
Hueffer's The Troubadours:
A History of Provencal Life and Literature in the Middle Ages. By
FRANCIS HUEFFER.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 65.
Janvier.-Practical Keramics for Students.
By C. A. JANVIER.
"Will be found a useful handbook by those who wish to try the manufacture
or decoration of pottery, and may be studied by all who desire to know something
of the art."-MORNING POST.
A NEW EDITION, Revised and partly Re-written, with several New
Chapters and Illustrations, crown 8vo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d.
Jennings' The Rosicrucians:
Their Rites and Mysteries. With Chapters on the Ancient Fire and
Serpent Worshippers. By HARGRAVE JENNINGS. With Five full-
page Plates and upwards of 300 Illustrations.
Jerrold (Tom), Works by:
Our Kitchen Garden: The Plants we Grow, and How we Cook
Them. By TOM JERROLD, Author of "The Garden that Paid the Rent,"
&c. Post 8vo, cloth limp, 25. 6d.
"The combination of hints on cookery with gardening has been very cleverly
carried out, and the result is an interesting and highly instructive little work.
Mr. Jerrold is correct in saying that English people do not make half the use of
vegetables they might; and by showing how easily they can be grown, and so obtained
fresh, he is doing a great deal to make them more popular."-DAILY CHRONICLE.
Household Horticulture: A Gossip about Flowers. By Toм
JERROLD. Post 8vo, cloth limp, 2s. 6d.
[In the press.
Two Vols. 8vo, with 52 Illustrations and Maps, cloth extra, gilt, 145.
Josephus, The Complete Works of.
Translated by WHISTON. Containing both
Jews" and "The Wars of the Jews."
The Antiquities of the
Small 8vo, cloth, full gilt, gilt edges, with Illustrations, 6s.
Kavanaghs' Pearl Fountain,
And other Fairy Stories. By BRIDGET and JULIA KAVANAGH. With
Thirty Illustrations by J. MOYR SMITH.
"Genuine new fairy stories of the old type, some of them as delightful as the
best of Grimm's 'German Popular Stories.
For the most part the
stories are downright, thorough-going fairy stories of the most admirable kind.
Mr. Moyr Smith's illustrations, too, are admirable."-SPECTAtor.
CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY.
15
Crown 8vo, illustrated boards, with numerous Plates, 2s. 6d.
Lace (Old Point), and How to Copy and
Imitate it. By DAISY WATERHOUSE HAWKINS. With 17 Illustra-
tions by the Author.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt, with Portraits, 7s. 6d.
Lamb's Complete Works,
In Prose and Verse, reprinted from the Original Editions, with many
Pieces hitherto unpublished. Edited, with Notes and Introduction,
by R. H. SHEPHERD. With Two Portraits and Facsimile of a Page
of the "Essay on Roast Pig."
"A complete edition of Lamb's writings, in prose and verse, has long been
wanted, and is now supplied. The editor appears to have taken great pains
to bring together Lamb's scattered contributions, and his collection contains a
number of pieces which are now reproduced for the first time since their original
appearance in various old periodicals."-SATURDAY Review,
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, with numerous Illustrations, 1os. 6d.
Lamb (Mary and Charles):
Their Poems, Letters, and Remains. With Reminiscences and Notes
by W. CAREW Hazlitt. With HANCOCK's Portrait of the Essayist,
Facsimiles of the Title-pages of the rare First Editions of Lamb's and
Co eridge's Works, and numerous Illustrations.
"Very many passages will delight those fond of literary trifles; hardly any
portion will fail in interest for lovers of Charles Lamb and his sister.”—Standard.
Small 8vo, cloth extra, 5s.
Lamb's Poetry for Children, and Prince
Dorus. Carefully Reprinted from unique copies.
"The quaint and delightful little book, over the recovery of which all the hearts
of his lovers are yet warm with rejoicing.”—A. C. Swinburne.
Demy 8vo, cloth extra, with Maps and Illustrations, 185.
Lamont's Yachting in the Arctic Seas;
or, Notes of Five Voyages of Sport and Discovery in the Neighbour-
hood of Spitzbergen and Novaya Zemlya. By JAMES LAMONT,
F.R.G.S. With numerous full-page Illustrations by Dr. LIVESAY.
"After wading through numberless volumes of icy fiction, concocted narrative,
and spurious biography of Arctic voyagers, it is pleasant to meet with a real and
genuine volume.
He shows much tact in recounting his adventures, and
they are so interspersed with anecdotes and information as to make them anything
The book, as a whole, is the most important addition
made to our Arctic literature for a long time."—ATHENAUM.
but wearisome.
•
Crown 8vo, cloth, full gilt, 7s. 6d.
Latter-Day Lyrics:
Poems of Sentiment and Reflection by Living Writers; selected and
arranged, with Notes, by W. DAVENPORT ADAMS. With a Note on
some Foreign Forms of Verse, by AUSTIN Dobson.
16
BOOKS PUBLISHED BY
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 6s.
Lares and Penates;
Or, The Background of Life. By FLORENCE Caddy.
“The whole book is well worth reading, for it is full of practical suggestions.
•
We hope nobody will be deterred from taking up a book which teaches a
good deal about sweetening poor lives as well as giving grace to wealthy ones.”—
GRAPHIC.
Crown 8vo, cloth, full gilt, 6s.
Leigh's A Town Garland.
By HENRY S. LEIGH, Author of "Carols of Cockayne."
"If Mr. Leigh's verse survive to a future generation-and there is no reason
why that honour should not be accorded productions so delicate, so finished, and so
full of humour-their author will probably be remembered as the Poet of the
Strand."-ÅTHENÆUM.
SECOND EDITION.-Crown 8vo, cloth extra, with Illustrations, 6s.
Leisure-Time Studies, chiefly Biological.
By ANDREW WILSON, F.R.S. E., Lecturer on Zoology and Compara-
tive Anatomy in the Edinburgh Medical School.
"It is well when we can take up the work of a really qualified investigator,
who in the intervals of his more serious professional labours sets himself to impart
knowledge in such a simple and elementary form as may attract and instruct,
with no danger of misleading the tyro in natural science. Such a work is this
little volume, made up of essays and addresses written and delivered by Dr.
Andrew Wilson, lecturer and examiner in science at Edinburgh and Glasgow, at
leisure intervals in a busy professional life.
Dr. Wilson's pages teem with
matter stimulating to a healthy love of science and a reverence for the truths
of nature."-SATURDAY REVIEW.
•
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, with Illustrations, 7s. 6d.
Life in London;
or, The History of Jerry Hawthorn and Corinthian Tom. With the
whole of CRUIKSHANK'S Illustrations, in Colours, after the Originals.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 6s.
Lights on the Way:
Some Tales within a Tale. By the late J. H. ALEXANDER, B.A,
Edited, with an Explanatory Note, by H. A. PAGE, Author of
"Thoreau: A Study."
