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virgin's bower, bittersweet, ironweed, goldenrod, 

 shooting-stars, strawberries, cinquefoils, Jerusalem 

 artichokes, asters and other herbaceous plants. 

 There are also shrubs of higher growth, but these 

 usually appear in a group with certain trees. Soon 

 after leaving town, the road is arched by groups of 

 giant cottonwoods growing on either side, and at 

 the base of these are elderberries. Beyond, near a 

 farm-house, one sees a group of bur oaks. These 

 are not as large as the cottonwoods. It would take 

 another hundred years to bring them to maturity, 

 but they are already beautiful trees, and in time no 

 tree will surpass them in rugged dignity. Some of 

 these trees stand in the highway and others in the 

 front yard of the farmer's house (Fig. 49). At the 

 corner of his yard is a thicket of wild crab-apples, and 

 then along his front line come prairie roses and haw- 

 thorns. Near by, along the highway, is an orchard 

 which helps to carry the sky-line up to the top of the 

 bur oaks, and the growth about the farm buildings is 

 balanced by a wood-lot which has been planted on 

 the opposite side of the road but far enough to the 

 north so that the morning sun will appear early at 

 the farmer's home. This wood-lot, planted by a 

 farmer who had moved from one of the middle 



