J^CKSOM OF THE. MOUNTK\H FLORA; OR, YEGETABLE LIFE OF THE MOUNTAIN. .J: " Many such there are, Fair Ferns and Flowers, and chiefly that tall Fern So stately, of the Queen Osmunda named ; Plant lovelier in its own retired abode On Grasmere's beach, than Naiad by the side Of Grecian brook, or Lady of the Mere Sole sitting by the shores of Old Romance." Wordsworth, Who hath the virtue to express the rare And curious virtues both of herbs and stones ? Is there an herb for that ? Oh that thy care Would show a root that gives expressions ! • And if an herb hath power, what have the stars ? A rose, besides his beauty, is a cure. Doubtless our plagues and plenty, peace and wars. Are there much surer than our art is sure." ■ Herbs gladly cure our flesh, because that they Find their acquaintance there." Herbert. 204 Tin: ^%%y/ ^er, for, at this time, however dark the night ma} be, or dense the forests, the traveler sees his path illuminated by a mild, diffused light, each object integrated as by a hazy moon or snow. The effect of this mystic and peculiar light is enchanting. After being for a time in beech woods the contrast is fearful, if the pathway lies through a hemlock '■'■ red hecch." This occurs when the tree is old, but with small dia- meter, the annual layers being very thin, and the limbs and foliage small in quantity and proportion. With a large amount of limbs and leaves the white wood predominates, and a tree of a given diameter may exhibit only half the number of concentric annual sheets, and be of only half the age, of a red or heart-wood tree of the same dimen- sion of trunk. FLORA OF THE MOUNTAIN. '2'S6 forest. Almost perfect darkness seems at once to reign, and the journey must be groped through as in a region of absolute night. In mixed forests of these two trees the effect is always charming in the extreme, as they suggest different orders of associations and reveal different phases of the elements of life and beauty. ^ Oi the Cone-Bearers, or Pine Family, there are not many species on the mountain. A few pitch pines (Pinus rujidia) and yellow pines {Finns mifii>) on the eastern declivities and summits, also an occasional spot on the western slopes, to- gether with the white pine and hemlock, which are very abundant on the whole range, constitute the representatives of the evergreen, or terebinthinate order of plants. Genus Abies. — On the Alleghany proper there is but one species of Spruce in great abundance. There are several species of this genus on the parallel Appalachian ridges and intervening elevated valleys of Pennsylvania. Asa Gray cites this State as the locality of several species of Abies, viz., the Frascri, Nigra, Canadensis; and it is in the well- known botanical range of the "Balsamea" and "Alba." Some rare localities contain several of these beautiful species, with the Hackmatack. One of these localities is a delightful little "garden of the blest" among the "seven mountains" of Centre and Huntingdon counties, called the " Bear Mea- dows." It is a small, elevated synclinal trough, surrounded by high, sharp, white sandstone (Formation 4) mountains on all sides, with one outlet or gorge, through which flows the stream draining the valley. It is evidently the bed or rich bottom of a mountain tarn or lake, the waters of which have escaped by a rupture of the wall surrounding it. A wild, exquisite, and secluded spot, it would seem to be the fantastic Arcadia of some dreaming artist or lover of na- ture, hidden from the world's vulgar gaze, and consecrated to beauty. Fresh glimpses of green carpet-si)Ots of prairie, with osier beds and clumps of stately, solemn evergreens, black, silver, and balsam lir.s, with pines, cedars, and laurels, open into vistas of tall, deciduous trees, artistic and surprising 224 THE MOUNTAIN. in their exelusiveness and grace, A dark amber-colored stream, the water stained from vegetable infusion, and exhibit- ing throughout the year the tint of the mountain waters during the fall of the leaf, wanders, with a thousand curves and foldings, through wastes of reeds, sedges, azaleas, alders, and andromedas, cardinal flowers, "vegetable satyrs," and the more imperial Orchis, with weird Sarracenias and gold- thread Coptis. An ancient and deserted garden of rare and lovely evergreens, varied shrubbery, and beautiful flowers, this little valley seems, in its isolation and seques- tered beauty, to be a fragment of Paradise left unprofaned, to remind us of the splendor of the pristine home and of glories departed. Abies Canadensis. — The Canadian fir-tree, familiarly known as the "hemlock" of the mountain, is a very abund- ant species. It delights in northern exposures, as if seeking to battle with the coldest winds, asking no sympathy from the more genial gales of the south. It forms large forests, thick and compact, taking a savage and exclusive possession of the surface, and destroying all other forms of vegetable life beneath them. These hemlock forests have a striking and unique appearance, unlike the forests of any other tree. Like the gloomy isles of dark, half-subterranean temples, enveloped in sepulchral gloom, the wanderer feels, as he treads their lonely and sequestered solitudes, that the darkness of night surrounds him at noonday. In sleepy silence, with hushed footsteps, he treads their labyrinths of majestic columns as if veritably in the "land of shades." In the winter they assume an extremely sombre aspect, appearing, in very cold weather, the ground being covered with snow, as if smoked or painted black. Like the forests of the " Inferno," gloomy and peculiar, the tree has a funereal hue, and chills while it invites and offers the protection of its shade. It seems exclusive, and holds its title to the surface by actual possession for hundreds of years. The hemlock of the mountain grows sometimes to an enor- mous size, frequently attaining the circumference of 20 feet, FLORA OF THE MuUNTAIX. 