1 8 Bog-Trotting for OrcHids 



North Adams. But when I penetrated the heart of 

 these rich, warm glooms, I found waiting for me a 

 fragrant company of Dwarf Yellow Lady's Slipper 

 {Cypripedium parvifloruni)\ and innumerable Stemless 

 Pink Lady's Slippers, more frequently called the In- 

 dian's Moccasin-Flower {Cypripedium acaule), stood as 

 sentinels on the dryer edges of the swamp. 



The Marsh Marigolds were here also in their last 

 stages, fading away, but still sufficiently bright; with 

 the late indigo-blue violets, which rear their faces at 

 least a foot high above the dark pools, to carpet the 

 marsh with gold and purple. Poison Ivy cropped out 

 frequently among these graceful orchids, — a beautiful 

 vine, although unfriendly to man. 



It is difficult to describe the dense gloom of this bog, 

 closed in on all sides by high rock-bound hills, which 

 are clothed with pine and yellow birch trees, and which 

 in their turn are but foothills to the higher watershed. 

 It seems to have been a receiving basin for the waste 

 and wear of the heights above for thousands of j^ears. 

 Here are fallen trees of every variety common in south- 

 western Vermont, and these prostrate giants helped to 

 form a safe footing through the quaking bogs. 



Many cold springs under the hill to the south con- 

 spire to freshen the marsh, and after sluggish oozing 

 northward, they unite and form the brook proper. 

 The stream leads directly through the heart of the 

 swamp, and at last, gathering force, rushes down over 

 rocky slopes, presently to enter another swamp of 

 greater breadth, filled with different trees and flowers. 



