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288 THE GENESEE FAEMEE. 



* FOREST FLOWERS. 



BY THE AUTHORESS OF " THE BACK-WOODS OF CANADA." 



While you recommend to the attention of the daughters of your subscribers the cul- 

 tivation of the flowers of the green-house and parterre, be pleased to speak a few words 

 in behalf of the natives of the soil — I mean the lovely Wild FloAvers — both as regards 

 their cultivation and delineation on paper. I am a gi-eat admirer of the indigenous 

 flowers of the forest, and it is with a feeling strongly allied to regret, that I see them 

 j[g.ding away from the face of the earth. Many families, containing blossoms 'of the 

 greatest beauty and fragrance are fast disappearing before the destructive agency of the 

 chopper's axe, fire, and the plow. They flee from the face of man and are lost, like the 

 aborigines of the country, and the place that knew them once, now kn.ows them no more. 

 I look for the lovely children of the forest, those flowers that first attracted my attention, 

 but they have passed away, and I seek them in vain— another race of plants has filled 

 their place. Man has altered the face of the soil — the mighty giants of the forest are 

 gone, and the lowly shrub, the lovely flower, the ferns and mosses, that flourished be- 

 neath their shade, have departed with them. The ripening fields of grain, the stately 

 plantations of Indian corn, with the coarser herbage of the potato and turnep, grasses 

 and clover, have usurped their places — a new race of wild plants, suited to the new 

 condition of the soil springs up, to dispute the possession of the ground with the foreign 

 usurper. Where now are the lillies of the woods, the lovely and fragrant Pyrolas, the 

 Blood-root, the delicate sweet scented Mitchella repens, the spotless Monotropa, with 

 Orchis of many colors, and a thousand other lovely flowers ? Not on the newly cleared 

 ground, where the forest once stood, may we now hope to find them ; we must re-enter 

 the woods, their forest home — they die exposed to the fierce glare of the Canadian 

 summer sun. 



I cannot help regretting that none of our Botanical Societies have made any eff"ort 

 to preserve correct representations of these rare but evanescent beauties of the woods, 

 by encouraging to any extent the pursuit of botanical flower painting among the amateur 

 artists of the Colony. Pursh has given a few in his Flora, Burton has many more, 

 but still there are a vast number that find no place in any published work. Neither has 

 there been sufiicient Attention paid to the correct delineation of form, or exact shade of 

 color, to make them as cittractive as they might be, and thereby increasing their value. 



Now, Mr. Editor, there are doubtless many young and accomplished females who 

 have been transplanted to America — many, too, among the natives of the U. S. and 

 British America who would be glad to exercise this delightful talent amid the solitudes 

 of the back woods, stimulated by the hope of acquiring fame, or a remuneration for 

 time so employed. How valuable could a Canadian Flora, thus illustrated be made, 

 provided that the subjects were faithfully delineated, with close attention to botanical 

 structure, form and color. Have we any Canadian Flora devoted entirely to the vegeta- 

 ble productions of Upper and Lower Canada ? 



If I have trespassed too long upon your valuable time, pray forgive. If you think it 

 would prove acceptable to your readers, (the ladies I assure you sometimes read the 

 Genesee Farmer as well as their husbands and brothers,) I will from time to time send 

 you a few scraps from my " Forest Gleanings" — about wild flowers and other matters 

 connected with Canadian Natural History. — Oaklands, Rice Lahe Plains, C. W. 



Send us the promised Scraps from your "Forest Gleanings," by all means. — Ed. 



Malope Grandiflora. — This flower, a correct drawing of which we give on the 



preceding page, is one of the finest annuals that now beautify our garden. It belongs 



to the mallow family, several members of which are to be found in our fields and on 



- . the road-side. We shall preserve the seed for the benefit of the lovers of fine flowers. 



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