BOTANICAL GUIDE TO THE FLOWERING PLANTS, FERNS, MOSSES, AND ALGÆ, FOUND INDIGENOUS WITHIN SIXTEEN MILES OF MANCHESTER; WITH SOME INFORMATION AS TO THEIR AGRICULTURAL, MEDICINAL, AND OTHER USES. BY RICHARD BUXTON; TOGETHER WITH A SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR'S LIFE; AND REMARKS ON LONDON: LONGMAN AND CO., PATERNOSTER ROW. MANCHESTER: ABEL HEYWOOD, 58, OLDHAM STREET; AND ALL BOOKSELLERS. 1849. Price Six Shillings. A BRIEF MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. IN presenting this work to the public, I have to bespeak the indulgence of my readers. The reason why I claim their kind consideration, will sufficiently appear in the following sketch of my life, which I am advised to give instead of a preface to my book. I was born at Sedgley Hall farm, in the parish of Prestwich, near Manchester, on the 15th day of January, 1786. My father's name was John Buxton, and my mother's maiden name was Ann Houghton. The former came from Bradburn Hall, and the latter from Bonsall, both in the county of Derby. They had a family of seven children, and I was their second son. Before I had arrived at the age of two years, my father became much reduced in circumstances, and had to leave his farm; he then came to reside in Bond-street, Great Ancoats, Manchester, where he followed the occupation of a labourer during the rest of his life. When quite a child, I went for three months to a dame's school near to my father's house, but I have no recollection of having been taught anything whilst there. At the age of eight years, I went to a Sunday school in Gun-street, Great Ancoats, belonging to St. Paul's church, at that time under the superintendence of Thomas Shaw; I remained here upwards of two years, but I did not attend regularly, and the furthest extent of my learning was being able to distinguish the letters of the alphabet, and to spell words of one syllable. Being a weakly child; and my parents not being very well able to send me to school, from my earliest days I was accustomed to wander by myself through the fields and brick-yards near where I lived, picking up wild flowers. My chief favourites were the Germander Speedwell (Veronica camædris); the Creeping Tormentil (Tormentilla reptans); and the little starry blossoms of the common Chickweed. The pleasure which these simple plants afforded me during infancy, still continues, and in all probability will do, so long ។ as my life shall last. Common though they may be deemed, they are, and always must be to me, really and truly beautiful, When about twelve years of age, I went to James Heap's, in Port-street, to learn the trade of a bat-maker; that is, a maker of children's small leathern shoes. With him I continued for about a year and a half, and then went and worked with one James Hyde for several years. At this time I had forgotten what little I had previously learned at the Sunday school; and was quite unable to read, at the age of sixteen years. When at home, I saw the rest of my family able to read, and this caused me very much to regret my want of knowledge; I therefore got a common spelling-book, and determined to teach myself. With great diligence, I soon became master of it; and I then proceeded to read the New Testament. Now, although I could manage to make out the words tolerably well, I did not know how to pronounce them correctly, or to understand their exact meaning; so I procured Jones's Pronouncing Dictionary, and went steadily through it from beginning to end. By this means I was enabled not only to read, but also to understand the meaning of what I read, and to speak it pretty correctly. My next books were a History of England, and Goldsmith's History of Greece and Rome, which I soon became acquainted with, and a few other books. These pursuits occupied all my spare hours, which were not many; for, when trade was brisk, I had to work from six in the morning, to eight or nine at night. My wages at this time were good, being from fourteen to fifteen shillings a week when in full work; these were the highest I ever earned at my trade. For many years past, wages have not only been much lower, but there has scarcely been any work for bat-makers, cloth having for the most part superseded the use of leather, in making the tops of children's shoes. When I was about the age of eighteen years, I returned to work with my old master, James Heap, as a journeyman. This man was very fond of having a country walk during leisure hours. On such occasions he would often take me along with him, and we then collected and brought home Ground Ivy, Betony, Centaury, Buckbean, Mountain Flax, and other herbs, of which he made diet drinks for himself and neighbours; to the latter of whom he freely and gratuitously gave them. In our excursions both master and man were often much puzzled by meeting with plants which we did not know the names of. To remedy this, and obtain a greater knowledge of plants, I procured Culpepper's Herbal, and tried, as well as I could, to make them out from it. In doing this, I observed what the old herbalist stated of the medicinal properties of plants; and often finding it to be purely fanciful, and quite contrary to my own experience, and at the same time discovering that his description of plants was very rude and imperfect, I soon lost all confidence in the book. Seeing Meyrick's Herbal in a shop window, exposed for sale, I purchased it. This work I found far superior to Culpepper's. It gave the Linnæan names and descriptions, in addition to the medicinal properties of plants; and from it I learned the first principles of the Linnæan system. This would be about the year 1808. For several years I continued to compare the plants that I collected with Meyrick's book; but, as it often failed to afford me the information I was in search of, I wished for another book. An old playmate of mine, named William Aiken, informed me that he had an acquaintance, one George Whitehead, who studied botany, and who, as I have since learned, was a friend of the late James Crowther and George Caley. At my request he borrowed Jenkinson's Flora for me. On perusing it, I found it a work suited for my purpose, and it enabled me to obtain a knowledge of many plants which I had previously been unable to make out from the two books before alluded to. After having had the book for three months, I was obliged to return it to the owner, and thus left again to the herbals. In a year or two afterwards I fell in with Robson's English Flora, at an old bookseller's shop, and purchased it for three shillings. In it I first found a description of the English grasses; and by its means I became acquainted with most of the plants found growing in the neighbourhood of Manchester. In the year 1814, I purchased a copy of the first edition of Withering's Botany. With these two aids I made considerable progress. The next book which I purchased was Priscilla Wakefield's Introduction to Botany, from which I had hoped to have gained a more correct knowledge than I then possessed of the descriptive part of the science; but in this I was disappointed. I then procured Smith's Introduction to Botany, a work of first-rate merit, and it afforded me all the information I then required on the anatomy, physiology, and structure of plants; it was illustrated by plates, and contained a good glossary of all the technical terms used. From it I obtained much information that was quite new to me at that time. I still went on for a number of years, taking my solitary walks through the country, without meeting with any other botanist, or |