1862.] KENTISH EOTANY. 51 



nel or strait wliicli flowed in the direction of the Stour and Want- 

 sume^ and which was navigable down to a recent period of the 

 history of England. In those times the sea flowed through the 

 strait, entering at Reculver and flowing out at Richborough, or 

 entering by the latter and joining the main ocean at the former. 



Between Reculver on the north and Richborough on the south- 

 east corner, an extent of nearly thirty miles, there is no stream 

 nor streamlet which flows into the sea. The island is drained 

 toward the western or laud side, and the little water it yields is car- 

 ried to the sea by the small rivers Stour and Wantsume ; the latter 

 enters the German Ocean near Reculver, and the other forms the 

 haven of Sandwich, flowing into the sea near Richborough. 



The soil of Thanet appears to be very fertile, the husbandry 

 good, and the crops abundant, and this was to be expected from 

 the traditionary character of the island, which is proverbial, — 



" When England wrings, (wails for want,) 

 The Island sings," (for corn is dear, and plentiful here.) 



To a botanist the isle is not so promising as it is to a culti- 

 vator, for there is no waste ground, no commons, and no bogs ; 

 there is a general uniformity of exposure, surface, soil, and tillage, 

 consequently there is no great variety in its natural productions. 



Another cause which restricts the botany of Thanet is the want 

 of an underclifF. With the exception of a little bit of the rock at 

 Broadstairs, the sea side of the clifl" is destitute of vegetation. 



Our first walk, on the west and south of Margate, not more 

 than two or three miles from the town, afl^brded a sufficient 

 sample of what we subsequently ascertained to be the prominent 

 plants of Thanet. 



MercuriaUs annua and Diplotaxis muralis* abounded every- 

 where, both in the fields and by the roadsides. Note. The fields 



* This plant, evidently an intruder, was described by a now almost forgotten 

 historian of Thanet in the following uncomplimentary terms. The farmers would 

 then, and probably still would, rather have its room than its company : — 



" A weed begins to infest the lands here which is not a little alarming to the 

 farmers, as it is of a prolific kind and very difficult to be eradicated. It was pro- 

 duced a few years ago among some oats, which were freighted on board a vessel 

 wrecked on the coast, and being washed by the tides along shore, was carried 

 among the seaweed used for manure to different lands at the same time. It is of 

 the class tetredynamia {sic). . . . The inhabitants call it the SUnkweed, from its 

 fetid smell. It seems to be either the Brassica mtiralis of Hudson or a variety 

 from it." — 'New Margate and Broadstairs Guide;' by C. Le Bas, Esq. 1802. 



