GRAY'S MANUAL OF BOTANY. 



473 



known by the uneducated, is not unlike the 

 difference between a familiar acquaintance 

 with every individual of a large collection 

 of agreeable people, or knowing, perhaps, 

 the names merely of a few strangers in the 

 crowd. The country, the fields, the forests, 

 the mountains, have a positively different, 

 and altogether new meaning, to him who 

 sees, not only the general grandeur and 

 beauty of the landscape, but, also, studies 

 with delight every detail of fern, shrub or 

 forest tree, in the foreground. 



Suppose, for example, two persons clam- 

 bering the breezy hill-side of a valley, in 

 the northern states, in the month of June. 

 They both see, here and there, large groups 

 and masses of a striking shrub, with glossy 

 evergreen leaves, and large clusters of white 

 or pale flesh-coloured blossoms. To one 

 of these persons, this shrub is only " Lau- 

 rel ; a sort of piseit thing — dreadful hard 

 wood." To the other, it is the Kalmia la- 

 tifolia, — the broad leaved, or Mountain Lau- 

 rel ; not, indeed, the tree laurel of the an- 

 cient poets, — but borrowing the title from a 

 slight resemblance in its unfading foliage. 

 It commemorates the memory of Peter 

 Kalm, the pupil of Linn.eus, who visited 

 this countr}'^ a century ago ; and who could 

 not, in his letters to his great master, suffi- 

 ciently express his delight at seeing an 

 hundred acres of it, blossoming like a giant's 

 garden in the new world's wilderness. Its 

 delicate blossom, shaped like a miniature 

 parasol, is full of curious and beautiful points 

 of structure. Then, as it belongs to the 

 same natural family as the Iihodode7idron, 

 he recalls the reputed poisonous qualities 

 of the ko7iey of some of the tribe. He re- 

 members the story told by Xenophon, of 

 the army of the 10,000 Greeks in their re- 

 treat, vast numbers of whom lay about the 

 ground for hours in their camp as if dead, 

 simply from eating the Rhododendron honey. 

 VOL. II. 60 



And this, and fifty other curious little inte- 

 resting facts, pass through his mind ; and 

 he makes the circuit of the world, while he 

 rests for a moment in his ramble, upon the 

 associations that hang about a bit of moun- 

 tain laurel. 



Every intelligent farmer's son and daugh- 

 ter ought to be somewhat familiar with na- 

 tural history; not only for the profit and 

 pleasure which they themselves would de- 

 rive from it , not only that it enlarges the 

 mind, and gives the student a better know- 

 ledge of the great purposes of the creation ; 

 but because they are the proper and natural 

 guardians and keepers of nature's secrets. 

 To people who live in towns, belong the mys- 

 teries of great cities; mysteries, too, from 

 which one does not always learn to find the 

 heart lighter, or one's trust in human na- 

 ture stronger. But to country people belong 

 the mysteries of the rural life, the language 

 and habits of birds and insects, the antique 

 geological secrets of the hills and moun- 

 tains, the inexhaustible lore of the woods, 

 forests, and fields ; and, we are bound to 

 add, that these are mysteries that exercise 

 a benign influence on the mind, that calm 

 the excited, restless soul of man, and make 

 the heart swell with love to the good God, 

 and all his creatures. 



These studies are also the proper acoom- 

 plishments of the countrj'. They are not 

 only the solid underlayers of fields of pro- 

 found thought which, closely pursued, might 

 occupy man forever; but they furnish, in 

 the hands of those who live in the country 

 and are familiar with them, frequent and 

 agreeable topics of conversation. Thev are 

 a natural offset to the news of society which 

 our guests bring us from town ; they furnish 

 us an exchange fresher and better than 

 their own coin, with which we can pay back 

 these " dwellers in cities, and sitters upon 

 many divans." 



