119 



IN THE WOODLANDS. 



nnHE summer woods are matronly and sombre; the 

 foliage is full and dark 



" Shade above shade the aerial pines ascend, 

 Nor stop but where creation seems to end," 



and invite us to avoid the glare of the midsummer sun. 

 The birds sing but little, and there is nought but the 

 humming of the bee to disturb the deep silence of the 

 woods. There are but few wild flowers in its deep 

 recesses. The Bramble and Easpberry are in bloom, 

 and in the cleared heathy recesses we shall find the 

 Bilberry and Cowberry. The tall umbels of the Cow 

 Parsnip and other similar plants rear their heads by 

 the green ridings alone and undisturbed. 



"Where the sunlight peeps through the boughs wo 

 shall find Aaron's-beard, the flower of midsummer, 

 St. John's Wort (JELypericwn calycinwn), though it 

 scarcely shows its brilliant yellow blossoms, with their 

 golden stamens arranged in bundles of three or five, 

 until the first week of July. You may know the whole 

 of the dozen species of the family by the above descrip- 



