STUDIES OF PLANT LIFE 
at the rear of which lies a low marshy flat covering several 
acres of wet ground—a rare garden and nursery for many 
charming flowering shrubs and exquisite bog-loving plants. 
A beautiful carpet of white Peat Moss (Sphagnum cymbi- 
folium) is spread over the surface nearly a foot deep; on 
this we see the graceful low-bush Cranberry trailing its 
slender branches with their dark green glossy myrtle- 
like foliage and delicate pink revolute flowers, as well 
as berries in every stage of progress—the tiny green 
immature fruit, the golden, the mottled and the deep red 
ripe berry. How tempting to the hand and eye! There 
the slender-leaved Sundew mixes its white flowers with the 
fringed Orchis, sending up from the watery soil its modest 
flowers in the midst of a bed of the grand blossoms of that 
rarely constructed plant, the “ Pitcher Plant” (Sarracenia 
purpurea), or, as it is called by some writers, “‘ Side-saddle 
flower.”* 
The bog of which I speak abounds in shrubs, among 
which we see the narrow dark-leaved Sheep-laurel (Kalmia 
glauca), with its rose-colored flowers; the aromatic Sweet- 
Gale (Myrica Gale), and Labrador Tea (Ledum latifolium), 
with its revolute rosemary-like narrow leaves and whitish 
flowers. Above all for beauty is the White Peat Moss 
itself, with its soft velvety foliage, varying in shade from 
pale sea-green or creamy-white to delicate pink and deeper 
rose. I know of nothing more lovely than are these 
“exquisite Sphagnums; nor are they without their value, for 
they are much used by the florist and gardener in packing 
roots and plants for sale. 
There are more vegetable treasures to be found in the 
* Gray says it-is difficult to fancy any resemblance between this flower and a side- 
saddle. I venture to suggest that the common name originated from the flap-like exten- 
sion of the leaf. 
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