1859.] BOTANICAL SKETCHES FROM CHESHIRE. 341 



I spent a single day at Chester, and looked at and into the 

 cathedral, the market, the streets, the river, and the bridge, and 

 in the evening set out again by rail for my destination, which 

 was in the vicinity, if not in the centre, of the salt-works of this 

 cheese-making county. From Chester to Beeston"^ the aspect 

 of the country is not remarkable, but about Tarporley and 

 Beeston the sandstone crops out, and there are some interest- 

 ing views. From Beeston to Crewe, and from Crewe to Hart- 

 ford, where I left the rail, the land is flat. From Hartford to 

 Over by Vale Royal and Marston, the country is rich and the 

 scenery eminently English, another synonym for beauty and 

 comfort. 



Cheshire, as before observed, is scarcely known to botanists. 

 Many counties have a Flora of their own. Some places even 

 have several local Floras. Manchester has its Flora. Liver- 

 pool has two. Even Southport has its list of plants. Cheshire 

 has not had a due or just share of the attentions of the frater- 

 nity. The county palatine, although not sufficiently appreciated 

 by the small and select botanical public, is not unheard of. It 

 is known even to the readers of such small books as Pin- 

 nocVs ' Catechism of Geography.^ Every cheesemonger and every 

 lover of good cheese knows Cheshire ; it is a name given to 

 public-houses. With Marston Moor, the five Parliamentary 

 boroughs, and, above all, with Chester herself and the little ac- 

 cessories of salt, silk, cheese, and New Ked Sandstone, she is 

 pretty well known to antiquarians, merchants, and geologists, 

 and has a fair share of fame among the sister counties of Eng- 

 land. But the place whereunto I was bound, and where I was 

 right courteously entertained for a couple of weeks, was never 

 entered in the annals of botany prior to this its first appearance. 

 That no botanist ever sojourned at Over before, I will not venture 

 to state, but I may hazard the affirmation that no one has left 

 any traces even of having ever been there. 



But assertions are hazardous, and they are sometimes rashly 

 published. A botanist not long ago wrote to the ' Phytologist ' 

 that he had found an original tract in Worcestershire, barely 

 known even to Mr. Lees. But this aspirant to fame in the bo- 



* Beeston Castle, which I visited from Over, forms an episode in this narrative, 

 and some account of this singular rock and of its productions may probably be 

 supplied at some future period. 



N. S. VOL. HI. % I 



