THE LATE SUMMER FLOWERS. 251 
fertilization in the vegetable kingdom. Several species 
of Lycopodium are now in their prime, and the brake is 
ripening its spores and scattering them as widely as it 
can, Here and there a late hawkweed shows its yellow 
flowers, and the artichoke run wild lifts its sunflower- 
head in the copse. Thorn-apples, coarse and rank, have 
taken possession of neglected gardens in rivalry of the 
sow-thistle and its kindred. 
When the fringed gentian and the witch-hazel 
come we know that the summer is passed. The leaves 
have fallen or are falling. The naked branches of the 
witch-hazel, adorned with the thickly-clustered flowers 
of yellow strap-shaped petals, present a weird appear- 
ance. It, too, is hopeful of another year, of another 
returning sun to complete the work which is this season 
left unfinished. It looks through the dark abyss of 
winter to the warm sunny skies beyond. Shall we be 
less brave or less hopeful? 
