The Chorus of the Forest 



riness, care, and deep sorro\v. Flowers and bird 

 songs are to cheer tlie waj^ for all, and some need 

 encouragement so sorely. Possibly the very next 

 comer may be sad-hearted, and the bright blooms 

 Mould offer cheer. Who are you, to monopolize 

 any gift of the I^ord merely because you happen 

 to be the first to find it? 



The only ^vay to make any diminution of the 

 small s])ring flowers would be to j^low and till the 

 soil. But of the larger, later growths mentioned 

 some are at present almost extinct. Ten years ago 

 tall, blue bellflower waved in almost every fence- 

 corner of my immediate territory. This summer 

 vigorous search for just enough to fill an eight by 

 ten photographic plate revealed it in only three 

 places, widely separated. Another hunt disclosed 

 foxfire in one locaticm, and no cardinal flower. 



In the woods where mandrake formerly grew 

 in half-acre patches, trampling cattle and rooting 

 pigs, aided by ruthless flower-gatherers, have Apples 

 played havoc witli it until search is required to find "* ^^^ 

 a healthy, typical growth. INIandrake is a wonder- 

 fully peculiar plant and, aside from its medicinal 

 value, is beautiful and bears fruit. In early spring 

 the tender leaves, wrapped around their stems like 

 a folded umbrella, come pushing through the earth. 

 The plants have one stalk, that branches at the 

 height of ten or twelve inches, each branch sup- 

 l)orting a big leaf made up of four or six sections, 



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