Over tKe HucKleberry Plains 1 17 



badly bruised, or broken from the root, causing the 

 ovary of the flower to droop and wither. The low 

 huckleberry bushes, known as the dwarf black species 

 {Gaylussacia dumosa), were also damaged by the hail- 

 storms, and were without fruit. 



We came upon numbers of trees shattered by light- 

 ning, and blackened pine stubs and " turnovers " min- 

 gled among the beautiful evergreens of the tangled 

 swamp. Low blueberry bushes, with rich heaps of 

 ashes about their roots, covered the rolling, rock- 

 bound plains, as far as one could see. Huckleberries 

 usually thrive in the trail of forest fires. Indeed, the 

 spring and autumn fires are often started by the 

 huckleberry venders for the sole purpose of securing a 

 better yield of fruit for supplying the market. These 

 berries are among the small fruits which have not thus 

 far taken kindly to cultivation, as has nearly every 

 other wild berry in the markets to-day. 



We found the third swamp eastward marked by the 

 odd spires of the Scrub Pine {Pinus divaricatd), and the 

 Red Pine {Pinus resinosd), which is often wrongly called 

 Norway Pine. These evergreen trees were known to 

 Theophrastus before Christ. There were two kinds, 

 the wild and the garden trees. Many species of each 

 are described, the pines and spruces not being dis- 

 tinguished from each other. 



I observed also many Dwarf Black or Double Spruces 

 {Picea Mariana), — very dark green trees w4th pretty 

 cones. The name for this tree originated with Theo- 

 phrastus. It became in the Latin Pimis Mariana. 



