FROM A NEW ENGLAND HILLSIDE. 145 



fragrance from the trees. The purple 

 cypripediums long eluded us, but there 

 they were at last, and the lupines, and by 

 the brookside the fleur-de-lis. 



And here on the edge of the sandy road 

 is the inconspicuous and unattractive sheep 

 laurel ; had our tramp carried us farther 

 away among the hills, we should have found 

 its nobler cousin the mountain laurel, now 

 in its prime, with great white and rosy 

 masses of most lovely blossoms. There 

 upon my chiffonier are some splendid clus 

 ters, which have been gradually opening in 

 water during the past six days. Nothing 

 else upon our hillsides is quite so fine as 

 this royal shrub. The native rhododendron 

 is massive but pale. The pink azalea is 

 rich, but not so plentiful or pronounced. 

 The laurel is the prince of the June woods, 

 and holds a royal state. I think that no 

 where else will you find it quite equalling 

 the display that it makes around Lake 

 Mohonk, but it bi avely holds its own over 

 a vast territory. 



Some time ago, when there was consider 

 able talk about a national flower, this was 

 suggested as especially suitable, the leaves, 

 the buds, and the blossoms alike being fine, 

 and peculiarly adapted to effective use in 

 L 



