THE FLOWERS OF EARLY JUNE. II. 169 
Let us hope it may escape the prowlers which infest the 
woodland. John Burroughs in ‘“Wake Robin” was the 
first writer to describe to me its songs, but I am not yet 
certain that I have heard but one. 
One of the humble plants, which must find its way 
into any list of New England plants, is an emigrant 
hither from the Old World. The common yarrow, 
however, has an illustrious name (Achillea Millefo- 
fini). Its connection with the swift-footed Achilles of 
the Trojan war is certainly mythical, but it pleasantly 
reminds us that Achilles was a pupil of Chiron, the 
wisest and justest of all the Centaurs, and skilled in 
the art of healing.* Under a simple microscope its 
small heads of flowers form objects of great beauty. 
Several years ago, on a long, hot climb up Mount 
Washington by the bridle-path from the Crawford 
House, I was interested to notice the dwarfing of the 
vegetation as we ascended the mountain-side, and when 
we reached the long ridge which slopes away up to the 
topmost peak, and saw all around only dwarf birches 
and willows, lichens and mosses, we realized we were in 
the sub-arctic zone of vegetation as truly as if we were 
two thousand miles further northward. But at the very 
summit, a vigorous plant of Achillea was in bloom, un- 
daunted as its namesake in the midst of dangers that 
* See Landor’s /maginary Conversations, Vol. 1., Achilles and Helena. 
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