THE MIDSUMMER FLOWERS. 227 
at least four species besides the garden one, which also 
sometimes escapes from cultivation. Besides these there 
are the tall-stemmed but inconspicuous-flowered horse- 
weed, the drooping-flowered Prenanthes, the Joe-Pye 
weed, the thoroughwort and the yellow tansy. These are 
eminently soé¢ial flowers too: it is very rarely that a 
single plant of any of them is found growing by itself. 
The faint sweet odor borne on the gentle breeze 
tells us that the brownish clusters of the ground-nut 
ought to be found near by. The downy fox-glove pre- 
pares the way for the other four members of its genus 
(Gerardia). Its yellow flowers are far-seen in the forest 
glades. The spearmint is a favorite mint even yet, and 
is often found in the neighborhood of neglected or aban- 
doned farm-houses. No adept in wort-cunning can 
afford to be ignorant of its virtues. It was once re- 
garded as the mint of mints— ‘the smell of which was 
believed to corroborate the brain and increase and pre- 
serve the memory, and it was venerated like one of the 
holy herbs.” The day of simples and of simplers is 
nearly gone, and with these are going those old super- 
stitions which spread the charm of romance over a great 
part of the vegetable kingdom. 
“The old men studied magic in the flowers, 
And human fortunes in astronomy, 
And an omnipotence in chemistry, 
And, wheresoever their clear eye-beams fell, 
They caught the footsteps of the SAME.” 
