The Bramhall Valley. 2 7 



for developing even the spring attractions of this pretty 

 valley. The east winds, that blacken the early foliage of 

 the poplars, and so cruelly nip the flowering-currants, 

 and that make every one cross who is more than thirty 

 years old, are, about Manchester, not uncommonly 

 felt in all their harshness even as late as Whitsuntide, 

 rushing down the hillsides like avalanches. This iden- 

 tical walk, weeks after plentiful promise of leaf and 

 flower, has proved quite bare of active vegetation ; and to 

 face the sleety blast, and endeavour to keep warm by 

 rapid progress, has been work enough while pursuing it. 

 Let these hurting winds not have lasted long, and in 

 the meadows, by the middle of May, will be found plenty 

 of that odorous " sweet-ciceley" which we saw near 

 Strines : here, too, are the white meadow saxifrage ; and 

 on the borders of the stream, the nonconformist willow 

 called Salix trian'dra, which, to the two stamens of most 

 other species, adds a third, as heraldry would say, " for 

 difference." Willows of all kinds are very interesting, 

 and till the end of May their curious economy can be 

 examined with peculiar advantage in the Bramhall valley. 

 Most plants that bear evident flowers, whether they be 

 herbaceous, or shrubby, or arborescent, are bisexual 

 that is to say, they are provided with stamens and a 

 pistil, both parts contained in. the same blossom; and 

 sometimes there are many pistils, as well as many 

 stamens. This last condition is plainly seen in flowers 

 of the rose and buttercup kind, the seraglio consisting of 



