PHANTOM FLOWERS. 



79 



in the decomposed leaves and trimmings of its own 

 species. 



The science which enables us to understand not only 

 the history, the names, the virtues, and the associa- 

 tions connected with all plants, as well as the wonder- 

 ful relations, the admirable laws which govern their 

 structure, and the important part they bear in the 

 economy of the universe, is worthy of the careful study 

 of every intelligent person. He will find it worth 

 while to become familiar with a science which, wher- 

 ever his steps may lead him, from the bleak mountain- 

 top, crusted over with mosses and lichens only, to 

 warm and luxuriant tropical valleys, where the mag- 

 nificence of vegetable wonders almost bewilders the 

 senses, will still furnish him with new subjects for ad- 

 miration. It will make his morning walk in the gar- 

 den or over the meadow a new delight. A tramp 

 along the commonest field path, or a ramble by the 

 wayside, which, to the eye of the dull and unlearned, 

 may be mean and barren, he will find rich in interest 

 and exuberant in beauty. No thinking person, whose 

 home is in the country, and who loves Nature, w^ould 

 fail to find in such studies an inexhaustible fund of 

 gratification. The fields, the forests, the entire land- 



