CHAPTER VII. 



THE FOLK-LORE OF PLANTS. 



WHAT a wealth of legend and romance cling- to our 

 native flora ! There is scarcely a well-known wild- 

 ing which has not had something to do with the 

 fairies the dear wee folk who dwelt in flowers, and 

 were always performing good deeds who trooped 

 out at night to dance in the beams of " the pale-faced 

 moon," led by Queen Mab, 



" In shape no bigger than an agate-stone 

 On the forefinger of an alderman, 

 Drawn with a team of little atomies." 



That they did so dance to the music rung out by the 

 delicate Hare-bells was a certainty, for could you not 

 in the morning see the ring their tiny feet had marked 

 upon the meadow? Such we believed, but matter- 

 of-fact Science steps in and makes the following 

 explanation, driving away all thoughts of fairies 

 from our minds : " A patch of spawn, according to 

 the fashion of many Fungi, spreads centrifugally in 

 every direction, and produces a crop at its outer 

 edge. The soil in the inner part of the disc is ex- 

 hausted, and the spawn there dies or becomes effete. 

 The crop of fungi meanwhile perishes and supplies 

 a rich manure to the grass, which is in consequence 



