St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1874-07-10
Written for the st. .Johmsbmry Caled"nian.
In the Woods.

Written for the 81. Johnsbmry Caled"nian.
In the Woods
NJ. Editor Perhaps Il few words
from me NAV he of interest to such of
your readers us use their eyes now and
then in the woods.
A knowledge of trees and weeds is,
first of all. practical knowledge. If amy
New England man will walk Though
the botanical museum of the ''BuSSey
Institutc''-a branch of Harvard and
observe carefully the specimens of
wood, he will learn to prize the treas
ures which the axe is so rclentlcSSly
telling on his hill-sidcs. If he takes up
il specimen of maple from New Eng
land and compares it with maple from
any other part of the world, he will see
that his own is best. The same test
will apply to the oaks, pines, spruces,
hemlocks, beech, ash, chestnut. -Four
teen species of New England forest trees
Surpass, in every respect, the same
species OF their representatives. in any
other part of the world. Humboldt has
Described the vast, sombcr forests of
South America. but IL stuntcd forest ON
IL Vermont hill-si is far better for the
uses of man, and Vermont timber has
found It's way into the markets of Val
paradise.
If we pass now from the museum at
Cambridge wherein only the living have
found place, to the beds of Ignite and
clay ut Brandon a botanic museum in
which are stored the ruins of an earlier
world-we shall see facts which kiudic
the Imagination. Here are pctriticd
nuts and fruits, among others the palm
and sapodilla. They carry the mind
climate as mild. perchancc. as that of
Florida and groves of palm were WAY
in" at the foot of her mountains, Her
vegetation, then. WIS Scmi-trnpical.
Now it is Scmi-arctic and Alpine. Our
naples. oaks. willows. chcStnut>. tell of
revolutions in the face of the earth and
winding migiatiomS. This is not
their fIthcrland. We trace them lay
devious wandcringS to Oregon. over the
Aleutian Islands t" Asia. through Asia
to Europe. to Switzerland. into Il group
of strata at the foot of the Alps. There
is the tathcrland of ut least three hun
dred species of our trees and weeds
From Switzerland they spread over Asia
and 10y the AIcutian Islands they came
int" America. Very long az" they
came. Others. like ourselves. are new
corners.
y tavoritr of every lover of floral
beauty is the "twin flower. Il long
creeping stem. roofing and branching
through the whole length. covering the
ground i'll large patches and -cndin"
up delicate hairy pcdiccl> which bear
atop the twins. two hrll->hapc.l. r"S,-
colorcd. fragrant flowers. We have
never seen the twin flower 81 far south
as Boston hut around st. bloomsbury We
find it in great protm>iom. It's father
land is northern Europe. Against the
snowy Ladies' slipper. Il native. 1t is
the queen of the hogs. Among the
orchids il is peerless. England can
boast only one representative of the
genus and that i almost extinct Anon"
her rarcSt eX"tir- she prizes the Amer
lean Cyp,jp"ii"m SpcctubjIc. 80 album
dant i'll Il 81. .j,hnShurN boz. cannot
describe il better than 10y borrow ing
from my Pedigree of Plants in tn,
Science Monthly. I'VE have three
colorS. The petals are snow white. the
lip Is luStrouS white. melting into mat
gcnta. which in turn dcrpcns into pur-
pie. and the sterile StanIrn which
mimic> Il petal and dips into the sac
formed 10y the Inflated lip is pale vel
low. The white is the purple and vel
low bIcnicd together. This color gem
points IL law. When Il flower has three
cnlorS. two of which are complimentary
the third will he white. representa-"
the blending of the other two"
This richness of color aS we have
shown is in correlation with the eyes
and appetitcs of insects but it is Il Gift
from the sun. \ week ago we planted
Il stem in Il pot of earth and placed it
in IL room ont of the sunshine. 1t WAS
in bud then. 1t is in bloom now and
stands before me all luStrouS. SilvcrN
white.
This strange plant is full of instruc-
ton. If the maple and the willow have
come to us after long .ioulncyin@ over
continents and islands, 50 the cypri-
pcdium, with organs ahortcd, with others
coalesced, with all the parts so strange
" twisted, must have reached its all
normal structure travelling through
ways, long and devious.
w. ID. CUNNING