82 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 



not grow up at first to spruce, but that other and shorter lived 

 trees notably birches and poplars take their place, apparently 

 fully occupying the ground ; but if one searches closely among 

 these trees he will find here and there small spruces making their 

 appearance, and that what is really going on is that these trees 

 of more rapid growth and shorter-lived are furnishing protection 

 for the slower-growing spruces, sheilding them from wind and 

 storm until they are large enough and sufficiently compact in 

 mosses to shift for themselves and to protect each other. Mean- 

 while the birches and poplars by their death and decay enrich 

 the soil for the more vigorous growth of the coming forest of 

 spruce. This process one may witness in different stages in dif- 

 ferent places. To witness the entire transformation he would 

 need to live about three hundred years according to the estimate 

 of an experienced lumberman. There are so many lines of 

 investigation opening before the student of botany that he need 

 never be at a loss for subjects of study. There can be no place 

 in this State surely where the plants of one's own neighborhood 

 would not furnish most interesting material. To set one's self 

 the task of becoming acquainted with the plants of his own local- 

 ity and doing this by personal exploration in different directions 

 so far as he could readily extend his search, would prove to any- 

 one at all interested in plants a most pleasant way of extending 

 his acquaintance with them. Such tramps may well furnish a 

 very pleasant part of the memories of one's childhood and how 

 quickly these recollections recur at the sight or even the mention 

 of the well-known plants. The plants will vary somewhat with 

 the locality, but among them in most parts of Maine will be found 

 the dandelions, buttercups, daisies, clovers, mallows or cheeses 

 of the roadside, and the violets, anemones, jack-in-the-pulpits, 

 trilliums, lilies, irises, dog-toothed-violets or adder's tongues, 

 lady's-slippers and many more treasures of the more secluded 

 hunting grounds. That fishing excursion has not been a failure 

 of which the net proceeds consist in a bouquet of arrowheads, 

 pond-lilies and cardinal flowers. To go specially for the flowers 

 themselves would be even better, and less likely to end in disap- 

 pointment, for in this quest, if we do not find the particular 

 flowers we are looking for, we may find others that may please 

 us even better. Nature is so profuse with her gifts that with 

 rare exceptions "Everyone that seeketh findeth." The unex- 



