Wild Flowers Of Scotland | by J. H. Crawford
LESS has been said in a pleasant way about the wild flowers than about the wild animals of Scotland. Yet our four-footed creatures are few, and their tale easily told. Our wild birds, too, have been sadly thinned out, with the exception of sea forms; and these belong to other coasts as well. Birds have wings, and can cross water...
| Title | Wild Flowers Of Scotland |
| Author | J. H. Crawford |
| Publisher | John Macqueen |
| Year | 1897 |
| Copyright | 1897, John Macqueen |
| Amazon | Wild Flowers Of Scotland |
Illustrations By John Williamson
Introduction- LESS has been said in a pleasant way about the wild flowers than about the wild animals of Scotland. Yet our four-footed creatures are few, and their tale easily told. Our wild birds, too, have been ...
- I. The Flowers Of Spring
- THE daisy never dies. The eye of the winter as of the summer day, it is bellis perennis, in a double sense: a thing of beauty, throughout the year, and throughout the years. So early do some plants f...
- The Flowers Of Spring. Continued
- The wood anemone creeps up the hillsides. On that playground of theirs the breezes deal gently with their favourite, fanning it into healthy motion, without scattering its loose flower. There it may c...
- II. The Blue Bells
- FORTNIGHT after I have gathered the last handful of perfect flowers from the fading anemones, and looked on the primroses at their best, I return to the woods. A blue mist steals over the bank runn...
- The Blue Bells. Continued
- But wherever it is, it can scarcely escape the attention of the least observant, or fail to awaken the enthusiasm of the least impressionable. Every schoolboy on the Saturday half-holiday visits its h...
- III. The Garden And The Wilds
- THE garden is a natural nursery; and the older it is, the larger its share in the wild flowers of the surrounding country-side is likely to be. Only by canopying the whole over and setting guards at t...
- The Garden And The Wilds. Continued
- The date of its coming was the sixteenth century. The vanished hand, in this case, that of Mary Queen of Scots. Amid her amiable weaknesses, Mary seems to have included a liking for plants, and may al...
- IV. Whin And Broom
- IN the later spring the country-side is touched all over with colour - in lines, and patches, and masses. The lines mark out the rough margins of the ploughed fields, just under the dividing fences, ...
- V. The Flowers Of Summer
- FROM spring to summer lies between the fading broom and the blossoming hawthorn - through a gateway overhung by lilac and laburnum. Neither lilac nor laburnum is native, by right of long hold of the s...
- The Flowers Of Summer. Continued
- And there are vetches - yellow, blue, and pink - which come along with the roses; and, last after them, on to the season of the haws. These can climb as high as ever did traveller's joy; and wander ...
- VI. Marguerites And Poppies
- IN May the daisies troop on to the links, so that golfers have often to use a red ball, as after a fall of snow in December. In such a dainty favourite, however, as in the case of forward but bright c...
- VII. Thistles
- THE thistle belongs to the later summer, when the whites and blues are already beginning to pass into the reds and purples. It is well on for the end of June before I notice the children - a little br...
- VIII. In The Woodland
- IMAGINE that the woods round about are old. I They show every sign of being mere patches of a woodland of much greater size, - covering the whole space they mark out, - and were probably left on the l...
- In The Woodland. Continued
- Quite a jubilant shout summons me to the back of the wood, whither my companion has gone foraging on his own account. I find him lying all his length on the ground, gazing intently at something. It is...
- IX. On The Links
- TO those who sail, or walk along, our coast presents three phases: the cliff, the seaside moor, and the links. The moor differs from the links, in that it usually has a considerable proportion of som...
- X. The Path Through The Cornfields
- THE children are sitting under a lime tree, spelling out the time of day on a dandelion. By the way, they call it dentelion - dent-de-lion - a relic, it is said, of the old friendship between the Fre...
- The Path Through The Cornfields. Continued
- A rush, and a ripple of maiden voices, tell of another flower in sight. It is a little farther afield. What with the competition and the impetus of the race, the winner steps or is pushed just a foot ...
- XI. Flowers Of The Far North
- THE wild flowers of one corner of Scotland are so exceptional in their interest, so characteristic of their haunts, that they ask to be treated apart; especially as they are so shy at crossing their v...
- Flowers Of The Far North. Continued
- There may have been a little philosophy in it, such as common - sense people cultivate where matters cannot be mended; but there seemed to be a good deal of nature as well. Certainly, I never witness...
- XII. Up The Glen
- ON an August day, allied to the summer gone by in its cloudless sky and breathless warmth, rather than to the coming autumn with its crisper air and shaded sunlight, I found myself in Kirriemuir. J. M...
- Up The Glen. Continued
- Steady walking, without a break, is not for such a forenoon as this. It is quite a delusion to suppose that there is freshness in a Highland glen when the day is warm, or shelter when the sun is high....
- XIII. The Heather
- THE freshness, for which I have panted all the day, dwells up here. The tail stream from the tarn, coming out of the mist, passes about fifty yards to the right. Though its motion, as it rushes down t...
- The Heather. Continued
- I know several lethargic folk who would not climb a dozen yards for all that nature has to offer, and yet think no labour thrown away in the search for something abnormal. I have seen the precious spr...
- XIV. On The Mountains
- THIS way to Braemar. And a finger on the post points away to the right. This way to Braemar. And a second finger, on another post, points to the left. There is nothing strange in two ways leadin...
- On The Mountains. Part 2
- But I have heard him tell, with great animation, of the delight with which he looked on that vision of beauty. And I know that it remained a lovely spot on his memory to the latest years of his life. ...
- XV. On The Mountains
- IN passing from glen to glen, a break helps one to assimilate experiences which follow so hard upon. A pause between each spell of climbing gives impressions time to print, as well as sort themselves ...
- On The Mountains. Part 4
- I begin to notice certain marks, placed evidently by human agency, at stated intervals, and leading in one direction. There are too many of them to be meant for shepherds, who presumably are very much...
- XVI. The Saxifrages
- IT is interesting to ask the Lowland wild flowers : Have you any kinsfolk among the mountains? They will be eager enough to confess, however roundabout the relationship may be, since it is esteemed ...
- The Saxifrages. Continued
- Such experiences as these bring out the differences between mountain and lowland. The Highlands are a new world of fresh forms, and owe their attractive as well as recuperating influence to the fact. ...
- XVII. Among The Southern Uplands
- T0 pass from the Highlands to the Borders is of the nature of an anti-climax. Nothing here was lofty enough to give shelter to such snow plants as may have retreated up their sides. The southern uplan...
- Among The Southern Uplands. Continued
- A lull tempts me out again. Along the shores of the Lake of Lowes the mist-winged storm comes along worse than ever. Now all is natural. The sadness has dropped behind - only, the wild-ness is in th...
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