'
[17] Lat. acesco, to turn sour.
[18] Withering quotes this as from Linnaeus, and adds on authority of a Mr.
Hawkes, "This did not succeed when tried with cows' milk." He also gives as
another name, Yorkshire Sanicle; and says it is called _earning grass_ in
Scotland. Linnaeus says the juice will curdle reindeer's milk. The name for
rennet is _earning_, in Lincolnshire. Withering also gives this note:
"_Pinguis_, fat, from its effect in CONGEALING milk."--(A.) Withering of
course wrong: the name comes, be the reader finally assured, from the
fatness of the green leaf, quite peculiar among wild plants, and fastened
down for us in the French word 'Grassette.' I have found the flowers also
difficult to dry, in the benighted early times when I used to think a dried
plant useful! See closing paragraphs of the *4th chapter.--R.
[19] I find much more difficulty, myself, being old, in using my altered
names for species than my young scholars will. In watching the bells of the
purple bindweed fade at evening, let them learn the fourth verse of the
prayer of Hezekiah, as it is in the Vulgate--"Generatio mea ablata est, et
convoluta est a me, sicut tabernaculum pastoris,"--and they will not forget
the name of the fast-fading--ever renewed--"belle d'un jour."
[20] "It is Miss Cobbe, I think, who says 'all wild flowers know how to die
gracefully.'"--A.
[21] See distinction between recumbent and rampant herbs, below, under
'Veronica Agrestis,' p.
Pages:
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139