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Ssh ised aSenas fs) iN is | (i) ad 4] ied ait 7 te: nes ates SiS sae i i my sy , et x 12535 ies) petae, st BiG nto a ha ‘ ef ty ste, toi} {htt ape i ty pittey HUGS: t That He isi vba itis yt , eH $e ah 4 sb the te +e) Fray ae ei us i ae Noss beritalete mye Rasen Malan atts Mi oe iarans wat basa ars) ibe aie ie Lee asaya Paes Masi ores tsetse ies t Cases (aie) 3s pete oe ofath 9 iqiedee) or fyesteertss hat , ee peatebee tater Cate een eae re we, spot dough eeatate ia antes desasy ia Brigttee eles aias thi i) ts tescsite' eiats oie) seats Ase ae ee os eee ne Perea ie Aves Bs Ht eiesiate Seite as >; ee abe are 3 if ia Hoe oa 34 ‘ia eeiets HSS seatiseabs tes th ba Sih; Hie Hoe Hansiiat ROAR Sa Dyppppd eogranspe opty sap ot Beeb setae Be Hestiatss cnet « Hiatt 3 beep rote pee oY ty, ¢ Hai iat ii Lenni pate Bese tiiste ates | f ‘( Le sf Bir ‘ et Coa ae le teat oY . tase Hat pte UB ee “ ait to ‘4 be aN Maly NODS ‘ities aes pat teai tite hy obeettate Bu 3 ral is Aine ie neon nad Gite) Ks stale eet erica lets 4) ue Hi totes Pies Haine ide 4 ape pteseey| nate ie) rie ‘ 4G ee = Saas So Sa SSS ele pee ; vi * poem tee Nae Eee Sea wae: Bes ee Son a SS S SENS ee ll) \ Cornell University Library Dthaca, New York BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF HENRY W. SAGE 1891 RETURN TO ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY ITHACA, N. Y. DATE DUE GAYLORD Cornell University Libra Tai Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924001778079 SUT ATLS VD . THE BOTANY OF THE EASTERN BORDERS, WITH THE POPULAR NAMES AND USES OF THE PLANTS, AND OF THE CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS WHICH HAVE BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH THEM. BY GEORGE JOHNSTON, M.D. Epty., FELLOW OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF EDINBURGH: AND LL.D. MARISCHAL COLLEGE, ABERDEEN, ETC. LONDON: JOHN VAN VOORST, PATERNOSTER ROW. MDCCCLIII. LL PRINTED BY TAYLOR AND FRANCIS, RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET. ALERE 5 FLAMMAM. TERRA LINDISFARNENSIS. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE EASTERN BORDERS, BY GEORGE JOHNSTON, M.D. Epiv., LL.v. OF MARISCHAL COLLEGE, ABERDEEN: FELLOW OF THE ROYAL CULLEGE OF SURGEONS CF EDINBURGH, ETC, VOL. I. Che Botanp. LONDON: JOHN VAN VOORST, PATERNOSTER ROW. MDCCCLIII. LL en ent ifMeaMMirtict Havine formed the resolution of writing a Natural History of the Eastern Borders, I had first to make an accurate, and, as far as was possible, a complete catalogue of their organic produc- tions ; and to determine the limits of the distribution of them, and their comparative abundance. I endeavoured then to ascertain by what names these creations were commonly known, for it seemed certain that such names must have been derived from some obvious character, or remarkable property, in the objects they designated ; and, being framed in consonance with the early language spoken in the district, they might thus throw a faint light on the characteristics and descents of the people. Then I made inquiry as to those properties, which were soon discovered to be either mystical and superstitious, or real and potential. The former have become of none avail,—and are now the light materials of a small chapter in history, or the property Vili PREFACE. of children only, who live in remote haunts ; the latter retain a certain faith in their efficacy, handed down in traditionary recitals and hereditary receipts that a peculiar race have preserved. The race constitutes our herbalists : the blacksmith in out-of-the-way places,—the herd in upland farms,—the skil- ful woman of the village,—the gipsey wife,-—and the mugger who sells nostrums and fortunes with her wares. Their “simples” I have indicated; and it is possible that the virtue ascribed which descends from a very remote period,—from at least early monastic times,—may have a reality that merits regard. Burnt sponge was cast out of our Dispensatories, wherein it had been placed from the vulgar fame of an efficacy which Science discredited and ridiculed; but now a nicer science restores with honour, and confirms the medicine.