ODORS OF VEGETATION. 95 



If the linden-tree had no other extraordinary merit, I 

 should preserve it for its unrivalled sweetness. Its fra- 

 grant emanations are scattered abroad so widely that 

 not an insect loses a message from its proffered feast of 

 nectar ; and the hum of the innumerable hosts of differ- 

 ent species attracts our attention as one of the pictu- 

 resque phenomena of the season. 



The true seasonal fragrance of summer is that of new- 

 mown hay, for the air is filled with it during all the time 

 of haymaking. This is indeed the " balm of a thousand 

 flowers " ; for though a greater part of the aroma comes 

 from the leaves of clover and different kinds of grasses, 

 the whole is the grateful result of many species with 

 their flowers, when cut down by the scythe. Almost any 

 combination of healthful herbs, when spread out to the 

 sun and wind, after being mowed, will produce an aroma 

 like that of new-mown hay. If you mix with these any 

 considerable quantity of those noxious or innutritious 

 herbs which are not acceptable to cattle, there comes 

 from the mixture a rank herbaceous smell that indicates 

 their presence. Nature is always true to the instincts of 

 her creatures, and sets up no false allurements to tempt 

 them to that which is unhealthful. 



To the scent of new-mown hay succeeds that of the 

 grain harvest, the odor of ripened vegetation. We now 

 mark the difference between' the savor of herbs when they 

 are cut down in blossom and after they have ripened 

 their seeds. The odors of summer are more spicy or 

 aromatic, and have more of an intoxicating quality, than 

 those of the harvest. Nature has denied fragrance to the 

 autumnal flowers, except a few that resemble the flowers 

 of spring; such is the graceful neottia, breathing the 

 odor of hyacinths, which is so obscure that it would be 

 overlooked by the insects, amid the host of scentless 

 flowers, if they were not guided by its perfume. Autumn 



