The Strines Valley. i r 



offers for the next advance. Perhaps the best plan is 

 to proceed by the river-side, through the meadows, and 

 so onwards to the handsome and conspicuous building 

 called Arkwright's Mill. At this point, a return path, 

 via Strines, to Disley, may be found without difficulty, 

 first ascending the hill for a short distance towards 

 Mellor ; or if preferred, we may go past the mill, admir- 

 ing the old walnut and other trees that make this place 

 so different from almost all others where manufacturing 

 is going on, and obtain access in due time to Marple 

 station, whence a ride of about twelve miles will bring 

 us to London-road. For a long walk, on a frosty win- 

 ter's day, no route more desirable can be found than 

 this from Disley, over Marple Ridge, to Arkwright's Mill, 

 and back again to Disley through the valley. Again, 

 in advanced summer, if we love the sight of wild-flowers, 

 down by this sequestered river-side wait for us, with many 

 more, the giant campanula, hanging out delicate bells of 

 blue ; and the wild anise, loaded with brown and fur- 

 rowed seeds, so fragrant that the rustics have named the 

 plant sweet-ciceley ; and in the grove, by the second 

 bridge, is the wild maple-tree, every branchlet decked 

 with clusters of quaint and skinny fruits, that seem the 

 dried-up relics of ancient insect-wings. When without 

 fruit, we may know the maple by its deeply-furrowed 

 and corky bark, which is often so spongy that it yields 

 to the pressure of the fingers. The leaves, like the 

 fruits, grow in pairs, and are deeply incised, as repre- 



