1859.] BOTANICAL SKETCHES FROM CHESHIRE. 243 



the bottoms ; and probably there are diluvial accumulations which 

 have modified much of the surface. The town lies on the left 

 bank of the Weever, on a table-land which may be about 200 

 feet aboA^e the level of the river. This table-land is intersected 

 by rather deep glens or ravines^ which terminate in the Vale of 

 the Weever. These give great variety and much beauty to the 

 face of the country. Vale Royal was selected by the monks 

 as a place where they lived and prepared themselves and their 

 brethren for heaven^ and they usually chose the most beau- 

 tiful and fertile spots as the scenes of their secular and spiritual 

 labours. 



Cheshire is characterized by great uniformity of soil, and hence 

 a rich Flora is not to be expected. There are plenty of flowers 

 in Cheshire, as there are in most places, for the earth is crowned 

 with flowers as she is clothed with grass, but the number of 

 species is not very great. 



Of this the following is an example. The spotted-leaved Orchis 

 was the only plant of this genus or family that I saw in Cheshire. 

 There are no doubt other Orchids besides Orchis maculata ; yet 

 T was there nearly a fortnight, and was out by the lanes or in 

 the fields or on the moors every day more or less, and this was 

 the only one that I saw. There were of these great numbers 

 almost everywhere, but it was the only one. Earlier in the sea- 

 son the early red Orchis might be seen in the woods. But if 

 Orchids were plentiful, more than two would be met with within 

 a circuit of twenty miles. Our walks extended to at least four 

 miles in every direction from the town, or they embraced a radius 

 of eight miles, which would give a circumference or exterior limit 

 of a circle of about twenty-five miles. We botanized within an 

 imaginary ring-fence of upwards of twenty miles at least, and 

 only saw one Orchis, or rather only one species of Orchis, for we 

 saw many thousands of individuals of this one species. 



But there are plants about Over, and interesting plants too, 

 but they are not to be picked up by the roadside nor found on 

 the sides of paths across the fields. There are a few choice plants 

 even there, but the gems of the Flora Overiensis have to be 

 sharply looked for in less accessible localities. 



My primary object in the herb line was to ascertain what in- 

 fluence the salt springs had on the vegetation. This I soon 

 found was imperceptible. Where the brine boiled over, or where 



