72 Country Rambles. 



delicious is the whole scene, so tranquil and consecrated 

 the look of the untrodden wood, that it seems surely one 

 of the sacred groves of the Druids, and one can hardly 

 think but that presently we shall see the priests enter in 

 grand procession, in their white robes and ancient beards, 

 and carrying the golden knife that is to sever the misletoe 

 bough. In the evening there come effects of yet rarer 

 charm, for then the declining sun casts long interlineations 

 of shadow across the level, and lights up every leaf from 

 underneath. 



The botany of the Carrs corresponds in extent with 

 that of Mobberley, though in many respects quite 

 different. The greatest curiosity, perhaps, is the tooth- 

 wort, or Lathr&a, that singular plant which, disliking the 

 solar ray, lives recluse in woods and groves, often half- 

 concealed in dead tree-leaves, and scarcely lifting its 

 cadaverous bloom above the surface. Here also grows 

 the Poa nemoralis. The meads yield occasional specimens 

 of a pretty rose-coloured variety of the creeping bugle, 

 and are so rich in wild-flowers in general as to form, 

 along with the woods beside the stream, quite a natural 

 botanic garden. The further part of the wood, towards 

 Sharston, is, no doubt, the abode of many plants of 

 interest, and only wants searching out. The reputation 

 of a given locality for rare plants comes not infrequently 

 of some one of ardour having gone to work upon it; 

 innumerable places, were they thoroughly explored, 

 would rise from unimportance into fame. Happily, as 

 regards Gatley Carrs, Mr. Edward Stone, son of the 



