The Jersey City news., 1902-08-28


abound in shades and tints of purple.
vailing colors of the spring flowers.
though the hepatica and the wood violet
are purple. Even these, however, are
delicate in tint, as are most of the wild
blossoms of the spring.
With August come the stronger colors-
The thistle is now displaying its great
purple, many-petaled cushion, the spe-
cial delight of bees and butterflies and
all the tribe of insects that feed on nee
tar and make honey. The thistle is one
of the richest blossoms of the year, a
neglected and undervalued flower, doubt
less because of it's nettles. armed with
the formic acid of the bees sting. He
that will brave the nettles and bring
home the blossom will have a bold and
rich decoration for the country home.
Other purple wild flowers are the bone
set the purple of which has large ele-
ment of red and relatively small ele-
sment of blue. Then there are several
wild relatives of the pea, barring purple
or purplish blossoms in August. The
Qsti n, llti pulpl VI thS AoHdhAsit hNSN-N=
blossoms then give splendor to every
thicket and there are purple blossoms of
the mint family. The boneset purple is
more abundant than any other. The
flowers are in great heads, rising often
seven feet in height. In some of the
blossoms the blue is hardly present.
August also has its yellow blossoms,
tall cowslips of the fields, delicate in tex
ture and almost of the color of sulphur
The earliest goldenrod is also now in
bloom, sprays of powdered gold, more
beautiful now than later, when their-
very abundance takes for most persons
a little from their charm Beautiful sui
phur-colored gowans. such as John An
derson of Burns song plucked. also grow
in these parts. delicate flowers with few
petals and hard green center where
the true composite flowers really are.
A few warm ruddy gold lilies, first cousin
to the tiger lilies of the garden. still
bloom in swampy spots. nodding in
groups upon tall strong stems.
Richest of all the August blossoms is
the cardinal flower, sometimes called the
fy-catcher. This flower is of the most
brilliant dark red, pure solid color
rare in the wild flowers of this region.
The blossoms, which look little like
faring irregular trumpets an inch and
half in length, are arranged one above
another on three sides of rather tall
stalk.
This cardinal flower is somewhat rare
in this region, doubtless owing to the
fact that its brilliant coloring and beau
tiful form have marked it out for pluck
ing. 1t lives longer and developes many
new blossoms when plucked and taken
indoors. The plant is sometimes found
in the edge of a woodland or in "a clear
ing where there is plenty of light. The
name fy-catcher given to the plant
arises from the fact that insects are
often found sticking to its gummy stem,
caught when they visited the blossom
in search of honey. The blossom is with
out noticeable odor.
Another decoration of August is the
sumach, with its great plumes, rich. red
and velvety. Nothing makes a finer
beautifer of a cultivated bit of shrubbery
than the blossoming sumach against
background of evergreens or privet
hedge. Not even its abundance can make
it commonplace, or rob it of its decora-
tive quality or its distinction.
A fern dish filled with woodland plants
once helped to save young woman's
life. She had fallen into a dangerous
condition of melancholia. and woke each
morning with duh, fixed belief that she
would not outliye the day. Against this
a friend, quite accidentally, but fortuit-
ously. played mass of growing blood
root, hepatica and anemone. Both blood
root and anemone blossoms folded their
petalsAat night and woke with the sun.
The latter operation seemed particu-
larly to diyert the invalid, whose first
waking thought was whether the flowers
had been the earlier risers. She sternly
ordered the nurse that under no circum-
stances were these to be removed each
night with the other flowers. This was
the FIRST step in drawing her out Of her
self.
On the other hand, flowers thought
lessly selected sometimes have a most
unexpected effect. A young woman
who was rallying from a serious opera
ton, and who was in a highly nervous
condition, received box of pure white
roses and carnations nesting in maiden
hair ferns.
At sight of the well meant, but ill-ad-
vised offering, she became fairly hyster-
ical, and declared that people need not
send her funeral flowers until she was
at least dead.
And last, but not least, with your
flowers send characteristic note, if it
is only scrubbed on the back of your
card. Invalids prize these messages
highly, especially if no visitors are ad-
mitted to the room.
Very slender girls make a mistake in
wearing the too tight belt. Sometimes
the effect is positively unpleasant. That
pulled-in look is especially ugly at the
front. and reminiscent of the days when
small waist measure was desired at
any expense of comfort. looks orsaborted
anatomy.
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