60 THE HAUNTS OF FLOWERS. 



fostered by those conditions which accident, combined 

 with the rude operations of agriculture, alone can pro- 

 duce. 



Leaving this avenue, we ascend the sloping ground, 

 and, passing through a tangled bed of lycopodiums, often 

 meeting with the remnants of a foot-path that is soon 

 obliterated in a mass of vegetation ; then wandering path- 

 less over ground made smooth by a brown matting of 

 pine leaves, beautifully pencilled over with the small 

 creeping vines and checkered foliage of the mitchella and 

 its scarlet berries, we come at last to a little rocky dell 

 full of the greenery of mosses and ferns, and find our- 

 selves in the home of the columbines. Such a brilliant 

 assemblage reminds you of an aviary full of linnets and 

 goldfinches. The botanist does not consider the colum- 

 bine a rare prize. It is a well-known plant, thriving both 

 in the wood and outside of it ; but it is gregarious, and 

 selects for its habitation a sunny place in the woods, 

 upon a bed of rock covered with a thin crust of soil. The 

 plants take root on every rocky projection and in every 

 crevice, hanging like jewels from a green tapestry of vel- 

 vet moss. 



As we leave this magic recess of flowers and pursue 

 our course under the pines, trampling noiselessly over the 

 brown, elastic sward, we soon discover the purple, inflated 

 blossoms of the pink lady's-slipper. These flowers are al- 

 ways considerably scattered, and never grace the open field. 

 Often in their company we observe the sweet pyrola, 

 bearing a long spike of white flowers that have the odor 

 of cinnamon. Less frequently we find in this scattered 

 assemblage some rare species of wood orchis and the sin- 

 gular coral plant. If we now trace the course of any 

 little streamlet to a wooded glen full of pale green boc- 

 moss, covering the ground with a deep mass of spongy 

 vegetation, there we may happily discover the rare and 



