352
NOTES AND QUERIES. [n s. iv. OCT. 28, 1911.
away. Used here in this expression : The
candle sweals " (' Vocabulary,' p. 185).
No American example of the word in this
sense is known to the present writer, though
Pickering's statement may have been cor-
rect a century ago. As a topographical
term, however, the word has been used here
for two and a half centuries ; but as the
definitions found in American dictionaries
are not wholly satisfactory, some examples
will be pertinent :
" Wm. Mackeaney 12 loades to cutt in that Meadowe where Joseph Skelton did mow the last yeare if so much may be had in that meadowe within Dedham bounds and if he be not there sup- plyed he may cutt in a place called the Swale adjoyning to the Ceacler bwampe." 1667, 'Dedham Records,' iv. 135.
" The road is to be three rods wide from the said Elbougs of the Wall till it is across the rocky swale or run." 1783, ' Dudley Records,' ii. 254.
" The Sulphur Springs are just within the limits of Farmington. A swale or valley, of near a mile in extent, affords in several places copious springs of water." 1805, T. Bigelow, ' Journal of a Tour to Niagara Falls ' (1876), p. 37.
"Among the interval-lands are to be reckoned the swales, or rich hollows, lying behind the up- lands, by which latter they are separated from the meadows. These hollows are in levels greatly raised above the meadows, and have not been visited by floods for ages, but are composed of bog- earth, formed by the long growth and repeated decay of timber, together with their aptness for collecting and detaining water on their surface. 1809, E. A. Kendall, ' Travels through the Northern Parts of the U.S.,' iii, 193-4. (Kendall was an Englishman.)
" Ontario county, as far as Canandaigua lake, has a gently inclined surface, which descends towards Seneca and Canandigua lakes, and the Erie canal. The whole seems to be a kind of plain, rising from all of these lakes. The space between Geneva and Canandaigua is mostly composed of low swales ranging northerly and southerly." 1829, J.Macauley, ' Hist, of New York,' i. 32.
" Sivale, in the sense of a tract of low, generally swampy, land, is, in like manner, an old word pre- served in the remoter districts of New England and some parts of the Far West. ' Branching from the Colorado, near the mouth, it glides easily down across the desert through a swale, a quarter of a mile wide' (T. F. Meagher 'Colorado,' &c.)." 1872, M. S. De Vere, ' Americanisms,' p. 556.
" Iron made from the native bog ore of the creeks
and swails of Two Mile River became more
valuable than gold." 1884, J. D. W. Hall, Ancient Iron Works in Taunton,' in New England Hist, and Gen. Register, xxxviii. 269.
ALBERT MATTHEWS.
Boston, U.S.
THE AMERICAN NATIONAL FLOWER (US. iv. 228). Golden-rod (or common golden- rod), Solidago virgaurea, has been accepted by general consent in recent years as the national flower of the United States partly as the result of a newspaper canvass
widely conducted. No other striking, dis-
tinctive flower is more widely spread.
Golden-rod is found in every State and
Territory of the Union, and in a great variety
of situations it flourishes vigorously as one
of the commonest wild flowers. Several
other flowers have been suggested, including
the shy trailing arbutus, the may-flower,
and the dog-wood, and each has its sup-
porters. It is curious that, of nearly
twenty species of golden-rod grown in
Britain as garden flowers, the only one in-
digenous to the country is the " common "
golden-rod which has been chosen for the
national flower of America.
H. SNOWDEN WARD. The Authors' Club.
An American relative tells me that there was a movement in favour of adopting the golden-rod as the national emblem, but that strong opposition was forthcoming from sufferers from hay-fever through pollen, in which this flower is rich. Its official adop- tion has therefore been left in abeyance.
FRANCIS P. MARCHANT.
Streatham Common.
From an article on ' Corn as the National Floral Emblem,' in The Dallas News, I quote the following :
" Recently there has been considerable agitation favoring the suggestion that Indian corn be made the national floral emblem of the United States. The idea seems to be meeting with widespread approbation, and if the move continues to grow as it has recently, it is likely to become formidable."
QUIEN SABE.
Can there indeed be such a thing as an American national flower ? In such a vast and far-extending continent what one flower could be universally accepted as such ? When I was in California, I noticed that beautiful flower the eschscholtzia grow- ing freely in the open country, and I was told that was " the national or, rather, State flower." I think it likely or possible that each State may have its own flower ; but if there be indeed a national flower, I do not remember ever hearing of it.
DOUGLAS OWEN.
' PICKWICK PAPERS ' : PRINTERS' ERRORS IN FIRST EDITION (US. iv. 248, 292). A few months ago Messrs. Maggs Brothers, the well-known Strand booksellers, adver- tised in one of their catalogues a copy of the first issue of * Pickwick ' in parts, and gave a full bibliographical description of the
nuliarities which distinguished that issue, o not myself possess a copy of that issue
