STUDIES OF PLANT LIFE 
even of the sprigs of the hemlock spruce. Many of the old 
folks still retain a liking for the teas made from the wild 
herbs, and use them as diet-drinks in the spring of the year 
with great benefit to their health. 
The light feathery clusters of minute white flowers of the 
Ceanothus have a charming appearance among the dark 
green foliage, and adorn the hills and valleys of the grassy 
Canadian plain lands. Where the soil is light loam the 
shrubs are lower; the flowers also are somewhat smaller, 
but very abundant, and give out a faint sweet odor. In 
damper, more shaded spots, the flower clusters are larger 
and are borne on long footstalks. The leaves of the shrub 
are ovate, oblong, ribbed, and toothed at the edges. The 
root is of a deep red color, astringent and used medicinally. 
The flavor of the leaves is slightly bitter and aromatic. 
I consider this pretty Ceanothus to be one of the most orna- 
mental of our native flowering shrubs, and well worthy 
of introduction into our gardens. Abundant clusters of 
delicate white flowers, that cover the bush during the 
months of July and August, have the appearance, at a little 
distance, of the froth of new milk. The flowers are slender, 
the petals hooded, spreading, on slender claws longer than 
the calyx, which is five-lobed, colored like the petals. The 
seed-vessel is three-lobed, splitting into three parts when 
dry; the seed is round, hard and berry-like. The. branches 
and woody stems wither and die down in autumn, to be 
replaced by new shoots in the ensuing spring. In height 
the shrub varies from two to five feet. 
WILD SMOOTH GoosEBERRY—Ribes oxyacanthoides (L.). 
Our woods and swamps abound with varieties of the 
widely diffused Gooseberry and Currant family, and though 
at present neglected and despised, they, no doubt, could, by 
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