
          355.

ward the road seemed more disagreeable than during the
morning, no doubt, due to the greater amount of travel.
Whenever a team would pass great clouds of dust would
rise from the ground.  Before long I was almost as
completely dust covered as the plants on the road-side.
A walk of this kind is of all the most disagreeable, nor
can it be said that those in the teams have it much
better; how much more is a tramp during a day of rain to
be preferred, the air then pure and cleansed of dust.

What a wise provision of nature that plants have the greater
number of breathing pores on the under surface of their leaves,
how soon they would be smothered if they were only on the
upper surface.  Water-plants, alone, and they run no risk of
being smothered by dust, having them on the<s>ir</s> upper surface.

Near the blacksmith's I found a nice plant of Melissa
officinalis; this plant is only found occasionally, and when
found seldom in great<s>er</s> numbers.  Two or three plants seen
to be the greatest number ever seen.  I reached Brooklyn in
the course of an hour and a quarter; here I took the car
and reached home about 5 o'clock.
        