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, with Illustrations, 7s. 6d.
Longfellow's Complete Prose Works.
"Outre Mer,
tr
Hyperion,'
44
Kavanagh,"
"The Poets
Including
and Poetry of Europe," and "Driftwood." With Portrait and Illus-
trations by VALENTINE BROMLEY.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt, with Illustrations, 7s. 6d.
Longfellow's Poetical Works.
Carefully Reprinted from the Original Editions.
fine Illustrations on Steel and Wood.
With numerous
CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY.
17
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 55.
Lunatic Asylum, My Experiences in a.
By a SANE Patient,
"The story is clever and interesting, sad beyond measure though the subject
be. There is no personal bitterness, and no violence or anger.
Whatever may
have been the evidence for our author's madness when he was consigned to an
asylum, nothing can be clearer than his sanity when he wrote this book; it is
bright, calm, and to the point."-Spectator.
Demy 8vo, with Fourteen full-page Plates, cloth boards, 185.
Lusiad (The) of Camoens.
Translated into English Spenserian verse by ROBERT FFrench Duff,
Knight Commander of the Portuguese Royal Order of Christ.
Macquoid (Mrs.), Works by:
In the Ardennes. By KATHARINE S. MACQUOID.
With
50 fine Illustrations by THOMAS R. MACQUOID. Uniform with "Pictures
and Legends." Square 8vo, cloth extra, 10s. 6d.
tour.
"This is another of Mrs. Macquoid's pleasant books of travel, full of useful
information, of picturesque descriptions of scenery, and of quaint traditions
respecting the various monuments and ruins which she encounters in her
To such of our readers as are already thinking about the year's
holiday, we strongly recommend the perusal of Mrs. Marquoid's experience.
The book is well illustrated by Mr. Thomas R. Macquoid."-GRAPHIC.
Pictures and Legends from Normandy and Brittany. By
KATHARINE S. MACQUOID. With numerous Illustrations by THOMAS R.
MACQUOID. Square 8vo, cloth gilt, 10s. 6d.
"Mr. and Mrs. Macquoid have been strolling in Normandy and Brittany,
and the result of their observations and researches in that picturesque land
of romantic associations is an attractive volume, which is neither a work of
travel nor a collection of stories, but a book partaking almost in equal degree
of each of these characters.
The illustrations, which are numerous,
are drawn, as a rule, with remarkable delicacy as well as with true artistic
feeling."-DAILY NEWS.
Through Normandy. By KATHARINE S. MACQUOID. With
90 Illustrations by T. R. MACQUOID. Square 8vo, cloth extra, 75. 6d.
“One of the few books which can be read as a piece of literature, whilst at
the same time handy in the knapsack."-BRITISH QUARTERLY REVIEW.
Through Brittany. BY KATHARINE S. MACQUOID.
With
numerous Illustrations by T. R. MACQUOID. Sq. 8vo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d.
"The pleasant companionship which Mrs. Macquoid offers, while wander-
ing from one point of interest to another, seems to throw a renewed charm
around each oft-depicted scene."-MORNING POST.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, with Illustrations, 2s. 6d.
Madre Natura v. The Moloch of Fashion.
By LUKE LIMNER. With 32 Illustrations by the Author. FOURTH
EDITION, revised and enlarged.
Handsomely printed in facsimile, price 55.
Magna Charta.
An exact Facsimile of the Original Document in the British Museum,
printed on fine plate paper, nearly 3 feet long by 2 feet wide, with the
Arms and Seals emblazoned in Gold and Colours.
18
BOOKS PUBLISHED BY
Mallock's (W. H.) Works:
•
Is Life Worth Living? By WILLIAM HURRELL MALLOCK.
New Edition, crown 8vo, cloth extra, 6s.
"This deeply interesting volume.
It is the most powerful vin-
dication of religion, both natural and revealed, that has appeared since Bishop
Butler wrote, and is much more useful than either the Analogy or the Ser-
mons of that great divine, as a refutation of the peculiar form assumed by
the infidelity of the present day.
Deeply philosophical as the book
is, there is not a heavy page in it. The writer is possessed, so to speak,
with his great subject, has sounded its depths, surveyed it in all its extent,
and brought to bear on it all the resources of a vivid, rich, and impassioned
style, as well as an adequate acquaintance with the science, the philosophy,
and the literature of the day."-IRISH DAILY NEWS.
The New Republic; or, Culture, Faith, and Philosophy in an
English Country House. By W. H. MALLOCK. Post 8vo, cloth limp, 2s. 6d.
The New Paul and Virginia; or, Positivism on an Island. By
W. H. MALLOCK. Post 8vo, cloth limp, 2s. 6d.
Poems. By W. H. MALLOCK. Small 4to, bound in parchment, 8s.
A Romance of the Nineteenth Century. By W. H. MALLOCK.
Two Vols., crown 8vo.
[In the press.
Mark Twain's Works:
The Choice Works of Mark Twain. Revised and Corrected
throughout by the Author. With Life, Portrait, and numerous Illustra-
tions. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. By MARK TWAIN.
With
100 Illustrations. Small 8vo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. CHEAP EDITION, illustrated
boards, 25.
A Pleasure Trip on the Continent of Europe: The Innocents
Abroad, and The New Pilgrim's Progress. By MARK TWAIN. Post 8vo,
illustrated boards, 25.
An Idle Excursion, and other Sketches. By MARK TWAIN.
Post 8vo, illustrated boards, 25.
A Tramp Abroad. By MARK TWAIN. With 314 Illustrations.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d.
The fun and tenderness of the conception, of which no living man but
Mark Twain is capable, its grace and fantasy and slyness, the wonderful
feeling for animals that is manifest in every line, make of all this episode of
Fim Baker and his jays a piece of work that is not only delightful as mere
reading, but also of a high degree of merit as literature.
The book is
full of good things, and contains passages and episodes that are equal to the
funniest of those that have gone before."-ATHENAEUM.
Milton (J. L.), Works by:
The Hygiene of the Skin.
A Concise Set of Rules for the
Management of the Skin; with Directions for Diet, Wines, Soaps, Baths,
&c. By J. L. MILTON, Senior Surgeon to St. John's Hospital. Small
8vo, Is.; cloth extra, 1s. 6d.
The Bath in Diseases of the Skin. Small 8vo, Is.; cloth extra,
Is. 6d.
CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY.
19
Post 8vo, cloth limp, 2s. 6d. per vol.
Mayfair Library, The:
The New Republic. By W. H.
MALLOCK.
The New Paul and Virginia.
By W. H. Mallock.
The True History of Joshua
Davidson. By E. LYNN Linton.
Old Stories Re-told. By WAlter
THORNBURY.
Thoreau: His Life and Aims.
By H. A. PAGE.
