In the * Ramble ”—Fourth Excursion 
pretentious growths. Its three-fingered leaf gives a light 
effect to the foliage spreading in loose sprays on every 
side. The flower is small, but in large clusters, and 
would be highly ornamental if it were not so greenish ; 
but the ripened fruit, in the form of clusters of white, 
orbicular, winged seeds, like a snowy bunch of hops, is 
of quite unusual sort, and is very decorative about the 
last of August. This can well be used to beautify the 
edge of a walk, or to break the monotony of a small 
greensward. It is a native of the Middle and Western 
States, but east of Ohio it is only seen in cultivation. 
Larcu.—In the larch we encounter a type that dis- 
tinctly borders upon the evergreens, yet breathing the 
atmosphere of both deciduous and coniferous trees. The » 
European species, with longer leaves and larger cones, is 
the one that is cultivated, being the more graceful and 
thrifty of the two. With its luxuriant and needle-like 
foliage and pendent branchlets, it is exceedingly effec- 
tive in a dense cluster. While it suggests the spruce it 
has none of its austerity. 
The leaves, an inch long and slender as a needle, 
grow in dense clusters as in the cedar of Lebanon. Its 
deciduous growth and cone-bearing propensities, show- 
ing that it stands on the dividing line between two op- 
posing orders of vegetation, give our anti-evolutionist 
friend another hard nut to crack. ; The vaporous, vivid 
green of a million-budded larch in spring is as beautiful 
in its way as the bluebird’s earliest call, and, with it, 
becomes one of the naturalist’s memories and anticipa- 
tions of that joyous season. 
109 
