NOTES OF A RAMBLE OS THE RAILWAY. 45 



useful place of exercise, within an hour's ride of a city, containing more than 

 two millions of human creatures. 



December 9th., 1851. 



NOTES OF A RAMBLE ON THE 



RAILWAY LINE TO LITTLE-HEMPSTON, RETURNING BY 



WAY OF GATCOMBE. 



BY S. HANNAFORD, ESQ., JUN. 



It has often occurred to me that the Botany of some of our Railway lines 

 must be very varied, from the diiferent kinds of soil through which they passj 

 and with this idea, a few days since, I bent my steps over that portion of 

 the line which leads to Little-Hempston, a village about two miles from Totnes. 

 The morning was intensely hot, but still the dew-drops lingered on the grass, 

 glittering in the sunbeams; and the River Dart, which I crossed, rippling over 

 its pebbly bed, added a delightful coolness. Very few persons are aware of 

 the beauty of a summer's morn in the country, before the heat becomes un- 

 bearable; the cheerful music of the mowers sharpening their sythes; the 

 twittering of the Swallows as they skim overhead; the sweet song of the Lark, 

 as he soars high above; and the sweetness of everything around; all tending 

 to contentment and happiness. Wilmot, in his ^'Summer-time in the Country," 

 remarks, That ''men wear out their days and strength in searching after 

 happiness; but they have only to stoop and gather it up, or look inward and 

 find it." How true indeed is this! Were there more observers and lovers 

 of Nature, there would be much more health and happiness in this world of 

 ours. 



Almost immediately on crossing the Railway bridge over the Dart, the 

 delicate blue flowers of the Narrow-leaved Flax, (Limira angustifolium,) 

 attracted my attention, as I had never before met with it in this neigh- 

 bourhood. Mary Howitt speaks of it as 



"The Flax-flower 



— '—A.S blue as in the skj'; 

 And 'tis a dainty little thing 

 We say as we pass by." 



I have found great difficulty in preserving a specimen of this pretty flower, 

 as the petals drop off" at the slightest touch. The Yarrow, {Achillea mille- 

 folium,) so well known from its feathery leaves, grows here of a beautiful 

 pinkish tinge — it is more commonly found white. The embankments were 

 covered with the deep purple flowers of the Self-heal, or Heal-all, {Prunella 

 vulgaris;) the great White Oxeye Daisy, {Chrysanthevmm leucanthemum;) and 

 the pink and white flowers of the Rest Harrow, or Cammock, {Ononis avensis,) 

 and Smaller Bindweed, {Convolvulus arvensis,) trailing prettily along in aU 