By Stream and Sea. By WIL-
LIAM SENIOR.
Jeux d'Esprit. Edited by HENRY
S. LEIGH.
Puniana. By the Hon. HUGH
ROWLEY.
More Puniana.
By the Hon.
HUGH ROWLEY.
Puck on Pegasus.
By H.
CHOLMONDELEY-PENNELL.
The Speeches of Charles
Dickens. With Chapters on Dickens.
as Letter-Writer and Public Reader.
Muses of Mayfair. Edited by
H. CHOLMONDELEY-PENNELL.
Gastronomy as a Fine Art. By
BRILLAT-SAVARIN.
The Philosophy of Hand-
writing. By DON FELIX DE SALA-
MANCA.
Latter-Day Lyrics.
Edited by
W. DAVENPORT ADAMS.
Original Plays by W. S. GIL-
BERT. FIRST SERIES.
Original Plays by W. S. GIL-
BERT. SECOND SERIES.
Carols of Cockayne. By HENRY
S. LEIGH.
Literary Frivolities, Fancies,
Follies, and Frolics. By WILLIAM
T. DOBSON.
Pencil and Palette: Biographi-
cal Anecdotes chiefly of Contemporary
Painters, with Gossip about Pictures
Lost, Stolen, and Forged, also Great
Picture Sales. By ROBERT Kempt.
The Book of Clerical Anec-
dotes: A Gathering of the Antiquities,
Humours, and Eccentricities of "The
Cloth." By JACOB LARWOOD.
The Agony Column of "The
Times," from 1800 to 1870. Edited,
with an Introduction, by ALICE CLAY.
The Cupboard Papers. By
FIN-BEC.
Quips and Quiddities. Selected
by W. DAVENPORT ADAMS. [In press.
Pastimes and Players. By
ROBERT MACGREGOR. [In the press.
Melancholy Anatomised: A
Popular Abridgment of "Burton's
Anatomy of Melancholy." [Inpress.
** Other Volumes are in preparation.
New Novels.
THE BLACK ROBE. By WILKIE COLLINS. Three Vols.
crown 8vo.
THE CHAPLAIN OF THE FLEET. By WALTER BESANT
and JAMES RICE. Three Vols., crown Svo.
CENTURY.
[In the press.
[In the press.
FROM EXILE. By JAMES PAYN, Author of "By Proxy,"
"A Confidential Agent," &c. Three Vols., crown 8vo.
A ROMANCE OF THE NINETEENTH
By W. H. MALLOCK. Two Vols., crown 8vo.
MY LOVE. By E. LYNN LINTON. Three Vols.
A VILLAGE COMMUNE. By OUIDA. Two Vols.
TEN YEARS' TENANT. By BESANT and RICE. Three Vols.
A CONFIDENTIAL AGENT. BY JAMES PAYN.
A LIFE'S ATONEMENT. By D. C. MURRAY.
QUEEN COPHETUA. By R. E. FRANCILLON.
THE LEADEN CASKET. By Mrs. HUNT. Three Vols.
REBEL OF THE FAMILY. By E. L. LINTON. Three Vols.
Three Vols.
Three Vols.
Three Vols.
20
BOOKS FUBLISHED BY
Small 8vo, cloth limp, with Illustrations, 2s. 6d.
Miller's Physiology for the Young;
Or, The House of Life: Human Physiology, with its Applications to
the Preservation of Health. For use in Classes and Popular Reading.
With numerous Illustrations. By Mrs. F. FENWICK MILLER.
"An admirable introduction to a subject which all who value health and enjoy
life should have at their fingers' ends."-ECHO.
Square 8vo, cloth extra, with numerous Illustrations, 7s. 6d.
North Italian Folk.
By Mrs. COMYNS CARR. Illustrated by RANDOLPH CALDECOTT.
"A delightful book, of a kind which is far too rare. If anyone wants to really
know the North Italian folk, we can honestly advise him to omit the journey, and
read Mrs. Carr's pages instead. Description with Mrs. Carr is a real gift.
It is rarely that a book is so happily illustrated."-CONTEMPORARY REVIEW.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, with Vignette Portraits, price 6s. per Vol.
Old Dramatists, The:
Ben Jonson's Works.
With Notes, Critical and Explanatory,
and a Biographical Memoir by WIL
LIAM GIFFord. Edited by Colonel
CUNNINGHAM. Three Vols.
Chapman's Works.
Now First Collected. Complete in
Three Vols. Vol. I. contains the Plays
complete, including the doubtful ones;
Vol. II. the Poems and Minor Trans-
lations, with an Introductory Essay
by ALGERNON CHARLES Swinburne.
Vol. III. the Translations of the Iliad
and Odyssey.
Marlowe's Works.
Including his Translations. Edited,
with Notes and Introduction, by Col.
CUNNINGHAM. One Vol.
Massinger's Plays.
From the Text of WILLIAM GIFFORD.
With the addition of the Tragedy of
Believe as you List." Edited by
Col. CUNNINGHAM. One Vol.
Crown 8vo, red cloth extra, 5s. each.
Ouida's Novels.-Library Edition.
Held in Bondage. By OUIDA.
Strathmore.
Chandos.
By OUIDA.
Dog of Flanders,
Pascarel.
By OUIDA.
By OUIDA.
By OUIDA.
Two Wooden Shoes. By OUIDA.
Under Two Flags. By OUIDA.
Signa.
By OUIDA.
Idalia.
By OUIDA.
In a Winter City.
By OUIDA.
Cecil Castlemaine.
Ariadne.
By OUIDA.
Tricotrin.
By OUIDA.
Puck.
By OUIDA.
Folle Farine.
By OUIDA
By OUIDA.
Also a Cheap
boards, 25. each.
By Ouida.
By OUIDA.
By OUIDA.
OUIDA.
Friendship.
Moths.
Pipistrello.
Edition of all but the last two, post 8vo, illustrated
Post 8vo, cloth limp, 1s. 6d.
Parliamentary Procedure, A Popular Hand-
book of. By HENRY W. Lucy.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, with Portrait and Illustrations, 7s. 6d.
Poe's Choice Prose and Poetical Works.
With BAUDELAIRE'S “Essay."
CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY.
21
LIBRARY EDITIONS, mostly Illustrated, crown 8vo, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. each.
Piccadilly Novels, The.
Popular Stories by the Best Authors.
Maid, Wife, or Widow ?
By
The Fallen Leaves. By WILKIE
Mrs. ALEXANDER.
COLLINS.
Ready-Money Mortiboy.
By
Jezebel's Daughter. W. COLLINS.
W. BESANT and JAMES RICE.
Deceivers Ever.
My Little Girl. By W. BEesant
and JAMES RICE.
LOVETT CAMERON.
By Mrs. H.
The Case of Mr. Lucraft. By Juliet's Guardian. By Mrs. H.
