PROCEEDINGS OF THE SUMMER MEETING. 45 



"You will have faith in the golden profusion of the Hypericums; in 

 the Liairis, -which from a sterile soil can win a royal robe; in the dazzling 

 reds and blues of the Lohclids; in the Dicoifra's purity of white and green; 

 in the rarity of the Jlertensia; in the marked individuality of the orchids, 

 and in the billows of beauty to be found in generous clumps of ferns. 



"You will bring from the meadows and marshes the native lilies, and 

 will plant them where their crowned heads can rise above the masses of 

 others' foliage. So they grow when growing as they list, and so should 

 they be placed when growing in our gardens. 



''If you can successfully grow the Yellow Fringed Orchis, you can have 

 a show of beauty seldom surpassed in the whole world of flowers. 



"Memory has for me no fairer picture than that of the day when I first 

 saw its showy spikes of brilliant blossoms gleaming like flames among the 

 bracken. The beauty of that day, will never come back to me, for the hand 

 of the farmer has been raised against all the beauteous wildings of the 

 marsh, wherein the Orchids grew, and this same spring that saw them start 

 into luxuriant life, saw that life go out in the flames that precede cultiva- 

 tion. 



"Closely following the opening buds of Hepaticas and Blood-roots and 

 Spring Beauties, come 'May's happy flowers of many a hue,' among which 

 you may find the AYild Ginger's brown woolly blossoms, Yiolets in various 

 shapes and colors, TriUiuins in white, and in brownish purple, delicate 

 CoIIiitsias in white and blue, the Solomon's Seal and Bane-berry in feathery 

 sprays of creamy white, the Squaw-weed and Hoary Puccoon in brilliant 

 yellows. Lupines in gay masses of purple, and the Pitcher-plant's odd 

 flowers in rich dark red. 



J "For actual service in the use of cut flowers there are few, if any, more 

 excellent to combine with larger blossoms than the Flowering Spurge in 

 midsummer, and the White Snake-root that blooms still later. Both of 

 these plants, under their names of Euphoyhia coi'oUaia and Eiipatorium 

 agordoides, are now sold for that purpose by eastern dealers. 



" Tephrosia Virginiana is a wild pea with beautifully shaded blossoms, 

 but I have been greatly grieved to find it difiicult of culture ; while the 

 Gerard ias seem to be hopeless cases, and the more one longs to have their 

 glowing masses in the garden the greater is the disappointment. 



"To give us beauty late in the season, there are the Lady's Tresses, the 

 Wild Coreopsis, the Gentians, and many species of Golden Eods, including 

 the infrequent Solidago rigida, of stately habit and remarkably large 

 heads of flowers. Then also blooms the Grass of Parnassus, of which has 

 been written : 



' Pale star that by the lochs of Galloway, 



In wet green places twixt the deep and height, 

 Dost burn thine hour while Autumn ebbs away. 



When now the moors have doffed the heather bright, 

 Grass of Parnassus, flower my heart's delight, 



How gladly with the unpermitted bay — 

 Garlands foregone, and leaves that not decay — 



How gladly would I twine thee, if I might! 

 The bays are out of reach! But far below 



The peaks forbidden of the Muses" hill. 

 Grass of Parnassus, thy returning glow 



Between September and October chill, 

 Doth speak to me of Atitumns long ago, 



And my old memories are with me still.' 



