8o Lymm. 



of the water some miles farther up the stream, and con- 

 sequent destruction of the fish, has of late years, how- 

 ever, considerably thinned their numbers. Entering the 

 second lane at the point above indicated, and leaving 

 the river behind, we presently see two great ponds, 

 called " Statham pools ;" the lane, which passes between 

 them, branching to the right just as the water comes in 

 view. Following this lateral lane for two or three hun- 

 dred yards, we arrive at a white cottage upon the left, 

 having its gable next to the road, and a gate exactly op- 

 posite, which shows the way into the broad and beauti- 

 fully-wooded champaign that stretches all the way from 

 Statham to Thelwall. The fields composing it are an- 

 nually overflowed by the river, which, on retiring, at once 

 fertilises them copiously, and deposits abundance of 

 seeds that have been floated from other places. They 

 produce, in consequence, like all other alluvial lands, an 

 enormous quantity of vegetation, and a considerable di- 

 versity of species. In the numerous watercourses which 

 intersect them, may be found almost every aquatic and 

 amphibious plant of the lower Mersey valley; and it is 

 curious to observe how many are diffused over the 

 general surface that on higher grounds are confined to 

 swamps and the borders of streams. Chief among the 

 latter is the marsh-marigold, CaFtha palus'tris, which in 

 its season makes the grass seem auriferous. No corn or 

 sown or planted crop is seen here; everywhere it is 

 either meadow or pasture. By and by we arrive at a 



