Voi-ks/iii'c X(i/t/n///'s/s at Bimvs. 359 



(Al'l'lCNOlX C.) 



THE FLOWERING PLANTS OF BOWES. 



JOHN FARRAH. 



It is not mv intention to write a string of dry scientific names 

 in the body of this article ; if these appear at all it will be at the 

 end, in a list to themselves, where they will stand in stern 

 forbiddingness, the bugbear of many a would-be botanist. Bowes 

 is delightfully quiet and restful, and I pray God that it will for 

 ever remain so. The motor-car the latest curse inflicted upon 

 the countrv — is comparatively rare. I used to have a contempt 

 for cyclists; now I am beginning to respect them. They glide 

 along noiseless and stinkless, and comparatively dustless, and 

 the tinkle of their bells is heavenly music compared with the 

 horn of the motor. 



Just now I wish for the descriptive power of Scott or Richard 

 Jeflferies, so that I might do slight justice to the many charms 

 of this historic and picturesque part of grand old Yorkshire. 



Some of us arrived on Friday, the 31st July. Our first walk 

 was to the Castle. Very little of the original structure remains, 

 but that which does remain is grand and grim. 



The first plant to attract our attention was the common or 

 deadly Hemlock, the umbellifer that is credited as being the one 

 that closed the career of Socrates, and, let us hope, ushered him 

 into a better world than this— I don't say a more beautiful one. 



Sweet Cicely grew luxuriantly on the north side of the ruin ; 

 it has the taste of aniseed, and was used in the concoction ot 

 salads and for flavouring cakes long before candied lemon was 

 thought of or the spices of the East were brought to us. The 

 smell is said to attract bees, and many beekeepers rub the 

 inside of an empty hive with the leaves in order to induce 

 a swarm to enter. Along with it in great profusion grew the 

 blue Meadow Cranesbill (so named from the exceedingly long 

 beak, which plays a most important part in the distribution of 

 the seeds), the common Nettle, tall Cock's-foot-grass, False 

 Oat-o-rass, and many other more lowly grasses, and forming 

 a carpet for them was the Mouse-ear Hawkweed, with flowers 

 of bright orange, silvery fringed foliage, and ivory midrib. 

 Purple-clustered Rellflower and golden Stone-crop also gladdened 

 our eyes. The dry limestone 'courses' of the walls, where 

 one would think that even the lower forms of plant life couldn't 

 exist, reveal Maidenhair Spleenwort with feathery frond, and 

 Wall-rue in clustered leathery tufts. Oc\ the walls about, where 



1903 September i. 



