242 BOTANICAL SKETCHES FROM CHESHIRE. [AugUSt, 



tanical line was soon informed, through the same medium, that 

 there were some who knew Clent better than he did, and had 

 not been inattentive to the curiosities of its vegetation. 



This, for anything I know, may be my hap, I may have only 

 discovered a mare's-nest after all. Mr. Wilson, or some of the 

 long-legged Macclesfield weavers, may claim the honour of having 

 visited Over and carried off its botanical rarities. We are cockneys, 

 and carry our cockney minds wherever we go. Caelum non animum 

 mutamus qui trans campum currimus. I have slightly altered, 

 not amended, the passage, but it signifies that we cannot change 

 our ways so easily as we change our habits ; we cannot put oflP 

 our preconceptions as we put off an old coat. We think that 

 whatever is new and interesting to us is interesting and new to 

 all the world, and in the exuberance of our joy we call on all our 

 fellows to come and rejoice with us. 



I entertain the fullest conviction that Over in Cheshire is 

 utterly unknown to London botanists. I will not say English 

 botanists, because I have the fear of Mr. Wilson and Mr. Borrer 

 before my eyes, and as this is the first time its name has appeared 

 in connection with botany, I hope the readers will excuse a longer 

 paper than usual, and let me treat the subject in a manner worthy 

 of its novelty and interest. 



Over is on the left-hand side of the London and North-western 

 Railway from London to Liverpool. The most direct way from 

 London to it is by Rugby, Tamworth, the Trent Valley, and 

 Crewe Junction, The nearest station is Winsford, from which 

 Over is distant about a couple of miles. The distance from Lon- 

 don is 174 miles by rail and two by the road through Winsford 

 and Over Lane, My route by Chester was upwards of 240 miles, 

 but the additional attractions of most of the London and Ches- 

 ter line amply compensate for the additional cost of time and 

 money. 



The subjacent rock of Cheshire is the New Red Sandstone, or 

 the Permian, as it has been recently named in modern times. 

 Geology itself is but of modern origin, although it deals very 

 largely in the remoter periods of existence. Yet it has under- 

 gone mutations, and has had occasion to change its nomencla- 

 ture. The soil on the New Red formation is usually a stiff red 

 clay. But it is not in these parts of equal stiffness. Here and 

 there it is of a light sandy nature ; sometimes it is alluvial, in 



