140 FAMILIAR WILD FLO WEES. 



medicinal properties that render it valuable, and therefore 

 brought it into cultivation in such collections of medical 

 plants, while the fool's parsley had no virtues assigned to it, 

 and was consequently valueless and left in its wild state. 

 If we can only once get over a feeling of prejudice against 

 the " nasty poisonous thing/' we shall have no difficulty in 

 deciding that there is much delicate grace and beauty in 

 the plant. It is a flower that we are always glad to see 

 springing up in our own garden, though we are free to 

 confess that, having first admired it, we with a certain 

 amount of regret carefully eradicate it. We do not find 

 that it is eaten by any animals ; even insects and their larva 

 seem to let it alone. We do not remember to have ever 

 seen any jagged and ragged outline to its foliage, suggest- 

 ing that some caterpillar has been making a meal. Our 

 own live stock we have never tempted with it, as the risk 

 of seeing one's animals succumbing to its effects is greater 

 than we care for, interesting as it might be to record that 

 a small armful killed a cow in an hour and a quarter. 





