228 WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 



the mandrake. If growing in or close to a churchyard 

 its virtues are increased, for, though becoming fainter 

 as they lengthen, the shadows of the old superstitions 

 linger still. Red nightshade berries not the deadly 

 nightshade, but the " bitter-sweet " hang sullenly 

 among the bushes where this creeping plant has trailed 

 over them. Here and there upon the bank wild goose- 

 berry and currant bushes may be found, planted by 

 birds carrying off ripe fruit from the garden. A 

 wild gooseberry may sometimes be seen growing out 

 of the decayed " touchwood " on the top of a hollow 

 withy-pollard. -Wild apple trees, too, are not un- 

 common in the hedges. 



The beautiful rich colour of the horse-chestnut, when 

 quite ripe and fresh from its prickly green shell, can 

 hardly be surpassed ; underneath the tree the grass 

 is strewn with the shells, where they have fallen and 

 burst. Close to the trunk the grass is worn away by 

 the restless trampling of horses, who love the shade 

 its foliage gives in summer. The oak-apples which 

 appear on the oaks in spring generally near the 

 trunk, fall off in the summer, and lie shrivelled on the 

 ground not unlike rotten cork, or black as if burned. 

 But the oak-galls show thick on some of the trees, 

 light green, and round as a ball ; they will remain 

 on the branches after the leaves have fallen, turning 

 brown and hard, and hanging there till the spring 

 comes again. 



One of the cottagers in the adjacent hamlet collects 

 these brown balls and strings them upon wire, making 



