THE LOOM OF AUTUMN 209 



a unique thing. False buckwheat 

 covers the fence rails with its seeds, 

 reclothes the mullein stalks, luring one 

 to think it a new flower, and many 

 berries mingle their colours with the 

 yellowing ferns. 



The hedges now are at their best. 

 We have no trim thorn hedgerows, 

 leashed by ivy and "lush woodbine"; 

 ours are the patient growths that follow 

 old walls, claiming the rough stone's 

 protection from the stubble scythe. 

 Out of ploughed fields step back the 

 sumachs, the fragrant clethra, meadow- 

 sweet, shad-bush, white thorn, cornel, 

 dwarf willow, flowering raspberry and 

 wild rose. Up from the roadside climb 

 bayberry, sunflowers, elecampane, and 

 hazels hang their fringed-podded nuts, 

 all clasping hands to make New Eng- 

 land's waysides the fascinating things 

 they are. And how we love these 



