XII 

 AN AUTUMNAL HILLSIDE 



Out in the wild, rugged, broken territory of 

 New York not far from Tuxedo is a steep hillside. 

 All around are mountains, valleys, and lakes that 

 suggest the wilderness of the Adirondaeks. At 

 its base is a wide-spreading mass of forest trees, 

 where Nature placed them — chestnuts, oaks, and 

 quantities of dogwoods. On top of this hill, two 

 hundred feet high, a spot was found for a vine- 

 clad arbor from which could be seen an extended 

 view — ^homestead, meadows, lake, farms, forest- 

 clad mountains, and valleys. On one side, the 

 forest trees extend part way up the hill and 

 include within their borders great masses of lichen- 

 stained and weather-beaten rocks. Clustering 

 among these rocks have been planted ferns, 

 wild native azaleas, various wild flowers suited to 

 shady places, sweet fern, Comptbnia asplenifolia 

 and hosts of small woodland plants. 



Passing along the base of the hill by the. edge of 

 the forest a road has been carried from the more 

 cultivated part of the place. Here a turn for the 

 carriage encloses a group of tangled wild Michigan 

 roses, six or eight feet high, which bear abundant 

 clusters of small, single, pinkish-white flowers in 

 late June, and from among them rise several fine 



[46] 