—And then again I lent my pen willingly to record the sayings and the customs,—the little plays and incidents associated with these natural productions, and more especially with our plants, as they passed under review. I cannot put away childish things and memories, nor do I envy the man who can and doth. There is a tenacity in the love of our early years, and to the haunts of our childhood,—and in the retrospect of them,—which, to loosen and untie, would wound what would seem to be an inherent virtue of humanity; and which it doth us all good to nurture with genial warmth. Goéthe has said, with reference to some such opinion, that “ plants and flowers of the commonest kind may form a charm- ing diary for us, because nothing that calls back the remembrance of a happy moment can be insignificant; and even now,” he adds, “it would be hard for me to destroy, as worthless, many things of the kind that have remained to me from different epochs, because they transport me immediately to those times which I remember with melancholy indeed, but not unwillingly.” Keeping these particulars in view, I have, however, yielded to almost every temptation that crossed my path; and I have strayed to cull a flower, or a weed, whenever it seemed to me that either would grace, or give variety to my collection, which has been thus rendered a miscellany of dubious and unstudied character. In particular, I have attempted to portray some features which the district derives from the grouping of its organic creations in PREFACE. ix sketches of scenery which are as true to nature as an unskilled pen could draw them; and I have availed myself of more than one opportunity to develop the workings of our Naturalists’ Club, in the success of which I could not fail to feel an interest. Were it not for the contributions I have received from the Members of that Club, my work could never have attained the perfectness which, as a catalogue, it possesses. And to its present zealous President, I am indebted for the interesting chapter on our Fossil Botany. Should the reader find in such a volume nothing to refresh and nourish him,—meat fit only for babes and too tenuous for manhood,—I pray him not therefore to conclude that the subject is a profitless one. That cannot be. It doth not necessarily follow that there is no water in the well when the bucket is drawn up empty: there may be incapacity in the vessel, or awkwardness and want of skill in the drawer. And it may well be that the author has not read the leaves of the Book of Nature, which he has opened, aright, nor given them that interpretation and significance which a more thoughtful and minded head would have done. It is very true that I have been a scholar for many years in this book ; and I have taught myself to take note of, and pleasure in, those works with which the Creator has crowded and adorned the paths I daily walk ; and sure I am that now I can see and appreciate a beauty and excellence, where, otherwise, they would not have impressed me ; —yet incapableness, or inaptitude in clothing one’s own feelings and thoughts in fit and well-set words, may have hindered me perceiving what were the fittest and most apt, or losing them in defective and inefficient utterance. Let my weakness nor injure the subject, nor hinder the worthiest to examine for themselves. Niebuhr reckoned it among the most important results of his travels, that the indifference with which he was in the habit of regarding the objects of nature around him had given way ; and any who will educate themselves to observe, will feel that Niebuhr made no error in the reckoning. The senses are not given to man with the limited powers they have in brutes. These have eyes, but they, in one sense, see not: whereas in us, the eye is, besides the visual organ, a sentinel and servant to watch, and go x PREFACE. forth, and bid welcome, the messengers which the Creator sends to man in the presence of his works; and to introduce these messengers into the inner chambers where the soul may hold fit converse and contemplation with them. Therefore, reader, do not go away repelled by the seeming littleness of what you may herein read,—make the subject of thyself greater and