230 MYSTERIES OF THE FLOWERS 



orchids by the armful and pull the arbutus by the 

 roots, till whole counties know them no more. 



These Wild Flowers are Nature's jewels, and 

 we should have learned that an excessive display 

 of jewels is vulgar. One orchid is much better 

 than a dozen. Its beauty can be enjoyed, and its 

 long and distinguished lineage need not be extin- 

 guished, nor the efforts and progress of ages wither 

 in our hands. To study the mystery of a flower, 

 one or two specimens are sufficient for dissection, 

 supplemented by close observation of growing ones 

 and of their insect guests. In order to make the 

 studies of the rarer flowers for this volume, I have 

 carried my outfit for many a mile to sketch them 

 where they grew. I beg the reader likewise to 

 spare our vanishing ^\''ild Flowers, lest they follow 

 the fairies and disappear. 



TRAILING ARBUTUS 



