ACCORDING TO SEASON 



to the bees and sunshine, of white swamp honey- 

 Across the suckle, even yet bearing some fragrant clusters, 

 mea ow anc j Q £ £i et j tra ^ w hose green, budding spikes hold 

 fast their treasure of beauty and fragrance. Out 

 of sight a cat-bird is mewing discordantly, and on 

 some lower twigs a Maryland yellow-throat, with 

 bright yellow body and black cheeks, hops busily 

 about. A swallow flies close above our heads, 

 through the sweet, sunny air. Across the thicket 

 comes the ever-recurrent sighing of the sea. 



Now the land rises and we are on terra firma 

 once more. Here the pasture-thistles hold up 

 Thistles their superb purple flower-heads, and farther on 

 Z d -beautf we see reddish patches that prove to be the 

 meadow-beauty, sometimes called Kentucky grass. 

 The flower is an attractive one, noticeable from 

 its large rounded red-purple petals, and from its 

 eight protruding stamens, each of which is tipped 

 with a long curved yellow anther. 



In this corner of the meadow we find tall brakes 

 and light-green sensitive ferns in abundance. If we 

 Brakes and push aside the sterile fronds of the latter, thefruit- 

 $ fernT e clusters of this year and the brown empty pods 

 of those of last year are soon discovered, although 

 these clusters here, as nearly always, are so hid- 

 den from sight as to be a novelty to most people. 

 I think it is Mr. Bradford Torrey who says that 

 when he goes to walk as a botanist his ornitho- 



IIO 



