282 SEPTEMBER. 



growing plentifully about the Land's-End in Corn- 

 wall. 



" Our Saxon ancestors," says Verstegan, " called 

 this month Gerst-monath, for that barley which that 

 month commonly yielded was called gerst, the 

 name of barley being given unto it by reason of the 

 drinke therewith made, called beere, and from beer- 

 legh it came to be berligh, and thence to barley. 

 So in like manner beereheym, to wit, the overarch- 

 ing or covering of beer, came to be called berham 

 and afterwards barme, having gotten I wot not 

 how many names besides." 



Saffron, used in medicine and in dyeing, con- 

 sisting of the pointals of the crocus, is this month 

 gathered and prepared in large quantities, particu- 

 larly at Saffron Walden. Apples are gathered, and 

 cider and perry are made. Herrings pay their 

 annual visit to England in September, and afford a 

 rich harvest to the inhabitants of its eastern and 

 western coasts. Towards the end of the month the 

 nuthatch visits our orchards, particularly those 

 which abound with nut-trees. 



As this is the time at which many visit the sea- 

 coast, the following extract from " Drurnmond's 

 First Steps to Botany," a most excellent and inte- 

 resting little work, may be fitly introduced: 

 " Perhaps no scene, or situation, is so intensely 

 gratifying to the naturalist as the shore of the 

 ocean. The productions of the latter element are 



