Meetings of Berwickshire Naturalists* Club, by J. Hardy. 391 



says it did not come into general use before the Carthaginian 

 war. From its prevalence on the sea-line where Oarthagena now 

 stands, that tract was called the Spartarian plain ; and Carthago 

 nova itself, Spartaria. There is also a false Esparto, Lygeum 

 Spartum of Linnseus, which can, in some cases, form a substitute 

 for the true. What is employed at Chirnside varies considerably 

 in the strength of the fibre, according to the coast of the Medi- 

 terranean whence it is exported. The operations carried on here 

 in the manufacture of printing paper are of an extensive 

 character, as much as fifty tons weekly being sent into the 

 market. The paper for printing the Illustrated London News is 

 prepared here. Everything is managed in the best possible 

 manner; and order and cleanliness are the rule. The visit 

 terminated with a sight of the operations for recovering the soda 

 employed in bleaching the substances requisite for paper -making, 

 which is accomplished in quantity sufficient to be remunerative, 

 instead of, as formerly, being cast out as refuse to deteriorate 

 the river. There was a former attempt, by one Peter Winter, 

 to carry on a paper manufactory at Chirnside Bridge, which 

 failed in 1821. 



The walk then proceeded by the public road towards Craigs' 

 Walls, where a bog, now almost drained away, was pointed out 

 as a locality for the showy Purple Loose-strife ; and in a planta- 

 tion near at hand, at the foot of what had been a large oak, 

 which is now cut over, a patch of Solomon's Seal, first discovered 

 there by Mr John Ferguson, was found ; but it is confined to 

 that spot. This is of very suspicious nativity, being an old gar- 

 den flower, with a creeping root, and tenacious of life, and 

 readily propagated from stray fragments. Birds, even, may 

 have dropped the seeds there. It is cultivated in the borders at 

 Allanbank. After passing Blackadder North Lodge, and pro- 

 ceeding through the grounds, a wooded strip accompanying a 

 circular burn is reached, where the edible Morelle flforella escu- 

 lentaj was picked up ; and pale blue spots of the woodland For- 

 get-me-not (Myosotis sylwtica) looked very attractive. Eain 

 prevented the search for wild blossoms. The view of the man- 

 sion-house is first obtained here. It stands on a marked 

 eminence or terrace, above a verdant grassy haugh, which is 

 sprinkled, or in part enclosed, with shapely hawthorns, limes, 

 willows, and other trees, some of them not then quickened into 



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