THE POETS' FLOWERS. 379 



ties, or because it would require some cultivation to render 

 it sufficiently plentiful for household purposes. It needs the 

 addition of ashes to make it a good soap for washing linen ; 

 but it is of much service to the shepherds on the Alps, who 

 wash their flocks, previously to shearing them, with soapsuds 

 made by boiling this plant in water. The large fruit of the 

 horse-chestnut has similar cleansing properties, and may be 

 used by cutting it into small pieces, or scraping it into water. 

 It has even been suggested that if the nuts were reduced to 

 powder, and made into balls, with some unctuous substance, 

 they would answer all the purposes of our manufactured 

 soap ; and yet numbers of poor people see these nuts lying 

 decaying in their neighbourhood, and have no idea of making 

 them of any service." 



On the Continent, however, the peasantry are wiser, and 

 not only provide themselves with chestnuts for soap, but 

 gather the beech-leaves to stuff their mattresses. 



Returning to the Caryophyllacese, we may add that some 

 of the plants of this order have poisonous qualities, which 

 are due to the principle called saponine existing in many 

 of the species of Saponaria, Silene, Lychnis, and Dianthus. 



According to Lindley, the order includes no less than 53 

 genera, and 1055 species. They inhabit chiefly temperate 

 and cold regions, and are ranked in three sub-orders, 

 Alsineae, Silenese, and Mollugineae. 



THE EGLANTINE AND THE CONVOLVULUS. 

 What plant do our poets mean by the eglantine ? What by 



