98 FINE-LEAVED HEATH. 



Lapponica, that in some of the districts through 

 which he passed, scarcely any plant could be 

 seen but heath, which covered the ground so 

 that it could not be extirpated. He remarks, 

 that the country people had an idea that there 

 were two plants which would finally overspread 

 and destroy the whole earth, these were Heath 

 and Tobacco. 



The Heather is valuable, not to the bee 

 only, which gathers stores of honey from its 

 bells, but to many a bright winged or darker 

 tinted insect, which finds food and shelter 

 among its flowers and foliage. No cattle 

 seem fond of it, but the fibres of the stalks 

 are twisted into ropes, cottages are thatched 

 with its branches, and the people of Jura and 

 Isla brew very good beer by mixing the young 

 heath-tops with their malt. Large quantities 

 are gathered by the peasants for their winter 

 fuel, and this plant and the " Bonnie Broom" 

 are often strewed for an humble coach. In 

 Rum, Skye, and Long Island, leather is tanned 

 with a preparation of its branches, and in 

 most of the Western Isles it is used for dyeing 

 yarn of a yellow colour. 



