YELLOW AND ORANGE WILD FLOWERS 



coarse, bright green leaves grow above the surface 

 of the water so thickly that it is almost impossible, 

 sometimes, to push a canoe or rowboat through them. 

 Muddy bottoms and sunny exposures cause them to 

 grow in greatest profusion, from April to September. 

 The flower is stiff and waxy, and has the appearance 

 of being a stunted blossom, which had become deformed 

 before it had a chance to mature. Many a stranger 

 from the city has scoffed the idea of wet feet in order 

 to secure one of these golden cups, only to cast it aside 

 with a keen sense of disgust and disappointment. 

 The Spatter-dock encroaches persistently on arti- 

 ficial ponds, which have been made by constructing 

 dams across small streams, causing the water to back 

 up and flood the shallow land adjacent thereto, for the 

 purpose of harvesting ice during the winter. It often 

 happens that a considerable area of a pond becomes 

 choked with the leaves of this plant, and unless checked 

 in some way, they would cause the loss of many tons 

 of marketable ice. To overcome this difficulty, the 

 owners usually open the locks and release the water 

 during midsummer, allowing the ponds to run dry for 

 several weeks. While this operation does not always 

 kill the roots, it does affect the foliage, which causes 

 the trouble, and it is left to the mercy of the sun. 

 In the early fall the floodgates are closed, and the 

 rising water insures a clear field of ice. Anyone not 

 familiar with the construction of the Spatter-dock's 

 blossom would naturally describe it as a yellow flower, 

 having six large, yellow petals, and a great, big pistil, 



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