BOTANICAL NOTES AND NEWS 197 



BOTANICAL NOTES AND NEWS. 



Hazel-nuts in Alluvial Soil near St. Andrews, and Note on 

 Brambles. In the parish of Cameron, near St. Andrews, Fife, 

 comprising upwards of 9000 acres, there is not a single wild hazel 

 bush, neither has there been within the memory of man ; and yet, 

 while constructing some four-feet-deep drains in alluvial soil, the 

 workmen cast up hazel-nuts in shovelfuls, thus proving that a dense 

 hazel copse must at one time have existed in the locality. The 

 watershed of the now gently-running streamlet which must have 

 washed down these hazel-nuts does not much exceed 3000 acres, 

 and to deposit several feet of diluvium over several acres must have 

 taken ages. How such a hardy plant as the common hazel should 

 have entirely disappeared from the district is difficult to account for, 

 as where the ground is not regularly cropped, broom, whin, and 

 blackthorn apparently spring up spontaneously. I may mention that 

 the shells of the hazel-nuts were entire, conclusively proving that 

 squirrels did not abound there in those days. 



I may also mention that till after 1853 there were only two or 

 three stunted bramble bushes on the sides of the road between 

 this and St. Andrews, a distance of four miles. In that year the 

 road was improved by cutting and banking, and immediately bram- 

 bles sprung up in the cuttings, and now abound ; and very 

 welcome they are, with their beautiful spring flowers, their fruit, 

 and richly tinted autumn leaves. Curious to say, brambles have 

 always abounded to the east of the road in question, but to the 

 westward you may travel for at least half a dozen miles without 

 seeing the vestige of one. Brambles, every one knows who has 

 tried it, are difficult to extirpate ; and yet nature has apparently 

 capriciously done so, as above related. Of course the explanation 

 of their resurrection in the cuttings (though, somewhat singular to 

 say, not in the embankments) is that the seed had lain dormant till 

 exposed to light and air ; but brambles must have previously existed 

 there, in order to produce the seed. Can any of your readers suggest 

 an explanation of the above phenomena. JOHN PURVIS, Kinaldy. 

 Stravithy, R.S.O., Fife. 



Juneus tenuis, Willd., in Westerness (" Annals," p. 32). Mr. 

 Arthur Bennett's suggestion that American hay has been the means 



