JULY. 293 



gives a most splendid effect to the furrowed fields 

 from the golden breadth of its rays (though rather 

 indicative of a lazy farmer, especially in Wales) ; nor 

 is the azure of the corolla of the Blue-bottle (Centau- 

 reajcyanus), another agrarian, to be exceeded in beauty 

 by any flower of the parterre. The bright pink of the 

 Saintfoin, the yellow racemes of the Melilot Trefoil, 

 the purple heads of the Lucern, the roseate hues of 

 various Clovers, the curious tall purple flowers of the 

 Corn Campion (Agrostemma Githago), overtopped by 

 the long segments of its hairy calyx, and the innu- 

 merable red flowers of the decumbent Restharrow 

 (Ononis)* all now decorate the " sustaining corn" or 

 its borders ; while spots left fallow are sometimes 

 excessively beautiful with the spotted stem and 

 changeful blue and purple hues of the Viper's Bugloss 

 (Echiwn vulgare), the caerulean eyes of the Borage 

 (B or ago officinalis), the paler blue of the star-like 

 Succory (Cichorium Int-ybus), the argent blossoms of 

 the Corn Chamomile (Antliemis arvensis), or the less 

 specious but remarkable inflorescence of the Hare's- 

 Ear (JBupleurum rotimdifolium). Occasionally rare 

 and beautiful plants gain a temporary entrance into 

 arable ground, as the small yellow-flowered Lathyrus 

 Aphaca, Galeopsis versicolor, or the fugitive Veronica 



* There are two varieties of Restharrow, one (O. antiquorum) more 

 erect and spinose than the other. The flowers are rose-coloured, nume- 

 rous, and very beautiful, but it had best be only contemplated, for the 

 clammy feel of the plant, from its glandular exudation, is very disagree- 

 able. GARDINER, in his Flora of Forfarshire, has the following' just 

 observation upon this quality of the Restharrow : " Though sometimes 

 scentless, it generally has a rank disagreeable smell. The flowers are so 

 handsome, that you are tempted to cull them for your nosegay ; but when 

 their nauseous odour comes in contact with the olfactory nerves, you 

 discard it with a sigh, regretting that so much beauty should be coupled 

 with so noxious a quality. But this, too,] reads a lesson." True enough* 

 the furrow-weeds of life had better be passed without handling. 



