The purple iron-weed of the swamps (Ve- 

 ronia) lets loose a downy fledgling with a 

 row of teeth and a tuft of down for the 

 breeze. The wild lettuce sends out its thou- 

 sands of flat black tokens, each with a slen- 

 der bristle tufted at the summit, while a 

 similar plant, the blue lettuce, sees no ad- 

 vantage in this long appendage, 

 but attaches its wings to a tiny 

 disk at the summit of the fruit, 

 a fact which the young 



botanist appreciates, for 



^ ^M^^>^: -. 



^m4$ 



v 



this one pe- 

 culiarity is suf- 

 ficient to distin- 

 guish the plant 

 from its otherwise 

 puzzling neighbor. 

 The aster, cat-tail, and 

 golden -rod are seen 

 beyond these seeds. 

 And I might follow 

 on in a wide field for 

 investigation among 

 the numberless forms 

 that have sailed out of my 

 picture, but are everywhere 

 to be found in the fields. 



