ACCORDING TO SEASON 



IVater- 



bemlocl 



The glorv 

 of tie 

 marsh 



Danger of 

 extermina- 

 tion 



Only by pushing our way through a miniature 

 forest composed of the purple-streaked stems, 

 divided leaves, and white flowers of another 

 parsley, the water-hemlock, do we reach the 

 stretch of land which glories in the treasure 

 which makes this especial marsh more brilliant 

 and unusual than the many others which skirt the 

 coast. This treasure is the yellow-fringed orchis, 

 a plant which rears its full orange-colored domes 

 on every side, making a mass of burning color in 

 the morning sunlight. 



I have never found an orchid growing in such 

 abundance elsewhere, and cannot but hope that 

 the meadow will guard its secret, lest some whole- 

 sale despoiler should contrive to rob it perma- 

 nently of its greatest beauty. Certain orchids 

 which were abundant formerly in parts of Eng- 

 land can no longer be found in that country, ow- 

 ing to the reckless fashion in which the plants, 

 for various purposes, were uprooted and carried 

 off. It is well, too, to remember that plucking 

 all of its flowers is equivalent to uprooting the 

 plant in the case of annuals and biennials, as the 

 future life of the species depends upon the seeds 

 which the flowers set. 



In the swamps farther inland the close white 

 heads of the button-bush yield a jasmine-like fra- 

 grance. From grassy hummocks nod the violet- 



144 



