O U R COUNTRY II O M E 



blackberry vines. A footpath through the middle led to the 

 gravel pit itself. 



After the bottom of the pit had been filled in about four feet, 

 three sloping landslides were made, one on the east and two on the 

 west, irregularly arranged as if in some storm they had slipped 

 down from the steep overhanging sides. On these, huge boulders 

 were placed, just as they once lay half buried in the soil, a part of 

 the glacial deposit which swept down from the Lake Superior 

 region in bygone ages, bringing curiously wrought limestone and 

 rounded granite boulders to this rich, stoneless prairie. 



The only native evergreens on the place when we took posses- 

 sion were two small cedars about ten feet high; these we carefully 

 protected during the building operations, as one happened to be 

 close by the cottage and the other at our own front door. Later 

 we supplemented these by a young plantation of white pine and 

 spruce as well as cedars, on the western boundary, and here in the 

 gravel pit, among the boulders, we planted more cedars with dwarf 

 pines, junipers, and spruce. Here also we found room for some 

 laurels as an experiment, and a native cactus ; Leucothoe, Cates- 

 baei, whose dark green leaves are edged in November with a rich 

 plum color; the Andromeda floribunda; the bright little partridge- 

 berry; the rattlesnake plantain, and valerian, both white and pink, 

 which sprawls over the ground delightfully and keeps green into 

 December. All through Touraine this great vine-like plant covers 

 the ruined walls and bare rocky hillsides. I remember particu- 



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