225 with a liL'iglit of l:iO ft'et. These vast towers of woody fibre are the records of ages of labor of the vegetable life-powers, reclaiming the carbon, earth, and water of the world from chaotic lloating. They till the observer with astonishment, their massive forms, "like pillared props of heaven," sug- gesting the limbs of "Atlas, whose brawny back supports the starry skies." Their scraggy and rugged trunks give more the idea of rocky shafts than trees, and, like granite needles or stoue obelisks, they seem to say they will stand forever. Tiie lumber of this tree is of great value. PiNUS STiioBUS. — The white pine, like the hemlock, is scat- tered over the whole mountain in almost every })osition, rocky height, or ravine, but only prevails in extensive continuous groves along the valleys of the streams, or the cold undulating surfaces of the table-lauds. It grows in dense close-set masses, which have an expression, sui generis, from the specific shape or style of the tree. It is the loftiest of our indigenous trees, quoted by some of the books at from 80 to 100 feet, but in primitive mountain forests its straight thin columns often attain a height of nearly 200 feet, with an exceedingly narrow diametric base. These small, tapering stems look like masts of ships or lightning-rods, their delicate hair-leaf foliage giving the appearance of green mist in their tallest boughs, the whole woods waving like a grove of colossal plumes in the wind. The sharp, tapering summits of these trees do not intercept the rays of light as occurs in the interlocked canopy of the hemlock forests, but give a green and airy lightness, diffused through their densest groves, with- out the oppressive sense of shade and darkness which pre- vail on surfaces covered by their more gloomy brother. When the white pine grows scattered in forests of other trees, it does not shoot up in single thin stems, but fre- quently forks or divides into groups of stems, which spring generally from a single, massive, knotty stump, or short trunk, which rises alone from the earth. The size of this basis or pedestal of the miniature forest above is often of enormous dimension and exceedingly irregular in contour, 226 THE MOUNTAIN. but it is evidently most generally the result of the germina- • tion of single seeds, some of them exhibiting, however, the appearance of two or three seeds having germinated in contact. The philosophy of the growth of this particular form is, apparently, that the different species of trees form- ing these groves have started from the earth's surface at the same time, but somewhat scattered, and, when the first branches of the infant pine were developed, the sur- rounding growth prevented a lateral expansion of the limbs, each of the primitive branches afterwards becoming a separate trunk or tree, and projecting itself upward, as the pine does in other crowded forests. From the point of separation at the forks, the limbs, each a noble tree itself, spring together, frequently of one size, like an immense chandelier, and rise in the air, the whole bundle of stems being supported and nourished by one large root-base. Many of these forked-pine trees have quite a celebrity, and have attained the character of individuals, and are visited as curiosities of the mountain. The lumber of the white pine is of great value, and forms one of the chief \^taples of the mountain. Ulmus. — Along the flats of some of the streams the elm often attains to a great size, sometimes dividing into regu- lar clumps of thin trunks, which bend outward from the centre, the whole summit being flat, and the tree of the shape of an inverted bell. Three species of the genus L'lmus grow on the mountain, viz., the "Americana," the "fulva," and "racemosa." They seek, as elsewhere, with their cha- racteristic instinct, the moist flats and neighborhood of streams. Many of these elms are of enormous size, and of exceedingly fantastic and eccentric forms, appearing to have, by some sylvan sorcery, been led to violate all sober and common-sense laws of tree-building, and to have grown by freaks of the vegetative forces into "monsters of such frightful mien," that, to be rememhered, ''need but to be seen."* To have introduced the photographic tran- * An exact and perfectly-elaborated portrait of an elm of rare and grotesque form and immense proportions has been painted for the FLORA OF THE MOUNTAIN. 227 scripts of some of these trees into any " Midsninmer Ni^rlit's Dream," would scarcely have been " to have stolen the im- pression of the fantasy" of Shakspeare's most ultra ima- ginative creations. Surely, in the presence of one of these fanciful forms, one would say, that the artist who should for- get or deny that a tree can be an individual, in its contour and lineaments as specific and unique as a statue of Phidias or a church of Michael Angelo, had better drop his pencil, or satisfy his aspirations by transcribing the stereotype trees of his first lesson-book, and by the transference to his can- vas of the pictures of fence-rails or timber-posts. With a sense of shame the forgiveness of the wood-gods must be implored for having neglected so long one of tlieir special admirations, a true splendor of the vegetable world, the Lyriodendron - TULiPiFERA, or tulip -tree, sometimes also called the wild poplar. The mountain sports this plant in a state of greatest perfection, its trunk attaining the largest proportions by the species anywhere achieved. A proud and lofty monarch of the American woods, it is admired as a beauty of the earth by all who have seen it. With a broad, lobed, and truncated smooth leaf giving a spe- Atnerican Academy of Music of Pliiladelpliia, by Russcl Srnitli, the well-known American landscape-painter. Every limb, twig, and almost every leaf, of this remarkable tree has been fixed on a canvas forty feet square, by the wonderful power and genius of this gifted artist. The original of this picture stands on the " everglades," or what was originally the beaver-dams of one of the tributaries of Clear- field Creek, three miles northwest of the "Alleghany Health Insti- tute." It may not generally be known, even Co Pennsylvanians, that many of the finest artistic combinations in the magniticent scenography of the Academy, the grandest histrionic temple in the woi'ld, were taken from the recesses of the Alleghany Moun- tain forests, in their native State, by the magical pencil of Russel Smith, a native artvii. To more intimately and thorouglily study and work from the beautiful models of the mountain, Mr. Smith has secured a rural cabin and piece of land near the "Alleghany Springs" and Pennsylvania Railroad summit, where, in his own words, "some of tlie brightest and grandest moments of my life have been passed." 