208 THE RING OF NATURE 



lolium. The seed is poisonous to man and beast, 

 though, its poison being an intoxicant, it has been 

 used by not too scrupulous maltsters as an aid 

 to the fermentation of barley. ' The new bread 

 wherein darnell is,' continues Gerarde, ' causeth 

 drunkennesse.' A mixture of the seed with 

 wheat spoils the colour of the flour, turning it 

 black. Surely, at the harvest darnel ought to be 

 gathered into bundles and burnt. In places 

 where this weed is common it has been given the 

 expressive name of ' cheat.' 



I have not nearly exhausted the list of plants 

 to be found peculiarly and almost exclusively in 

 corn-fields and on cultivated land. There is the 

 cockle, whose name was given in the early edition 

 of the Bible to the tares that later research has 

 decided to be the more pernicious darnel. There 

 are succory, pheasant - eye Adonis, corn - flower, 

 the very persistent corn - buttercup with burred 

 seeds, and many others. But the wheat-field is 

 not only a botanic kingdom of great interest but 

 also an animal fairyland. 



We do not realize the wealth of animal life that 

 the wheat contains till the sheaves are removed, 

 and we see the voles darting stealthily through 

 the stubble. Even the kestrel that sees most 

 things of the kind can make nothing of them as 

 he hovers over the wheat-field. The stalks are 

 far too thick to make for good hunting. An 

 occasional rat is seen loping into the hedge or 

 back into his illimitable jungle, and the farmer 



