YELLOW AND ORANGE WILD FLOWERS 
coarse, bright green leaves grow above the surface 
of the water so thickly that it is almost impossible, 
sometimes, to push a canoe or rowboat through them. 
Muddy bottoms and sunny exposures cause them to 
grow in greatest profusion, from April to September. 
The flower is stiff and waxy, and has the appearance 
of being a stunted blossom, which had become deformed 
before it had a chance to mature. Many a stranger 
from the city has scoffed the idea of wet feet in order 
to secure one of these golden cups, only to cast it aside 
with a keen sense of disgust and disappointnient. 
The Spatter-dock encroaches persistently on arti- 
ficial ponds, which have been made by construeting 
dams across small streams, causing the water to back 
up and flood the shallow land adjacent thereto, for the 
purpose of harvesting ice during the winter. It often 
happens that a considerable area of a pond becomes 
choked with the leaves of this plant, and unless checked 
in some way, they would cause the loss of many tons 
of marketable ice. To overcome this difficulty, the 
owners usually open the locks and release the water 
during midsummer, allowing the ponds to run dry for 
several weeks. While this operation does not always 
kill the roots, it does affect the foliage, which causes 
the trouble, and itis left to the mercy of the sun. 
In the carly fall the floodgates are closed, and the 
rising water insures a clear field of ice. Anyone not 
familiar with the construction of the Spatter-dock’s 
blossom would naturally describe it as a yellow flower, 
having six large, yellow petals, and a great, big pistil, 
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