— 2 — 



At last the ground was all gone over, and, after my boasting 

 and trouble, I was defeated. A day or two after, the hotel pro- 

 prietor said to me, as I came in from a tramp: " I am sorry you 

 were out to-day ; a friend stopped here, who, when I told him you 

 were hunting for flowers, said there was one which grew near his 

 home, of which Prof. Peck of Albany said that, so far as he knew, 

 it was the only place in America where it grew." Very early the 

 next morning I was on my way to the home of his friend, some 

 miles away, only to find he had already gone to Syracuse for the 

 day. His daughter, however, remembered hearing her father 

 speak of some rare plant which grew at a certain place on the 

 farm. I went to the place, and sought vainly. I did find speci- 

 mens of Ophioglossum vulgatu7n, the first I had ever seen grow- 

 ing, but no Botrichium. I finally had to give it up, as it was late 

 in the afternoon, and I had gone fasting all day. 



After my usual fashion I started for home, on a "bee line," 

 as nearly as I could make it, across pasture fields, down a ridge 

 of cliffs, down a steep wooded descent, when, in a little open 

 place, I came upon some fronds of Phegopteris dryopteris, the 

 finest I had ever seen. I ran my hand in the soft earth under a 

 bunch of them, rooted them out, and raised them to look more 

 closely upon their grace and beauty, when to my astonishment, 

 and, I need not say, delight, I saw also in my hand a specimen of 

 my eagerly-sought-for Botrychium / There I was, right "in it." 

 I dared, discreetly and with moderation, to take a few specimens, 

 but I had the locality ! 



That evening the gentleman, returning from Syracuse and 

 hearing of my visit, hastened to the hotel to find me. He expressed 

 his regret that he had not been at home to show me the plant. 

 " But," I said, "I found it, and a pretty little fern it is." " Fern,'* 

 said he; "it isn't a fern. It belongs to the catnip family." I 

 went again, and was shown where for many years Salvia scleria 

 had been growing wild. There had been more luck than I had 

 known, and not the least was that I had not found that man at 

 home that day ! 



It is only fair to myself to say the plant was not found in that 

 "area of certainty " by considerable. And it may also be added, 

 it did not grow under the common European conditions. I had 

 agreed to tell the locality, if I found it, to my lady friend whose 

 challenge I took up. So there were two more in the secret ! 



