16 n tbe Stubs of Natural Scenery. 



crowns of the trees, and forming beautiful drapery of 

 foliage. The silence is depressing, even the birds are silent, 

 and only the hammering of the woodpecker is heard now 

 and again. In this wilderness, so utterly beyond reproduc- 

 tion by artificial means, and, withal, so undesirable, we can 

 only observe the beautiful association of trees and climbers 

 which may be of some use, but in our northern woodlands 

 this association is much more beautiful and applicable to 

 gardening. 



When low, watery places in tbe North are overgrown 

 by a woody vegetation some of the most charming natural 

 scenery is the result. The deciduous trees are more merci- 

 ful to the vegetation below. Here we find a wealth of form 

 and color ; masses of delicate-leaved ferns, swamp honey- 

 suckle with showy blossoms, andromedas with white, bell- 

 like flowers, white alder, stemless lady's-slipper, dwarf 

 cornel, and purple violets in more open and sunny positions; 

 here jack-in-the-pulpit speaks to his congregation of meadow 

 beauties and purple phlox. Meadow-sweets, farkleberry, 

 virgin's bower and like plants are very numerous on the 

 border of swampy woods. 



The beauty of deciduous woods on higher ground is 

 enhanced by many familiar flowers. Under the spreading 

 branches of the oak a great variety of tender and delicate 

 plants find a home, and, in spring and early summer, clothe 

 the surface of the ground with a carpet of flowers. If 

 the woods are open and rocky, brambles and arrow wood 

 are found in abundance. The maiden-hair fern grows in 

 clumps at the base of rocks, or finds a snug place of refuge 

 between the roots of some tall forest tree. Eagle ferns 