228 THE MOUNTAIN. cial feature to its foliage, it bears a superb flower, as rich and varied almost, in its tints and style, as the tulip of the gar- dens. " Erect as a sunbeam" its stem sometimes shoots into a splendid shaft, almost a hundred feet in height without a limb, and then branches into a kingly diadem, or veritable CROWN of leaves and flowers. This shape has been frequently described already as peculiar to the trees growing in deep forests. In the tulip-tree it is perhaps the most striking of all. As its enormous trunk, fluted by a deeply-grooved bark of a silver-gray color, carries an almost unaltering thick- ness throughout its entire height, the imagination requires no assistance to behold its mass of verdure and beauty grow- ing from the summit of some majestic marble column " on Grecian wold." It is one of the valuable lumber-trees of the mountain. TiLiA Americana. — This is the linden or bass-wood, "lime-tree," and "white wood," a beautiful and noble tree, attaining to over 100 feet in height. In deep groves it has also the characteristic form of mountain trees, that is, with tall, straight, branchless stem, terminating in a mass of boughs, spray, and leaves, which, together with its smooth^ graceful trunk covered by white finely-ribbed bark, presents one of the most striking and beautiful denizens of the woods. The species " heterophylW^ is also found on the mountain. The lumber of the linden sells under the name of "ivhite- wood" with poplar and cucumber. Betula. — The Birch Family have several representatives here. These are the Betula lenta, ^'' nigra, ''^ "excelsa," and '' po^pyracea.''^ Some of them grow into large trees, as the " lenta'^ and '^nigra,^^ which are often found ninety feet high. The wood of the well-known sweet, or cherry-birch, the " lenta,^^ is valuable, giving a fine-grained red lumber, and good fuel. QuEROUS. — Several of the oak group are found here, and among them the Quercus alba, or familiar and valuable white oak. It does not grow in these localities, as in the Appalachian valleys, in continuous groves, but is found FLORA OF THE MOUNTAIN. 229 mixed in forests of other trees of tlie noblest proportions, which it ever assumes in any soil. QuERcus MONTANA affects the eastern slopes and sum- mits, having a taste, as its common name indicates, {rock chestnut -oak,) for rugged and stony surfaces. Associated with the last species is the " canfanea,^^ and scattered in dif- ferent localities over the mountain are the '*nigra,^'' '' tinc- toria,^^ "coccinea," "rtfbra,^^ and "falcafa.^^ From the size to which many of these species grow, it would seem that here must be a special home of the oaks.* Castanea. — The chestnut has a special affinity for the mountain. The Castanea vesca grows here to a pro- digious size, living ages. It bears the familiar well-known sweet nut, and has an extremely rugged bark, covering a coarse-grained, light wood, especially prized for its inde- structihility as a fencing material. The Castanea pumila or chinquepin, grows here also. Nyssa multiflora. — The tupelo, black or sour gum, grows sparsely over the mountain, presenting its ordinary characters in other localities. Platanus occidentalis. — The American plane, S3Ta- more, or buttonwood, is found on the streams at the base and on the table-lands of the Alleghanies, but not on its * In connection with oaks, a word on the progressive instincts of the Pennsylvanians may be in pLice. It has arranged itself on the record that it required the lumber-men of Maine to come to Pennsyl- vania to show her mountaineers the value of their forests, the "Yankee stave-cutter" having been a pioneer in one of the most valuable' lumber specialties of the mountain and the State. Tran- scendent Yankee!! his sliarpness is past finding out; he cuts the "trees that twist with the sun," saying, that those which "twist against the sun will not hold molasses.'^ Curious problem in the philosophy of kinka ; it seems that the refractory saccharine principle of the South requires a special twist of a special Northern oak to hold it level, and tins, too, by the upccial twist '^ with the sun,^^ and not ''against it." When will Pennsylvanians wake up to the special twists of Northern Fanatics and Soutliern Salamanders, both jcith and against the sun? 20 230 THE MOUXTAIX. summits. Its snow-white stems, mingled with the sombre hemlock, forms one of the finest and most striking contrasts in nature. Its lumber is valued for some purposes. The MoRUS rubra, or " Mulberry-tree,''^ grows in per- fection here. JuGLANS. — The species cinerea (butternut) of this genus is found in great abundance along the streams in the gorges, also higher up the mountain. The "nigra," or "black walnut,'^ is also found, but not in such quantity. Carta. — There are several species of hickory on the mountain. The "a/6a," or shell-bark, grows herewith its usual characters, but is not abundant. The "sulcata" grows along the base of the mountain, and in the little valleys of the streams. The " fomentosa" and " microcaiya" are here, but not abundant. The species "glabra" is very common on the Alleghany and some of its parallel ridges, constituting quite an article of commerce, the young, tough sprouts being sold for hoop-poles in immense quantities. The "amaj^o." is also found here. Several of this genus are but small and insignificant trees on the mountain. PoPULiJS. — Of this genus there are several species, as the " tremuloides,'' or "aspen," the " grandidentata," or long- toothed aspen, the "cdndicans," and "heterophylla." These are graceful and attractive trees, generally with smooth stems and beautiful foliage, but do not grow in the deep forests with the large, rough, mountain trees. The RoBiNiA PSEUDACACIA, or common locust, grows in profusion on the mountain. It frequently achieves the proportions of a considerable tree, and is valuable as an in- destructible timber."^' Salix.- — A number of willows have made their home on the mountain, both of the tree and bush form. Several of ^ On the question of its indestructibility, see Canal Commissioners' Reports generally of the Portage Railroad of the State, on the eternity of locust crossties, under the jurisdiction of the ship, the horses, and the plough, overshadowed by the protective wings of the American eagle — Virtue, Liberty, and Independence. rLOllA OF THE iMOUNTAIN. 