1859.] BOTANICAL SKETCHES. 233 



BOTANICAL SKETCHES FEOM CHESHIRE. 



{From a Correspondent^ 



This county is almost a terra incognita to British botanists. 

 The parts of the shire contiguous to Manchester and Warrington 

 are well investigated by the scientific in the metropolis of the 

 cotton tradcj and by the celebrated Mr. Wilson, now one of the 

 patriarchs among the amiable brotherhood. About a century 

 ago the journey from London to Chester was a serious undertak- 

 ing. Mr. Pennant, the antiquary and naturalist, wrote a large 

 book on the subject. Travelling in England affords now no 

 scope for book-making. What was a ten days' journey in Pen- 

 nant^s time is now performed in about as many hours, and the 

 adventures and incidents amount to nothing. Description is im- 

 possible with such rapidity of locomotion. 



As few London botanists, it is presumed, visit Cheshire, while 

 many visit Wales, therefore one of the fraternity hopes that the 

 following brief account of the way he went to Cheshire, and a 

 list of what he saw when there, will not be without intei-est to 

 his metropolitan brethren. 



The pleasantest way to North Wales or to Chester is by the 

 Great Western Railway. I have gone by this route both alone 

 (not solus in a carriage by myself) and in company (with a 

 mate), and I prefer this way, and commend it to other botanical 

 tourists. 



The scenery by the Great Western is not so monotonous as 

 that by the London and North-western; and though the dis- 

 tance may be nearly twenty-five miles over or above or beyond 

 that of the dii'cct line, the traveller generally reaches Chester as 

 early by the Western as by the North-western line. 



In going to Chester by Reading, Oxford, Birmingham, and 

 Shrew^sbury, the traveller passes through four distinct, well-de- 

 fined series of natural scenery, each division being pretty clearly 

 defined by these three grand places, Oxford, Birmingham, and 

 Shrewsbury. London and Chester are the two assumed termini, 

 or the place of departure and the ultimate destination. The 

 other places are the intermediate stages of the journey. I in- 

 tend to show that there is one kind of scenery between London 

 and Oxford, another between Oxford and Birmingham, a third 

 between Birmingham and Shrewsbury, and a fourth between 



N. S. VOL. III. 2 H 



