WoolI)op£ iaahtralists' fklh Clnb. 



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June 19th, 1884. 



THE BACH CAMP AND BEEEINGTON. 



" Ye field flowers ! the gardens eclipse you 'tis tnie, 

 Yet, wildings of nature, I doat upon you, 



For ye waft me to summers of old ; 

 When the earth teemed around me with fairy delight, 

 And when daisies and buttercups gladden'd my sight 

 Like treasures of silver and gold." 



C.\MPBELL. 



The June meeting of the Naturalists' Field Club has always a special interest for 

 the botanists. It is the meeting of the year for the abundance of wild flowers. 

 Nature is in full luxuriance ; the meadows teem with blossoms that the scythe 

 has not yet lowered. Daisies, Oxeyes, yellow and purple Trefoils and Clover, with 

 now and again a gorgeous display of Buttercups, that tint the field with gold. 

 The hedges have all the graceful irregularity of their fresh and unpruned spring 

 growth, varied by the blossoms of the Dogwood and Guelder Rose, of the sweet 

 Honey Suckle and the lovely sprays of the Dog Rose that hang so charmingly 

 about. If a deeper colour is wanted, at intervals the 



" Purple tassels of the tangling vetch 

 Hang elegant." 



and give it in perfection ; indeed Vicia cracca would deserve special cultivation in 

 our lane hedgerows, if the wild birds did not kindly sow the seed for us, to shame 

 our carelessness. The arable fields have all the freshness of the growing crops, 

 too, and the trees are all in full luxniriance and beauty. 



A full attendance of members met at the Barrs Court Station, when the plea- 

 sure of meeting, and so fine a morning, put everyone in spirits. The first botan- 

 ical observation was made at the Dinmore station, where the steep banks near 

 the tunnel are occupied with a large growth of the Wood Vetch, Vicia sylvatica. 

 with its drooping sprays of whitish blossoms, so beautifully veined and streaked 

 with blue. Sir Walter Scott was very fond of it. He well describes this elegant 

 climber, which for the beauty of its foliage, flowers, and general habit of growth 

 is scarcely exceeded by any of our summer flowers— 



" And where profuse, the Wood Vetch clings 

 Round ash and elm in verdant rings ; 

 Its pale and azured pencil flower 

 Should canopy Titania's bower. " 



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