12 
these hooks that the value of the Teasel resides. No in¬ 
strument devised by man has ever equalled them in deli¬ 
cacy, and they are the only means which has yet been 
devised of raising the nap in cloth, without pulling it to 
pieces. For this purpose large fields of them are grown 
in the clothing counties and kept well manured, without 
which the hooks are wanting in strength, the large central 
heads of the leading shoot are cut off, fixed in frames ac¬ 
cording to their sizes, and drawn across the cloth, as it 
lies stretched out upon a table, the prickles first sufficiently 
raising the wool to prevent the texture from looking 
coarse and threadbare; and thus forcing man to confess, 
in the very centre and pride of his manufactures, how 
much more skill and perfection there is in the most com¬ 
mon of his Maker’s works, than in all his boasted contri¬ 
vances, the fruit of so much thought and toil. 
Of the next plant, the POPPY ( c ), there is a less pleasant account 
to give. It is one of those bestowed on man for his good, 
which he has turned too often to an evil purpose. 
The poppy is a handsome plant, with curiously cut leaves, a 
stem full of milky juice, a calyx of tw’o divisions which 
split asunder as the flower opens, and finally fall off on 
either side, displaying- five large brightly coloured petals, 
loosely attached beneath a wreath of innumerable purple 
stamens, surrounding a large green germ, shaped much 
like an urn , and crowned with a handsome flat stigma, 
ornamented with velvetty purple rays proceeding from a 
centre. The petals and stamens soon fall off, but the urn 
remains, and becomes hardened, and within divided into 
five equal compartments containing numerous round seeds. 
As these ripen, the ornamental stigma, or covering of the 
urn, is gradually raised upon little supports, so as to 
leave openings for the seeds to receive the air, and by 
and by as the plant dies, it bows its head, so that they drop 
out, through these little holes — one of the most beautiful 
contrivances to be found among the whole wonderful race 
of seed vessels. 
There are a few wild poppies in England, the most common 
of which is the field poppy, the only scarlet English flower 
except the little Pimpernel. 
The large pointed scarlet petals are rendered all the more 
brilliant by the jet black spots at the base of each, and 
so beautiful is the bright glow of the plant, scattered in 
the midst of the corn, that it is a pity that the multitude 
of these splendid blossoms is a proof of poor land or a 
careless farmer. And the field is but “unprofitably gay.” 
— It is not easy to add them to a nosegay, for at a 
touch, the petals are detached, and the poet Burns has 
therefore made them stand the first among the emblems 
of the transitory nature of selfish enjoyment. 
“But pleasures are like poppies spread 
You seize the flower, its bloom is shed.” 
The poppy in the plate is not wild in England, but is sometimes 
grown in gardens, where the white marked with purple, 
lilac with black, scarlet edged with white, and all manner 
of other varieties, are very ornamental, though not very 
loveable, and the scent any thing but fragrant. The smell, 
the milky juice, and especially the seed vessels of the 
flower are full of narcotic or sleepy influence and for this 
reason, Morpheus, the Greek God of dreams, always 
bears a poppy as the emblem of slumber. — Thus the 
dulling and deadening power of the poppy has often been 
found a great blessing in lulling pain and restlessness, and 
the medicines called Opium and Laudanum have been 
prepared from it. Taken in large quantities, laudanum will 
however lead to a sleep whence there is no awakening, 
and opium, when used constantly, either for eating or 
smoking, brings the mind and body into a strange dreamy 
condition, either drowsy or excited, which becomes such 
an indulgence that it requires unusual strength of mind 
to shake off the habit. 
The Turks and the Chinese are greatly addicted to this perni¬ 
cious custom, and far too many Europeans have recourse 
to Opium to drown their cares, by stupifying their senses, 
thus changing the medicine so beneficently appointed for 
them into the means of destroying all their vigour and 
energy. 
