78 



THE WILD GARDEN. 



fjarden borders, Ijut must he cushioned on moss, and associated 

 with tlieir own relatives in moist peat soiL Many l)eautiful 

 plants, like the Wind Gentian and Creeping Harebell, grow- 

 on our own bo^s and marshes, much as these are now 

 encroached upon. P)Ut even those acquainted with the l^eauty 

 of the plants of our own liogs have, as a rule, but a feeble notion 

 of the multitude of charming plants, natives of northern and 

 temperate countries, whose home is the open marsh or Ijoggy 

 wood. Tn our own country, we liave l)een so long encroach- 



|i^ 







■■"J^'UVHi' Will ' 





Marsh INIarigold and Iris in early spring. See p. 77., 



ing upon tlie bogs and wastes that some of us come to regard 

 them as exceptional tracts all over the world. But when one 

 travels in new countries in northern climes, one soon learns 

 what a vast extent of the world's surface was at one time 

 covered with bogs. In Nortli America day after day, even 

 by the margins of tlie railroads, one sees the vivid blooms 

 of the Cardinal -flower springing erect from the wet peaty 

 hollows. Far under the shady woods stretch the black bog- 

 pools, the ground between being so shaky that you move a 

 few steps with difficulty. One wonders how the trees exist 

 witli their roots in such a bath. And where the forest vege- 

 tation disappears the American Pitcher-plant (Sarracenia), 



