110 



shores, is a kind ol intermediate form of vegetation, having 

 much of the sedge about it and not a little of the character 

 of a moss. It is however, a true flowering plant. The little 

 Creeping Spear wort (Ranunculus) is almost the smallest of 

 the Buttercup family, but though its leaf is no broader than 

 a grain of wheat ; and its blossoms as small as a sparrow's 

 eye, yet its petals bear the beautiful lustrous gloss in full 

 perfection, that so marks each and every species of Ranun- 

 culus. The shrubby Potentilla is, generally, more common 

 about peat bogs, and in its time of flowering makes quite an 

 ornamental appearance, for although a simple Five-finger, 

 it has a pretty, compact habit, and claims more beauty for 

 its form than otherwise. Beside these, a fortunate explorer 

 had to-day detected a splendid clump of the Cardinal Flower, 

 (Lobelia) whose always inimitable scarlet had sported into 

 the most coquettish dashes of red upon a ground of the 

 purest white. A few of these variegated Lobelias have been 

 found from time to time about the country, but it is doubtful 

 if any more beautiful have come to light than Middleton has 

 furnished us to day. Those other plants, whose intrinsic 

 charms are a little veiled by their common occurrence, are 

 as readily found here as elsewhere. We have to-day the 

 Aster, just beginning its season of bloom ; the Andromeda, 

 akin to the Blueberries, but with dry and fleshless fruit ; the 

 Balsam, with its curiously fashioned flowers hung all over 

 it, like golden horns- of-plenty ; the Thoroughwort, of sterl- 

 ing medicinal value, in which Middleton seems privileged 

 for a full share ; the fragrant Ground-nut (Apios) : the 

 aromatic Sassafras ; the deadly Cicuta ; the pretentious 

 Trumpet weed, eight feet high ; and a score of others all 

 worth some notice at a proper moment. 



DR. GEORGE OSGCOD, of Danvers, continued the same 

 subject, and added to the interests of the plants themselves 

 a yet stronger interest arising from the untiring devotion to 



