Yorkshire Xiituralists a I Bowex. 361 



ahimdance of fine blooms, but these lack the rich colour c^'i 

 those i^rown in more exposed and drier habitats. But, ai^ain, 

 in Deepdale the blooms of the melancholy Thistle are the larj^est 

 and finest in colour that I have ever seen. The student of nature 

 has vet manv problems to solve. 



Returning- to the question of the road-side vegetation, I attri- 

 bute its abundance, variety, and constancy to the following- 

 causes : — First, pure air, which, owing to the elevation — about 

 a thousand feet — is always in motion ; the result of this is that 

 wind-fertilised plants are invariably pollinated. Second, insect- 

 fertilised plants receive constant attention, because of the 

 number of nectar-producing flowers. Third, all the roads have 

 at each side a high well-built stone wall — hedges are the excep- 

 tion ; these act as a flue, along which the wind can career, and 

 does. It acts as a road sweeper in dr}- weather, clearing to 

 right and left the pulverised limestone and the dried horse 

 droppings, which, combined, make a rich nianure. At the same 

 time all . ripe seeds are dispersed, first in one direction then 

 another, many of them eventually find a congenial resting-place 

 in the new and fertile layer of soil deposited by the winds. 

 Thus the species are perpetuated, and that in increasing- 

 nimibers, and the area every year is extended. Walls are better 

 propagators of plants than hedges, for the very obvious reason 

 that the wind cannot rush through them. Let me here say that 

 wind is at one and the same time the greatest enemy and the 

 greatest friend to vegetation. It is a very easy matter to tell 

 the sunny or shady side of a road by the vegetation, especially 

 a stone-walled road. A wall absorbs more of the sun's heat 

 than a hedge, consequently it gives off" more heat than a hedge, 

 and the plants benefit to a corresponding degree. 



The road from Bowes to Rokeby stretches in a long straight 

 line for about four miles, and for all practical purposes runs due 

 east and west. This is the road with which I made myself best 

 acquainted during my short stay at Bowes. Its fascination was 

 so great that though I started twice to ^o as far as Rokeby 

 I never reached there. 



My first ramble along this road was in the company of Dr. 

 Braithwaite and Mr. Slater, both of them renowned and v^eteran 

 brjologists — one of them over eig-hty, the other nearing it — and 

 of our most worthy President. This fact alone is sufficient tt^ 

 impress upon one's memory the delights then experienced. 



The main body of the naturalists had gone to Deepdale. 

 The weather was glorious, brilliant sunshine, fresh west wind, 



190J September i. 



