a NOVEMBER 27, 1875.] 
GARDENERS’ 
CHRONICLE. 
677 
"PRICED LISTS POST FREE. 
CRANSTON’S NURSERIES 
(ESTABLISHED 1785) 
TO THE TRADE, 
CRANSTON AND MAYOS beg to offer very 
fine | | 
Dwarf-trained PEARS. 
Dwarf- trained APPLES. 
Dwarf- Rie ap 
The Largest Stock of DWARF ROSES in the Trade. 
PRICED LISTS ON APPLICATION. 
NURSERIES, HEREFORD. 
eS 
_ 
^ 
i 
і 
si 
(s , 
Y | FOR CONSERVATORY AND an 
j WINDOW DECORATION SE 
: Pen que 
: ? : 0358) 97 
5. [кр 
TNT мо | NO 
I3 | 14. | 15 
42% =e — 
ATED 
From Евер, WALTON, c RS " 
1 ** October 15, 1 К 
тыу? Collection of Bulbs is truly a wonderful one 
y Orders ena ensure the Best Roots. 
aitas 
ie 
hag, шон HOLBORN, LONDON, W.C. 
E RM RENE cere Sir S 
SATURDA Y, NOVEMBER 27, 1875. 
THE SHEPHERD'S PURSE. 
H ERE are few subjects which present more 
efine in precise terms, although 
knows off-hand what is 
one of their disagreeable peculiarities has passed 
into a proverb—* Ill weeds.grow apace.” But 
the real puzzle is as to where they came from in 
the first instance. "What, for instance, is the 
native country o one oi our common 
weeds? Who has seen the Shepherd's Purse, 
for example, in any eod where it is not 
dependent upon, or an accompaniment of, culti- 
vation? If we recollect rightly, Dr. Hooker 
stets having encountered this with two or 
three other weeds of MEER wherever culti- 
vation was found in hi travels ; but we 
d seek in vain to date aen its native 
co —a region where it exists apart from 
and a de ыш, of nct In America, 
r. Asa Gray says, it is *the commonest of 
weeds," but[he еа, of i М as “ naturalised from 
Europe" Inac like America, the pro- 
gress of the Eri А а, and spreading of in- 
troduced plants can be traced with some degree 
of certainty, and in some instances the date of 
ase with the Yellow Toad- Ai 
. seek in vain for any indication as to where 
‚ by means of which a Mr. 
Ransted has himself an everlasting 
name," and gained, also, the execrations of 
American farmers. The former is evidenced by 
са fact that this Toad-flax bears in the States 
name this person T 
(a mee in 
Philadelphia, who introduced i n 
mental plant), being ft ion as 
Ransted, or Ransted Weed. As to the latter, 
n American writer, as long ago as vd is 
sufficiently explicit when he says ;—“ It i 
most hurtful plant to our pastures that can m 
in our northern climate. ver was a 
plant more heartily cursed by those that suffer 
from its encroachments,” It would not be diffi- 
cult to cite instances of similar introductions in 
the history of the botany of any country, our 
own small island not excepted ; but we shall 
our 
Shepherd’s Purse or Groundsel first appeared in 
England, or as to the country from which they 
were жее, if they are not indigenous to 
the s 
eer as they are, and Ap pn as they 
appear, the above-mention e among 
those which are to be collected at ion seasons of 
the year ; even in the depth of winter they may 
be found in blossom, and at such a time are 
more likely to obtain notice than when other 
and more attractive plants claim our attention, 
т us look a little into the popul 4 
he Shepherd's Purse, which, 
piss of no importance, was not xoa its 
admirers in the days when | 
" vertues," and when faith was more lively than 
it is in this age of railroads and electric tele- 
Em Shepherd's Purse appears to have been 
especially esteemed as a styptic : Langham, in 
the Garden of Health, says : * Bursa pastoris ; 
bloud to staunch, hold thy hands full of it: 
ceding, binde it about thy neck, and hold 
nose-bl 
thereof in thy hand, and also use it in thy 
meats.” It was not only medicinally that the 
plant was used with * meats." Barton says that 
in Philadelphiathe young root-leaves arebrought 
to market and sold as greens in the spring ofthe 
year ; and Mr. Fortune says that it is exposed 
for sale on stands in íront of the shops of 
Shanghai. e iu m gives twenty-nine cases in 
which it may be beneficially employed, from 
which we cite one which may be tried by any 
of our readers who may happen to be plagued 
and put it in a linen bag, and hold it to thy 
teeth, and shut thy mouth while one may say 
three Pater nosters, then open thy mouth, and 
let out the glutt, and do so as often as need is.” 
“ The juice alone doth heale a new wound, and 
simple country people,” no doubt refers to its 
bo i i toot che. 
a 
The f the pod, to which th 
Pu eon es its is English and Ey names (Cap- 
sella Bursa-pastoris), has suggested similar 
titles in all or almost all the languages of the 
Continent : thus the Italians call it Borsa di 
Pastore; the French, Bourse à Pasteur; the 
eme d Hirtentasche and the Spaniards, 
Bolsa de P 
Its older "ndi names mostly refer to the 
same feature, although two or three embody 
other allusions, “The seeds of it," says Coles 
in his Art of Simpling, * resemble the leatherne 
bagge wherein shepherds put their victuals ;" 
and in Buckinghamshire it is called Shepherd's 
Pockets, in Moray Witches’ Pouches, and in 
the Eastern Border 
Some of its older names point, although less 
obviou usly, to the same idea ; “ Caseweed," 
instance, is, says Dr. aen from *the French 
caisse, Latin cusa, oney-box ;” and 
* Clappedepouch," on më same authority, is a 
nickn name, meaning clap or rattle pouch, from 
clap in Dutch £/afez, and alludes to the 
licensed begging of lepers, who stood at the 
crossways with a bell and a clapper. “ The 
lepers would get the name of rattle-pouches, and 
this be extended to the plant in allusion to the 
little purses which it 
side.” “ Pickpurse " ог“ Pickpocket,” by which 
man’s parmacetie,” Dr. Prior sees “а joke. оп 
the Latin name dursa, a purse, which to a poor 
man is always the best remedy for his bruises ;" 
but Coles’ explanation of the name, that the 
plant is “in some not e 
things Parmacetie is,” although prosaic, is 
probably the correct one, 
Rae fy the oddest of the ways in which the 
ie 
y, an 
hardly worth mention, except that, trivial as it 
is, it finds an echo in widely distant lands, and 
is thus one of those small connecting links 
which bind mankind together, and point to a 
deed, the 
practice is not confined to London children, it — 
is found at Birmingham, where р. 
ectual for the same ' 
