416 BOTANICAL NOTES, NOTICES, AND QUERIES. 
gang week, and such like.” Coles, who wrote nearly a century after 
Gerarde, observes, that at this season (Whitsuntide), as he “rd through 
little Brick-hill, in Buckinghamshire, every signe-poste in the towne was 
bedecked with green birch. oP Evelyn says Birch cudgels were used by the 
lictors, as now the gentler rods by our tyrannical pedagogues, for lighter 
faults. 
Yardley Oak.— 
“ Oh couldest thou speak, 
As in Dodona once thy kindred trees, 
Oracular, | would not curious ask 
The future, best unknown; but, at thy mouth, 
Inquisitive, the less ambiguous past! 
By thee I might correct, erroneous oft, 
The clock of history.’ > Cowper’ s Task. 
Can any reader inform us if this famous Oak is still in being? 
Viola.—Sir,—Will any of your learned correspondents tell ‘ Alpha” 
the derivation or origin of this appellation ? 
Wash for Sheep.—Arseniate of potash blended with vegetable infusions, 
such as those of Foxglove, Stavesacre, Henbane, Dock-roots, ete. 
Naked Oat.—I\s Avena nuda of Ray and Hudson, or Pillis or Pill-corn, 
known in Devonshire or anywhere else? Ray says, ‘‘ Aiunt et in Devonia 
eam seri; verum nos ibi non vidimus.” It might however have been there 
and yet not noticed by this great naturalist. Any information about this 
Naked Oat will be acceptable to AGRICOLA. 
Verbena.—lt has been said that the Vervain is never seen growing at a 
distance of above half a mile from a house. Can any of our observant 
readers confirm this ? 
Thrinaz argentea.—We beg to inform H. H. of St. Alban’s that the 
aforesaid is the name of a leaf employed in the manufacture of hats and 
bonnets in that neighbourhood, where large quantities of the prepared ma- 
terial may be seen on strings in the cottage gardens. ‘This is a genus of 
Fan-Palms: the name is derived from pauiak a fan, the form assumed by 
the developed leaf. Brown, in his ‘ Natural History of Jamaica,’ says, 
«The footstalks of the leaves, split and pared, serve to make baskets, bow- 
strings, ropes, etc., where strength and toughness are required; the leaves 
are used for thateh, especially for outhouses, and they stand the weather 
many years.’ 
Botanical Proverb.—* Velocius quam coquuntur asparagi :” Sooner than 
you could cook Asparagus.—Ats xpapBy Gavaros. 
Ramsons, Ramsies, and Buckrams.—‘ The leaves of Ramsons be stamped 
and eaten of divers in the Low Countries with fish for a sauce, even as 
we do green sauce made with Sorel.” 
Dr. Windsor favours us with the following note on his List of Settle 
Plants :—Ononis arvensis, pasture opposite a little old limekiln (one ha- 
bitat); Vicia-sylvatica also is only one habitat, etc., near Kirkby-Malham. 
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