231 the trees are familiar and liandsome, l)ut more of the penus are plain unostentatious shrubs. These are the principal trees which are found in the forests of the Allej^diany Mountains in Pennsylvania. The poet might make a book of biotrraphy, and the artist a gallery of paintiugs of these splendid trees alone. An euumeratiou of some of the most striking trees or larger forms of the vegetal)le world is all that has been produced as the living mantle or robes of life and organic appcudage to the mountain, viewed individually, and in the concrete, or masses of woods. What fills with amazement the ex- plorer of these forests is the thickness or density of the growth, and enormous size of the trees, lie is troubled to conceive how these huge and thickly-planted trunks, which seem to have scarcely room to stand, are nourished, or grow in the limited space allotted to each tree. Such pyramids of wood might be supposed to require some base to support them, but the trees are so crowded, that were not the surface of the earth the chained continuity of interlocked roots that it is, they could not stand. Where the axe commences to fell these forests, and trees are left standing alone, they soon fall to the earth for want of the support and protection of the surrounding mass. The woods are so dense as to be almost impenetrable, the under-growtli frequently having disappeared entirely, the branchless and naked trunks, supporting, only on their summits, a canopy of leaf-bearing branches. In some of these forests the fallen stems of im- mense trees, that have died of old age, half cover the ground. Here, in deep shadows and silence, sleep the mo- narchs of the forest, silent and sequestered, the dark soli- tudes furnishing a suitable graveyard for these heroes of a thousand storms, each one reposing as he fell, for now " Low lies tlie phiut to whose creation went Sweet intluence from every element ; Whose living towers the yt'Cirs ^ouspired to build. Whose giddy top the morning loved to gild." 232 THE MOUNTAIN. They sleep, while ever-busy Nature clothes each prostrate form with a shroud of verdant mosses, — thus it is " Out of sleeping, awaking, Out of waking, asleep ; Life death overtaking ; Deep underneath deep /" The general aspect of these forests, with their different changes in the procession of the seasons, must strike the most careless observer. During the winter they are stark and stern, the evergreen forests affording but a gloomy contrast, their dark-green foliage scarcely suggesting the thought of life, while the ceaseless moan of the cold and naked stems speaks only of death to the wolfish winds. Occasionally, in the winter forests, a phenomenon occurs of surpassing wonder. This is the sudden transition or transmutation, frequently during the night, as if by some magical power, of the whole forest of trees into a forest of glass. The mists, rains, and air charged with moist- ure, invest the tree-trunks, branches, and twigs with a clothing of ice, clear as crystal, so that the woods seem invested with an unrivaled splendor. This glittering and phantasmal array must be seen to be appreciated or con- ceived. The phenomenon of the hoar-frost is allied to this glass metamorphosis. This is the investment of each finest fibre of the woods with a snowy, crystalline, and sparkling velvet of frost, the air being filled with floating and brilliant spangles, detached by the slightest breath of wind. The vernal change is most genial and striking. After the long death-sleep of the winter, as is the case in northern latitudes, the leaves and flowers, with the first sun-fires, flash out upon the air with an endless succession of tints, forms, and outlines. The shades of green of the young foliage are numerous, giving a different appear- ance to each newly-arrayed tree. Each plant is peculiar in the character of its new-born leaves ; sometimes, as in the case of the beech, dropping from the twig a soft and deli- FLORA OF THE MOUNTAIN. 233 catc membrane that floats like a cubweh in the air; a-rain, as in the chestnut, han^inp^ sullenly as if wilted ; or, ai^ain, as in the oak and maple family, ohtrndinc^ their more anu-u- lar leaflets, whieh slick out rigidly from the terminal twigs. Each tree has a form or physiognomy for its new-born leaf, also for the perfect organ or full-grown leaf, and these dif- ferent aspects show trees as entirely unlike each other, in the different stages of unfolding, as the callow bird in the nest is unlike the full-plumed and perfect adult. Even the grave evergreens assume a new countenance in the spring from the protrusion of their annual growth of twigs which are covered with exceedingly delicate light-green leaves, giving to the tree, at this time, a gay and cheerful look. This fresh livery of the vernal forests forever inspires with joy and hopefulness ; for it is the time when the world and the soul are full of promise. With electrical enchantment the spirit of the woods reaches the spirit of the man, and he expands and vibrates with the budding and unfolding leaf, "for man is one world, and hath another to attend him." The vernal sounds of the woods are also striking and cha- racteristic, appropriate and fit, as are all the harmonies of the wild. The soft, young leaf has not yet arrived at firmness enough to rustle or creak, and the boiling, simmering, far- off storm and ocean-sound is not distinctly heard at this season. A soft, muffled whisper, a wavy, stifled murmur, is all that the wind can make, the delicate, drooping leaflet having no vibratory consistency, and consequently the ac- cumulated sound is a simple, monotonous l)reathing of the air through the moist, sappy lungs of the forest. As the foliage is perfected, and the summer cliange comes on, the whole leaf-garment assumes an entirely different expression. The monotonous dark-green of the fully-developed summer-dress of the trees gives the wood, with its diflerent plants, a more uniform aspect. In full array the forest is certainly richer and grander in this display of the life-powers, but it lacks the variety of the vernal tints. The color of all the leaves gradually