STUDIES OF PLANT LIFE 
and forms a part of the edible berry. The habit of the 
plant is evergreen, and it may be found on sandy knolls, 
in thickets, and under the shade of bushes in oak-openings; 
a finer, larger form is also to be met with in the forest, in 
cedar swamps, the leaves, fruit and flowers being nearly 
twice the size of the above. The leaves are strongly 
revolute at the edges, very smooth and shining. 
There is nothing that we cling to with fonder affection 
than the flowers of our country, especially such as in 
childhood we delighted to gather. Thus the daisy, prim- 
rose and violet of England and Ireland and the bonnie 
heather and harebell of old Scotia are dear to the heart 
of the emigrant, and the sight of one of these beloved 
flowers, cherished in a garden or greenhouse, will awaken 
the tenderest emotions. An old Scotchwoman when asked 
how she liked Canada replied, “ Ay, nae dout it’s a gude 
land for food and for the bairns, but there is nae a bit of 
heather or ae bonny bluebell in a’ the lan’. It’s nae like 
my ain country.” 
When shown a bunch of harebells which I had gathered 
‘fresh from a gravelly bank, she grat (wept) at the sight of 
ithem. “To see,” she said, “the bonnie wee things once 
umair before I die!” 
1 I was once touched by the rapture, even to tears, of a 
Bwiss nurse who, on seeing some flowers of the Alpine 
Ranunculus growing in the garden of Tavistock Square, 
flung herself on the grass beside them and kissing each 
blossom cried out, “ Ah! fleur de mon pays!” (Ab! flower 
of my country!) 
The brilliant scarlet berries of several of the shrubby 
little Wintergreens, forming so gay a contrast to the dark 
glossy foliage, render them very attractive. 
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