igo 
NATURE NOTES. 
ciums, Carduus tuberosus, Hypochceris maculata, See. ; on the lower, 
Violas, Ranunculus cheer ophyllus, and under the shade of an apple 
tree, Carex depauperata, C. stvigosa, Allium Babingtonii, A. cari- 
natum, <Tc. 
Some plants will grow anywhere, such as Peucedamtm officinale , 
Lepidium latifolium, Alchemilla conjuncta , and many others. Then 
there are some of the grasses that are really ornamental, such 
as Briza maxima (Channel Isles), Poa nemoralis glaucantha (Snow- 
don), and these will grow and seed freely. In some cases it is 
necessary to put the specimens in pots (first cementing the hole 
over) before planting, as unless the roots of such plants as Carex 
humilis, Equisetum litorale, and others, are so restricted they do 
not flower. 
Although most of those I have mentioned are rare or un- 
common, there is no reason this should be so. Mr. Beeby has 
shown by cultivation that a good deal more has yet to be 
learned about our commoner species. When once established 
the rapidity with which some species will spread is astonishing ; 
a single head bulb of Allium carinatum filled my garden in three 
years, it had literally to be pulled up by hundreds. Epilobiums 
(such as roseum and lanceolatum ) will require very frequent 
weeding out. Sedges ( depauperata especially) will come up self 
sown by dozens, and Hawkweeds will come up in such a 
mixed medley that a quick eye is needed to separate them at 
first, though some can be easily named by their first real leaves, 
such as PI. Gibsoni and H. ccesuim cambricum. 
Arthur Bennett. 
A FEW WORDS ON MR. BURROUGHS'S BOOKS. 
(S^lreSaR. H. SEEBOHM complained the other day, and very 
& justly, in his Presidential Address to the Norfolk and 
Norwich Natural History Society, that Englishmen 
' 1 do not sufficiently interest themselves in the birds of 
other countries. They often know a little of the natural history 
of their own village or estate, but their ardour goes no further, 
though they are constantly travelling. 
As I do not remember to have seen any allusion in Nature 
Notes to the writings of Mr. John Burroughs on American 
natural history and scenery, let me heartily recommend them to 
English readers, in the hope that they may induce someone who 
has the time and means to go and explore for himself the 
birds or plants of New England, or of some other part of the 
United States. They are most delightful little books ; they 
are the work, not indeed of a scientific naturalist, but of a man 
whose whole heart is with the animals and the plants of his 
native fields and woods. They are written in good strong 
