_Editor Mayflower:_
It is only an old paint keg, but it contains things of beauty, which are
"a joy forever." In December, the weather being unusually mild, with no
snow on the ground, I visited the woods on the last botanizing
expedition of the year. Most of the plants were curled up for their
winter sleep, but a little search brought to light undeveloped Ferns of
some species and others that were still green with last season's growth.
They were carefully taken up and set out, and have been kept in a
northeast window through the winter. Now they are rested and for several
weeks have been waking up. Let me tell you what spring reveals in that
limited space, as some unlooked-for plants were hidden under the moss
and Ferns. Above all the rest rise delicate fronds of the Maiden Hair
and more of the reddish crooks are unfolding. The common Polypodium
shows both the fruited fronds of last year and the lighter green of
recent growth. Rarest of all is the Walking Leaf, also fruited, with its
long feet reaching nearly across the keg. They will find a foothold, and
so form new plants. The tiny Asplenium Trichomanes, which has never
before flourished when transplanted by me, is sending up fresh fronds,
already fruiting. A few fronds each of the Buck Fern and Cystoptiris or
Bladder Fern, with at least three kinds of moss complete the list of
"Flowerless Plants." Three little clumps of Violets are sending out new
leaves. There are a few leaves of Partridge-berry vine, a yellow Oxalis,
an Orchid called Rattlesnake-Plantain, having lovely velvety leaves
veined with white, a few sprigs of Mouse-ear Chickweed, and, last of
all, a leaf of a Jack-in-the-Pulpit plant, the corm of which was
doubtless hidden among the roots of the Ferns. So, while the cold winds
are blowing, snow is yet on the ground, and the thermometer registers
several degrees lower than the freezing point, I have a little bit of
summer where, at my leisure, I may study the development of fifteen
species of plants, at the same time admiring their delicate beauty and
inhaling the odor of the woods.--_M. A. L._
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