454 



THE BEAUTY OF OUR INDIGENOUS PLANTS. 



that I was compelled to have the cistern 

 emptied and thoroughly scoured. This win- 

 ter the trouhle has been greater than usual; 

 so great as to drive me to the unwelcome 

 conclusion, that my cistern must be again 

 broken up, emptied and cleaned. 



Such was the condition of things when I 

 made the experiment above described ; and 

 I very naturally went a step farther. Taking 

 about 6 qts. of clean charcoal, finely powdered, 

 I wet it thoroughly in a pail, and then poured 

 it through the water pipe into my cistern. 



In ten days the whole difficulty was re- 

 moved. Indeed, the water became as clear, 

 pure, sweet and soft as the purest which 

 falls from the sky. 



If this remedy shall prove as permanent 

 and effectual as it now promises to be, it 

 will add greatly to the comfort of my family, 

 and I doubt not will be as acceptable and 

 useful to many readers of your instructive 

 and valuable journal. 



Chakles Robinson. 



Neiv-Haven, Ct., March 7, 1850. 



ON THE BEAUTY OF OUR INDIGENOUS PLANTS. 



BY DR. COMSTOCK, HARTFORD, CT. 



A. J. Downing, Esq. — Sir : The following 

 list of native plants are growing in my 

 garden. With the exception of Trillium 

 grandifolium and Dodecatheon, they are all 

 natives of Connecticut, and most of them of 

 Hartford county. 



Many of them have been taken from the 

 woods or swamps by my own hands ; and 

 in general I have been highly pleased to 

 observe, that the wildest among them grew 

 much better in the civilized, than in the 

 barbarous state where they were found. 

 Many, indeed, have so improved in size and 

 beauty that their old friends who knew 

 them or their families, perfectly well in the 

 woods, are at a loss to know who and 

 what they are in their present condition. 



I am among those, Mr. Editor, who pre- 

 fer our own to foreign plants, of the same 

 grade of beauty, though the former are 

 neither puffed among dealers, nor esteemed 

 by those who lead the fashion in the floral 

 world. I prefer them because they are na- 

 tives of our own soil, and will therefore 

 grow with little trouble, and with no pro- 

 tection. Perhaps, also, there is a mixture 



of national pride in the consideration that 

 our woods, swamps and barrens afford as 

 beautiful specimens of the gifts of Flora, as 

 can be brought from any other country. 

 I think, indeed, that we have many native 

 plants, unknown to most of our lovers of 

 flowers, which are on all accounts far pre- 

 ferable to those for which high prices are 

 paid, because they come from distant lands. 

 I know that some of my own have been 

 honored with screams of delight from pretty 

 lips; the owners of which were not only as- 

 tonished, but mortified at their own igno- 

 rance, when they learned that such beau- 

 ties came from our own woods, and that, 

 too, within a few miles from the place 

 where they now grow. 



Perhaps my taste is either antiquated, 

 perverted, or peculiar. It may be a mix- 

 ture of all these. At any rate, I cannot 

 see, for instance, why our Lilium superbum, 

 with its 30 or 40 flowers, elevated 6 or 8 

 feet, is not a far more splendid flower than 

 the famous Japan lily, with its low stature, 

 and two or three flowers. And yet, although 

 the latter has been in the country only a 



