EARTH COVERINGS 



279 



hears it always spoken of as " purple heather/' 

 though in reality the coloring of the blossom is 

 pink. Seen at a distance, however, especially 

 at evening, it has a purplish effect which per- 

 haps justifies the popular description of it. 

 It grows in vast rolls, and sweeps along the 

 slopes about Dalwhinnie in the Grampians, 

 and nothing could be more beautiful than the 

 hills of that region during the first week of 

 September, when they are clad in their purplish- 

 pink mantle. The absence of timber, the uni- 

 formity of the heather-covering, the beauty of 

 the sky lines, the splendor of the light and the 

 clouds, all make for a simple, yet broad and 

 noble landscape a country one might well fight 

 for and, if need be, die for. 



Our own golden-rod is no such complete 

 earth covering as the heather, and it is not 

 usually seen spread over such vast reaches of 

 territory, but it nevertheless plays an important 

 part in the autumn landscape. Oftentimes 

 it covers many acres of field and upland, and 

 in the mass of its coloring it is singularly rich 

 and attractive. Very appropriate, too, is this 

 coloring to the fall of the year when the skies 

 are warming and the leaves are changing. In 

 the late summer, when it first appears, it is a 



