io6 THE MUSIC OF WILD FLOWERS 



and the great spearwort. On the surrounding salt 

 marsh he notices " fat-leaved, pale-flowering scurvy- 

 grass," sea-rushes and sea-aster, the saltwort both 

 simple and shrubby, and the jointed-glasswort or 

 marsh-samphire. In fact Crabbe left an almost com- 

 plete list of the most interesting plants to be found in 

 the marshes around Aldeburgh, most of which may still 

 be seen in their old localities. 



But both from a botanical and a picturesque stand- 

 point the salt marshes near Walberswick are the most 

 attractive on the Suffolk coast. These are of no great 

 extent, but they possess a flora of exceptional interest, 

 amid surroundings the reverse of desolate. An old- 

 world ferry crosses the Blyth at Walberswick, where 

 along the bank of the river black-boarded, red-tiled 

 huts and shanties, in which the fishermen store their 

 tackle, lie clustered together, while all kinds of lumber 

 and wreckage are scattered about in picturesque con- 

 fusion. Between the village roadway and the sea 

 stretches an expanse of marshland more or less inun- 

 dated at every high tide. Deep dykes, " with banks of 

 sloping mud," intersect the marsh in various directions, 

 spanned in places by wooden bridges of curious work- 

 manship. A bank of shingle lies between the marsh 

 and the sea, on which flourish many choice plants, such 

 as the sea-spurge, the sea-holly, the yellow horned- 

 poppy and the exceedingly rare sea-pea. The marsh 

 itself supports a varied flora, including the majority of 

 species usually met with in such localities. The orache, 

 or crab-grass, as it is locally called, is the commonest 

 plant, which covers the mud flats and banks of the 

 creeks with its silvery foliage and spikes of incon- 

 spicuous flowers. With the " crab-grass " will be seen 



