86 THE LIFE OF THE FIELDS. 



separate florets on an umbel, and in the centre of these 

 tiny florets is a deep crimson one. Getting down 

 towards the sea and the houses now I found a shrub 

 of henbane by the dusty road, dusty itself, grey-green, 

 and draggled; I call it a shrub, though a plant 

 because of its shrub-like look. The flowers were over 

 they are a peculiar colour, dark and green veined and 

 red, there is no exact term for it, but you may know 

 the plant by the leaves, which, if crushed, smell like 

 those of the black currant. This is one of the old 

 English medicinal plants still in use. The figs were 

 ripening fast in an orchard ; the fig trees are frequently 

 grown between apple trees, which shelter them, and 

 some of the fruit was enclosed in muslin bags to 

 protect it The fig orchards along the coast suggest 

 thoughts of Italy and the ancient Roman galleys 

 which crossed the sea to the Sussex ports. There is a 

 curious statement in a classic author, to the effect that 

 a letter written by Julius Caesar, when in Britain, on 

 the Kalends of September, reached Rome on the fourth 

 day before the Kalends of October, showing how long 

 a letter was being carried from the South Coast to 

 the centre of Italy, nineteen centuries ago. 



