40 OUTDOOR STUDIES 
yards square, while yet within that space the 
multitudinous spikes grow always tall and close, 
reminding one of Hyacinths, when in perfec- 
tion, but more delicate and beautiful. The 
only locality I know for it in this vicinity lies 
seven miles away, where a little inlet from the 
lower, winding bays of Lake Quinsigamond 
goes stealing up among a farmer’s hayfields, 
and there, close beside the public road and in 
full view of the farmhouse, this rare creature 
fills the water. But to reach it we commonly 
row down the lake to a sheltered lagoon, sepa- 
rated from the main lake by a long island, 
which is gradually forming itself like the coral 
isles, growing each year denser with alder 
thickets where the kingbirds build ; — there 
we leave the boat among the lily-leaves, and 
take a lane which winds among the meadows 
and gives a fitting avenue for the pretty thing 
we seek. It is not safe to vary many days 
from the 20th of May, for the plant is not long 
in perfection, and is past its prime when the 
lower blossoms begin to wither on the stem. 
But should we miss this delicate adjustment 
of time, it is easy to console ourselves with 
bright armfuls of Lupine, which bounteously 
flowers for six weeks along our lakeside, ran- 
ging from the 23d of May to the 6th of July. 
The Lupine is one of our most travelled plants ; 
