FLOWERS OF THE FIELD 79 



other corn-field weeds to which the term arvensis 

 has been assigned, from the frequency of their occur- 

 rence in arable land, may be mentioned the corn- 

 spurry, the field-parsley, the common pimpernel or 

 poor-man's weather-glass, the field forget-me-not, the 

 field stachys, the corn-mint, fumitory, shepherd's 

 purse, and bindweed. These plants, however, with 

 the exception of the last, which in some places is a 

 most troublesome weed, are comparatively harmless 

 to the farmer. There is a passage in Crabbe's Village 

 in which the poet, who found his main delight in 

 botany, gathers together several of these corn-field 

 intruders. He is doubtless thinking of the bleak, 

 wind-swept land above the cliffs at Aldeburgh, where 



" Rank weeds, that every art and care defy, 

 Reign o'er the land and rob the blighted rye ; 

 There thistles stretch their prickly arms afar, 

 And to the ragged infant threaten war ; 

 There poppies nodding, mock the hope of toil ; 

 There the blue bugloss paints the sterile soil ; 

 Hardy and high, above the slender sheaf, 

 The slimy mallow waves her silky leaf; 

 O'er the young shoot the charlock throws a shade, 

 And clasping tares cling round the sickly blade ; 

 With mingled tints the rocky coasts abound, 

 And a sad splendour vainly shines around." 



It is marvellous how rapidly some plants will spread 

 themselves over wide stretches of land. The writer 

 was struck with the way in which the yellow charlock 

 took possession of the line when the Meon Valley rail- 

 way was being made a few years ago. The very next 

 spring after the embankments were thrown up their 

 sides were clothed with this rampant and conspicuous 

 crucifer. A line of yellow across the country marked 



