Botany of the Upper St. J ohn. 
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BOTANY OF THE UPPER ST. JOHN. 
BY G. U. HAY. 
[Read before the Society, November 7th.] 
In the course of two hasty visits to the upper St. John, the 
first in the summer of 1879, and the second during the past summer, 
I have been enabled to discover the whereabouts of some plants not 
before found in the Province, and to extend the range of a con- 
siderable number of species hitherto confined to a single locality, or 
which are at least comparatively rare in this country. “ A page in 
the Botany of the Upper St. John ” would perhaps be a more 
modest title for the present paper, as a much more extended observa- 
tion of the territory chiefly explored must be made before an accurate 
account of its flora can be given. 
I have noted in the following pages only such plants as are new and 
rare to the Province. The journey in each case was made in mid-sum- 
mer when forest and river bank were literally teeming with vegeta- 
tion. The length of each trip, the short time for its accomplish- 
ment, and its pleasures and difficulties were impediments to the slow 
and careful work so necessary in the examination of any particular 
territory. Then on the one hand the ferocious assaults of black flies 
and mosquitoes, the labour of striking and folding tents, and pro- 
viding for material wants, made the pursuit of science one of some 
difficulty ; while on the other, the keen delight experienced in view- 
ing the magnificent stretches of scenery which the upper waters of 
our River afford, and the exciting sport of now running rapids and 
again rushing along with wind and current at the rate of six or 
eight miles an hour would prove too strong an antidote to scientific 
zeal, and the plants on shore would get a bare nod of recognition in 
passing. 
The field presented to the botanist by the St. John River and 
its tributaries is an interesting one. Entering the Province at its 
extreme north-west corner the River sweeps along with varying 
current for nearly 300 miles before it passes our doors. Unfor- 
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