146 MAY 



which is lost in the pedantic precision of Latin 

 classification, though it is not everybody who thinks 

 so. Not long ago an enthusiast was showing a 

 sympathetic, but inexpert, friend the glories of his 

 rock garden, and drew his attention to the trail- 

 ing sprays of a pretty creeper. ' It is very like 

 Creeping Jenny,' quoth the visitor. ' It is Creeping 

 Jenny,' confessed the proprietor, 'but we don't call 

 it so in botany. It is Lysimachia nwnmularia 

 aurea.' 



XL VI 



Board schools "are too apt to replace ignorance 

 Royal Oak w i tn mere knowingness, instead of with 

 Day knowledge, but some of our old rural 

 traditions possess a vitality which, thus far, has 

 enabled them to resist their influence. One of these 

 is the observance of Koyal Oak Day one may yet 

 see the oak-spray worn in the caps of ploughboys in 

 many parts of England. In the Thames valley the 

 custom, if not universal, is at least prevalent. I 

 have not noticed it in Scotland, but I came across it 

 some years ago very near the English border. I 

 got into conversation with a hill farmer on the lonely 





