1892.] ESSAYS. 147 



it had disappeared ; the result, doubtless, of a very dry season ; 

 and where, two years ago, the ground was flaming scarlet with 

 rare and curious painted-cup, I doubt if there is now a single 

 specimen left, to hint of that former magnificence. Is it possi- 

 ble that the continuous ice of last winter was responsible for the 

 mischief ? In another spot where once grew the larger yellow 

 lady's slipper, the cutting off of the sheltering wood seems to 

 have caused the extinction of the species. 



On tlie other hand, the growth of wood is doubtless detriraen. 

 tal to the continuance of certain plants which enjoy wind and 

 sunshine. Tliirty years ago, in an open space in a great pine 

 wood I saw and wondered at the blazing disks of two or three 

 plants of liatris — or devil's bit. For years the plant did not 

 overstep the narrow clearing, but ten years later when the wood 

 was removed my liatris took a sudden start, and colonized the 

 surrounding acres, and the plant was no longer rare. I am 

 reminded too, of a sterile lowland pasture, which, after being 

 well burned over, presented the surprising spectacle of tall, 

 flaunting fire-weed in the greatest profusion. This was a plant 

 never before seen in that neighborhood. So too, on the sandy 

 embankment of the Boston and Albany E.. R. at Spencer, I saw 

 ray first specimen of yellow clover, a few slender stems, but 

 now rampant and common. 



Nearly all the forests of the forefathers have fallen a prey to 

 the woodman's axe ; it is only here and there, in almost inaccessi- 

 ble places, that a few imperfect specimens remain. The axe in 

 its ravages has been ably seconded by the locomotive engine 

 and the steam saw-mill. For fifty years these two agents have 

 carried on destruction, each in its own way. Fortunate it is for 

 us in New Eugland that chestnut and oak are so easily renewed 

 by suckers from the old stump, and that our waste lands are so 

 quickly possessed by the pine ; else the continuous drain to sup- 

 ply railroad-ties, telegraph-poles and box-lumber would soon 

 make the country a desert. When chestnuts have attained to the 

 size of fence-posts, and pines to ladders, they are doomed, and 

 not they alone, but every tree, bush and shrub with which they 

 may have kept company. 



This destructive cut-aud-slash method of clearing-up woodland 



