FIELD ANP FOREST. I53 



where Mr. Pringle's quick eye and untiring search have brought so 

 many novelties to light. 



The surrounding region is fertile and abounds in the common spe- 

 cies of the Vermont fields and woods, Danthonia compressa being the 

 only noteworthy species observed before the mountain is reached. 

 Here we find an abundant supply of the ferns and orchids of the 

 region. 



Arrived at the old dilapidated hotel, we establish our camp, having 

 our choice of rooms, and disturbed only by the hedge hogs, who have 

 taken possession, gnawing the pine woodwork, apparently to sharpen 

 their teeth, or as boys whittle, and who, to the number of eight, in- 

 terferred with our slumbers, till at last in self defence we slaughtered 

 one monster and then slept in peace. Close by the house is one of 

 the finest springs to be found in New England, clear, cold and abun- 

 dant, gushing out from among the rocks, as if from a hydrant, at the 

 estimated rate of several gallons a second. 



The notch is in its narrowest place, perhaps an eighth of a mile 

 wide, with precipitous sides, rising many hundred feet nearly perpen- 

 dicular. And it is by clambering up the beds of the mountain streams 

 to the perpendicular cliffs that the rare and characteristic flora of the 

 region is to be seen. As we ascend we notice Gcum macrophyllum, 

 Allium tricoccum, Aspidium aculeqtum, var. Braunii; but only as we 

 reach an altitude of perhaps one thousand feet do we come upon Sax- 

 ifraga Aizoon, aizoides and oppositifolia, Draba arabisans, Astragalus 

 alpinus, Hedysarum boreale and Primula Mistassinica, which we 

 found, though the severe drought and our lack of local knowledge 

 prevented us from detecting quite a number of Mr. Pringlt's rarities. 



A trip to the summit gives us the magnificent view of the Green 

 Mountain state, looking across Lake Champlain to the Adirondacs 

 and northward into Canada, and after our climb and sundry explora- 

 tions we are ready for our comfortable beds at the hotel. The next 

 morning we travel over the peaks to the North, then down to the 

 Lake of the Clouds, and thence follow its outlet almost perpendicu- 

 larly to the bottom of the notch. All over the summit Arenaria 

 groenlatidica is abundant, and in the ravines we find Asplcnium viridc, 

 Geum rivale and Potentilla fruticosa. 



A month by the seaside gives the plants of the region, described in 



