26 <S>n tbe Stufc of Natural Scenery. 



abound in a beautiful herbaceous flora, devoid of the 

 coarseness common to so many marsh-plants. 



Cliffs and rocks form part of some of the most impressive 

 natural scenery. As we know, they are not confined to 

 high mountain regions, but occur even on plains and sea- 

 shores ; lifting bold, bare masses above the surface of the 

 ground ; jutting forth from broken and steep hillsides, or 

 forming the sides of gullies and ravines on the shores of 

 running water. They often assume strange and grotesque 

 shapes, or a vivid coloring, as the sandstone formations of 

 the Rocky Mountains. Even on level plains, beautiful 

 rock scenery is not uncommon along streams and rivers. 

 In our northern woods rocks are very common ; they form 

 the main body of the soil, and protruding here and there 

 show a grooved and polished surface, on which mighty 

 isolated blocks and bowlders still remain, adding greatly to 

 the picturesque beauty of the undulating ground, so rich in 

 vegetation and so varied in the character of its surface. In 

 higher mountain ranges, rocks become more and more evi- 

 dent, full of crevices, moss-grown and rounded by time and 

 supporting the rarest and most beautiful flowers. Where 

 running water slowly and steadily undermines a rocky 

 shore, bowlder after bowlder piles, one above the other ; 

 sediment of all kinds collects among the stones, creepers 

 and vines and small flowering shrubs take root in the 

 moist, rich soil collected in the cavities ; tender herbaceous 

 plants spring up in the crevices, where they find nutriment 

 enough for subsistence, but where no coarser weeds can 

 exist ; and so we have a natural rockery on the river shore 

 still washed by the water or left high and dry on a sandy 



