WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



bill clicks sharply, and I know that some gauze- 

 winged mote has given its last buzz. 



But all this was in June — juicy, noisy, impul- 

 sive June. July and August followed, with their 

 serious work of bringing up fledglings in the way 

 they should go, and the duty of perfecting the flow- 

 ering and fruitage of growing plants; and, now 

 that September is almost at hand, the thicket is a 

 mass of all the flowering weeds that grow in moist 

 places, and is a glory of color. Half hiding the 

 poison ivy at the edges, and scattered in rounded 

 masses all through the place, is the shining bal- 

 sam-weed, or jewel -weed (Impatiens fulva) — the 

 antidote with the poison; for we are told that a 

 tea made of its leaves is an effective remedy for 

 an attack of vegetable poison. I question the ac- 

 tual efficacy of this tea ; but it is certain that the 

 root of the plant has long held a high place in med- 

 ical botany, whence the name balsam-weed. 



I think both species are tangled together here, but, 

 whether this is so or not, there is variety enough in 

 the blossoms to furnish forth a dozen species. The 

 form is pretty uniform, little cornucopias hanging 

 with a broad lip downward, just as one would hold 

 a tall ewer when pouring water. At the lower tip 

 of the flower is a long, bent spur or hook, by which 



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