FROM A NEW ENGLAND HILLSIDE. 3 



sands. I will not toll you where, for I 

 want to keep that spot to myself. 



I have also found the yellow oxalis, but 

 ter- and-eggs, dandelions, oxeyed daisies, 

 cardinal flowers, water-cresses, looking for 

 all the world like sweet alyssum, evening 

 primroses, and others, and yesterday I was 

 surprised to find the witch hazel in full 

 bloom, the yellow leaves still mostly cling 

 ing to the stems, and last year s seed-ves 

 sels only turning brown. This is one of 

 our most plentiful shrubs, and I am fond 

 of its quaint irregularity. The hop horn 

 beam is another of our favourites among the 

 shrubs or small trees, and these are found 

 in company. A less satisfactory neighbour 

 is the venomous swamp sumach, lovely but 

 treacherous. Like the fringed gentians, 

 and fishing, it is not to be found just 

 here, but is all around us, and those who, 

 like myself, are susceptible to its malignant 

 power, must exercise caution in their inter 

 views with it. 



The golden-rods are past their prime, but 

 this cannot be said of the asters, unless 

 their mellow autumn is richer than their 

 summer. The roadsides in some places 

 are purple and in others white with them. 



The chicken grapes hanging upon hedges 



