274 THE ANDROMEDA. 



cies and varieties occupy, like the heaths of Europe, those 

 lands which have not been reduced to tillage, without de- 

 priving them of their usefulness to man. They become in 

 their beneficent products a source of profit to thousands 

 of indigent gleaners of the pastures, and of simple luxury 

 to all our inhabitants. Though Nature has denied us the 

 barren flower, and left the imagination unrequited, she 

 has given us, in the place of it, a simple fruit that fur- 

 nishes annual occasions for many a delightful excursion 

 to the youths and children of our land, and is a simple 

 blessing to the poor. 



The farmers of Eastern Massachusetts, who have seen 

 the dyer's broom spread itself over the hills, occupying 

 the whole ground, and entirely displacing all valuable 

 herbs and grasses, may form some idea of the mischiefs 

 attending the spread of the Heath in Europe. The 

 heaths might be described as tree-mosses, bearing a multi- 

 tude of minute campanulate flowers of various colors. 

 They are not exceeded by any other plants, except mosses, 

 in the uniform delicacy of their structure. Hence they 

 are admired by florists, who find among them those mul- 

 titudinous varieties which, in other plants, are produced 

 by culture. 



THE ANDROMEDA. 



THE plants of New England which are most nearly 

 allied to the heath are the different species of Androm- 

 eda. These plants vary in height from one foot to seven 

 or eight feet. They resemble the whortleberry in their 

 general appearance, and in their leaves and flowers, but 

 their fruit is a dry capsule, not a berry, and their foliage 

 is not tinted in the autumn. They are, I believe, with- 



