BOTANICAL EXCURSION. 97 



MIDLAND UNION OF NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETIES. 



NORTHAMPTON MEETING, JUNE, 1880. 

 BOTANICAL EXCUESION. 



BY R. G. SCRIVEN, 

 A MEMBER OF THE NORTHAMPTON NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 



As the excursions from Northampton at the approaching meeting of 

 the Midland Union will probably be over ground which is new to most 

 of the members present, I have been invited by the Editors of this 

 Journal to contribute a few notes to introduce to them the general 

 features of interest which we propose to bring before them, and to assist 

 them in making their choice as to which of the excursions tbey 

 will join for the day. There will be two excursions on the second 

 day of the meeting, one being principally Botanical and the other 

 Geological in its object. The Geological excursion will, I understand, 

 form the subject of a paper to be contributed by another of our members, 

 and I shall, therefore, confine myself to describing the course proposed 

 to be taken by the Botanical excursion. Starting from Northampton at 

 nine a.m. in carriages provided for the day, the members will take the 

 I'oad leading down the Nene valley for about four miles, when they will 

 cross the river at Billing Bridge, from which point on their right they 

 will see Clifford Hill, a small Roman earthwork, probably thrown up to 

 defend the passage of the river. The Nene valley, here, as along the 

 whole of its course, is a wide alluvial flat of rich water meadows, 

 subject to frequent flooding, and covered in spring time with masses of 

 the Marsh marigold and the Cuckoo flower, (Cardamine pratemis,) while by 

 the banks of the sluggish river grow the Iris and the Bulrush, and the 

 long spikes of the Purple Loose-strife (Ly thrum salicaria,) the "long 

 purples " of Ophelia. From Billing Bridge the route will be by Cogenhoe, 

 which stands on a steep hill on the right bank of the Nene, and by 

 Whiston, where there is a sm all Perpendicular church of great beauty, 

 which may be worth a flying visit, to Castle Ashby, the seat of the 

 Marquis of Northampton. Some time will be spent here in viewing the 

 mansion and grounds, which are well worthy of inspection. From Castle 

 Ashby the party will proceed through Yardley Hastings to the 

 Chase Park Farm, where luncheon will be provided, and the remainder 

 of the available time will be spent in botanising in the adjoining woods. 

 Yardley Chase is one of a series of ancient forests, extending along the 

 southern border of the county of Northampton, on the high ground 

 forming the watershed between the Nene and the Ouse, which runs 

 through the neighbouring counties of Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire. 

 Salcy Forest is the next adjoining to it, beyond which is the old Royal 

 Forest of Whittlebury. The soil is barren, being composed of the glacial 

 drift which here overlies the oolite to the depth of a hundred feet, the 

 limestones cropping out from under it in each of the adjoining valleys. 

 It is a hard clay, filled with chalkstones. The soil is, however, admirably 