worthier,—for I would fain solicit thee to a pupilage that may teach you to walk hereafter in a field of pleasure and profit. It is very true that my book is not a book of useful knowledge, in the sense men interpret the useful,—that was far from my aim; but the knowledge that leads to habits of correct observation, and of classifying facts readily, is useful to all men, and more especially to men of my profession; and the studies that woo the spirit away from grossness, that keep the mind in life and action, and furnished with varied and ever-germinating matter of thought and illustration, is useful to all; and, as ours contemplate only the beautiful and the perfect, yet are full of emblematic teachings and moralities, they must ameliorate the man,—“at once adorning and relieving the toils and vexations of a busy life, and refining and exalting the enjoyments of a social one.” ‘HORNCLIFF MILL. EXPLANATION OF THE WOODCUTS. 1. The Vignette, on the title-page, represents the Seal of the Corporation of Berwick-upon-Tweed. 2. Page vii. A view of the Viaduct, and of Castle-vale cottage, from the stone seat on the Old Castle. 3. Page x. Horncliff Mill. From a sketch by Mr. Wm. Wilson. This woodcut is repeated on page 106, 4. Page 62. The leaf of Rubus corylifolius. 5. Page 64. The leaf of Rubus macrophyllus. 6. Page 67. a. A leaflet of Rubus rhamnifolius. 0. Do. of R. cordifolius. c. Do. of R. mucronatus. d. Do. of R. carpinifolius. 7. Page 190. A view of the Old Mill and Cottage that stood in the ravine or “ditch” of the Old Castle. From a drawing by the late Rev. A. Baird. The picturesque buildings were removed when the present railway was made. 8. Page 223. Yetholm loch, taken from a view by the late Rev. A. Baird. 9. Page 270. A figure, reduced, of Agaricus plicatus. 10. Page 288. A figure, reduced, of Agaricus grammopodius. 11. Page 291. The Old Castle Mill. 12. Page 306. Sphenopteris Johnstoniana. 13. Page 307. Ditto ditto. 14. Page 308. Sphenopteris flabellata. EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. The Frontispiece is a view of “ Castle-hills,” the seat of Miss Askew, taken from near the Grove. The etching inserted to front page 221 is a group of trees, such as may be found in some of our woodiest and deepest deans, where children love to go a bird-nesting. For this very clever etching, I am indebted tu the warm friendship of Mrs. Gatty of Ecclesfield. Plate I. Fig. 1. Cerastium tetrandrum, from a specimen of average size. Fig. 2. One of the stem-leaves. Fig. 3. The flower. Fig. 4. The capsule and styles from a newly-blown flower. Fig. 5. The ripe capsule full of seeds. Fig. 6. The same, but at a more advanced stage. Fig. 7. A seed. Fig. 8. A separate petal—These figures are all magnified more or less. Plate II. Fig. 1. Hieracium murorum, var. a. Fig. 2. H. murorum, var. 8. Fig. 3. H. murorum, var. y. Fig. 4. Hieracium sylvaticum. Plate III. Fig. 1, Hieracium sabaudum. Fig. 2. Hieracium strictum. xii EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. Plate IV. Fig. 1. Hieracium prenanthoides. Fig. 2. Hieracium umbel- latum.—These figures of our Hieracia are reduced, but very exact, copies of specimens collected in the Eastern Borders; and may assist the student in ascertaining the species, as we understand them. Plate V. Fig. 1. The seed of Tragopogon minor. [It is, by an error, major on the plate.] Fig. 2. The seed of Helminthia or Picris echioides. Fig. 3. The seed of Tussilago farfara. Figs. 4 & 5. The Scotch Thistle as represented on two coins of James V. Fig. 6. The germen and styles of Statice armeria. Plate VI. Fig. 1. The floret of Tussilago petasites. Fig. 2. The seed of Centaurea cyanus. Fig. 3. The seed of Bidens cernua, misprinted cormua on the plate. Fig. 4. The filament of Anagallis tenella. Fig. 5. The flower of Callitriche verna. Plate VII. A plan of Holy-Island. For this I am indebted to Mr. John Lowrey. Plate VIII. A view of the engraved rock at the Routing Linn near Ford, See page 254. The drawing was made by Mr. D. Knight, and I am indebted for its use to the Rev. Wm. Greenfell. Plate IX. Agaricus caperatus, from specimens sent to me by Miss Hunter. Plate X. Fig. 1. Agaricus Belliz, of the natural size. a. A longitudinal section of the pileus. 