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ACONBUEY CAMP, PEIORY, AND CHURCH. 



Junk 18th, 1885. 



When the sun brightly shines in the sky overhead. 

 The soft emerald turf of the meads we will tread ; 

 Where the cowslip erects its pale fairy fleck'd bells, 

 While beside it the orchis in calm beauty dwells ; 

 Where the crowfoot displays its bright beakers of gold. 

 And the daisies their purple-tipp'd petals unfold. 



John BRAnFORD. 



None can love better the rural scenes visited by the Club to-day than the 

 rural poet who wrote these lines, and knows the district so well. A botanist 

 might think his cowslip late, or his orchis early, for science is exacting, but the 

 charming sentiment of mid-June hangs in the measured lines. The foliage then 

 has all its freshness ; and the hawthorn blossom has not quite left the luxuriant 

 hedges, and the sprays of the wild rose are coming out in perfection. The scythe 

 has not yet invaded the country meadows, and every field is a flower garden of 

 varied richness and beauty. The June meeting of the Club this year was on a 

 beautiful day of sunshine and clouds, with a freshness in the air that rendered it 

 very enjoyable. The expedition was made in carriages, and very pleasant it 

 was to walk up the steeper parts of Callow Hill and botanise its banks. The 

 Germander speedwell, Veronica chammdrys, which only opens its blossoms freely 

 in fine weather, showed fully the white centre of its bright blue flowers, "the 

 celestial bird's eye blossoms," as Phillips happily terms them. Then there was 

 the countryman's clock, Tragopogon pratensis, goat's beard, or " go-to-bed-at- 

 noon," as he terms it. He goes to his dinner as it closes its petals — 



Broad o'er her imbricated cup. 



The goatsbeard spreads its golden rays ; 



But shuts its cautious petals up. 

 Retreating from the noon-tide blaze. 



And especially pretty too were the clusters of Polygala vulgaris, in its varieties of 

 blue and pink and white. It is as pretty as it is frequent on dry banks and 

 commons, and gets its English name of " Milkwort " from the belief that it 

 increases the flow of milk in cows and other animals. This plant might be 

 grown with great advantage on rock work, and with excellent effect too. 



The carriages were left at the footpath leading up to the camp ; and in the 

 woods by its side, too shady for grass to grow, several specimens of the bird's nest 

 oi'chis, Neottia nidus avis, were quickly found. It is a curious plant, without 

 leaves, but with its stems some eight or ten inches high, crowded with light- 

 brown flowers. It takes its name from its fleshy roots clustering together in rude 

 resemblance to a bird's nest, and has the advantage of rarity to increase its 

 interest. The butterfly orchis, Hahenaria hifolia, was there also, whose greenish- 

 white blossoms are so sweetly scented at night. The spotted orchis (O. maculataj 



