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XATURE XOTES 
flowers which are not so common in England, Lithospermum 
mruleo-pnypm'cmn is one of tlie first to appear. Its bristly 
mottled leaves, and flowers which vary in shade from a dark 
purple to an almost pure white, are very conspicuous in the 
early spring ; but, though it goes on flowering pretty continuously 
till late summer, being of small size it passes unnoticed among 
the taller, more showy plants of the advancing year. By the 
middle of March the carpet of violets, white and blue, reminds 
one forcibly of an English spring ; but one looks in vain for 
primroses, they are scarcely ever to be found. The cowslip, 
however, is, if possible, even more widely spread than in England ; 
it grows everywhere, in the fields, in the woods, and on the road- 
side, producing also a variety, fairly common in the district, in 
which the corolla is green and scentless. 
The neighbourhood of Tours is watered by three rivers, the 
Loir, the Cher, and the Indre, the two latter being tributaries 
of the former. All three are of considerable size, and with their 
deep-cut valleys divide up the country into strips which, though 
not dissimilar geologically, present curious botanical differences. 
The Indre flows deeply and slowly past many old mills. The 
meadows on the banks of this river are always green, even when 
all the rest of the land is parched up by the burning summer 
heat, and the yellow iris makes their green appear of a richer hue. 
The Cher flows for a long way in the same valley as the Loir. 
A flat plain is thus formed about 3 kilometres broad, and although 
it has the appearance of a barren sandbank everything seems to 
flourish there. There are many gardens; and corn, rye and oats 
grow w’ell, though on the tableland above the river little is cul- 
tivated but vines. The fields are full of poppies and corn- 
cockles, the latter being much more abundant than in England 
and specimens of both of a pure white colour are not uncommon. 
Between the Cher and the Loir the common bluebottle {Cen- 
tanrea Cyanits) is to be found, and this flower also grow’S in the 
clover-fields on the heights above the Indre. You may search, 
however, for days in the vineyards and fields north of the Loir 
without finding a single specimen. 
After the first burst of spring weather the vineyards — still 
bare rows of poles, among which picturesque-looking peasants, 
in sabots, baggy trousers, brilliant red waistbands and broad- 
brimmed hats, are busily engaged in clearing away rubbish — 
are brightened by the deep, almost carrot-coloured, flowers of the 
little marigold which no English cottage garden lacks. The 
French peasantry, with the poetic spirit inherent in an agri- 
cultural population, call these little weeds “ “little cares.” 
When the first vine shoots give a green tinge to the dull 
monotony of the bare soil, all the countryside north of the Loir 
is lit up by the aureole flame of the wild tulip (Titlipa sylvestris). 
X brighter and at the same time more delicate yellow is difficult 
to imagine, and one’s only regret is that it is apparently not to 
be found except in this one direction. 
