JULY 



5 



I picked a handful or two of blueberries. These 

 and huckleberries deserve to be celebrated, such 

 simple, wholesome, universal fruits, food for the 

 gods and for aboriginal men. They are so abun- 

 dant that they concern our race much. Tournefort 

 called some of this genus at least, Vitis-Idcea, which 

 apparently means the vine of Mount Ida. I cannot 

 imagine any country without this kind of berry. 

 Berry of berries, on which men live like birds, still 

 covering our hills as when the red men lived here. 

 Are they not the principal wild fruit ? 



THOKEAU: Summer. 



ALEXANDER WILSON, 1766. 



The Chimaphila umbellata, winter-green, must 

 have been in blossom some time. The back side 

 of its petals, " cream-colored, tinged with purple," 

 which is turned toward the beholder, while the 

 face is toward the earth, is the handsomer. It is 

 a very pretty little chandelier of a flower, fit to 

 adorn the forest floor. Its buds are nearly as hand- 

 some. They appear to be long in unfolding. 



THOKEAU: Summer. 



