PASTURE STONES 



In New England pastures, the boulders are as 

 much in harmony with their environment as any 

 tree or shrub. They have the appearance of having 

 grown here, quite as naturally as the bayberry 

 and the sweet fern, and are kindred of the savin, 

 and the low-spreading juniper which circles round 

 them and hugs the stone like the lichen itself. 

 The migrant boulders from the North are con- 

 genial to these hardy northern plants which refleft 

 the somber character of the rock. 



A field that has been entirely cleared of its 

 pasture stones and left to stand thus, somehow 

 looks barren and deserted. You feel you would 

 like to restore a boulder here and there and invite 

 the juniper and the bayberry to return. There is 

 chara&er in these ancient pasture stones, and they 

 cannot be removed without depriving the land- 

 scape of that which they imparted ; it is no longer 

 virile and forceful, but tame and meek as though 

 shorn of its strength. 



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