64 THE HAUNTS OF FLOWERS. 



nels by the rustic laljorer. The gentians, which have 

 always been admired, as much fur the delicacy and beauty 

 of their flowers as for their hardy endurance of autumnal 

 frosts, are often strewn in these places, glowing like sap- 

 phires on the faded greensward of the closing season of 

 vegetation. 



The great numbers of wild plants w^hich are often as- 

 sembled in a single meadow seem to a poetical mind 

 something more than a result of the mere accidents of 

 nature. There is not a greater variety or diversity in the 

 thoughts that enter and pass through the mind than of 

 species among these herbs. Each has distinct features, 

 and some attractive form or color, or other remarkable 

 property peculiar to itself. How many different species 

 bend under our footsteps while we are crossing an ordi- 

 nary field ! How many thousands are constantly dis- 

 tilling odors into the atmosphere, which is oxygenated 

 by their foliage and purified and renovated by their vital 

 and chemical action ! There is not a single plant, how- 

 ever obscure, minute, or unattractive, that is not an 

 important agent of Nature in her vast and mysterious 

 economy. 



There would be no end to our adventures, if we were 

 resolved to continue them until our observations w-ere 

 exhausted. Hence the never- failing resources of the bot- 

 anist who is within an hour's walk of the forest. The 

 sports of hunting and fishing offer their temptations to a 

 greater number of young persons ; but they do not afford 

 continued pleasure to their votaries, like botanizing. The 

 hunter watches his dog and the angler his line ; but the 

 plant-hunter examines everything that bears a leaf or a 

 flower. His pursuit leads him into all the green recesses 

 of nature, — into sunny dells and shady arbors, over peb- 

 bly hills and plashy hollows, through mossy dingles and 

 wandering footpaths, into secret alcoves where the Hama- 



