IN THE DUNES 7 



I have added a new bush and a new tree to the 

 list — the buttonbush and the red oak. The 

 dusty miller, a naturalized emigrant to these 

 shores, has increased and multiplied. The Hud- 

 sonia is as beautiful at all seasons as ever. The 

 two clumps of red birches and of rhodora still 

 keep their station, but the few square feet of 

 bearberry have disappeared from my ken, whether 

 overwhelmed by the sand, or merely lost, I know 

 not. 



It is devoutly to be hoped that no enthusiast 

 will ever introduce foreign trees or shrubs to dis- 

 turb the natural flora of these dunes. Such an 

 event would be viewed by a naturalist almost in 

 the nature of a calamity. 



Growing near the edge of the dunes at the 

 foot of Castle Hill is a willow of great age, a 

 veteran, with split and hollow bole, unable 

 longer to hold up its great branches which rest 

 on the ground. In touching the ground it has 

 renewed its life like Antseus of old or like the 

 banyan tree, and has taken root and sent up 

 fresh and vigorous willow saplings. It is re- 

 lated of the early colonists that they brought 