W. BESANT and JAMES RICE.
This Son of Vulcan.
By W.
By W.
By W.
BESANT and JAMES RICE.
With Harp and Crown. By W.
BESANT and JAMES RICE.
The Golden Butterfly.
BESANT and JAMES RICE.
By Celia's Arbour.
BESANT and JAMES RICE.
The Monks of Thelema. By
W. BESANT and JAMES RICE.
'Twas in Trafalgar's Bay. By
W. BESANT and JAMES RICE.
The Seamy Side. By WALTER
BESANT and JAMES RICE.
Antonina. By WILKIE COLLINS.
Basil. By WILKIE COLLINS.
Hide and Seek. W. Collins.
The Dead Secret. W. COLLINS.
Queen of Hearts. W. COLLINS.
My Miscellanies. W. COLLINS.
The Woman in White.
WILKIE COLLINS.
The Moonstone.
By
W. COLLINS.
Man and Wife. W. COLlins.
Poor Miss Finch. W. COLLINS.
Miss or Mrs. ? By W. COLLins.
The New Magdalen. ByWILKIE
COLLINS.
The Frozen Deep. W. COLlins.
The Law and the Lady. By
WILKIE COLLINS.
The Two Destinies. By WILKIE
COLLINS.
The Haunted Hotel. ByWILKIE
COLLINS.
Lovett Cameron.
Felicia. M. BETHAM-Edwards.
Olympia. By R. E. FRANCILlon.
The Capel Girls. By EDWARD
Garrett.
Robin Gray. CHARLES GIBBON.
For Lack of Gold. By CHARLES
GIBBON.
In Love and War. By CHARLES
GIBBON.
What will the World Say? By
CHARLES GIBBON.
For the King. CHARLES Gibbon.
In Honour Bound. By CHARLES
GIBBON.
Queen of the Meadow. By
CHARLES GIBBON.
In Pastures Green. By CHARLES
GIBBON.
Under the Greenwood Tree.
BY THOMAS HARDY.
Garth. By JULIAN HAWTHorne.
Ellice Quentin. By JULIAN
HAWTHORNE.
Thornicroft's Model. By Mrs.
A. W. HUNT.
Fated to be Free. By JEAN
INGELOW.
Confidence. HENRY JAMES, Jun.
The Queen of Connaught. By
HARRIETT Jay.
The Dark Colleen. By H. Jay.
Number Seventeen. By HENRY
KINGSLEY.
Oakshott Castle. H. KINGSLEY.
Patricia Kemball.
LINTON.
By E. LYNN
22
BOOKS PUBLISHED BY
PICCADILLY NOVELS-continued.
The Atonement of Leam Dun-
das. By E. LYNN LINTON.
The World Well Lost.
By E.
LYNN LINTon.
Under which Lord ?
By E.
LYNN LINTON.
With a Silken Thread.
By E.
LYNN LINTON.
The
By JUSTIN MCCARTHY.
Waterdale Neighbours.
My Enemy's Daughter.
JUSTIN MCCARTHY.
By
Linley Rochford. By JUSTIN
MCCARTHY.
A Fair Saxon.
MCCARTHY.
By JUSTIN
Dear Lady Disdain. By JUSTIN
MCCARTHY.
Miss Misanthrope.
MCCARTHY.
By JUSTIN
Donna Quixote.
MCCARTHY.
By JUSTIN
Quaker Cousins.
MACDONELL.
By AGNES
Lost Rose. By KATHARINE S.
MACQUOID.
The Evil Eye. By KATHARINE
S. MACQUOID.
Touch and Go. By JEAN MID-
Mrs. OLIPHANT.
DLEMASS.
Whiteladies.
The Best of Husbands. By
JAMES PAYN.
Fallen Fortunes. JAMES PAYN.
Halves. By JAMES PAYN.
Walter's Word. JAMES PAYN.
What He Cost Her. J. PAYN.
Less Black than we're Painted.
By JAMES PAYN.
By Proxy. By JAMES PAYN.
Under One Roof. JAMES PAYN.
High Spirits. By JAMES PAYN.
Her Mother's Darling. By Mrs.
J. H. RIDDEll.
Bound to the Wheel. By JOHN
SAUNDERS.
Guy Waterman. J. SAUNDERS.
One Against the World. By
JOHN SAUNders.
The Lion in the Path.
By
JOHN SAUNDers.
The Way We Live Now. By
ANTHONY Trollope.
The American Senator.
By
ANTHONY Trollope.
Diamond Cut Diamond.
By
T. A. TROllope.
Post 8vo, illustrated boards, 25. each.
Open! Sesame! By FLORENCE
MARRYAT.
Written in Fire. F. MARRYAT.
Popular Novels, Cheap Editions of.
[WILKIE COLLINS' NOVELS and BESANT and RICE'S NOVELS may also be had in
cloth limp at 2s. 6d. See, too, the PICCADILLY Novels, for Library Editions.]
Maid, Wife, or Widow ? By
Mrs. ALEXANDER.
Ready-Money Mortiboy. By
WALTER BESANT and JAMES RICE.
With Harp and Crown.
By
WALTER BESANT and James Rice.
This Son of Vulcan. By W.
BESANT and JAMES RICE.
My Little Girl. By the same.
The Case of Mr. Lucraft. By
WALTER BESANT and JAMES RICE.
The Golden Butterfly. By W.
BESANT and JAMES RICE.
By Celia's Arbour. By WAlter
BESANT and JAMES RICE.
The Monks of Thelema. By
WALTER BESANT and JAMES RICE.
'Twas in Trafalgar's Bay. By
WALTER BESANT and JAMEs Rice.
Seamy Side. BESANT and RICE.
Grantley Grange. By S. BEAU-
CHAMP.
CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY.
23
POPULAR NOVELS-continued.
An Heiress of Red Dog. By
BRET HARte.
The Luck of Roaring Camp.
By BRET Harte.
Gabriel Conroy. BRET HArte.
Surly Tim. By F. E. BURNETt.
Juliet's Guardian. By Mrs. H.
LOVETT CAMERON.
Deceivers Ever. By Mrs. L.
CAMERON.
Cure of Souls. By MACLAREN
COBBAN.
Antonina. By WILKIE COLLins.
Basil. By WILKIE COLLINS.
Hide and Seek. W. COLLINS.
The Dead Secret. W. COLLINS.
The Queen of Hearts.
WILKIE COllins.
By
My Miscellanies. W. COLLINS.
The Woman in White.
WILKIE COllins.
By
The Moonstone. W. COLLINS.
Man and Wife. W. COLLINS.
Poor Miss Finch. W. COLLINS.
Miss or Mrs. ? W. COLLINS.
New Magdalen. By W.COLlins.
The Frozen Deep. W. COLLINS.
The Law and the Lady. By
WILKIE COLLINS.
The Two Destinies. By WILKIE
COLLINS.
