THEOUGir BRISTOL SWAMP. YS 



lotte, Burlington to Colchester on Lake Cliamplain. The soil of 

 this vast region is variable, consisting of marble and limerock 

 hills, with deep swampy pockets lying between, filled in with 

 clay, and overlaid with marl, rich hnmns and peat-moss. 



Along the higher, ragged ledges about Mount ^Mansfield, 

 in Stowe, many rare species of fern have been collected. It is 

 in this region that tlie pioneer botanists — Michaux and Pursh — 

 explored as early as 1803 and 1814; while later Messrs. Rob- 

 bins, Carey, Oaks, Torrey and Frost found many rarities which 

 have enriched the herbaria of the whole world. The results 

 of those early researches were published in our first catalogue 

 of plants in 1842.* 



About 1873 Cyrus G. Pringle of Charlotte, became especi- 

 ally interested in collecting in this region. At this date little 

 was known of the wonderful flora of the state. Charles C. 

 Frost, the scientist-shoemaker of Brattleboro, was then virtually 

 the one Vermont botanist; and the eastern slopes of the Green 

 mountain state were sufficient to supply him with fresh material 

 for a life time. So the valleys and mountains of western Ver- 

 mont were left to Mr. Pringle, who has for the past twenty-five 

 years done so much for the flora of Mexico. He was justly 

 styled by Professor Asa Gray, '"the prince of collectors." Some 

 interesting papers giving an account of his early rambles in 

 Vennont, and his later excursions through Mexico, led the 

 writer — as doubtlessly they have inspired many others — to ex- 

 plore the luxuriant mountainsides and swamp areas of both 

 the Green and Taconics. 



The famous Bristol swamps first claimed my attention, as 

 I was in search of the rare Ram's-ITead Cypripedium. These 

 swamps are reached by a beautiful, wild and circuitous route 

 of six miles eastward from ISTew Haven Junction. Here, at the 

 base of Hogsback mountain, the grave of a decadent lake lies 

 in seclusion. It is being slowly packed with sphagiium and 

 dense forests of cedar and tamarack, among which many rare 

 flowers hide. The Bristol swamps extend ten miles northward 



Thompson's "History of Vermont." 



