$12 GENERAL REMARKS. 



vated grounds, to wastes, to rocky arid ridges, to deans, marshes, 

 pools, rivers, moors, and mountains, but there is very little of 

 peculiarity to call for remark. The Senebiera coronopus is con- 

 fined to the vicinity of Berwick ; the Convolvulus arvensis, Sedum 

 anglicum, Thalictrum mijius, Carlina vulgaris, and Scirpus caricinus, 

 are not to be found except near the sea, nor does the Erodium ap- 

 pear to extend much inland. On the contrary, the Galeopsis ver- 

 sicolor, of extremely rare occurrence in the east, becomes a weed 

 in the west of the county ; and the Cera&tium vulgalum and Dian- 

 thus deltoides flee our vicinity to flourish in abundance in the 

 west, east, and northern parts. The heaths are observed always 

 to avoid limestone ; Arenaria verna, Potentilla verna, Viola lutea, 

 Teesdalia nudicaulis, Vicia lathyroides, Trifol'mm scabrum and stria- 

 turn are confined to unstratified or trap-rocks, the favourite soil 

 also for the dwarf Cistus, the Hypericum humifusum and pulchrum, 

 although by no means the exclusive one. The Digitalis is most 

 abundant in the greywacke districts, and, so far as I know, there 

 is with us only one station for it in the lower and sandstone for- 

 mation ; while this is preferred by the Lactuca virosa which, on 

 the banks of the Tweed, attains a gigantic size, being at least 

 double of that which it is said to attain in other districts. 



To suggest some slight aids to rural industry may not be 

 deemed beyond the province of the botanist, however much it is 

 beyond his power to put his suggestions into practice. A few 

 women and children might be agreeably and perhaps profitably 

 employed for some days in summer in gathering and drying me- 

 dicinal herbs, of which some valuable kinds grow abundantly in our 

 district. Hemlock, foxglove, henbane, deadly-nightshade, the 

 tops of broom,* and the berries of juniper, are of this description. 

 To secure a sale and a fair return for them, it will be necessary 

 that the utmost care should be taken in gathering the respective 



* The broom was once more common in the immediate vicinity than it is now. 

 Its destruction commenced early, as is proved by the following extract from a MS. 

 in the British Museum, for which I am indebted to the attention of Mr Weddell. 

 In 1554, before the Bailif 's Court, a jury of twelve men found " that the yonge 

 brome of this towne ought not to be cut, for it is a comodyte to this towne:" 

 how, we are left to guess ; it might be used for strewing floors, or making besoms, 

 called brooms in the north, if the practice of sweeping floors had been intro- 

 duced at that time. 