The Haunted Hotel. By WILKIE
COLLINS.
Fallen Leaves. By W.COLLins.
Felicia. M. BETHAM-EDWARDS.
Roxy. By Edward Eggleston.
Filthy Lucre. By ALBANY DE
FONBLANQUE.
Olympia. By R. E. FRANCIllon.
The Capel Girls. By EDWARD
GARRETT.
Robin Gray. By CHAS. GIBBON.
For Lack of Gold. By CHarles
GIBBON,
What will the World Say? By
CHARLES GIBBON.
In Honour Bound. By CHAS.
GIBBON.
In Love and War. By CHARLES
GIBBON.
For the King.
GIBBON.
By CHARLES
Queen of the Meadow.
CHARLES GIBBON.
By
Dick Temple. By JAMES
GREENWOOD.
Every-day Papers.
HALLIDAY.
By A.
Under the Greenwood Tree.
By THOMAS Hardy.
Garth. By JULIAN HAWTHORNE.
Thornicroft's Model. By Mrs.
A. HUNT.
Fated to be Free. By JEAN
INGELOW.
Confidence. By HENRY JAMES,
Jun.
The Queen of Connaught. By
HARRIETT JAY.
The Dark Colleen. By H. JAY.
Number Seventeen. By HENRY
KINGSLEY.
Oakshott Castle. H. KINGSLEY.
Patricia Kemball. By E. Lynn
LINTON,
TheAtonement of LeamDundas
By E. LYNN LINTON.
The World Well Lost. By E.
LYNN LINTON.
Under which Lord ? By Mrs.
LINTON.
The Waterdale Neighbours.
By JUSTIN MCCARTHY.
Dear Lady Disdain. By the same.
My Enemy's Daughter.
JUSTIN MCCARTHY.
By
A Fair Saxon. J. MCCARTHY.
Linley Rochford. MCCARTHY.
Miss Misanthrope. MCCARTHY.
Donna Quixote. J. MCCAPTHY,
24
BOOKS PUBLISHED BY
POPULAR NOVELS-continued,
The Evil Eye. By KATHARINE
S. MACQUOID.
Lost Rose.
K. S. MACQUoid.
Open! Sesame! By FLOREnce
MARRYAT.
Wild Oats. By F. MARRYAT.
Little Stepson. F. MARRYAT.
Fighting the Air. F. MARRyat.
Touch and Go. By JEAN
MIDDLEMASS.
By OUIDA.
Mr. Dorillion. J. MIDDLEMASS.
Whiteladies. By Mrs. OLIPHANT.
Held in Bondage.
Strathmore. By OUIDA.
Chandos. By OUIDA.
Under Two Flags. By OUIDA.
Idalia. By OUIDA.
Cecil Castlemaine. By OUIDA.
Tricotrin. By OUIDA.
Puck. By OUIDA.
Folle Farine. By OUIDA.
Dog of Flanders. By OUIDA.
Pascarel. By OUIDA.
Two Little Wooden Shoes. By
OUIDA.
Signa. By OUIDA.
In a Winter City. By OUIDA,
Ariadne. By OUIDA.
Friendship.
By OUIDA.
Walter's Word.
By J. PAYN.
Best of Husbands. By J. PAYN.
Halves. By JAMES PAYN.
Fallen Fortunes. By J. PAYN.
What He Cost Her. J. PAyn.
Less Black than We're Painted.
By JAMES PAYN,
By Proxy. By JAMES PAYN.
Under One Roof. By J. PAYN.
High Spirits. By JAS. PAYN.
The Mystery of Marie Roget.
By EDGAR A. Poɛ.
Her Mother's Darling. By Mrs.
J. H. RIDDEll.
Gaslight and Daylight.
By
GEORGE AUGUSTUS SALA.
Bound to the Wheel. By JOHN
SAUNDERS.
Guy Waterman. J. SAUNders,
One Against the World. By
JOHN SAUNDers.
The Lion in the Path. By JOHN
and KATHErine Saunders.
Match in the Dark. By A,
SKETCHLEY.
Tales for the Marines.
WALTER THORNBURY.
By
The Way we Live Now.
ANTHONY TROLLOPE.
By
The American Senator.
By
By
ANTHONY Trollope.
Diamond Cut Diamond.
T. A. TROLLope.
A Pleasure Trip on the Conti.
nent of Europe. By MARK TWAIN.
Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
By MARK TWAIN.
An Idle Excursion. By MARK
TWAIN.
Fcap. 8vo, picture covers, Is. each.
Jeff Briggs's Love Story. By BRET HARTE.
The Twins of Table Mountain. By BRet Harte.
Mrs. Gainsborough's Diamonds. By JULIAN HAWTHOrne.
Kathleen Mavourneen. By the Author of "That Lass o' Lowrie's."
Lindsay's Luck. By the Author of "That Lass o' Lowrie's.'
Pretty Polly Pemberton. By Author of "That Lass o' Lowrie's."
Trooping with Crows. By Mrs. PIRKIS.
The Professor's Wife. By LEONARD GRAHAM.
CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY.
25
Large 4to, cloth extra, gilt, beautifully Illustrated, 315. 6.
Pastoral Days;
Or, Memories of a New England Year. By W. HAMILTON GIBSON,
With 76 Illustrations in the highest style of Wood Engraving.
"The volume contains a prose poem, with illustrations in the shape of wood
engravings more beautiful than it can well enter into the hearts of most men to
conceive. Mr. Gibson is not only the author of the text, he is the designer of the
illustrations: and it would be difficult to say in which capacity he shows most of
the true poct. There is a sensuous beauty in his prose which charms and lulis
But, as the illustrations are turned to, it will be felt that a new
pleasure has been found. It would be difficult to express too high admiration of
the exquisite delicacy of most of the engravings. They are proofs at once of Mr.
Gibson's power as an artist, of the skill of the engravers, and of the marvellous
excellence of the printer's work."-SCOTSMAN.
you.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 6s.
Planche-Songs and Poems, from 1819 to 1879.
By J. R. PLANCHE. Edited, with an Introduction, by his Daughter,
Mrs. MACKARNESS.
Two Vols. 8vo, cloth extra, with Illustrations, 10s. 6d.
Plutarch's Lives of Illustrious Men.
Translated from the Greek, with Notes, Critical and Historical, and a
Life of Plutarch, by JOHN and WILLIAM LAnghorne.
tion, with Medallion Portraits.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d.
Primitive Manners and Customs.
By JAMES A. FARRER.
Small 8vo, cloth extra, with Illustrations, 35. Öd.
Prince of Argolis, The:
A Story of the Old Greek Fairy Time.
130
Illustrations by the Author.
Proctor's (R. A.) Works:
New Edi-
By J. MOYR SMITH. With
With Star Maps for
[In preparation.
Easy Star Lessons for Young Learners.
