Wild Flowers as They Grow 



animals, such as rabbits, seem to eat it with impunity. 

 If, however, these rabbits are in their turn eaten by 

 man, he may be poisoned. But to reverse the 

 proverb, what is one man's poison may be another 

 man's meat, and so we find that a certain small 

 beetle [Haltica atropce) Hves almost entirely upon 

 its leaves. In an old MS. we find some advice to 

 bird catchers : " For to take all manner of b5n:dys," 

 they are recommended to soak com in dwale solution 

 and lay it by the birds' "haunteyne" (haunts). 

 They will eat and sleep, and " ye may take them 

 with your handys." It is a plan with more to 

 recommend it than the traditional application of 

 salt to their tails. 



The plant is used extensively in these days to 

 supply the doctors and chemists with belladonna 

 for plasters, ointments and tinctures, and is culti- 

 vated in fields for these purposes in Suffolk and near 

 Hitchin. When the plant is in flower it is gathered 

 and sent to the laboratory for its juices to be 

 extracted. Later on the root is also dug up, dried. 



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