AUGUST 7, 1875.] 
ZA A 
GARDENERS' 
CHRONICLE. 
161 
bates 
PRIZE SEEDS OF FLORISTS 
FLOWERS. 
CALCEOLARIA, “the best," рег pkt., 2s. 62. 
CINERARIA, “the best," per packet, 25. 64. 
PRIMULA, “the best," per packet, 25. 64. 
Post Free, 
THE QUEEN'S SEEDSMEN, 
237 and 238, HIGH HOLBORN, LONDON, W.C. 
OE Ru E 9. WILLIAMS. 
Per packet —s. d, 
CALCEOLARIA, Williams’ superb strain, 15. ба, 
=. E 
CINERARIA, Weatherill’s extra Mens strain, x. 6d. hy 
CYCLAMEN PERSICUM, Williams’ ie strain, 
and 
5 о 
5 
GI cw 1fi arieties .. 1 
I 
2 
2 
g Е 
ved from the finest erect varieti 
PÁNSY, saved qs extra choice hor vate” 1s. and 
Bel; pe T mixed 15. and 
SINENSIS FIMBRIATA, Williams’ 
Ка strain, red, white, or mixed, rs. 
AAAAO 
i) E 
s. 6d. and Vo 
46-727 and PARADISE M нш 
ER HOLLOWAY, LOND 
futon 
RECOMMEND THE FOLLOWING | CHOICE - 
| FOR ) PRESENT SOWING. 
These varieties, if sown at once, will come to a 
very large size next spring and summer. 
NEW QUEEN.—The earliest of all Bersm 
If sown at soe will be ready for use this autum 
15, 6d, per pac 
NEW GIANT ROCCA.—Very large, 
ue flavour; can be grown 2 to 3b. weight. 
. per ounce. 
LARGE EARLY БЕМ, YE pea LE 
-— bee hardy, 
ach. gi 
GIANT. TATE. "RED ITALIAN, GIANT 
E WHITE ITALIAN. Coming in a fort- 
nigh мш. P^ preceding. e. Each, 
з. per 
NEAPOLITAN Lege ae —Very quick 
growth. rs. per pa 
Ваг Postage өр, ger ounce extra. 
3 VEGETABLE a and FLOWER | ‘SEEDS 
rovat. wa DE SEED. ESTABLISHMENT, 
SATURDAY, AUGUST 7, 1875. 
Ф. 
YARROW. 
T the “ braes” of that name, or “ Yarrow 
Revisited," although both are suggested by 
the title, are we about to consider in the present 
paper, but the common plant, with its corymbs 
of white flowers and its finely divided leaves, 
but with plants, as with other;things, “ famili- 
arity breeds contempt," and so its claims to be 
regarded as ornamental are disregarded. 
It is especially to the folk- lore connected 
with the Yarrow that w irect atten- 
tion. In spite of man 
яе the folk-lore of our British plants has 
yet found no historian, and our notes may 
serv ais as material for a chapter in the wor 
upon this fascinating subject which, although as 
certain to a 
no less than the antiquarian and the ethno- 
logist. 
Beginning with the “ vertues? of Yarrow, we 
shall find them not only numerous, but of an 
cient renown. In the Herbarium of Apuleius, 
printed by M. Cockayne in his Saxon Leech- 
з, it is said :—“ Of ЭН Wort, Tir: is 
named Millefolium, and in e Yar- 
row, it is said that Achilles, n chieftain, found 
„he with this same Wort healed them 
en and wounded. 
Also for that reason, it is named of some men 
antiquity ; ; and indeed most of the recipes given 
in the above cited work are for the healing of 
wounds, although the plant is also prescribed 
for toothache and other matters. Drayton 
speaks of it as 
« 'The Yarrow wherewithal he stops the wound-made 
gore," 
and in Scotland it is called “ Stanch-girds,” or 
Se Hr from this property. Another 
its old names, Nose-bleed, seems to have arisen 
from two му) opposed beliefs соп- 
nected with the plant.  Gerarde says, “the 
leaves being put into the nose do cause it to 
leed,” upon which Parkinson comments, 
“ assuredly it will stay the тыы of it" But 
this name, Nose-bleed, has a very intimate 
connection with the folk-lore к the plant, as 
we shall see further on. Other old names of 
the Yarrow, all referring to its styptic Saas 
are Bloodwort and Carpenter’ кыз. bot 
which are given Treveris in 7 
Herball. 'The name Yarrow is of beue En 
uncertain origin. Dr, Prior rm various con 
jectures regarding it. Surflet, in his Couzrze 
Farme, says arrow «oth. d mann 
of fluxes, especially that which cometh of a 
wound, the leaves [being] dried, made in 
powder, and pis "ug the iuyce or Satt of 
So 
ЫМ 
to the much-divided leaves of the plant. 
sometimes called “ Tansy,” because its leaves 
somewhat resemble those of Tanacetum, and it 
was considered, m that plant, to ward off 
fascination: and “the evil eye.” In modern 
rustic practice, a “tea” made from Yarrow 
leaves is used in various disorders, ED it would 
s being 
ake when n i^ It is 
plants collected by bargemen on 
their travels, and sold by them in the towns 
through which they pass. 
The chief point of folk-lore regarding the 
Yarrow is connected with the curious custom o 
placing a leaf in the nose, with the intention of 
making it bleed ; from the success or failure of 
what in different localities. 
two. x Suffolk the formula is 
'arrow, you bears : AN blow, 
Here are one or 
If my love don't 1 л 
If my Jove а iow a me, 'twill bleed every drop." 
In Devonshire the rhyme has somewhat of a 
Aetio character—the Yarrow must be plucked 
f ung man's grave, and placed under 
the pillow | 
“‹ Yarrow, sweet Yarrow, the first that I have found, 
rd [MP h loved sweet Mary, and took her fo 
So ina "n m this night I hope my true love will 
id Dublin, on May Day or the preceding night, 
n place a stocking, filled with Yarrow, 
ander their pid reciting the follwing lines :— 
ITOW, rie to thee ; 
© Good-morro ood Yarr 
may be ma ‘ried to 
The colour of his hair, ана the осеб he does wear ; 
And if he be for me may his face be turned to me, 
And if he be not, a and surly he he may be, 
yon his back be tu 
Mr. Halliwell, in us Popular Rhymes, says :— 
* An ounce of Yarrow, sewed up in flannel, 
must be placed under your pillow when you go 
to bed, and having repeated the following words, 
the required dream [of a future baad giu 
be realised :— 
“Thou pretty herb of Venus’ ei 
y true name it is Varrow 
Now who my bosom friend m 
Pray tell thou me to-morrow.” 
The gathering of Yarrow with an incantation 
Ispeth 
ust be, 
plant so 
tempers c to impart the faculty of prediction. 
There is no doubt that the Yarrow was the 
plant referred to, as the Melefowr is said to be 
the herb * quhilk causis the nose bleed." In the 
time of Elizabeth the Yarrow was gathered 
with certain incantations before sunrise on 
Midsummer 
the Yarrow, and we w 
incident recorded in Motes and Queries for July, 
1872. Тһе writer says he was engaged at 
Castle к, in Ulster, in an important land 
case, when e *received in a very secret an and 
alittle packet from an old — 
man, n assurance that if I would kee eep 
it it would гіди bring m aid and I should 
escape the wiles of my en mies" S s 
чн ved I sita : 
r Sav ut = His hand when a child, and 
d het dosis Pun n added, to = who were by 
radition acquainted with that fact it would 
certainly bring Tuck IP" a" 
et 
