pees ON WILD ePEAN DS. 
Tue parish of Great Barton which contains 
about (?)* acres, cannot be said to be at all 
rich in a botanical view. This does not mean 
that it has not a tolerable abundance of wild 
plants; but there is no great variety, and most of 
those that it produces are what are called common 
plants, that is they may be found pretty plentifully 
in most of the counties of England. The parish 
has little variety of surface, and is generally 
deficient in those local peculiarities which are 
favourable to variety of vegetable production. It 
has no marshes, no water, except a few small 
ponds and ditches, no heaths, only one tolerably 
old wood ; and above all, nearly the whole of it is 
arable land, and has long since been brought under 
careful cultivation. Draining and high farming 
are deadly enemies to botany. I have had 
plentiful opportunities of observing within my own 
experience, the effect of these operations. The 
number of wild plants + which I have observed in 
this parish in the course of my acquaintance with 
it (since 1825, that is to say) amounts to about 
385; and of these, at least 25 have disappeared 
2 4030 acres. [F.B.] 
+ Flow-ving plants, that is to say, including mosses, lichens, funguses, and 
other plants which do not produce real flowers or seeds. 
