JUNE, JULY, AND AUGUST. 135 



-^ dangerous character to bring into the garden ; it is 

 apt to choke everything it can get hold of, and it 

 spreads with remarkable rapidity from year to year. 

 The flowers begin to bloom in July. Our garden 

 morning-glory {Tpomoaa jpurpured), with a heart- 

 shaped leaf, comes from South America. 



Dodder. That most distressing weed which goes 



Cuscuta, GronoiiU. \y^ t^g name of dodder is a plague 

 which, in its disintegrating power, can only be com- 

 pared to sin ! It works the greatest mischief if it 

 gets within the confines of the garden. The little 

 vine is parasitic, and it saps the energy of every 

 plant it can fasten itself upon ! Celia Thaxter evi- 

 dently had great trouble with it in her island garden. 

 She speaks of it thus : " The plants emerge from the 

 ground, each like a fine yellow hair, till they are an 

 inch and a half or two inches long ; they reach with 

 might and main toward the nearest legitimate-grow- 

 ing plant, and when they touch it, cling like a limpet ; 

 then they draw their other end up out of the ground 

 and set up housekeeping for the rest of their lives. 

 They adhere to the unhappy individual upon which 

 they have fixed themselves with a grip that grows 

 more and more horrible; they suck all its juices, 

 drink all its health and strength and beauty, and fling 

 out trailers to the next, and the next, and the next, 

 till the whole garden is a mass of ruin and despair." 



