Solomon's IRivals 107 



mold in jars of preserves tliat have been kept en- 

 tirely in the dark. This mold is a vegetable 

 growth. 



In the spring one may notice early in the morning 

 a bed of chickory in bloom ; it is of a clear, exquisite 

 blue ; by ten o'clock the blue will be very pale, by 

 twelve the flowers are white, by one they are all 

 folded up, to open next day as richly blue as ever. 

 The sun plays such tricks on blue cotton cloth. 

 Where it is exposed to the sun the blue vanishes, and 

 when the cloth has been put away in darkness the 

 fled color returns. Other flowers besides chickory 

 grow pale with excess of light, just as some grow 

 pale from darkness. The study of color in the 

 plant world affords o^^portunity for interesting ex- 

 periments. 



" Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one 

 of these !" How this rings in our minds wlien we see 

 the Summer Color Exposition ! Yet June cannot be 

 to us a mere color study in general, for her prodi- 

 gality of individual blossoms calls us to a closer in- 

 vestigation of particular or peculiar plants. 



Bryant calls June " flowery June." Coleridge 

 calls the montli "leafy June" — it might also be 

 called fragrant June, for it seems the natal month of 

 the most fragrant flowers. One may notice some- 

 times in Scotland, such a rich, almost overwhelming 



