EARTH COVERINGS 
279 
hears it always spoken of as ‘‘ purple heather,” 
though in reality the coloring of the blossom is 
pink. Seen at a distance, however, especially 
at evening, it has a purplish effect which per- 
haps justifies the popular description of it. 
It grows in vast rolls, and sweeps along the 
slopes about Dalwhinnie in the Grampians, 
and nothing could be more beautiful than the 
hills of that region during the first week of 
September, when they are clad in their purplish- 
pink mantle. The absence of timber, the uni- 
formity of the heather-covering, the beauty of 
the sky lines, the splendor of the light and the 
clouds, all make for a simple, yet broad and 
noble landscape—a country one might well fight 
for and, if need be, die for. 
Our own golden-rod is no such complete 
earth covering as the heather, and it is not 
usually seen spread over such vast reaches of 
territory, but it nevertheless plays an important 
part in the autumn landscape. Oftentimes 
it covers many acres of field and upland, and 
in the mass of its coloring it is singularly rich 
and attractive. Very appropriate, too, is this 
coloring to the fall of the year when the skies 
are warming and the leaves are changing. In 
the late summer, when it first appears, it is a 
Heather- 
color. 
Golden- 
rod, 
