LECANORA. 



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The plant is very abundant in alpine districts throughout 

 Britain, and might surely be collected for the London market 

 at a cheaper rate than the same article from Sweden and 

 Norway. Could the gathering of the " Cudbear Lichen" be 

 revived in our highlands and islands, a great boon might be 

 conferred on the inhabitants, who have within the last half- 

 century also been deprived of another source of emolument — 

 kelp-gathering, — and whom poverty now compels to emigrate 

 to foreign shores. This Lichen has been much used by the 

 peasantry of various parts of Britain and Scandinavia in the 

 preparation of domestic dyes. The Scotch Highlanders ma- 

 nufacture Cudbear by macerating the powdered Lichen in 

 putrid urine for some weeks, adding some kelp or salt, and 

 when the requisite purple or crimson tint is obtained, form- 

 ing the paste into balls or lumps with lime or burnt shells, 

 and suspending it in bags to dry. "When about to be used, 

 it is powdered, and the powdered Lichen boiled in water with 

 a little alum. This Lichen is the "Cork" or "Korkir" of 

 many parts of the Highlands. In Shetland, along with the 

 pigment prepared therefrom, it is called " Korkalett there 

 it is always collected in May or J une, or early in the spring 

 or summer, as it is then richest in colorific principles ; and 

 it is popularly supposed that a slight admixture of Cladonia 



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