A SHARP LOOKOUT 



pinkish blossoms. I recall no native blue 

 flower of New York or New England that 

 is fragrant except in the rare case of the 

 arrow-leaved violet, above referred to. The 

 earliest yellow flowers, like the dandelion 

 and yellow violets, are not fragrant. Later 

 in the season yellow is frequently accom- 

 panied with fragrance, as in the evening 

 primrose, the yellow lady's-slipper, horned 

 bladderwort, and others. 



My readers probably remember that on a 

 former occasion I have mildly taken the 

 poet Bryant to task for leading his readers 

 to infer that the early yellow violet was 

 sweet-scented. In view of the capricious- 

 ness of the perfume of certain of our wild 

 flowers, I have during the past few years 

 tried industriously to convict myself of error 

 in respect to this flower. The round-leaved 

 yellow violet was one of the earliest and 

 most abundant wild flowers in the woods 

 where my youth was passed, and whither I 

 still make annual pilgrimages. I have pur- 

 sued it on mountains and in lowlands, in 

 " beechen woods " and amid the hemlocks ; 

 and while, with respect to its earliness, it 

 overtakes the hepatica in the latter part of 

 April, as do also the dog's-tooth violet and 



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