Vermont Botanical and Bird Club 7 



The Summer Meeting of 1914. 

 Nellie F. Flynn. 



The summer meeting of 1914 was held at Pair Haven, Thursday, 

 Friday and Saturday, July 9, 10 and 11. Headquarters were at Hotel 

 Allen, which sets an unexcelled table. 



Thursday morning was spent in botanizing on some of the hills of 

 slate rock formation near the village and at a place owned by Zenas H. 

 Ellis, a member of the club, who is carrying on a small experiment 

 farm for his own amusement. He grows a great many plants of 

 economic value — fruits, nuts, berries, etc., in great variety. Among 

 them were the black walnut, fig, olive, cactus, a Physalis, which makes 

 a delicious preserve sampled by the club, an Amelanchier heavily loaded 

 with especially fine fruit, all sorts of garden herbs, and other plants 

 too numerous to mention. 



The afternoon was spent in a cedar swamp where grows the swamp 

 valerian, Valeriana uliginosa. Some hybrid ferns were also found, 

 besides the usual plants of such a habitat. Calypso oorealis was looked 

 for in vain. 



Friday, the board of trade of Fair Haven furnished automobiles to 

 carry us to West Haven and return. The day was spent about the 

 ponds and cliffs of that region. The ponds were visited in the morning 

 and among other plants was found the water star-grass, Heteranthera 

 dubia. A long log lying beside the Poultney river furnished seats 

 while we lunched, and after the inner man was satisfied, the cliffs 

 furnished some good stiff climbing. We were well rewarded, however, 

 by finding luxuriant specimens of the purple cliff brake, Pellaea atro- 

 purpurea, the slender cliff brake, Gryptogramma Stelleri, the wall- 

 rue spleenwort, Asplenium Ruta-muraria, and the maidenhair spleen- 

 wort, Asplenium Trichomanes. Special attention was paid to the black- 

 berries on all the trips. 



Saturday morning was to have been spent at Carver's Falls on the 

 Poultney river, but lack of water owing to drought and a new dam, 

 made the conditions unsatisfactory, and the trip was given up. The 

 members dispersed in their several directions, some of us taking a side 

 trip to Lake Bomoseen on the way back to Rutland. 



The weather man smiled on the club as he has a habit of doing, 

 and as the attendance was good — some 30 members being present — the 

 meeting was very satisfactory. 