darkens in hue as lid- 234 THE MOUNTAIX. they are perfected for the execution of their work, — the nourishmeut and re-creation of tlie tree. This darkened tint is gradually increased as the leaf hardens and ap- proaches its death-hour — the arrival of the frost. Some time before this, however, the woods present, for an interval, a sameness of feature, as if the leaves were silently at work, and had no time to give to the phases of beauty, but were hurrying up the execution of their func- tion to pass away into the sleep of death. At this time the full-grown, hard, and stiffened leaves give to the woods the sounds or characteristic summer-voices, — that seething and singing which is the result of infinite friction and vibra- tion of the hard, turgid, and perfectly developed foliage of all the trees. The roar of the woods, that great respi- ratory murmur, has now assumed a tone that cannot be mis- taken, and the storm-winds can "howl with the voices of all the gods." The hour of dissolution arrives as the autumn approaches. At this season a change occurs, the most ex- traordinary of all in the life of the leaf, and gives to the forests of the mountain a richness of expression, an end- lessness of variety unrivaled upon the earth. This first touch of the destroyer is, perhaps, the most extraordinary phenomenon of the whole vegetable-world, and, indeed, the most wonderful aspect which Nature reveals. '•So fair, so calm, so softly seal'd, The first, last look by death reveal'd, Before Decay's effacing fingers Have swept the lines where beauty lingers." The pageantry of the American forest in autumn has ever been the theme of the poet's song and subject of the pain- ter's pencil. It is exhaustless, as beauty is ever that fresh- water jet, that divine halifus, that ever-living sap of ex- istence, circulating vp '-'from the far-away centre of all things," and which each moment of time creates for the soul a rapture, brightly renewed forever. As this element of Nature is intangible, ethereal, and cannot be appro- priated, it is consequently, to the spirit of man, unattain- able, inexhaustible, divine. FLORA OF THE MOINTAIN. 285 It is especially the Allep;liany Mountain which reveals the perfect and perpetual wonder of the American autumn, — a chapter of the beauty of the world for which the (jld con- tinents have no parallel, and the earth's surface but one such spectacle. This comes of the extensive variety and mixture of deciduous trees, also of the mingling of this nu- merous class with the evergreen trees, in the woods of the mountain. Each tree has a regular series of colors, or hues and shades of color, through which its leaf passes, after the death-stroke of the frost. These are of an end- less variety, and of the most extraordinary hrilliancy. The solar spectrum is exhausted in this fantastic display of colors. A single tree sometimes stands a pillar of fire, or a glittering cloud of gold and purple, while again, the crimson blood-dye is succeeded by a tree which has taken its hue from the gaudy yellow of the nasturtion's cup, or the "dolphin's back of gold." Thus the brilliant and diversified phenomenal has taken its most gorgeous robes from the tints of the autumnal forest. These phantom-pictures, like the other multiform phases of the woods, are transitory, and soon pass away, this whole world, vivid and flashing, being remembered like the pomp and pageantry of some splendid dream. Once seen it can never be forgotten. To the bright coloring of the groves gradually but quickly succeeds the russet hue of the dead and withered leaf, the dark-6roirw, in which it moulders away into dust. At length the death-dirge of the vanishing foliage is sung, and the monotonous gray of naked trees, relieved only by the dark-green of the pines, is the color of the woods, while the ceaseless whistle of the winter winds chills the heart with the thought of that cold- ness which shall know no warmth, and of that sleep ichich shall know no ivaL-ing. The forests of the Alleghany, in utility and beauty, are as exhaustless as its rocks and coal, its ocean of air, and streams of water, and present a chapter of ceaseless and perfect attractions. 236 THE MOUNTAIN. THE UNDERWOOD, BUSH, OR HEATH-GROWTH OF THE MOUNTAIN. The transition, from the regular forest-tree to the shrub or bush, is gradual. That portion of the forest which is called heath, or coppice, is composed of true woody plants — that is, plants formed of woody fibre, with perennial roots and stems, and either evergreen or deciduous leaves. On the mountain the representatives of this department are numerous. Some of these plants have the dimensions of small trees, but never grow to what are called forest- trees, and many of them are of exceeding beauty, and some of value. Where the growth of other larger trees permits it, they form clusters highly ornamental, filling the mid-air spaces of the taller trees with an array of foliage sometimes in fine contrast with the leaves of the larger varieties. As a class, they are comely and attractive, and occupy spaces that seemed otherwise to be vacant. Many of them belong to classes of larger trees, and have been already enumerated among them, as the smaller species of Acer, Cerasus, but never grow beyond a few inches in diameter of stem. To them, in the descending scale, succeeds the order of true shrubs. Of this class of small, woody plants there is an ex- tensive and diversified field. A perfect catalogue in this department would be an agreeable undertaking, but such a task could not be attempted in a running schedule. A few of the prominent species are all that can be enumerated now, and, to commence with some of the smaller plants connect- ing the bush of the mountain with the forest-tree, take the genus OsTRYA. This is the hop-hornbeam, or iron-wood. The species Yirginica grows here, often achieving forty-five feet in height. The hard, compact wood of this little tree is useful, and the tree graceful in its form. Carpinus Americana is an allied plant, smaller in dimen- FLORA or THE MOUNTAIN. 