The Charm of Color 
241 
us within a few years, by the introduction of the 
vivid red of Italian clover. It is eagerly welcomed 
to our fields, so scant of scarlet. This clover was 
brought to America in the years 1824 et seq., and is 
described in contemporary publications in alluring 
sentences. I have noted the introduction of several 
vegetables, grains, fruits, berries, shrubs, and flowers 
in those years, and attribute this to the influence of 
the visit of Lafayette in 1824. Adored by all, his 
lightest word was heeded ; and he was a devoted 
agriculturist and horticulturist, ever exchanging ideas, 
seeds, and plants with his American fellow-patriots 
and fellow-farmers. I doubt if Italian clover then 
became widely known ; but our modern farmers now 
think well of it, and the flower lover revels in it. 
The exigencies of rhyme and rhythm force us to 
endure some very curious notions of color in the 
poets. I think no saying of poet ever gave greater 
check to her lovers than these lines of Emily Dick- 
inson : — 
“ Nature rarer uses yellow 
Than another hue ; 
Saves she all of that for sunsets. 
Prodigal of blue. 
Spending scarlet like a woman. 
Yellow she affords 
Only scantly and selectly. 
Like a lover’s words.” 
I read them first with a sense of misapprehension 
that I had not seen aright ; but there the words 
stood out, “ Nature rarer uses yellow than another 
hue.” The writer was such a jester, such a tricky 
R 
