43 



along too, in much the same style as ourselves ? A large 

 adder ; this time I am equal to the emergency and soon kill 

 it, and am not sorry to be able to stand upright and enjoy the 

 sight of a large mass of the flowers I am searching for. How 

 lovely and delicate they are, and how gracefully they hang ! 

 "Just like pounds of candles" a non-poetical friend of mine 

 once observed to me. Provided with specimens we grope 

 our way through the bushes 'till we come to something like a 

 path, and following that, more treasures await us — the Tooth- 

 wort fLathraa squamariaj in great quantities, nearly over, but 

 some stray flowers were still worth gathering ; Herb Paris 

 too, the five-leaved variety occurring frequently ; Wood Ane- 

 mones, some a dark red ; and lastly the Sweet Woodruff" 

 (Aspcrula odorata). 



Quite tired we prepare to go homewards, and on our way 

 come across several roots of the Orphine or Livelong fSedum 

 telephium) ; it does not flower^till August (and that by the 

 way also grows in great quantities in the old Priory woods, 

 Aldington). We emerge out of one wood and ascend the 

 hill by the road ; about half-way up, on the right hand side, is 

 a bank full of tliu Green Hellebore (Helleborus viridisj. Here 

 too is the Wild Currant (Rihes rubrumj. We decide to return 

 when the fruit is ripe. Our day's excursion is over and we 

 return laden with treasures. 



Next on my list of Spring flowers is the lovely Lily of the 

 Valley ( Convallaria majalisj. Westwood is the habitation of 

 these flowers, where they grow in profusion among beds of 

 Blechnum horeale and the handsome Wood Lastraga. Many a 

 pleasant excursion have I made to these delightful woods, and 

 often have I heard their depths resound with the merry 

 laughter of little hunting parties from Folkestone, Hythe, or 

 Canterbury. There are also many other flowers here, among 

 which I may specially mention the Foxglove (Digitalis pur- 

 purea). These are grand flowers and have a specially mag- 

 nificent appearance there from the abundance in which they 

 grow, quite introducing their colour into the landscape. The 

 common Heath (Erica cinereaj, and the Ling (Calluna 

 vulgaris) is also found there — I think the only place in which 

 I remember to have seen the former in this neighbourhood, 

 except one small patch of it in the road that runs across the hills 

 from the top of the Dover hills to the Canterbury turnpike. 



