KALMIA. 243 



and thickets, almost impenetrable by its crooked and unyield- 

 ing trunks, locked and entangled with each other. The leaves 

 are about three or four inches long, evergreen, giving much 

 life to the forests in the winter, by their deep shining-green. 

 The flowers are disposed in large corymbs, at the extremity of 

 the branches; numerous ; of a pure white, blush, or a beauti- 

 ful rose-color, and more rarely a deep red. The season of 

 flowering is in the months of June and July. Nothing can 

 exceed the magnificence of its appearance when in full bloom. 

 The soil in which it best succeeds is soft, loose, and cool, with 

 a northern exposure. The foliage is the richest when the plant 

 is grown in the shade. The soil suitable for its growth is the 

 same as recommended for the Azalea. Young plants, taken up 

 with balls of earth attached, will succeed well in the garden, 

 in the shade. Those from open pastures will flourish best, if 

 such can be found. There is no shrub, foreign or native, that 

 will exceed this in splendor, when well grown. 



K. angvstifolia. Narrow-leaved Kalmia. This is a low 

 shrub, that covers large tracts of cold, moist land, in almost 

 every section of the country. It is a great nuisance to the 

 farmer, who looks suspiciously upon it, as it has the reputation 

 of being poisonous to sheep and other animals, which, for the 

 sake of variety or want of other food, sometimes feed upon it. 

 Cobbett says : " The little dwarf brush stuff, that infests the 

 plains of Long Island, is, under a fine Latin name, a choice 

 green-house plant in England, selling for a dollar when no 

 bigger than a handful of thyme." How large a handful he 

 does not say. " When in bloom," he remarks, " it resembles 

 a large bunch of Sweet William. It is so pretty, it is worth 

 having in a green-house, where it would probably blow in 

 April, on Long Island." Blooms in June and July ; flowers 

 red, or deep pink, and I have seen a white variety ; leaves 

 evergreen ; grows from one to two feet high. 