6. A section of the stem. ¢. The spores. Fig. 2. Uredo or Ustilago hypodytes, natural size: a. In a very early stage when the mycelium is white with a curd-like consistence ; ax. From the base of the sheath of the grass, when extremely tender and pale; 6. In maturity ; vc. Mature spores. Plate XI. Fig. 1. Dothidea Johnstoni: a, asci; 5, 0, sporidia; ¢, hairs from surface. Fig. 2. Phlycteena Johnstoni: a, spores and sporo- phores. Fig. 3. Peziza Johnstoni: 6, cup seen from above with its inflected border; c, haus of cubiculum strongly matted. Fig. 4. Stemonitis violacea, nat. size: a, a separate plant; the peridium growing from the tip of the leaf with which its stalk is confluent; 5, peridium ruptured, showing the percurrent stem and the origin of the flocei; c, the flocci and spores. Plate XII. Stigmaria ficoides. The compressed rootlets. See page 299. Plate XIII. Fig. 1. Filicites striatus. Fig. 2. Lepidodendron oblongum. Fig. 3. Lep. fusiforme. Fig. 4. Filicites intercostatus. Fig. 5. Poa- cites nervosa. Fig. 6. Crinites lanceolata. Fig. 7. Carpolithes ovatus. Fig. 8. Coniferetes? verticillatus. Fig. 9. Bechera simplex. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE EASTERN BORDERS. “Nescio qua natale solum dulcedine cunctos Ducit, et immemores non sinet esse sui.” “Thou art my native land!” “The green glens and woodlands, And streams o’ my ain countrie !” THE Eastern Borders comprehend the whole of Berwickshire, the Liberties of Berwick, North Durham, and the immediately adjacent parts of Northumberland and Roxburghshire. Together they form a district of a nearly circular figure, about forty miles in diameter, and bounded by a tolerably distinct outline, which the eye can trace out from any commanding height within its area. Thus to the south, and on the verge of the sea, Bambo- rough Castle forms a conspicuous point, whence a ridge of ba- saltic hills runs westward to the Warn burn at the foot of the Spindlestone rocks*. The Warn leads us southwards, and through cultivated grounds, to the village of Warnford; and * ©The name appears to be derived from some insulated irregular columns which project from the mass.” See an account of these rocks by Sir W. C. Trevelyan, Bart., in Wern. Mem. iy. p. 254. VOL. I. B 2 THE EASTERN BORDERS. thence up the romantic dean in front of Twizell House to the moors in which it has taken its origin. Descending from these heath-clad heights westerly, we reach the Till at its junction with the Roddam,—a burn which conducts us through corn and pasture lands partly, but chiefly through a deep and extensive ravine, into the recesses of the Cheviot hills. These constitute our extreme western boundary. They lead, in a beautiful series of rounded summits, to the hills above Yetholm in Roxburgh- shire. Thence the eye leaps easily from hill to hill until arrested by the peaked Eildons, which, in the distance, lapse almost in- sensibiy into the Lammermuir range of less elevated heights, that continue our boundary-line to the sea in the parish of Cock- burnspath. The sea bounds the whole district on the east*. From the circularity and elevation of the boundary, the district, when viewed from a height, has the appearance of a basin painted within with designs of the most cultured beauty. Spread out beneath us, the bottom presents a seemingly extensive plain intersected by living hedges, partitioned into lozenge-shaped fields of every shade of green and yellow and brown, well-wooded in every part, and mellowed with the moving shadows of living trees, and bearing on its fruitful bosom all sorts of grain and herbage for man and beast. But a narrower survey, while it certifies that this is truly a land flowing with milk and honey, undeceives us as to the evenness of the surface. It is in fact a succession of elevated ridges and intermediate valleys, or, as Mr. Lowe expresses it, “the surface is waved into rising and falling ground.” The ridges and valleys lie almost parallel to each other, and run from near N.W. to S.E.; but here and there hills rise up above them either from the plain itself, or pushed so far from the boundary as to appear