JULY. 139 



{Carlina vulgaris,) which is about a foot high, 

 may easily be distinguished from all the others 

 by its yellow flowers ; it is frequent on dry and 

 hilly pastures. 



The sweet marjoram {Origanum vuJgare) is 

 now putting forth its clusters of chocolate- 

 coloured blossoms, and shedding a sweet odour 

 over the heath, or chalky bank ; a very useful 

 plant it is too, for the dried leaves make a 

 wholesome tea, and are used medicinally. A 

 piece of cotton dipped in the strong oil which 

 may be expressed from it will often cure the 

 toothache •, and the young tops are used to 

 dye cloth of a purple colour, and to give to 

 linen a reddish brown. Its scent is very simi- 

 lar to that of the wild thyme, and the flowers 

 are much like those of that plant, but they 

 grow on a stem, one or two feet high, instead 

 of forming tufts on the ground. 



The corn is now fast ripening for the sickle, 

 and very often the corn-field is covered with 

 that bright flower, the corn bluebottle, {Ce^u 

 taurp.a Cyamis,) verging from a deep blue to a 

 pale azure, or a faint blue tint ; its colour is 

 always beautiful and striking. In Scotland it 

 is called blue bonnet, in France, bluet ; in for- 

 mer times, it was termed in our own land, hurt 

 sickle, " because," says an old writer, " it hin< 

 dereth and annoyeth the reapers, by dulling 

 and turning the edge of their sickles, in reap- 

 ing of corn." A brilliant blue juice is obtained 

 by exjjression from this plant, which gives its 

 tint to linen, but the dye is not permanent. 