Every Night in the Year, Drawings of the Constellations, &c. By RICHARD
A. PROCTOR. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 6s.
Myths and Marvels of Astronomy. By RICH. A. PROctor,
Author of "Other Worlds than Ours," &c. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 6s.
Pleasant Ways in Science. By R. A. PROCTOR. Cr.Svo, cl. ex. 6s.
Rough Ways made Smooth: A Series of Familiar Essays on
Scientific Subjects. By R. A. PROCTOR. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 6s.
Our Place among Infinities: A Series of Essays contrasting
our Little Abode in Space and Time with the Infinities Around us. By
RICHARD A. PROCTOR. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 6s.
The Expanse of Heaven: A Series of Essays on the Wonders
of the Firmament. By RICHARD A. PROCTOR. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s.
Wages and Wants of Science Workers. By RICHARD A.
PROCTOR Crown 8vo, Is. 6d.
"Mr. Proctor, of all writers of our time, best conforms to Matthew
Arnold's conception of a man of culture, in that he strives to humanise
knowledge, to divest it of whatever is harsh, crude, or technical, and so makes
it a source of happiness and brightness for all."-WESTMINSTER REVIEW.
26
BOOKS PUBLISHED BY
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt, 7s. 6d.
Pursuivant of Arms, The;
or, Heraldry founded upon Facts. A Popular Guide to the Science of
Heraldry. By J. R. PLANCHE, Somerset Herald, With Coloured
Frontispiece, Plates, and 200 Illustrations.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, with Illustrations, 75. 6d.
Rabelais' Works.
Faithfully Translated from the French, with variorum Notes, and
numerous characteristic Illustrations by GUSTAVE DORE.
Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, with numerous Illustrations, and a beautifully
executed Chart of the various Spectra, 75. 6d.
Rambosson's Astronomy.
By J. RAMBOSSON, Laureate of the Institute of France. Translated
by C. B. PITMAN. Profusely Illustrated.
Second Edition, Revised, Crown 8vo, 1,200 pages, half-roxburghe, 12s. 6d.
Reader's Handbook (The) of Allusions, Re-
ferences, Plots, and Stories. By the Rev. Dr. Brewer.
"Dr. Brewer has produced a wonderfully comprehensive dictionary of references
to matters which are always cropping up in conversation and in everyday life, and
writers generally will have reason to feel grateful to the author for a most handy
volume, supplementing in a hundred ways their own knowledge or ignorance, as
the case may be.
It is something more than a mere dictionary of quota-
tions, though a most useful companion to any work of that kind, being a dictionary
of most of the allusions, references, plots, stories, and characters which occur in
the classical poems, plays, novels, romances, &c., not only of our own country, but
of most nations, ancient and modern."-TIMES.
•
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 65.
Richardson's (Dr.) A Ministry of Health,
and other Papers. By BENJAMIN WARD RICHARDSON, M.D., &c.
Square 8vo, cloth extra, gilt, profusely Illustrated, 10s. 6d.
Rimmer's Our Old Country Towns.
With over 50 Illustrations.
By ALFRED Rimmer.
Two Vols., large 4to, profusely Illustrated, half-morocco, £2 16s.
Rowlandson, the Caricaturist.
A Selection from his Works, with Anecdotal Descriptions of his Famous
Caricatures, and a Sketch of his Life, Times, and Contemporaries.
With nearly 400 Illustrations, mostly in Facsimile of the Originals. By
JOSEPH GREGO, Author of "James Gillray, the Caricaturist; his Life,
Works, and Times."
"Mr. Grego's excellent account of the works of Thomas Rowlandson
illustrated with some 400 spirited, accurate, and clever transcripts from his
designs.
The thanks of all who care for what is original and personal in
art are due to Mr. Grego for the pains he has been at, and the time he has ex-
pended, in the preparation of this very pleasant, very careful, and adequate
memorial."-PALL MALL GAZETTE.
CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY.
27
Handsomely printed, price 5s.
Roll of Battle Abbey, The;
GA
or, A List of the Principal Warriors who came over from Normandy
with William the Conqueror, and Settled in this Country, A.D. 1066–7.
Printed on fine plate paper, nearly three feet by two, with the prin-
cipal Arms emblazoned in Gold and Colours.
The.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, profusely Illustrated, 4s. 6d. each.
Secret Out" Series,
The Pyrotechnist's Treasury;
or, Complete Art of Making Fire-
works. By THOMAS KENTISH. With
numerous Illustrations.
The Art of Amusing:
A Collection of Graceful Arts, Games,
Tricks, Puzzles, and Charades. By
FRANK BELLEW. 300 Illustrations.
Hanky Panky :
Very Easy Tricks, Very Difficult
Tricks, White Magic, Sleight of Hand.
Edited by W.H.CREMER. 200 Illusts.
The Merry Circle:
A Book of New Intellectual Games
and Amusements. By CLARa Bellew.
Many Illustrations.
Magician's Own Book :
Performances with Cups and Balls,
Eggs, Hats, Handkerchiefs, &c. All
from Actual Experience. Edited by
W. H. CREMER. 200 Illustrations.
Magic No Mystery:
Tricks with Cards, Dice, Balls, &c.,
with fully descriptive Directions; the
Art of Secret Writing; Training of
Performing Animals, &c. Coloured
Frontispiece and many Illustrations.
The Secret Out :
One Thousand Tricks with Cards, and
other Recreations; with Entertaining
Experiments in Drawing-room or
"White Magic." By W. H. Cremer.
300 Engravings.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 65.
Senior's Travel and Trout in the Antipodes.
An Angler's Sketches in Tasmania and New Zealand. By WILLIAM
SENIOR ("Red Spinner"), Author of "Stream and Sea."
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt, with 10 full-page Tinted Illustrations, 7s. 6d.
Sheridan's Complete Works,
with Life and Anecdotes. Including his Dramatic Writings, printed
from the Original Editions, his Works in Prose and Poetry, Transla-
tions, Speeches, Jokes. Puns, &c. ; with a Collection of Sheridaniana.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, with Illustrations, 7s. 6d.
Signboards:
Their History. With Anecdotes of Famous Taverns and Remarkable
Characters. By JACOB LARWOOD and JOHN CAMDEN HOTTEN.
With nearly 100 Illustrations.
"Even if we were ever so maliciously inclined, we could not pick out all Messrs.
Larwood and Hotten's plums, because the good things are so numerous as to defy
the most wholesale depredation."-TIMES.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt, 6s. 6d.
Slang Dictionary, The:
Etymological, Historical, and Anecdotal.
An ENTIRELY NEW
EDITION, revised throughout, and considerably Enlarged.
"We are glad to see the Slang Dictionary reprinted and enlarged. From a high
scientific point of view this book is not to be despised. Of course it cannot fail so
be amusing also. It contains the very vocabula y of unrestrained humour, and
oddity, and grotesqueness. In a word, it provides valuable material both for the
student of language and the student of human nature." Academy.