The Opium poppy is grown chiefly in India, especially at Mai- ; 
wa, where it is planted in large fields, most beautiful and : 
gorgeous when in blossom, since the plants of one colour ! 
are sown together, so that in one place is a large patch 
of snowy white, close to another of rich purple,, and fur¬ 
ther on a field of dazzling crimson, all under a southern 
sun, making them almost, too brilliant to be looked at. 
When the fruit is nearly ripe, a little knife, with many 
small blades, is thrust into the outer skin of the urn, when 
the milky juice oozes out, it is left to dry for twenty four 
hours, then scraped off by the natives, and when every 
particle of moisture has been squeezed out, it forms a dark 
brown paste, which is made into pills either to be eaten 
or smoked. 
The last plant in the plate is the pretty blue flower, CHICORY 
(d) or wild ENDIVE, a compound flower of the tribe 
which has all its florets perfect, each with a handsome 
strap shaped division of the corolla, jagged at the outside, 
and growing from the little cup containing the five united 
stamens, and the tall pistil with the forked head — the 
same race as the Artichoke and Dandelion. The Chicory 
has a beautiful sky blue blossom, and a branched stem, 
and is fond of haunting road sides, where it smiles out 
in spite of dust. 
The leaves are good to eat as salad, and very wholesome for 
cattle, and the root is solid like a parsnip , and full of 
bitter juice. This has caused it to be used as a sort of 
cheap coffee, and it is grown for the purpose in Surrey, 
Bedford and York, and to a much greater extent in Ger¬ 
many and Belgium. The root is taken up, washed, dried, 
and sliced, then roasted with lard, till it becomes of a 
dark chocolate colour, when it is ground and sold with 
coffee, to which it gives a strong bitter taste. 
plate x. 
The HEMP (a), has more likeness to the hop in growth, and to 
the poppy in use, than would at first appear, but even the 
leaves follow the rule of five observed by the hop, and 
the five stamens and two pistils are on separate plants. 
The barren flowers are purple, growing in whorls round 
the stem, the fertile have neither calyx nor corolla, only 
two large seeds under the leaves. The chief likeness to 
the hop consists in the strong tough fibres of the stem, and 
these are the portion most important to us in Europe. The 
plants are from five to six feet high, sometimes twice that 
height; they are grown in large fields in Russia, Spain, 
Germany and many other countries, and sometimes in Eng¬ 
land, chiefly in Suffolk, where the hemp, is of a finer qua¬ 
lity, but much smaller than any where else. When ripe 
it is pulled up, the stems are stripped, and put into water 
to rot away the surrounding part from the tough fibres. It 
is afterwards beaten with hammers into soft fibrous tow, 
and then combed out and spun into threads, which are 
sold either to rope makers or to canvass makers. 
What would become of our British sailors without their stout 
canvass sails, that so gallantly withstand the wind, let 
it bounce, roar, and growl round them as it will, seeming 
to be trying to rend them to pieces ? Or where would 
they be without that wonderful network of rigging by 
which they climb to the top mast; or without the giant 
cables that hold the Anchors fast, defying the water to 
spoil them ? Or how would the fisherman spread his yards 
and yards of net without stout twine ? What should we do 
for sacks for our corn, our coal, our hops, if there were 
no hempen canvass — nay what would little boys do with 
their kites, or where would they get the piece of string 
that they always have in their pockets ? Great or little 
we make a better use of our hemp than do the Eastern 
nations. Every one knows tke smell of hemp, even whip 
cord has it in some degree, and rope yarn a great deal 
of it, in spite of all the washing and dressing it has 
undergone. This is owing to some of the same narcotic 
qualities that the hop possesses, and in hotter countries 
the plant is cultivated for this cause, instead of for the 
fibres. A sort of gum exudes from the plant, which is 
either gathered by the hand or beaten off by a wooden 
mallet, or the leaves are boiled and mixed up with 
butter, camphor, and other perfumes into a drug called 
haschish, which has the same effect as Opium. The 
Turks and Arabs either smoke it, or eat it and fall into a 
state either of dreaminess or frenzy, and it is even said 