237 sions, and with smoother l)ark, hut reseml)ling the Ostrya in foliage, inflorescence, and fruit. CuAT.Ecius. — Several of the hawthorns grow on the moun- tain. The shape of this hardy little scavenger family is uniform, whatever may be its locality. On the mountain it shows its usual noli-me-tamjere roughness of thorns and scraggy branches, bright, beautiful blossoms with pleasant odors knotty, and ))lood-red fruit, etc. As they are not used for hedges or anything else, they seem, like many other objects, to exist for beauty and sweetness alone. The species here are coccinea, tomentosa, crus-gaUi, and punctata. CoRNUs. — Species ''Florida'''' of this genus is found on the eastern slopes of the mountain, but not on the summits or western sides in any quantity. Its flashing white flowers are occasionally seen in the ravines, where the plant grows with other trees. It exhibits its usual characters. The " Sericea" and ''circiniita" are also found there. The "Canadensis," or "dwarf cornel," is found on the parallel Ajipalachian ridges. Cercis Canadensis, or Judas-tree, is found sparingly dis- tributed, low on the slopes of the mountain. It is a small, handsome tree, showing its usual characters. Aralia spinosa is a low, rough little tree, called some- times the "devil's club." It grows abundantly in a variety of localities on different parts of tlie mountain. Its large, prickly, pinnate leaves, and rugged spiniferous stem, has so strange an expression as to attract much attention and remark. Alnus. — Species "incana," is a small tree, often twenty- five feet high. It is found along the streams of the table- lands. Leaving the small trees, and descending to the bushes proper, we are presented with a large number of interesting plants on the mountain. The most distinguished group of this smaller class of plants which does not exhibit the tree form, is the order Ericace/E, or Heath Family. Some of the genera of this order are deciduous plants, but of ex- 238 THE MOUNTAIN. treme beauty and splendor of flowering. Others are ever- green, and give a characteristic expression to woods of which they are the undergrowth. Of the Sub-order I. Vaccines, or Whortleberry Family, the mountain has a number of genera. Gaylussacia. — Of this genus there are three species, " resinosa," "fronddsa,^^ and "dumdsa," on the Alleghany, the two first named being highly esteemed for their delight- ful fruit. In many of the mountain districts the huckleberry is con- sidered not only innocent as an article of food, but to be endowed with certain medicinal properties. Many of the bare knobs and barren heights of the mountain are covered by the whortleberry, giving varieties of fruit, which ripen in different seasons. The family is very hardy, requiring only the " drifting sand-heap" for a resting-place. Yaccinium, or bilberry. Species " 3Iacrocdrpon,^^ or American cranberry, is found on many of the parallel moun- tains, and in some localities on the Alleghany itself, (from re- port,) but is not abundant. The stamineum, Canadense, Fennsylvdnicum, pdllidum, fuscdtum, and corymbosom, grow there. Some of these species are tall, graceful bushes, twelve feet high, and bear large, black and blue berries. The large, dehcious, "blue huckleberry,'''' is obtained from the Pennsylvdnicum. The Vitis-Idcea bears a red, flesh- colored berry, but bitter and acid, without much flavor. Some of these "big huckleberries," as they are called, are found in moist places, others on dry hills and open woods. Sub-order II. — Ericine^e, or Proper Heath Family. Tribe, Andromede^. Two genera of this tribe are small, creeping plants. They are the GauUheria procumbens, creeping wintergreen or mountain-tea, and the Epigoea re- jjens, ground-laurel. The genus Andromeda contains a number of handsome bushes, and one tree, arborea. The species on the mountain are the calyculdta, racemOsa, Mariana, Liguslrhia, several of which are tall and comely shrubs. FLORA OF THE MOUNTAIX. 239 Some of the Aiidroinotlas are found in moist, l)arron spaces or sandy tracts, and, like the whortleberries, seem to have stronj^ atlinities for desolate and unreclaimed wastes. Some of them are found in sphagnous sw^amps, and alto- gether realize, in the habits of growth of some of the species at least, the spirit of the poetry of the name they bear, "the fabled exposure of Andromeda the unhappy." Tribe Hiiodore.e. — Several genera of this noble tribe are found on the AUeghanies. Azalea, False Honeysuckle. — There arc here several species of this plant, generally fine flowering bushes, with a brilliant array of colors in their inflorescence, and possessing delicate odors, which fill the air of the w'oods with a charm- ing perfume. They are extensively distributed over the mountain, and are frequently mingled in dense brakes or heaths of other bushes of the same natural order. Azalea arborescens is a fine bush, twelve feet high, bearing large, red, fragrant blossoms. " YiscosA," Clammy, or White Honeysuckle, is here. It is a beautiful shrub, ten feet high, with w^hite rose-tinted flowers in large clusters, which are very fragrant. "NuBiFLOKA," or Purple Azalea, is a bush five feet high, l)earing a purple and showy flower. It is one of the hand- somest species, and has a great many varieties. The " Calendulacea," or Yellow Azalea, also grows on the mountain. It is a tall bush, twelve feet high, bearing orange-colored blossoms, and giving brilliancy and light to the copse where it grows.. Of evergreen shrubs or bushy-plants of this order, tlie " Kalmta" and " RnoDODENDRON" are the principal. The "Kalmia," or American Laurel, is a well-known ])lant, growing on all the mountains of the Middle and Northern States. It is much esteemed for its richly- varnished evergreen leaves, and its splendid array of deli- cately-tinted flowers. It frequently grows in dense brakes in cool, moist forests, forming wiiat are called ''laurel thickets." 