ESSAYS 133 



The various species of horsetail {Equisetum sp.) abound in small particles 

 of mineral matter which make the plants useful for scouring purposes, especially 

 for cleaning tinware and for polishing hardwood, ivory and brass. 1 A large 

 species {E. hyemale) has been imported from Holland under the name of Dutch 

 rushes, and used in Northumberland for cleaning milk-pails. Goose-grass {Galium 

 aparine) is also appreciated in some dairies, as it makes an efficient substitute for 

 a sieve for straining milk. This is a very ancient use of the plant that was known 

 to the Greeks, and has lived on in various parts of Europe, to the present day. 3 

 Milk is curdled in Picardy by the addition of fumitory {Fumaria officinalis), 

 and nettles and goosegrass {Galium aparine) can be used in a similar way. 3 

 Nettles can be made into a rennet by adding a quart of salt to three pints of 

 a strong concoction of nettles, and a tablespoonful of this rapidly coagulates 

 a large bowl of milk, making a pleasant beverage free from any flavour of nettles. 4 



Other domestic uses are occasionally served by wild plants. Heather is com- 

 monly used for beds by cottagers in remote places, and mattresses are stuffed with 

 it. Cushions and pillows are sometimes filled with the cottony down from the 

 leaves of coltsfoot {Tussilago farfara), and in the days when flint and steel were 

 used instead of matches this same down made an excellent tinder when it was 

 wrapped in rag, dipped in a solution of saltpetre and dried in the sun. 5 



During the war cork substitutes have been prepared from elder pith, but 

 better results were obtained by drying and pressing certain fungi that are plentiful 

 in the forests of Hungary, the collecting and drying presenting little difficulty. 

 In Norway boots and shoes have been soled with birch bark, several layers of 

 smooth bark being glued together with a special preparation. The soles are 

 warm, watertight and durable, and are fairly flexible. Seaweed is being exploited 

 as a source of glue and similar products, especially in Norway, where great 

 accumulations occur in places along the coast. 



From the above account some idea may be gained of the part played by wild 

 plants in common every-day life, and especially of the revival in their use brought 

 about by the Great War. Doubtless many of the uses, both old and new, will 

 again fall into neglect, but it is possible that in some instances sufficient advance 

 has been made to assure that certain weeds will continue to be exploited for the 

 benefit of the community. The field of possibility is large, and it would be a great 

 pity if the knowledge gained during the time of stress were lost for lack of 

 enterprise in following the matter up and extending the bounds of usefulness 

 in cases justified by experience. 



WAR— A FLEA FOB. SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH (Major-General 

 Charles Ross, C.B.. D.S.O. (ret.)) 



PART II 



How control the Spirit of Illegitimate Ambition ? 



It is illegitimate ambition which, in ordinary social intercourse and business 

 competition, gives rise not only to robbery by violence, but to cheating and 

 chicanery. The two last, indeed, are infinitely more prevalent in civilised 

 communities than the first, for they can often be practised with impunity in spite, 



1 Mac-Millan, C., Minnesota Plant Life, 1899. 



I Pratt, A., ibid. * Wilson, ibid. 



3 Hogg and Johnson, ibid. 5 Hogg and Johnson, ibid. 



