234 THE MYETLE. 



delights in dry pastures upon the hills and uplands, to 

 which it is a humble, but not insignificant ornament. 

 This plant can make no very evident pretensions to 

 beauty, having rough and crooked branches, and im- 

 perfect flowers and fruit, without .any elegance of form. 

 But its foliage is so regular, so dense, and of so bright 

 a verdure, that it never fails to attract attention. Indeed, 

 it displays some of the finest masses of pure green leafage 

 to be seen among our upland shrubbery. But seldom 

 does any tint except the green of summer appear in the 

 Bayberry. It takes no part in the grand pageant of au- 

 tumn. The fruit of this plant is a subject of great curi- 

 osity. It consists of little greenish-gray berries, stemless, 

 and completely covering the branches like warts, thickly 

 coated with a waxy substance, which is soluble in boiling 

 water. This substance, when collected, makes a very 

 hard wax of a greenish color. 



THE SWEET-FERN. 



ANOTHER of those humble shrubs which, though wanting 

 in the beauty afforded by flowers, is very generally sought 

 and admired, is the Sweet-Fern, at the very name of which 

 we are inspired with pleasant remembrances of spring. The 

 Sweet-Fern is a common plant on all our hills, the close 

 companion of the bayberry, the wild-rose, and the small 

 kalmia. It is bound into all the nosegays gathered in 

 May, and is a part of the garlands with which young girls 

 crown the head of their May-queen, before the eglantine 

 has put forth its leaves, and when the only flowers of 

 the meadow are a few violets and anemones. This little 

 shrub occupies a wide extent of territory, mingling its in- 

 cense with almost every breeze that is scented by the rose. 

 It is abundant in all the Northeastern States and the 

 British Provinces. 



