MARCH. 79 



now loosened by the dry penetrating air. Where 

 the larger species of snails abound, their broken 

 shells will also be found in heaps under the hedges, 

 wherever there is a stone, the throstles digging them 

 out and laying them on the stone, the more readily 

 to fracture them ; a fact but recently noticed by 

 naturalists, but familiar to the peasantry. Cottagers 

 now gather the tender-springing tops of nettles to 

 make pottage, considered by them a great purifier 

 of the blood. They also boil them instead of 

 spinach, as they do the tops of the wild hop, as a 

 substitute for asparagus. But of all vegetables that 

 are cultivated, next to the potato, rhubarb has 

 become, perhaps, the most valuable to the poor, and 

 pleasant to all. Of late its growth has rapidly in- 

 creased ; and people who, some years ago, never 

 saw such an article exposed in our markets, are 

 now astonished at the quantities brought there, and 

 disposed of with the greatest readiness. As a most 

 wholesome and agreeable vegetable, coming in 

 early and supplying a delightful acidulous material 

 for pies and puddings, till gooseberries are ready, it 

 is invaluable, and seems destined to acquire universal 

 estimation. 



March, which was the first month in antiquity, 

 was named so after Mars, the god of war, because 

 he was the father of their first prince. This, at 

 least, is the reason given by Ovid. The Saxons 

 called it Lenct-monath, because the days now began 



