234 isATis TiNCTORiA. [August, 



is, but merely fresh announcements of what had been known, or 

 might have been known, for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of 

 years. The locality above given is new in every respect. 



The two old stations lately published, though long well known, 

 are, the one between Guildford and Shalford, on the debris and 

 about the steep lofty sides of the chalk-quarries and also in the 

 adjoining fields, and the other is not far from Tewkesbury, in 

 Gloucestershire. Neither of these two localities is temporary. 

 In the Guildford locality the plant is so conspicuous and plentiful, 

 that, buttercup-like, " it wiU be seen, whether you will or no.'^ 



At Wandsworth this plant, the celebrated Woad of the ancient 

 Britons, an economical species used by our forefathers, in the arts, 

 centuries before this island was invaded and conquered by the 

 Romans, grows on both banks of the West End of London and 

 Crystal Palace railway, a little above the junction of the London 

 and South-western railway with that to the Crystal Palace, or 

 on the eastern side of the latter, between the station called New 

 Wandsworth station and the bridge for foot-passengers which 

 unites the banks of both railways, affording a passage across 

 both lines. 



This day, the 28th June, 1860, I visited the place a second 

 time. I first observed it on the 15th of the present month 

 (June), when there were numerous large and very conspicuous 

 bushy specimens on both sides of the cutting, which at this part 

 is very deep — probably between twenty and thirty feet. Today 

 (the 28th), these steep banks having been mowed, the plants, 

 alas ! were all prostrate ; not one single stem remained, like 

 " the last rose of summer," to mourn the fate of her interesting, 

 if not lovely, companions, all withered, but not gone. The scythe 

 of the ruthless mower had not spared a single stalk. 



Several young plants appeared, and one or two were carried off 

 and planted in my garden. 



It is not easy to destroy this plant where it has once got a 

 footing, and it often secures its position far beyond the reach of 

 the most venturous and rapacious plant-seeker. The late Mr. 

 Salmon, for a good-natured freak, took a plant from Guildford 

 and placed it within reach on a ledge of one of the chalk-quarries 

 at Compton. This good man — " peace to his rrfanes ! " — became 

 afterwards conscience-stricken, and fearful of being the uninten- 

 tional misleader of some innocent member of the fraternity, took 