almost separate from it. Such are Sunnyside Hill, the Kyloe Crags, and Rawse Castle ; Halidon, Chirnside, and Hume Castle; Dunse and Cockburn Laws, the Dirringtons, and the hills at St. Abb’s and above Cockburnspath. And while the surface is in general under cultivation, and full * The district is almost coequal with the ancient bishopric of Lindis- farne, the limits of which are thus defined by Leland :—“ The boundary of Lindisferne bishopric extended from the Tweed (Tueda) to Warnmouth (Warnamuth), thence upward to the place where the Warn (aqua Warnea) has its rise near the Hibburdun hill, and from that hill to the river which is called Bruuk, up to its source. Also that land beyond the Tweed, from the place where the Whitadder (flumen Edrez) rises on the north, to the place where it falls into the Tweed ; the whole land which lies between the Whitadder, and another river which is called Leader (Leder) on the west ; the whole land which lies east of the river called Leder, to that place where it falls into the Tweed on the south, and the land which pertains unto the monastery of St. Baldred (S. Balther), which is called Tiningham, from Lammermoor (Lambermore) to Estmouth (Eskmouth).””—See Carr’s Hist. of Coldingham, p. 23. Hist. Berw. Nat. Club, iii. p. 17. ~ EXTENT. 3 of productive virtue, there are many tracts of heath and of “ mo- rishe evill ground of litle valore,”—so many, and so dispersed, that few farms can be said to be without its parcel of waste land. Extensive muirs too occupy portions of the very centre, while the elevated boundary is clothed with heath, or with a green sward intermingled with heath, and having oases of ranker growth to freshen the prospect. The Tweed and its tributaries, glancing at rare intervals on the eye, meander through the basin, opening up valleys of various breadths and of great beauty ; while haughs and deans and glens, each threaded by its own burn or runlet, are found everywhere, affording an endless series of haunts to the naturalist who may love to court their intricate and receding secrets. The district, as a whole, is as fair a one, to my partial eye, as ever gladdened the heart of man*. Our district may be roughly estimated to contain about a thousand square miles, or about 700,000 acres, of which one half may be arable, while the other half is hill-pasture, moor, or waste. Mr. Blackadder, in 1809, distributed the lands of Ber- wickshire into the lowlands of the Merse containing 100,226 acres, the lowlands of Lauderdale 7280, the lowlands of Cock- burnspath 2200, and the hill lands of Lauderdale and Lammer- moor 175,734 acrest. The Liberties of Berwick contain about 4680 acrest. North Durham with Glendale Ward in North- umberland, and what we embrace of Roxburghshire, viz. the parishes of Yetholm, Sprouston, Ednam, Stitchell, Kelso, * Mr. Arthur Bruce says of the Merse :—“ This whole tract of country, viewed from a central eminence, Langton Edge suppose, exhibits to the wondering eye a scene beyond description. The deception from this high elevation is so great, that this large tract, from near Kelso to Berwick, six- teen or eighteen miles, and nine over, appears a dead flat, chequered with numberless seats and plantations; the whole landscape assuming the ap- earance of a garden.” Gen. View, p. 102. Burns describes the view from angton Edge as “a glorious view,” and it has local celebrity. Pennant praises that from Soutra Hill (Tour in Scotland, 1772, ii. p. 261); and the one from the heights above Chirnside is well described by the Rev. J. Edgar in Stat. Ace. Berwicks. p. 362. The views from Halidon, Sanson- Seal, and Hume Castle are justly admired. In 1566 Queen Mary was con- ducted to Halidon to gratify the wish she had expressed of enjoying, from its heights, a view of Berwick. Carr’s Coldingham, p. 67. And from Ber- wick Basile. Sept. 29, 1850, Queen Victoria surveyed, with undisguised admiration, the noble prospect westwards. + See the map of “ Berwickshire from actual Survey, by John Black- adder,” published Nov. 1, 1797. This admirable map is the basis of all subsequent ones, of which, perhaps, the best is that published in Sept. 1826, by Sharp, Greenwood and Fowler. ; ; t