18 



THE A.AIERICAN BOTANIST 



clover, tansy, sweet marjoram, pimpernel, thyme, self-heal, 

 and a host of others enshrined in our literature. 



Arbutus loves to hide itself under masses of fallen leaves 

 or pine needles and prefers a sandy soil. With a stick or 

 cane one goes prodding among the rustling leaves, seeking 

 for floral treasures. Suddenly, with a lucky ''cast," as the 

 angler would say, there is revealed a bed of rosy, blushing, 

 flowers with spicy ineffable fragrance, as if the fragrant chal- 

 ices had in some mystic way caught and transmuted the 

 divine odors of pine, birch, fern, and partridge berry. 



The humble plant never suggests the garden; indeed, it 

 shrinks from coddling and is killed by over kindness. Very 

 seldom, in my experience does it succeed in cultivation. Even 

 with the best success, it is apt to run out after a season or two, 

 unlike hepatica which takes lovingly to petting. Who of us 

 ''grown-ups," who of Dr. Holmes' "superfluous decade," can 

 forget the far off days, when youth and maid together, we 

 went hunting for the firstlings of spring. One who knows 

 Epigaea only from the tinsel-bedecked, scrappy, handfuls sold 

 on the city streets, has never seen the actual plant. It is 

 cruelty to vegetation to treat it so. Pegasus cannot pull the 

 plough ; the born aristocrat will not take the arm of the bour- 

 geois, nor the wild, shy arbutus seek city associates. She must 

 be known in her chosen home under pines and oaks afar from 

 city noise and dust. 



Proridcncc , R. I. 



