2 FAMILIAR FEATURES OF THE ROADSIDE. 



field, and swamp I should be sure to encounter in an 

 extended tour along the public road. 



Unfortunately, we quite often pass on our way 

 with unobservant eyes. The dandelion spreads its 

 wealth of gold at our feet, and we do not stoop 

 to notice it; probably if this wealthiest of all the 

 golden wild flowers was endowed with a voice, it 

 would reproach us in the words of the prophet, 

 " Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by ? " 

 And we might have to reply with perfect candor, 

 " Nothing ; our world is not a world of dandelions." 

 But if we should pause to examine the wonderful 

 golden flower under a powerful magnifying glass, 

 we might discover a new world of absorbing in- 

 terest, a very familiar one to our fellow-traveler 

 on the highway, the burly bumblebee ; for her,* 

 at least, the dandelion is a mine of wealth, a 

 golden storehouse filled with riches of pollen and 

 nectar ! 



The dandelion is the richest but not the earliest 

 flower of spring: there are many others which appear 

 on the roadside much earlier. In the cold, wet hol- 

 low the ill-scented skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus 

 foztidus) is a pioneer, and long before April it has 

 passed its prime and become unsightly in its miry 



* The bumblebee of spring is nearly always a " queen." 



