102 BOTANY OF THE DOWARD HILLS. [April, 



Doward sparingly ; but there are several large tufts of it growing 

 in a brake adjoining. 



This plant alternately appears and disappears in a large copse 

 wood on the south side of Ranmer Common, in Surrey. About 

 two or three years after the wood has been cut, the green Hel- 

 lebore abounds everywhere in the open spaces between the bushy 

 underwood stools ; after the copse wood has grown from seven to \ 



ten or twelve years, the Hellebore begins to disappear ; and when 

 the wood is full-grown, or when the Ash and other coppice wood is 

 large enough for the hoopmaker's purpose^ the plant has entirely 

 disappeared, and reappears when the copse is cut as before. 



The appearance and disappearance of plants is illustrated by 

 another plant not uncommon in Surrey, viz. Narcissus Pseudo- 

 Narcissus. The Hook Wood, between Guildford and Ash, on the 

 north side of the " Hog's Back," perhaps three miles from Guild- 

 ford, is periodically cut down for the coppice wood, not all in one 

 season, for it is much too large for that process, but a portion 

 — say ten or a dozen acres — is cvit annually, and by the time the 

 last dozen acres are cut, the first-cut portion is grown up and 

 ready for the cooper's use. In a certain part, probably in more 

 than one part, the Lent Lilies (Narcissi) spring up the first year 

 after the wood is cut. They probably grow during several years, 

 gradually disappearing when the shade is too much for them. In 

 all this there is nothing marvellous ; and probably for this cause 

 these facts are but seldom recorded and more seldom heeded. 

 07nne ignotum pro magnifico'. The incredibly marvellous is won- 

 derfully attractive ; hence the implicit belief in the germination 

 of mummy-wheat after its interment since the times of Cheops, 

 or between three thousand and four thousand years ago. 



It is asserted, on the highest possible authority, that when a 

 forest or part of a forest is either cut down or burnt down, — for 

 the same results will follow in either contingency, — there is a 

 fresh crop of wood springs up as different as possible from the 

 wood which grew there before it succumbed to the axe of the 

 woodcutter or to the combustion of the potash-maker. 



There may be nothing very wonderful in all this. The fresh 

 crop of timber, unlike that which was removed, may have origi- 

 ginally germinated or have sprung up with the more fortunate or 

 hardy children of the forest, which, like the giants of old, op- 

 pressed the weak, caused them to hide in caves, dens, and holes. 



