84 IN THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. 



Mount Willard by the railroad was all aglow 

 with rhodora, a perfect flower-garden, on the 

 monochromatic plan now so much in vogue. 

 Along the edge of the rocks on the summit of 

 Mount Willard a great profusion of the com- 

 mon saxifrage was waving in the fresh breeze : 



" Ten thousand saw I at a glance, 

 Tossing their heads in sprightly dance." 



On the lower parts of the mountains, the foli- 

 age was already well out, while the upper parts 

 were of a fine purplish tint, which at first I 

 was unable to account for, but which I soon 

 discovered to be due to the fact that the trees 

 at that height were still only in bud. 



A notable feature of the White Mountain 

 forests is the absence of oaks and hickories. 

 These tough, hard woods would seem to have 

 been created on purpose to stand against wind 

 and cold. But no ; the hills are covered with 

 the fragile poplars and birches and spruces, 

 with never an oak or hickory among them. I 

 suspect, indeed, that it is the very softness of 

 the former which gives them their advantage. 

 For this, as I suppose, is correlated with rapid 

 growth ; and where the summer is very short, 

 speed may count for more than firmness of 

 texture, especially during the first one or two 

 years of the plant's life. Trees, like men, lose 

 in one way what they gain in another ; or, in 



