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appropriately named Poverty Valley. By the roadside in 

 the "Gap" was a spring of cool water and the hay-scented fern, 

 Dicksonia, grew there in abundance. Nestled in a deep cove 

 beyond Gap Mountain was the village of Newport, eight miles 

 from Blacksburg and just halfway to Mountain Lake. After 

 negotiating the steep hill to the north of Newport and. crossing 

 Sinking Creek, we were at the base of Salt Pond Mountain, with 

 six miles of tortuous and rather rough climbing ahead of us. 

 Our attention, however, became more and more directed to the 

 increasing magnificence of the view and the successive changes in 

 the character of the vegetation as we climbed from an elevation 

 of 1, 800 to one of 4,500 feet above the sea. 



Along the road near the foot of the mountain, the common 

 milkweed and the butterfly weed, with orange-colored flowers, 

 bloomed profusely, interspersed with the blue, star-shaped 

 flowers of the cultivated chicory, which has become very common 

 in many parts of Virginia. In one of the hollows, a large clump 

 of pale jewel-weed, Impatiens pallida, was seen in full flower. 

 The most abundant weed at the lower elevations was Actinomeris 

 sqiiarrosa, often called "river-weed," which was easily recognized 

 without flowers by its square, winged stem. As we approached 

 the upper part of the mountain, after rounding the long curve 

 that brought the valley of New River into view, the scarlet 

 flowers of the fire pink, Silene virginica, gleamed from the rocky 

 banks and large groves of chestnut trees in full flower indicated 

 a bountiful crop of nuts, unaffected as yet by the canker. 



Near the lake, we halted at the famous cold spring for a drink 

 and then went on to the hotel, which is situated at the southern 

 end of the lake, 4,000 feet above sea-level, with Bald Knob 

 rising behind it 500 feet more. Sunset Hill lies to the westward, 

 - — famous for a large deposit of marine Devonian fossils and for 

 its fine view. A thicket of common hazelnut bushes crowned 

 this little eminence, with gooseberry bushes growing near. 

 The beaked hazelnut, Corylus rostrata, is quite common on the 

 northern flank of Bald Knob some distance above the hotel. 

 The blueberry fruits were just beginning to ripen at this ele^'a- 

 tion, while the shin-leaf, Pyrola americana, was in flower and 