28
BOOKS PUBLISHED BY
Shakespeare:
Shakespeare, The First Folio. Mr. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S
Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies. Published according to the true
Originall Copies. London, Printed by ISAAC IAGGARD and ED. BLOUnt,
1623.-A Reproduction of the extremely rare original, in reduced facsimile
by a photographic process-ensuring the strictest accuracy in every detail.
Small 8vo, half-Roxburghe, 75. 6d.
"To Messrs. Chatto and Windus belongs the merit of having done more
to facilitate the critical study of the text of our great dramatist than all the
Shakespeare clubs and societies put together. A complete facsimile of the
celebrated First Folio edition of 1623 for half-a-guinea is at once a miracle of
cheapness and enterprise. Being in a reduced form, the type is necessarily
rather diminutive, but it is as distinct as in a genuine copy of the original,
and will be found to be as useful and far more handy to the student than the
latter."—ATHENÆUM.
Shakespeare, The Lansdowne.
Beautifully printed in red
and black, in small but very clear type. With engraved facsimile of
DROESHOUT's Portrait. Post 8vo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d.
Shakespeare for Children: Tales from Shakespeare.
By
CHARLES and MARY LAMB. With numerous Illustrations, coloured and
plain, by J. MOYR SMITH. Crown 4to, cloth gilt, 10s. 6d.
Shakespeare Music, The Handbook of. Being an Account of
350 Pieces of Music, set to Words taken from the Plays and Poems of
Shakespeare, the compositions ranging from the Elizabethan Age to the
Present Time. By ALFRED ROFFE. 4to, half- Roxburghe, 75.
Shakespeare, A Study of. By ALGERNON CHARLES SWIN.
BURNE. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 8s.
Exquisitely printed in miniature, cloth extra, gilt edges, 2s. 6d.
Smoker's Text-Book, The.
By J. HAMER, F.R.S.L.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 55.
Spalding's Elizabethan Demonology:
An Essay in Illustration of the Belief in the Existence of Devils, and
the Powers possessed by them. By T. ALFRED Spalding, LL.B.
Crown 4to, uniform with Chaucer for Children," with Coloured
Illustrations, cloth gilt, 10s. 6d.
"
Spenser for Children.
By M. H. Towry. With Illustrations in Colours by WALTER J,
MORGAN.
"Spenser has simply been transferred into plain prose, with here and there a
line or stanza quoted, where the meaning and the diction are within a child's
comprehension, and additional point is thus given to the narrative without the
cost of obscurity.
Altogether the work has been well and carefully done.”
-THE TIMES.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 95.
Stedman's Victorian Poets:
Critical Essays. By EDMUND Clarence Stedman.
"We ought to be thankful to those who do critical work with competent skill
and understanding. Mr. Stedman deserves the thanks of English scholars;
he is faithful, studious, and discerning.”—SATURDAY REVIEW.
CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY.
29
Post 8vo, cloth extra, 5s.
Stories about Number Nip,
The Spirit of the Giant Mountains. Retold for Children, by WALTER
GRAHAME. With Illustrations by J. MOYr Smith.
Crown 8vo, with a Map of Suburban London, cloth extra, 7s. 6d.
Suburban Homes (The) of London:
A Residential Guide to Favourite London Localities, their Society,
Celebrities, and Associations. With Notes on their Rental, Rates,
and House Accommodation.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, with Illustrations, 7s. 6d.
Swift's Choice Works,
In Prose and Verse. With Memoir, Portrait, and Facsimiles of the
Maps in the Original Edition of "Gulliver's Travels."
Demy 8vo, cloth extra, Illustrated, 215.
Sword, The Book of the:
Being a History of the Sword, and its Use, in all Times and in all
Countries. By Captain RICHARD BURTON. With numerous Illustra-
tions.
[In preparation.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, with Illustrations, 7s. 6d.
Strutt's Sports and Pastimes of the People
of England; including the Rural and Domestic Recreations, May
Games, Mummeries, Shows, Processions, Pageants, and Pompous
Spectacles, from the Earliest Period to the Present Time. With 140
Illustrations. Edited by WILLIAM HONE.
Swinburne's Works:
The Queen Mother and Rosa-
mond. Fcap. 8vo, 5s.
Atalanta in Calydon.
A New Edition. Crown 8vo, 6s.
Chastelard.
A Tragedy. Crown 8vo, 75.
Poems and Ballads.
FIRST SERIES. Fcap. 8vo, 9s.
in crown 8vo, at same price.
Poems and Ballads.
Also
SECOND SERIES. Fcap. 8vo, 9s. Also
in crown 8vo, at same price.
Notes on "Poems and Bal-
lads." 8vo, IS.
William Blake:
A Critical Essay. With Facsimile
Paintings. Demy 8vo, 165.
Songs before Sunrise.
Crown 8vo, 10s. 6d.
Bothwell:
A Tragedy. Crown 8vo, 12s. 6d.
George Chapman :
An Essay. Crown 8vo, 75.
Songs of Two Nations.
Crown 8vo, 6s.
Essays and Studies,
Crown 8vo, 125.
Erechtheus :
A Tragedy. Crown 8vo, 65.
Note of an English Republican
on the Muscovite Crusade. 8vo, Is.
A Note on Charlotte Brontë.
Crown 8vo, 65.
A Study of Shakespeare.
Crown 8vo, 8s.
Songs of the Springtides. Cr.
8vo, 6s.
Studies in Song.
Crown 8vo, 75.
30
BOOKS PUBLISHED BY
Medium 8vo, cloth extra, with Illustrations, 7s. 6d.
Syntax's (Dr.) Three Tours,
in Search of the Picturesque, in Search of Consolation, and in Search
of a Wife. With the whole of ROWLANDSON'S droll page Illustra-
tions, in Colours, and Life of the Author by J. C. HOTTEN.
Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, profusely Illustrated, 6s.
Tales of Old Thule.
Collected and Illustrated by J. MOYR SMITH.
Four Vols. small 8vo, cloth boards, 30s.
Taine's History of English Literature.
Translated by HENRY VAN LAUN.
Also a POPULAR EDITION, in Two Vols. crown 8vo, cloth extra, 15s.
One Vol. crown 8vo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d.
Taylor's (Tom) Historical Dramas:
""
Clancarty," "Jeanne Darc," "Twixt Axe and Crown," "The Fool's
Revenge," Arkwright's Wife," "Anne Boleyn,' ""Plot and Passion."
** The Plays may also be had separately, at ls. each.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, with Coloured Frontispiece and numerous
Illustrations, 7s. 6d.
