THE WHORTLEBERRY PASTURE. 213 



dens, a modern Vale of Tempe, a true Eden, inas- 

 much as it is without culture ; and abounds from early 

 spring till waning autumn in the most interesting shrubs 

 and flowers of our clime ; in August and September spar- 

 kling with clusters of shining black and azure berries, and 

 possessing a value which only a New-Englander knows 

 how to prize. 



The whortleberry pasture consists chiefly of upland, 

 extending out occasionally into a level meadow, but gen- 

 erally of a hilly and uneven surface, covered with groves 

 and coppice. The pasture must have been fed many 

 years by cattle to acquire its distinguishing features. 

 Without the grazing of these animals the ground would 

 be evenly covered with vines and bushes. The cattle, 

 while feeding upon the grass, consume many of the young 

 plants which have not become woody, and in their irreg- 

 ular course gradually produce this grouping in a manner 

 which is entirely inimitable by art. Hence in an old 

 field the scattered beds of shrubbery, with greensward 

 between them, might be compared to a map of islands, 

 the grass being represented on the map by the water and 

 the bushes by the land ; the greensward sometimes widen- 

 ing into a broad expanse of verdure, and then beautifully 

 intersected by intricate masses of shrubbery. 



In the lands surrounding the older townships only do 

 we see the whortleberry pasture in the perfection of this 

 picturesque grouping, laid out according to the geometry 

 of nature. In the new settlements the bushes are mixed 

 with trees and stumps in the clearings, and have not 

 acquired any arrangement. But if a whortleberry field 

 has long been pastured by cattle that seldom browse 

 upon the shrubs, the different kinds of vegetation stand 

 in beautiful groups of a thousand various forms, like the 

 figures on tapestry. The rocks that lift up their gray 

 heads, sometimes with smooth flat surfaces, sometimes in 



