In the " Ramble " — Fourth Excursion 



pretentious growths. Its three-fingered leaf gives a light 

 effect to the foliage spreading in loose sprays on every 

 side. The flower is small, but in large clusters, and 

 would be highly ornamental if it were not so greenish ; 

 but the ripened fruit, in the form of clusters of white, 

 orbicular, winged seeds, like a snowy bunch of hops, is 

 of quite unusual sort, and is very decorative about the 

 last of August. This can well be used to beautify the 

 edge of a walk, or to break the monotony of a small 

 greensward. It is a native of the Middle and Western 

 States, but east of Ohio it is only seen in cultivation. 



Larch. — In the larch we encounter a type that dis- 

 tinctly borders upon the evergreens, yet breathing the 

 atmosphere of both deciduous and coniferous trees. The 

 European species, with longer leaves and larger cones, is 

 the one that is cultivated, being the more gracefiil and 

 thrifty of the two. With its luxuriant and needle-like 

 foliage and pendent branchlets, it is exceedingly effec- 

 tive in a dense cluster. While it suggests the spruce it 

 has none of its austerity. 



The leaves, an inch long and slender as a needle, 

 grow in dense clusters as in the cedar of Lebanon. Its 

 deciduous growth and cone-bearing propensities, show- 

 ing that it stands on the dividing line between two op- 

 posing orders of vegetation, give our anti-evolutionist 

 friend another hard nut to crack. The vaporous, vivid 

 green of a million-budded larch in spring is as beautiful 

 in its way as the bluebird's earliest call, and, with it, 

 becomes one of the naturalist's memories and anticipa- 

 tions of that joyous season. 



109 



