Botanical Features, State of Society. 519 



hedge sides and in pasture fields, than it would be for the 

 credit of the Cumberland and Dumfriesshire farmers to men- 

 tion. Between High Hesketh and Wetherall the dwarf whin 

 abounds, and is coming into flower, with masses of purple 

 heath, the above yellow ragwort, purple foxglove, and, in the 

 hedges, as high as their tops, G^alium uliginosum. The ash 

 and a broad-leaved elm seem to be indigenous alike in Dove 

 Dale on the lime, about Alton Towers on the sand, and among 

 the lakes on the clay. The same may be said of the oak, 

 the hazel, the thorn, the holly, and the yew. The holly was 

 formerly so abundant about the lakes, that birdlime was 

 made from it in large quantities, and shipped to the East 

 Indies for destroying insects. It is still equally abundant in 

 what remains of Needwood Forest, on the sand, in Stafford- 

 shire. We merely mention these things to show that the 

 larger indigenous vegetables are not very exclusive in their 

 choice of soils, whatever they may be with regard to elevation 

 of surface, moisture, or temperature. Grasses we believe to 

 be much more particular as to soil ; but ferns and other 

 Cryptogamia seem to be guided in their choice entirely by 

 moisture and climate. 



Respecting indigenous Animals we shall say nothing here, 

 as we have been promised detailed accounts of the natural 

 history of Birmingham, Manchester, Preston, and Dumfries, 

 and their respective neighbourhoods, which will hereafter 

 appear in the details of our tour. We may, however, shortly 

 notice the condition of the animal man in different districts of 

 the country through which we have passed. He appears to 

 us decidedly in the lowest state in the agricultural district 

 between Banbury and London ; and as decidedly in the highest 

 state in Birmingham and the other iron-manufacturing towns 

 in its vicinity. There the workman is more on a level with 

 his employer, in point of intelligence, than he is in Manches- 

 ter or Liverpool ; and it is there only that servants cooperate 

 with their masters, on an extensive scale, to obtain a common 

 end. The reason is, the manufactures of Birmingham require 

 a union of skill and ingenuity, combined with physical strength, 

 which the Manchester manufactures do not; and therefore 

 the workmen belonging to the latter town are constantly 

 liable to have the value of their labour reduced by the 

 influx of Irishmen, and other agricultural labourers, who 

 will work for a mere subsistence, and who, whatever may be 

 their age or previous employment, are in a very short time 

 rendered competent to attend upon machinery. This is not 

 the case with the Birmingham workmen, who are obliged to 

 employ several years, and those in an early period of life, to 



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