There is a good map of the “ Liberties,” and of the annexed portions of the Borough of Berwick, in the Report to the Board of Health by Robert Rawlinson, Esq., 1850. We should also refer to the large “ Map of Nor- ham and Islandshire and the Liberties of Berwick-upon-Tweed,” by Robert Rule, 1824. BQ 4 THE EASTERN BORDERS. Smailholm, and Makerston, are together about equal to Ber- wickshire ; and the proportion of pastoral and waste to cultivated ground is apparently nearly the same. In 1794 Mr. Lowe esti- mated the acres under plantation in Berwickshire at about 3500. There are now probably not less than 10,000 in the entire district. The soil is various and of every quality ; and often so mixed as to make it impossible to distinguish the kinds by any very distinctive name; or, when purer, to mark out their extent and limits, for these are not bounded strictly by geological formations, nor dependent on the rocks underneath for their character. South of the Tweed, “a strong fertile clayey loam occupies the level tract of country along the coast, and reaches as far up in general as the great post-road. It is well adapted to the culture of wheat, pulse, clover, and grazing.” Sandy, gravelly, and dry loam, or a turnip-soil, is found along Tweedside, in the western parts especially ; and extensively in the vales of the Till and Bowmont. “The hills surrounding the Cheviot mountains are mostly a dry, sharp-pointed, gravelly loam.”’ Moist loams, on a wet cold clayey bottom, are found throughout, but their nature is yearly ameliorated by the labour of man, and made tractable to every purpose of the agriculturist. Black peat-earth is the pre- vailing soil in the hilly region, and occurs also in many places scattered through the lower district,—marking the position of former morasses and lakes*. Of the soils in Berwickshire the Rev. John Edgar writes :— “A great variety of soils exist in the county; some districts being remarkable for a stiff and stubborn clay, others for a mix- ture of clay and loam ; a rich loamy soil characterizing one part of the county, while another is distinguished for a mixture of sand, gravel, and loam in various proportions; and on the same soil all these diversities are sometimes amalgamated. When it is considered that, not unfrequently on the same farm, all these varieties occur, and sometimes even on the same field; and that all these kinds of soil are modified by the character of the sub- soil, which also exists in as great diversity,—to classify the va- rieties of the soil, or to ascertain with any degree of accuracy the extent to which these endless peculiarities prevail, would be almost if not altogether impossible. It may, in general terms, be observed that clay forms the discriminating character of the lands in the ‘How of the Merse’; loam that part of the soil which skirts the chief rivers ; while turnip-soil is found in those parts of the Merse where there is not too great a preponderance * Bailey and Cully: View of the Agriculture of Northumberland. p. 4-6. 8vo, 1813. SOILS OF BERWICKSHIRE: WATER. 5 of clay, and in the arable portion of the Lammermoor district. The lands on Tweedside, and along the banks of the Whitadder and Blackadder, generally consist of a fine deep loam, well fitted for raising luxuriant crops of almost every description, resting commonly on a gravelly subsoil, though sometimes on a tena- cious clay. These tracts of land are the most valuable in the county, and have been long under a course of skilful manage- ment. In the intermediate tract betwixt these rivers the land is less valuable, and degenerates into a stiff and hard clay, difficult to work, and from resting on a subsoil of stiff till, liable to be saturated with moisture, and long retaining it when thus satu- rated. The remainder of the arable part consists of a sharp sandy and gravelly soil, well adapted for raising turnips, com- bined in different proportions with loam and clay, easily wrought, and varying in quality and value according to the nature of the subsoil on which it is incumbent. This species of land is highly valued, and those farms which contain a considerable proportion of turnip-soil are generally preferred