Railway Gardens 



spot, but I am told that it still at times appears 

 on other parts of the railway embankment ; 

 otherwise it is quite confined to the rubbish- 

 heaps. 



In a cutting on the North Kent line, near 

 Gravesend, the sides of the cutting for nearly two 

 miles are completely covered with wild Valerian. 

 When they are in flower it is a most beautiful 

 sight, and almost worth a special journey to see 

 it. The flowers are of all shades of red, from the 

 palest pink to deep crimson ; white specimens 

 have been reported to have been found among 

 them, but I have not seen them. The same 

 valerian clothes very prettily a deep cutting near 

 Chepstow, but there it is mixed with other plants, 

 and so the mass of colour is less, but it is sure to 

 increase, and may in time fill the whole cutting. 

 This valerian is a British plant, and fairly com- 

 mon, so that it is not surprising to find it on 

 almost any place ; but my two next examples are 

 something of a surprise. 



On the London Chatham and Dover Railway 

 there is a cutting near Sole Street station, not 

 very deep but with steep rocky sides : these sides 

 being, of course, rather roughly hewn have several 

 narrow ledges and other " coigns of vantage." 

 These have been taken possession of by the 

 garden Canterbury Bell, both white and blue, 

 though the name " Canterbury Bell " was origin- 

 ally given to our wild plant, C. trachelium, because 

 " it grows very plentifully in the lowe woods and 



