56 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



little strength, and a very little tallness and a few delicate long 

 lines meeting in a point — not a perfect point, neither, but blunt and 

 unfinished, by no means a creditable or apparently much cared- for 

 example of Nature's workmanship ; made as it seems only to be 

 trodden on to-day, and to-morrow to be cast into the oven ; and a 

 little pale and hollow stalk, feeble and flaccid, leading down to the 

 dull brown fibers of roots. And yet, think of it well and judge 

 whether of all strong and goodly trees, pleasant to the eyes and 

 good for food — stately palm and pine, strong ash and oak, scented 

 citron, burdened vine — there be any by man so deeply loved, by 

 God so highly graced, as that narrow point of feeble green." 



Many fresh and suggestive articles may be found in our periodi- 

 cals. John Burroughs' "Among the Wild Flowers," so charmingly 

 illustrated, takes us to the very heart of the woods, where blossoms 

 in all its beauty our mountain laurel, though found in but few places 

 in our State. Mr. Burroughs tells us that he makes the acquain- 

 tance of one or more new plants every season, and only those who 

 have learned to love flowers can realize the untold pleasure in find- 

 ing, in some of our old haunts, a 7iew plant, as if a little stranger 

 had sought our acquaintance, ever after to be our friend. And how 

 like a familiar face seem our native flowers, found thousands of 

 miles from home. Our little blue harebell, growing so abundantly 

 about the cascades of the upper Mississippi, greets us like a mes- 

 senger from the Pine Tree State, only there it is found with its rad- 

 ical leaves in perfection, which rarely occurs in New England. 

 Many a botanist will tell you that he has visited the Isle of Shoals, 

 that he may watch the pimpernel close its rosy eyes at the approach 

 of the storm, so fittingly termed "'the poor man's weather glass." 



"Were I, O God, in churehless lands remaining, 

 Far from all voice of teachers or divines. 



My soul would find, in flowers of thy ordaining. 

 Priests, sermons, shrines." 

 If you have ever taken a day with a botanist, you are convinced 

 that "nature sells but always at value price." You perhaps became 

 weary while your friend eagerly followed the trail of his sought-for 

 treasure, and heeded not stream or mountain till the prize was won. 

 The pencil and brush are indispensable aids to thorough study in 

 natural history. Children take great delight in illustrating their 

 work, if only correctly directed at first. No more enthusiastic lover 

 of the work has wielded her brush in the study of our Maine flora 

 than Miss Kate Furbish, whose valuable collection is as yet incom- 