by the tenantry. In the Agricultural Report of this county, published by the late John Home, Esq., W.S., upwards of thirty years ago, the proportions of the various kinds of soil are thus given :—Deep loam on the principal rivers, 25,410 acres; clay lands in the How of the Merse, 40,380 ; turnip-soil, 119,780 ; meadow, moss, and moor in Lauderdale and Lammermoor, 99,870*.” The water is as various as the soils through which it percolates, and from which it has borrowed its saline constituents. My friend Dr. R. D. Thomson found that the well-water at Eccles, with a specific gravity of 1:000792, contained 57°75 grs. of sul- phate of lime, and 29°752 of common salt in the imperial gallon f. This may be an average specimen of the water of the How-of- the-Merse, but the springs which issue from the greywacke and syenitic hills contain doubtless less saline matter. There is a wide difference too between the hard water of the wells that * Stat. Acc. Berwicks. p. 364. Penny Cyclopedia, art. Berwickshire. See also Home’s Rectified Report, p. 12-13; Kerr’s View of the Agricul- ture of the County of Berwick, p. 30-37 ; Milne on the Geology of Ber- wickshire, p. 248-251.—*“ Mr. Couling estimates the cultivated lands in Berwickshire—the arable lands, gardens, meadows, and pastures, at 160,000 acres; the uncultivated or waste lands capable of cultivation, at 100,000 ; and the unprofitable lands or surface occupied by roads, lakes, rivers, canals, rivulets, brooks, farm-yards, quarries, ponds, ditches, hedges, fences, cliffs, craggy declivities, stony places, barren spots, woods and plantations, &c., at 25,600 English statute acres. If we take this estimate, the area of the county in square miles is 446}. The sea-coast of Berwickshire is about seventeen miles and a half in length, from the boundaries of the township of Berwick to its junction with East Lothian.”-—Penny Cyclopedia. + London’s Mag. Nat. Hist. v. p. 646. 6 THE EASTERN BORDERS. cannot be used in domestic economy, and the soft water of lakes and rivers that cleanses unaided; and we have besides many kinds of intermediate qualities, which chemistry does not descend to analyse*. Yet each variety exerts, probably, a peculiar influence over the vegetation which it nourishes, and, indirectly, over the distribution of the associated animals ;—an influence which has been only imperfectly noted. There are many mineral springs scattered over the district. At Spittal there is a chalybeate of sufficient tonic virtue, but defective in every accessory ornament to render that virtue use- fult. There is an “exceeding cold” spring at Cornhill which was once resorted to by many invalids{ ; but a more numerous company waited upon the Dunse Spaw, of which we have an account, in 1751, from Dr. Francis Home, a physician of de- served eminence. “ The well is situated in a valley, which lyes a short mile on the south-side of Dunse§.”’ It is an ordinary chalybeate water in which “ the iron seems to be held in solution by carbonic acid; and, if any confidence can be placed in Dr. Home’s trials, its strength is nearly the same as that of Tun- bridge Wells.”’ Very different has been their history. Tunbridge Wells maintain their character, while the Spaw at Dunse has lost its short-lived reputation, and to many, even in the neigh- bourhood, its exact site is unknown. ‘The spring on Harelaw Moor, in the parish of Westruther, “ which is perpetually boiling, and has never been known to freeze during the greatest intensity of winter,’ is of very similar quality to the Dunse Spaw, and repeats the story of popular favour and subsequent neglect ||. In the parish of Edrom near Allanton there is a mineral spring called the “ Vertur” or Virtue-well@ ; and our untravelled an- cestors had doubtless another well “From which fast trickled forth a silver flood, Full of great virtues, and for med’cine good,” near the onstead of Mungos’ Wells, for a simple and credulous age would not wantonly dedicate to the patron saint of healing waters a spring without at least a reputed character of efficacy. These wells scarcely differ in composition from the chalybeate on the Leet in the parish of Eccles, which was furnished with a * «