HEATH OR LING. 19 



depths. Grouse thrive on it, for example, and several 

 species of lepidoptera have the heath as the food-plant of 

 their caterpillars. Mary Howitt writes in one of her 



poems of 



" those wastes of heath, 



Stretching for miles to lure the bee, 

 Where the wild bird, on pinions strong, 

 Wheels round, and pours his piping song, 

 And timid creatures wander free." 



The heath-honey, however, is browner and coarser than that 

 which is gathered in other districts, and Gerarde, we see, says, 

 " Of these flowers bees do gather bad honey." It gains a 

 somewhat strong and distinctive taste that is more objected 

 to by some persons than by others. Quite recently a new 

 golden-yellow dye has been, brought out, made from the 

 woody portions of the heath. The shoots and stems are 

 crushed, and then boiled in alum-water ; after cooling, filter- 

 ing, and standing for some three or four days exposed to the 

 air, the liquid assumes a rich golden tint, and in this 

 state, says the " Textile Manufacturer," it can be used for 

 dipping fabrics of all materials. Used alone it gives various 

 tints of yellow and orange, with oak-bark a rich brown, 

 with cochineal tints of scarlet; or the colouring-matter 

 may be precipitated, and then forms a fine yellow body- 

 colour for wall-papers and many other purposes. 



The heath or ling forms a low, straggling, and much- 

 branched shrub. Its branches are tough and woody, and the 

 leaves are borne in close masses on the side shoots. They are 

 very small, and placed in four rows. The flowers, too, are 

 small and of a purplish tint, or occasionally white. What 

 at a first glance we might suppose to be the corolla is in 

 reality the calyx, and the true corolla, having its petals 



