XII. 

 ON SOME OVERLOOKED RECORDS OF HERTFORDSHIRE PLANTS. 



By B. Daydok Jackson-, Sec.L.S., Hon. Memb. Herts 



Nat. Hist. See. 



Read at Watford, 2lst April, 1896. 



Having recently come upon certain records of Hertfordshire 

 plants 'n'hieh seem to have escaped the notice of the late Mr. A. B,. 

 Pryor, I thought the Society which published his ' Flora ' would 

 like to have the same laid before it, which I now have the honour 

 of doing. 



In 1892 Mr. J. Lucas published a translation of part of Kalm's 

 ' Travels,' which relates to his visits to England in 1748 and 1751 : 

 a copy of this work having lately been added to the library of the 

 Herbarium of the Boyal Gardens at Kew, I looked into it, and 

 soon found much to arrest my attention. 



Pehr Kalm was born in Finland in the year 1715, studied botany 

 under Linnteus at Upsala, and, as he showed marked acuteness 

 as a botanist, was sent to North America to collect plants. He 

 spent six months in England whilst on his outward voyage, and 

 about five weeks on his homeward way, laden with so ample 

 a store of new plants, that Linnjeus was cured of a fit of the gout 

 by the excitement of their arrival. 



Kalm reached England on the l7th of February, 1748, and left our 

 shores for America on the 11th of August of that year. During the 

 interval he paid two visits of some extent — ( 1 ) to Woodford, which 

 does not immediately concern us, and (2) to Little Gaddesden, 

 which directly appeals to us. The visit to our county was 

 accomplished at the desire and at the cost of Baron Bielke, 

 a Swedish nobleman, to see and report on the farming practice 

 of William Ellis, a man who enjoyed a great reputation in rural 

 economy, but still more for his writings on that subject. With 

 Lars Jungstrcim, a gardener and fellow-countryman, Kalm spent 

 from 25th March to 15th April in the neighbourhood of Little 

 Gaddesden, and recorded all the operations which came under his 

 observation which seemed to differ from the farming processes 

 carried on in Sweden, evincing close observation and shrewdness. 

 He learned more from the neighbours of Ellis than from that 

 person himself, who seems to have shown himself very " close " 

 and jealous of imparting any information gratuitously. His land 

 is described as being the worst cultivated of any round about, 

 a fact which goes far to confirm the account of Ellis which is given 

 below. 



Kalm anticipated some modem developments, by examining 

 certain haystacks to discover the constituents of the hay. One was 

 in Ashridge Park, and although it may not have been of purely 

 Herts growth, yet, as the plants mentioned are of very wide 

 distribution and very common, I have included them. The second 



VOL. IX. — PART IV. 



