THE WILD GARDEN. l ^g 



and a certain field at Hempstead, Long Island, invites every sea- 

 son its select pilgrimage to visit its sea of bloom. The little 

 blue -eyed grass (Sisyrinchium) stars the meadows on sunny sum- 

 mer days, though usually in a widely scattered galaxy ; but during 

 a ride last summer I was decoyed from my carriage across a long 

 swampy meadow by a blue haze that seemed to hang over the 

 distant sedges a cloud which was soon dissipated about my feet 

 in a billion of these tiny flowers. 



Many a wild botanist for they are all wild, wild in their 

 haunts, wild with delight and enthusiasm, or else do not deserve 

 to be called botanists guards as the apple of his eye his orchid 

 brood far up in the mountain tamarack swamp, or his isolated 

 Calypso, or his treasury of sun -dew gems, or other precious 

 riches. We all "know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows." 

 The heart of Columbus throbs in every true botanist's bosom. 

 He enters a new swamp or woods with his heart in his mouth. 

 He is all on tiptoe with wonder and expectancy. The cry of 

 " Land ahead !" is always imminent and always realized. But the 

 seasons revolutionize his observations. His autumn soundings are 

 out of date ; he must sail by a new chart in the spring. Only 

 last June I stood on the shores of such an unknown country a 

 large swampy wood, which I had known only in the season of 

 bare trees, when there are few secrets in the woods. \Yhat new 

 exaltation awaits me here? I mused. What new friend will ac- 

 company me as I emerge from the other side of the forest ? I 

 had barely gone three steps when my question was answered, be- 

 ing confronted with a strange botanical shape which I had never 

 seen before. We stood on no formality, for the fame of the indi- 

 vidual had already gone before him, and he assured me that he 

 had been looking for me these many years. My new friend was 

 guised in most singular botanical fashion, and I hope he did not 

 chance to notice my smile at his expense. He stood full four 

 feet high, holding above his head, without the slightest seeming 

 necessity, a large tropical umbrella -like leaf two feet across, cut 

 into sixteen drooping divisions; and he sported a flower tucked 

 snugly in his lapel, which was a singular choice indeed for a 



