THE MOCCASIX FLOWER OR LADIES' SLIPPER. 



527 



dwarfer g^rowingf variety H. Dumorterii can 

 also be used very effecti\'ely as line plants. 

 both varieties are hardy and very showy 

 when in flower. 



The Yucca filamentosa is often used for 

 the above purpose also. 



The common ribbon grass ( Phalaris 

 arundinacea variegata ) makes a splendid 

 marginal plant for a lawn, and it is both 

 hardy and inexpensive. 



The introduction during recent vears of 

 so many new and desirable shrubs and per- 

 ennials suitable for marginal lines or hedges 

 on lawns, makes it comparatively easv to 

 make a selection that is both pretty and 

 useful, without confining oneself to pines or 

 cedar, or the almost evergreen privet for 

 this purpose. 



Hamilton. \V. Hint. 



THE .WOCCASI.N FLOWER. OR LADIES' SLIPPER. 



^f 



ADIES" Slipper is not a word in keep- 

 ing with hemlock and beech woods, 

 but the word Moccasin throws mean- 

 ■uc>.^ ing into the black shadows, and 

 brings to mind the stone axe and flint arrow- 

 heads found not long ago on the edge of a 

 newh--plowed field, that was but recently a 

 piece of these same woods. 



'• With careless joy we thread the woodland way 



And reach her broad domain. 

 Thro' sense of strength and beauty free as air, 



We feel our savage kin ; 

 And thus alone, with conscious meaning, wear 



The Indian's Moccasin." 



We stopped at a point where a pair o{ 

 chestnut stumps indicate the entrance to a 

 wood road whose guardian gate-posts and 

 rails now lie among the ferns, keeping shape 

 until touched, and then separating into an 

 intangible powder, half dust, half wood- 

 mold. 



On this bank, peeping incautiously from 

 between Bellworts and the black stalks of a 

 little forest of damp and only half-opened 

 fronds of Maidenhair Ferns, was a single 

 Moccassin Flower of unusualsize and height, 

 its pouch of an almost crimson hue. 



It stood like an outpost, commanding a 

 view both up and down the shady road. I 

 straightway picked it, carefully wrapped its 

 stem and leaves in damp moss, and hid it in 



the depths oi the chaise tops ; for, thought 

 I, if, to-morrow being Saturday, any oi the 

 people coming down from the back countrj' 

 spy this flower, somebody will surelv put 

 two and two together, follow the trail into 

 the woods, and make the whole colonv pris- 

 oners. And among all our native Orchids 

 this Pink Moccasin Flower is the most 

 hopeless to transplant, as away from its 

 haunt in a year or two at most it pines 

 away, appearing to find some unknown 

 quality in its natal soil with which it cannot 

 be supplied. 



Within the wood edge pairs of leaves and 

 single flowers soon become more frequent, 

 but these sank to insignificance when I came 

 in sight of the first tree bowl. There the 

 Moccasins were holding a woodland flower 

 market of their own, peeping over each 

 other's shoulders, crowding the edges of 

 the leafy hollow, straying from the sides and 

 clustering in the bottom, facing this way 

 and that, wearing ever\' shade of color from 

 flesh-white through pink to a deep, veiny 

 purple, and all nodding and swaying as they 

 were continually jostled by the eager bees 

 who came to make their purchases of pollen 

 and nectar. 



Notwithstanding the great attraction that 

 a Pink Moccasiji Flower in the hand ofters 



