VI 



A BUNCH OF HERBS 

 FRAGRANT WILD FLOWERS 



THE charge that was long ago made 

 against our wild flowers by English travel- 

 ers in this country, namely, that they were 

 odorless, doubtless had its origin in the fact 

 that, whereas in England the sweet-scented 

 flowers are among the most common and 

 conspicuous, in this country they are rather 

 shy and withdrawn, and consequently not 

 such as travelers would be likely to en- 

 counter. Moreover, the British traveler, 

 remembering the deliciously fragrant blue 

 violets he left at home, covering every 

 grassy slope and meadow bank in spring, 

 and the wild clematis, or traveler's joy, 

 overrunning hedges and old walls with its 

 white, sweet-scented blossoms, and finding 

 the corresponding species here equally abun- 

 dant but entirely scentless, very naturally 

 inferred that our wild flowers were all de- 

 ficient in this respect. He would be con- 

 I2 5 



