Neither the Toadflax nor the Red Valerian are really natives of England.
They were brought to our country many hundreds of years ago. They have
spread so much that they have now become wildflowers. In the same way
many others of our wild flowers were once unknown in England.

Now that we have come down the steps into the foldyard we see that it
lies a good deal below the house and garden. Built round the foldyard
are the stables for the cart-horses, the cowhouses, and the great barn.
Behind the stables is the rickyard. That, like the garden, is above the
foldyard; from it there are only two or three steps to the door of the
loft or "tallet" above the stables. It is there that we will go now.

The wall of the tallet is of stone and is very old; the roof is tiled.
There is a little hole cut in the bottom of the door, and you will see
one like it in the door of the granary. It is made so that old Tib and
the other cats can go in and catch mice. Growing between the stones of
the wall just by the tallet door is the plant I want to show you now.

It is the Stonecrop. Some of the stems grow upright, while others are
trailing. At the top of each upright stem is a cluster of bright yellow
flowers. Some of these are fully open, and we see that each blossom has
five pointed petals. The trailing stems have no flowers at all, they are
barren; but the leaves on the barren stems are much more numerous and
closer together than those on the upright flowering stems.

[Illustration: COMMON STONECROP.]

These leaves are very curious. They are not flat like the leaves of the
Red Valerian, the Toadflax, and most other flowers; they are very thick