SOME HUMBLE ORCHIDS 149 



ones last week, I might believe you, but never 

 here," she averred. 



"Yes, here," I persisted. "Orange and White 

 Fringed and Ragged Green Orchis, too, with its 

 finely cleft cross -shaped lip. Shut your eyes, and 

 don't open them until I say, Now!" 



"Do be careful not to drive into that boggy 

 pond at the end of Meeker 's ditch in your en- 

 thusiasm," she answered, closing her eyes and 

 grasping my arm as we jolted and bumped from 

 the road across a gully into the open meadow. 



Beyond, from over the beach crest fringed with 

 fruit -laden Wild Plum Bushes, the vibrating heat 

 rose in sheets above the sand. Angelica was still 

 in flower, and the small, bright, pea-shaped blos- 

 soms of Wild Indigo feathered the open with lemon 

 yellow. But this color paled before the waves of 

 color varying from orange to salmon that closed 

 around the wheels of the chaise after we had 

 driven eastward for a couple of hundred yards. 



"Now!" I said, "look and see an Orchis land- 

 scape in New England!" 



For the first and only time in my recollection, 

 Flower Hat was speechless. 



Each summer two acres in extent are literally 

 overwhelmed and drenched with the splendid color 