240 THE MOUNTAIN. The Kalmia latifolta, or Mountain Laurel, abounds on the AUeghanies, and is the only species of the genus found here. In the dense thickets in which it grows it is frequently seen twenty feet high, with long, knotty roots and twisted stems. It grows abundantly on almost every part of the moun- tain, and is found in immense continuous brakes, frequently under dense masses of forest-trees, seeming not to be affected by the absence of light in such places. It bears a profusion of beautiful white and rose-colored flowers, which are much admired. The leaves and fruit of this plant are poisonous. But by far the most beautiful individual of this order, the real pride of the mountain, is the " Rhododendron," or Rose-Bay tree. This splendid plant, which is generally called ''big laurel," is not a laurel, but closely allied to it. It belongs, with the laurel, as we have just seen, to the family of heaths, or natural order Ericacege, sub-order Ericineae, and tribe Rhodoreae. It differs from the laurel very essentially, forming a separate genus called Rhododendron, the proper botanical name of the laurel, as has just been stated, being Kalmia. Unlike the latter, it is not poisonous, and differs in its foliage and inflorescence, being a much more im- perial and distinguished plant. With the common laurel it covers considerable tracts of the mountain forests, and, like that plant, it seeks the cool, sequestered shades of the deepest wilds, preferring the banks of mountain streams and unfrequented places. A splendid savage, he lives upon the sand-soil in the roughest parts of the mountain, flourish- ing, like an imperial chief of his order, in unapproachable seclusion. Sometimes, with the common laurel, it forms dense groves, called " laurel swamps, ^^ — very improperly, however, as they are not ivater plants, and will not grow in swamps. Together, they form thickets, so dense and inter- woven that it is almost impossible for man or animal to pass through them, thus making a wall as impenetrable as a Mexican chaparral. They have been, from time immemorial, the terror of the huntsman, as his life was in danger if he FLORA OF THE MOUNTAIN. 241 attempted to penetrate tbeir inextricaljle labyrinths.* They are also the horror of the hnsbandman who has the audacity to attempt to clear the surface where they grow ; but espe- cially are they the trouble of the surveyor, who, with transit and compass, axe and chain, intrudes upon them. Many a youthful engineer will remember the days of his chain- caiTying and rod-fixing through these thickets, and how fre- quently he found himself enveloped to the chin by a net of iron thongs, wliicli held him like the jaws of an insidious trap. The style of growth of the Rhododendron is peculiar. The stems writhe and twist themselves together in every conceivable shape of knots and tortuosities, and wherever the branches touch the ground they strike root, and the plant grows afresh from this point ; it is thus that an inter- laced web of stems, almost as stiff and hard as iron, is stretched over large extents, which are as impassable as cane- brakes. The traveler who attempts to traverse these thickets finds himself continually caught by loops and dead-falls. The lover of the beauty of the woods, however, will find in these sylvan labyrinths, these evergreen seas of living plants, an attractive department of the Mountain Flora. During the inflorescence of this plant it is impossible to con- ceive of anything more splendid than its mass of flowers, which are borne in large showy terminal corymbs or clus- ters. They are of a pale-rose color, and sometimes snow- white, the greenish throat of each blossom being spotted with yellow or red. Its large, thick, coriaceous leaves fre- quently attain the length of a foot. During winter and in intense cold, they fold or coil up longitudinally, each leaf showing a roll not much larger than a cigar, which drops down close along the terminal twigs of the plant. When a * The engineer corps who located the railroads across this moun- tain cliain, discovered llie skeletons of several men who hud been lost nii'l s! irvcd lo (Icutli in tlif^o thickets of Laurel and Rhododen- dron. 21 242 THE MOUNTAIN. branch in this condition is carried into a heated chamber, the leaves may he seen expanding and rising from the close compact bunch, and assuming the flat or patent attitude, the points stretching upward as in the summer air. Under the influence of very severe frost, with the folded condition of the leaf described, the plant exhibits the same blackened, gloomy appearance, which characterizes the evergreen trees under the same conditions. In full foliage and inflorescence the Rhododendron stands the monarch of the American heath, and always impresses the beholder with emotions of delight, from its present- ing a striking contrast with the more homely and familiar forms of the other tribes of bushes. Of this less imposing, but graceful and beautiful department of the mountain forests, constituting the true underwood of the woodsman, there are many plants which are objects of attraction. The Hydrangea arborescens is a bush found in many parts of the mountain. This plant, like some of the ever- greens described, seeks the gloom of the depths of forests, its white flowers and dark-green leaves, in shady ravines and woody solitudes, effecting a perpetual surprise. Hamamelis Yirginica, the "Witch Hazel," a tall shrub, is here, as elsewhere, a common plant. Late in the autumn its yellow flowers may be seen among the dead and withered leaves of other plants, affording a strange and startling con- trast with the surrounding forms, blooming, when their blos- soms and foliage are dead. This "weird" shrub stands the noblest symbol of the true and loving heart, blooming with promise and joy in the midst of desolation and death. Corylus Americana and rostrata are found in the mountain. They grow on its slopes and the vales at its base. This filbert group seem to have an affinity for the mountain. DiRCA palustris. — This plant grows abundantly along the streams in ravines and small vales. It is interesting on account of the peculiar kind of bark of the plant, ILOHA <»!' Tin: MOINTAIX. 