420 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE. 



THE MOST WONDERFUL PLAINT IN THE 

 WORLD. 



To assert that any plant is the most 

 wonderful in the world is, I know, to 

 make a serious, weighty, grave state- 

 ment, and there are naturalists who 

 may not agree with my opinion as to 

 the supremacy, in that regard of this 

 particular plant. But I am refer- 

 ring to the sensitive plant ( Mimosa 

 pudica), and after three years of ex- 

 tensive experiment with it; after care- 

 fully watching it at all times, by day 

 and by night, in early spring, and in 

 late autumn ; after experimenting with 

 it bv a varietv of methods ; and after 



having frequently entertained my 

 friends with an exhibition of its re- 

 markable characteristics, I am pre- 

 pared to assert positively and unquali- 

 fiedly that it impresses me more 

 strongly and more deeply thai; any 

 other plant with which I am acquaint- 

 ed. It makes me realize more and 

 more fully that Thoreau was not far 

 from the truth when as he walked 

 alone in the valley in Maine, he ad- 

 dres:>ed a pine on the distant moun- 

 tain top as if its life were closely akin 

 to his, and as if there were a possibili- 

 ty, yes, even a probability, that it was 

 as much entitled to immortality as are 



BEFORE SHAKIXC. 



