BY THE WAYSIDE AND JIEDQEBOWa. 117 



"Where the hedgerow-bank is warm and sunny, the 

 pretty scarlet Pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis) may bo 

 found, where it has sought and found shelter from the 

 corn-fielda. This is the " shepherd's weather-glase," 

 for one of the " signs of rain " is the closing of the 

 " pink-eyed pimpernel ;" it has many powerful virtues, 

 and was highly extolled by the old herbalists as 

 a cure for many diseases of the brain. It may be 

 easily recognized by its square stem, egg-shaped sea- 

 green leaves, which are often marked by black specks 

 on the underneath side. It is one of the most com- 

 mon plants in corn-fields in June and July. 



Of all the plants that grace our hedgerows and 

 creep amongst the bushy places, but few are more 

 interesting than the trailing Vetches. Their small 

 tendrils and elegant leaflets set opposite to each other 

 in rows on either side of the stalk, distinguish the 

 whole of the twelve varieties. The red pottage, for 

 which Esau sold his birthright, was the Lentil, a 

 species of Vetch or Tare (TZrvwn lens). One of the 

 earliest flowering varieties is the pretty crimson 

 Vetchling, or Grass Vetch, which has butterfly-shaped 

 blossoms and grass-like leaves, and haunts the bushes 

 of the green fields. The Tufted Vetch (Vicia cracca), 