Thackerayana:
Notes and Anecdotes. Illustrated by a profusion of Sketches by
WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY, depicting Humorous Incidents
in his School-life, and Favourite Characters in the books of his every-
day reading. With Hundreds of Wood Engravings, facsimiled from
Mr. Thackeray's Original Drawings.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt edges, with Illustrations, 7s. 6d.
Thomson's Seasons and Castle of Indolence.
With a Biographical and Critical Introduction by ALLAN Cunning-
HAM, and over 50 fine Illustrations on Steel and Wood.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, with numerous Illustrations, 7s. 6d.
Thornbury's (Walter) Haunted London.
A New Edition, Edited by EDWARD WALFORD, M.A., with numerous
Illustrations by F. W. FAIRHOLT, F.S.A.
•
"Mr. Thornbury knew and loved his London.
He had read much his-
tory, and every by-lane and every court had associations for him. His memory
and his note-books were stored with anecdote, and, as he had singular skill in the
matter of narration, it will be readily believed that when he took to writing a set
book about the places he knew and cared for, the said book would be charming.
Charming the volume before us certainly is. It may be begun in the beginning, or
middle, or end, it is all one: wherever one lights, there is some pleasant and curious
bit of gossip, some amusing fragment of allusion or quotation."—Vanity Fair.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, with Illustrations, 7s. 6d.
Timbs' Clubs and Club Life in London.
With Anecdotes of its famous Coffee-houses, Hostelries, and Taverns.
By JOHN TIMBS, F.S.A. With numerous Illustrations.
CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY.
31
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, with Illustrations, 75. 6d.
Timbs' English Eccentrics and Eccentrici-
ties: Stories of Wealth and Fashion, Delusions, Impostures, and
Fanatic Missions, Strange Sights and Sporting Scenes, Eccentric
Artists, Theatrical Folks, Men of Letters, &c. By JOHN TIMBS,
F.S.A. With nearly 50 Illustrations.
Demy 8vo, cloth extra, 145.
Torrens' The Marquess Wellesley,
Architect of Empire. An Historic Portrait. Forming Vol. I. of PRO-
CONSUL and TRIBUNE: WELLESLEY and O'CONNELL: Historic
Portraits. By W. M. TORRENS, M.P. In Two Vols.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, with Coloured Illustrations, 75. 6d.
Turner's (J. M. W.) Life and Correspondence:
Founded upon Letters and Papers furnished by his Friends and fellow-
Academicians. By WALTER THORNBURY. A New Edition, con-
siderably Enlarged. With numerous Illustrations in Colours, facsimiled
from Turner's original Drawings.
Two Vols., crown 8vo, cloth extra, with Map and Ground-Plans, 145.
Walcott's Church Work and Life in English
Minsters; and the English Student's Monasticon. By the Rev.
MACKENZIE E. C. WALCOTT, B.D.
The Twenty-first Annual Edition, for 1881, cloth, full gilt, 50s.
Walford's County Families of the United
Kingdom. A Royal Manual of the Titled and Untitled Aristocracy of
Great Britain and Ireland. By EDWARD WALFORD, M. A., late Scholar
of Balliol College, Oxford. Containing Notices of the Descent, Birth,
Marriage, Education, &c., of more than 12,000 distinguished Heads of
Families in the United Kingdom, their Heirs Apparent or Presump-
tive, together with a Record of the Patronage at their disposal, the
Offices which they hold or have held, their Town Addresses, Country
Residences, Clubs, &c.
Large crown 8vo, cloth antique, with Illustrations, 7s. 6d.
Walton and Cotton's Complete Angler;
or, The Contemplative Man's Recreation: being a Discourse of Rivers.
Fishponds, Fish and Fishing, written by IZAAK WALTON; and In-
structions how to Angle for a Trout or Grayling in a clear Stream, by
CHARLES COTTON. With Original Memoirs and Notes by Sir HARRIS
NICOLAS, and 61 Copperplate Illustrations.
Carefully printed on paper to imitate the Original, 22 in. by 14 in., 25.
Warrant to Execute Charles I.
An exact Facsimile of this important Document, with the Fifty-nine
Signatures of the Regicides, and corresponding Seals.
32 BOOKS PUBLISHED BY CHATTO & WINDUS.
Beautifully printed on paper to imitate the Original MS., price 25.
Warrant to Execute Mary Queen of Scots.
An exact Facsimile, including the Signature of Queen Elizabeth, and a
Facsimile of the Great Seal.
Crown 8vo, cloth limp, with numerous Illustrations, 4s. 6d.
Westropp's Handbook of Pottery and Porce-
With
lain; or, History of those Arts from the Earliest Period. By HODDER
M. WESTROPP, Author of "Handbook of Archæology," &c.
numerous beautiful Illustrations, and a List of Marks.
Seventh
SEVENTH EDITION. Square 8vo, Is.
Whistler v. Ruskin: Art and Art Critics.
By J. A. MACNeill Whistler.
Crown 8vo, cloth limp, with Illustrations, 2s. 6d.
Williams' A Simple Treatise on Heat.
By W. MATTIEU WILLIAMS, F.R.A.S., F.C.S.
"This is an unpretending little work, put forth for the purpose of expounding
in simple style the phenomena and laws of heat. No strength is vainly spent in
endeavouring to present a mathematical view of the subject. The author passes
over the ordinary range of matter to be found in most elementary treatises on
heat, and enlarges upon the applications of the principles of his science-a subject
which is naturally attractive to the uninitiated. Mr. Williams's object has been
well carried out, and his little book may be recommended to those who care to study
this interesting branch of physics."-POPULAR SCIENCE REView.
A HANDSOME GIFT-BOOK.— Small 8vo, cloth extra, 6s.
Wooing (The) of the Water-Witch:
A Northern Oddity. By EVAN DALDORNE. With One Hundred and
Twenty-five fine Illustrations by J. MOYR SMITH.
Crown 8vo, half-bound, 12s. 6d.
Words and Phrases:
A Dictionary of Curious, Quaint, and Out-of-the-Way Matters. By
ELIEZER EDWARDS.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, with Illustrations, 7s. 6d.
[In the press.
Wright's Caricature History of the Georges.
(The House of Hanover.) With 400 Pictures, Caricatures, Squibs,
Broadsides, Window Pictures, &c. By THOMAS Wright, M.A., F.S.A.
Large post 8vo, cloth extra, gilt, with Illustrations, 7s. 6d.
Wright's History of Caricature and of the
Grotesque in Art, Literature, Sculpture, and Painting, from the
Earliest Times to the Present Day. By THOMAS WRIGHT, M.A.,
F.S.A. Profusely Illustrated by F. W. FAIRHOLT, F.S.A.
J. Ogden and co., prINTERS, 172, ST. JOHN street, E.C.

THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
DATE DUE
INTERLIBRARY LOAN
1981

ABOUT
BY
BURN
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
3 9015 06398 7658
DO NOT REMOVE
OR
MUTILATE CARD