PINE WOODS. 367 



some distance before we reach it, by tbe flickering lights 

 among their loose foliage, and a general brightness and 

 cheerfulness in the space occupied by the group. 



There are many other agreeable circumstances con- 

 nected with a pine wood. The foliage that drops from 

 the trees, after the new growth of leaves has been put 

 forth, covers the ground with a smooth brown matting, 

 as comfortable to the footsteps as a gravel wallc, while it 

 savors only of nature. The acicular foliage of the pine 

 is so hard and durable, that in summer we always find 

 the last year's crop lying upon the ground in a state of 

 perfect soundness, and under it that of the preceding year 

 only partially decayed. This bed of foliage is so com- 

 pact as to prevent the growth of underbrush; and it 

 keeps the space open under the trees, whose taU shafts 

 resemble pillars rising out of the floor of a magnificent 

 temple. Hence a pine wood is pleasantly accessible to 

 the rambler and the student of nature ; and the absence 

 of a woody undergrowth permits many plants of a pe- 

 culiar character to thrive upon this carpeted ground. The 

 purple cypripedia is common here, pushing up its leaves 

 through this mass of decayed foliage, and displaying its 

 beautiful inflated blossoms like some bright flower of a 

 fairer clime. Mushrooms of various species and of divers 

 fantastic shapes are frequent as we pass, some spreading 

 out their hoods like a parasol, some with a dragon-like 

 aspect, others perfectly globular, all having a great diver- 

 sity of hues. In the deeper wood, where there is no sun- 

 shine to green the sprouting herbs, appears that rare genus 

 of plants resembling the pale and sickly slaves of the 

 mine, — the grotesque and singular monotropa. 



In an old pine wood our attention is diverted by the 

 great variety of lichens that incrust the bark of the trees 

 and hang from their boughs. Many rare species decorate 

 the trees with their tufts, circles, and protuberances, and 



