RAGWORT AND HARE'S-EAR 289 



twelue yeares, so that without them he could not see 

 greate letters : but after he had used this powder 

 onely forty dayes he was free, in so much that all 

 the tyme of his lyfe he dyd see, and read the least 

 letter that was." It would be easy to fill page 

 after page of like commendatory matter culled 

 from the pages of these old writers. 



The ragwort is a very attractive member of our 

 rock-garden, coming up freely amongst the fern 

 fronds, or showing grandly up against a dark back- 

 ground of ivy. The plant grows some three or four 

 feet in height, and the wiry stems, clothed with 

 deeply cut leaves, are crowned by large heads of 

 yellow composite flowers. These shed their seeds 

 very freely, and very amply guarantee a continuous 

 store of plants, and we presently find it necessary 

 to sternly eradicate. This day of pitiless decision 

 should, however, be postponed as long as possible, 

 as the liberal distribution of the plant in goodly 

 clumps is far more effective than the dotting here 

 and there of isolated plants. 



We have on Plate XXXVIII. two plants that 

 have a quaint attractiveness that secures them a 

 place in our regard. The larger one is the 

 hare's-ear. It is one of our very numerous um- 

 belliferous plants, and may be found occasionally 

 in cornfields, and especially when on the chalk. It 

 is an annual, so we must not calmly trust to its 

 coming up year after year without any trouble on 



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