Flora. 163 



shew that our Saxon ancestors were abund- 

 antly supplied in, or not much later than, the 

 age of Alfred with the means of forming 

 gardens and ornamental enclosures, and with 

 material for the distillery and the surgery. 



We may also judge that at this distant 

 time our moors and commons were already 

 clothed with that exquisite and brilliant 

 gorse which is yet so luxuriant among us, 

 but, singularly enough, unknown in climates 

 similar to our own. What accident or 

 agency brought it hither? What prevented 

 it from making other northerly regions 

 sharers with ourselves in its unique nature 

 and beauty ? 



The story of the great Swedish naturalist, 

 when he visited England and beheld the 

 bush for the first time, is too familiar for 

 repetition. 



Even in the list of trees which we find in 

 the fourteenth century treatise of Walter de 

 Biblesworth the various kinds are mingled 

 together without any effort to discriminate; 

 the apple, pear, cherry, ash, broom, plum, 

 and hawthorn occur in consecutive order; 



