A FORGOTTEN PAGE OF ANTIQUARIAN LORE 33 



in the outlying districts where you will find it sometimes 

 within the walls, and sometimes, as if for more easy 

 access, by the very door of the cottage. But here and 

 there over the country, near some old turf wall or wood- 

 side, you come upon its broad healing leaf, which in former 

 days was applied to many a work-sore, no doubt with good 

 effect. 



The picturesque Houseleek (Sempervivum tcctoruni], with 

 its fringed leaves and spreading offsets, adorns the straw 

 roof and clay walls of many a deserted home. Its cooling, 

 succulent leaf is now left to fall to the ground. 



Under this heading go Chamomile (AntJicinis nobilis\ 

 Feverfew (Chrysanthemum Partkenium), Tansy (Tanacetum 

 vulgar e), Mints (R I cut ha piperita, etc.), Horehound (Ballota 

 nigrd], which has been found about the grounds of Castle 

 Fraser, and a long list of others. 



One of the most suggestive localities for such finds is 

 the extensive ruins of the Abbey o' Deer, where several 

 medicinal herbs still grow wild among the loose stones. 

 What a living picture of the old monks these little herbs 

 suggest! We can see them going about among the poor 

 half- civilised people of Buchan, with simples for the cure 

 of their bodily ailments, the pioneers of the medical as of 

 several other faculties. 



Nor is there wanting proof that fruits and flowers were 

 cared for. The frequent occurrence of London Pride (Saxi- 

 fraga uinbrosd), Monkey-flower (Mimulus LaHgsdorffii\~Lup\r\Q, 

 etc., and of Red and Black Currants (Ribes rubnnn and R. 

 nigruui) fully attests this. 



The name Gooseberry (Ribes Grossularid) suggests, accord- 

 ing to De Candolle, that this fruit was first applied as a 

 seasoning, and he compares the French name Grosseille a 

 niaquereaux (mackerel currant). 



Under the heading of food -plants, a number of entries 

 from old sites might be made. 



The old songs, those crude literary remains of the past, 

 contain many references to the food then used. We have 

 the trite " Cauld Kail in Aberdeen and Castocks in Strath- 

 bogie," of which, whatever may be the figurative meaning, 

 the primary application is clear enough. We often hear of 



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