234 BOTANICAL SKETCHES FROM CHESHIRE. [AugUSt, 



Shrewsbury and Chester. Each of these well distinguished rural 

 scenes is further subdivided into two subordinate divisions. 



J^or example^ from London to Maidenhead the line passes 

 along the Thames basin^ over a fiat extent of country, composed 

 of alluvial accumulations of soil, or of diluvial gravel or drift. 

 This soil, having been highly cultivated for years, is very fertile, 

 not naturally, but artificially : being near the Metropolis, abun- 

 dance of manure can be had for little more than the expense of 

 fetching it. This portion of the country is cultivated, or, in tech- 

 nical language, is arable, or under the shift system of tillage. 

 The cereal crops this year (1859, June 20th) were luxuriant and 

 far advanced, i. e. wheat full-grown, barley in the ear, oats begin- 

 ning to ripen. They sow oats very early in this part of Middle- 

 sex, viz. before the winter, and in early seasons they are ripe 

 about the beginning of July. 



Wormwood Scrubs, where the Horse Artillery used to be re- 

 viewed years ago, the pretty village of Hanwell, with its noble 

 viaduct over the Brent, and the grand and regal castle of Wind- 

 sor, the noblest of royal residences, are the most interesting ob- 

 jects on this part of the route. 



The country in this the first subdivision of the route is not 

 very picturesque ; yet here we have the rather picturesque village 

 of Hanwell, the famous Osterley Park, Harrow on the Hill, and 

 the river Thames, the resort of the peace-loving anglers. 



On the Berkshire or south side of the Thames the scene 

 changes. Here the chalk crops out, and there are some hills 

 here and there till the line approaches Goring and Whitchurch, 

 where the scenery becomes as lovely as charming vales, wood- 

 crowned summits, and fringed hangers and borders can make it. 

 The rich green of the fertile meadows, the upland pastures with 

 grazing flocks, the charming lawns or park-like open spaces, in- 

 terspersed with the finest timber, form altogether a scene which 

 can scarcely be paralleled even in England : it is like some other 

 scenes that we have had the pleasure of seeing ; it sets all descrip- 

 tion at defiance. The painter on canvas cannot convey to the 

 beholder any adequate representation of a large extent of scenery; 

 to attempt to do this by word-painting would be only ridiculous. 



Beyond this, at Didcot and Wallingford, toward Oxford, the 

 landscape becomes anything but interesting. To the cultivator 

 it is very satisfactory, for the fields are miles in extent, open. 



