420 OUTDOOR LIFE IN ENGLAND 



valuable and soothing lotion for the skin, and 

 the virtues of elder-flower-water are well known 

 and appreciated as an adjunct to the toilet of the 

 gentler sex. Elder wine is made from the berries, 

 and the latter also supply many of our birds with 

 food, the starlings being especially fond of them, 

 gorging themselves until the red juice drops 

 from their bills. The wood is useful for the 

 manufacture of mathematical instruments, and 

 other purposes for which hardness and lightness 

 are requisite. The plant itself, when used alone 

 as a hedge, forms a valuable shelter in bleak 

 situations near the sea, for inasmuch as the tender 

 points of the branches are killed by the wind and 

 saltness of the air, the lower portions thereby 

 grow all the stronger. Its growth is also ex- 

 tremely rapid in soil which is suitable for its 

 reception. 



Nor is the wild clematis, the traveller's joy, 

 without its value as well as its beauty, the long, 

 trailing stems being used abroad in the manu- 

 facture of baskets, beehives, etc. 



Of other plants their virtues, vices, and the 

 many legends which are connected with them 

 volumes have been and might be written. Want 

 of space prevents my referring to more than a 

 few, and I propose to take these as they occur 

 alphabetically, rather than in their true order, it 

 being neither my desire nor intention to treat 

 of them botanically. 



The agrimony, a plant so frequently to be seen 



