212 THE WHORTLEBEKKY PASTURE. 



in all wild lands that are not densely wooded, their fruit 

 constitutes one of our staple productions, of greater value 

 to us than even the cranberry, except as an article of ex- 

 port. During about three months, from the first of July 

 to the last of September, millions of bushels of whortle- 

 berries are consumed in this part of the country. People 

 are often deceived by measuring the importance of any 

 article according to its commercial value. Hence the 

 whortleberry pastures are called " waste lands." But were 

 these lands deprived of their products of wild fruit, the 

 want of it would be a grievous affliction to the com- 

 munity. How many poor families earn their livelihood 

 in summer by gathering whortleberries for the market ! 

 How many delightful excursions does this fruit-gathering 

 annually afford to the children and youths of our land ! 

 The robin, the waxwing, and other birds that consume our 

 cherries, would be diverted from the orchard and the gar- 

 den by a good supply of fruit from the bushes of an 

 adjoining field ; and our cultivators might prevent their 

 depredations by planting the different species by the sides 

 of their fences and in all open situations which are not 

 adapted to tillage. 



As an object in the landscape and a field for the bota- 

 nist and student of nature the whortleberry pasture is 

 worthy of study and full of attractions. This scenery, 

 with all the spontaneous mapping of its beds of shrub- 

 bery, its groups of trees, its tussocks of mosses and ferns, 

 its little green hollows spangled with flowers, and its pro- 

 jecting rocks covered with brambles, all intersected widely 

 by the smooth greensward, is peculiar to K"ew England. In 

 the Southern States the whortleberry-bushes are more 

 promiscuously scattered, and are not seen in this delight- 

 ful grouping, forming with the trees, fruits, and flowers 

 a true symbol of the beneficence of nature. A genuine 

 whortleberry pasture is one of the most beautiful of gar- 



