CHARACTER OP BROADLEAF FORESTS 



scene, moist and green with moss; an- 

 other is noticed farther away among 

 slender palmettos, whose spear-edged 

 leaves catch the sunlight. Vines and 

 climbers hang about the stems or 

 droop lazily from the boughs. In the 

 nearby sluggish water, where the soil 

 is deep and moldy, stands a sweet 

 gum with curiously chiseled bark, as if 

 some patient artist had been at work; 

 and a little beyond, some cypresses are 

 roofed by the dehcate web of their own 

 foUage. 



We may sit dreaming away a full 

 hour thus, with only the hum of a few 

 insects and perhaps a stray scarlet 

 tanager flitting by to disturb our medi- 

 tations. 



It has been indicated in a former 

 chapter that the broadleaf woods, 

 111 



