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Black Hall, in an equal, or perhaps greater, degree. First, the field 

 in which it grows is adjoining to a modern farm-house, built on the 

 site of a more ancient edifice, dignified by the title of " Hall," and 

 bearing evidence of having once been a place of more importance 

 than it may now seem to be. The present occupier informs me that 

 there once was a fish-pond just below the slope on which the Nar- 

 cissus grew, which has been filled up. Secondly, the plant is con- 

 fined to one field, and is not found in other suitable spots hard by. 

 And thirdly, as at Blaber's Hall, so also at Black Hall, very many of 

 the Narcissuses produce double or semi-double blossoms. Admitting, 

 however, for argument's sake, that the Narcissus is not a true native 

 in the above situations, but merely the lingering remnant of former 

 cultivation, it still is remarkable, not so much that it should have sur- 

 vived the wreck of the garden, in which, we may suppose, it once was 

 fostered with care, but that it should thrive, as it does, under present 

 neglect, and should have increased to the extent we now find it. I 

 am informed that a former occupier of Blaber's Hall was at some 

 pains to destroy the Narcissuses, under the idea that they were inju- 

 rious to his grass crop. Certain it is that large quantities of the roots 

 are dug up and taken away year after year by visitors, for the purpose 

 of ornamenting their gardens. Still, however, the roots purloined are 

 not at all missed ; and the Narcissuses thrive in profusion, as I have 

 described, in such profusion as they are never seen to do in a modern 

 garden. I may add that the " lily field " last season exhibited its 

 usual magnificent display of blossoms at the end of May, much to the 

 admiration, and even astonishment, of a party of friends whom I took 

 to view it. 



W. T. Bree. 



AUesley Kectory, Nov. 20, 1851. 



Note on Adonis autumnalis. By the Rev. W. T. Bree, M.A. 



Plants which occur scarcely anywhere else than in coni-fields are 

 regarded, I suppose, as making out but a doubtful claim to the cha- 

 racter of original natives. Such is the case with Adonis autumnalis, 

 the brilliant pheasant's-eye of our gardens. In Turner and Dillwyn's 

 ' Botauist's Guide ' eight localities only are mentioned for the plant, 

 and nearly all of these are corn-fields. Whether introduced or indige- 

 nous, however, the plant is rare in a wild state ; and as I never hap- 

 pen to have met with it till lately, perhaps a note on the subject may, 