243 which is as touuh us leather, coiisciiuently, called "leather- wood." KuoNYMUs ATiKH'UKpLiiEUs, or Spliidle-trec, is found here. It is a showy shrill) with waxy, crimson fruit hanging by long fruit-stalks. Ceanotiius A^iKRirANUs grows on the mountain, in cer- tain districts quite abundantly. It affords excellent brows- ing^for the deer, and is the plant used by the soldiers of the Revolution for tea. Rosa. — Several wild roses abound, as the Lucida blanda and Carolina, with the introduced species Rubiginosa and Micrantha. RuBUS. — Several species of this interesting genus flourish here. RuBUS ODOiiATUs, or Flowering Raspberry, grows in great abundance and in the finest proportions. It shows a pro- fusion of splendid purple flowers from June until August. These flowers often exhibit a disk of two inches in diameter, and are of great l)eauty. The Strigosus and Occidentalis are found with their usual characters. The YiLLOSUs, or High Blackberry, is found in the great- est quantity. This hardy bramble flourishes wherever any kind, even the poorest and roughest soil, exists. Its fruit is produced in such abundance that it forms one of the crops of the mountain. Some varieties occur. Species Canadensis (Dewberry) grows profusely. Rhus. — There are several species of this genus here, as the "typhina," or stag-horn sumach, "glabra," smooth sumach, "copallina," dwarf sumach, and "aromatica," or fragrant sumach. They are handsome shrubs with graceful, delicate foliage and acid crimson fruit. The poisonous spe- cies, Venenata and Toxicodrendron, are rarely found on the mountain. Taxus bacc.\ta, variety Canadensis, is the American Yew or Ground Hemlock. It is a prostrate trailing bush, found in the gorges and on shaded i)reci[)ices of the mountain. It 244 THE MOUNT A IX. lias haudsorac, sliining evergreen leaves, and bears a berry- like fruit of a blood-red color. YiTis. — The grape family has established itself on the mountain. The "labrusca" is found in moist places, de- veloping a large fruit with coarse and acrid qualities. This is said to be the parent stem of the Isabella grape, a variety much improved by cultivation. Species JEstivalis grows in great profusion. Species Cordifolia, or Frost Grape, grows also well. Ampelopsis quinquefolta, Virginian Creeper, is found here. Its crimson foliage in autumn, clinging around stumps and trees, gives a marked feature to the woods. Celastrus scandens, or "wax-work," occurs, but is not abundant. Its yellow pods, displaying scarlet-covered seeds, are esteemed ornamental. Amelanchier Canadensis, or Shad Bush, grows pro- fusely on the mountain. Several of the varieties described prevail, as the "botryapium" and "oblongifolia." Sambucls Canadensis, or Common Elder, abounds. Species Pubens, Red-berried Elder, is found in great quantities, especially on the eastern slopes of the moun- tain. Its bright-scarlet berries, ripening in June, are borne in great profusion, looking like bunches of blood-red coral, and mingling frequently with the array of plants in bloom at this season, the splendid Epilobium, Phlox, Lobelia, and Flowering Raspberry with broad purple petals, give variety and unrivaled splendor to these floral groups. Pyrus Coronaria. — The American Crab-Apple was omitted in the list of small trees. It sometimes grows to twenty-five feet in height, bearing rose-colored blossoms which possess a delightful fragrance. A variety, not so brambly and scraggy as the common crab, occurs here, with taller trunk, cleaner limbs, and much larger apple. The Sassafras and Benzoin are also found here, the latter growing profusely. Pyrularia (Mich.) Oleifera, Oil Xut, is said to be found I-LOIIA or THE MOUNTAIN. 245 on the "mountains of Pennsylvania, near tlic Alleglianics.'* (Micl)., (Jray.) Tlie water-courses and huniitl tracts show large quantities of several small species of the genus Saux, or Willow. They fringe the banks of mountain brooks and springs, and form close, compact waving masses, or osier beds, in swampy spots. The Common Alder (xilnufi Si'vulata) is also found in some places covering the banks of streams and moist places, seeking with characteristic instinct the trails of springs and fountains. With the Willow, being essentially aquatic, or lovers of water in their propensities, their pre- sence is always the harbinger of the appearance of that element, their groves being thus the true haunts of the aquatic gods, or "Water-walkers." These plants form a l)eautiful and characteristic order of copse, or under-bush, their wand-like stems and peculiar foliage marking them dis- tinctly from the other species of bush. Thus variotij, which seems to be Nature's perpetual trick to enchant her children with forms of beauty and elements of use, here finds a stripe of newness wherewithal to demand attention and admiration A descriptive catalogue of all the moun- tain copse would be an attractive chapter, but a glimpse at this beautiful department must satisfy us here. After dwelling on the lofty and imperial dendroid forms of the vegetable world, also its royal families of smaller .shrubs, with their artistic beauty and almost regal pomp of orna- ment and extravagance of dress, another class of plants, still less imposing, but more graceful and lovely, press upon the attention of the wandererer in the mountain woods. This is the world of flowers, so called, as if perhaps they rxistcd to flower alone, and had no account to render of themselves, but that they were revelations of the splendor and perfection of things, and brought messages of light and gladness to the soul. Of this numerous class many are found distributed over the Alleghany. They are the fairest, frailest, and most evanescent of all vegetable forms, spring- 21* 246 THE MOUNTAIN. ing from tlie earth each season, germinating, flowering, and seeding, tlicn withering and dying, having but one short summer to publish their little lives, "sparkle, and expire." These many-painted forms rise as if by magic ; endless variety in unity, and unity in endless variety, is the song they sing. In this world the graces and loves seem to reign, for of the grace and beauty of posies, and the posi- tive loves of flowers, w^ho has not heard? Why this untold riches, why this infinite diversity of form, why this exhaustless profusion of dyes, — only for beauty, only for thought and spirit ? So would sing the poet the secret of their spirit and life which "the ages have kept." " If I knew Only the herbs and simples of the wood, — Rue, cinquefoil, gill, vervain, and agrimony, Bhie-vetch, and trillium, hawkweed, sassafras, Milkweeds, and murky brakes, quaint pipes, sundew. And rare and virtuous roots, which in these woods Draw untold juices from the common earth. Untold, unknown, and I could surely spell Their fragrance, and their chemistry apply By sweet affinities to human flesh, Driving the foe and 'stablishiug the friend, — Oh, that were much ! and I could be a part Of the round day related to the sun And planted world, and full executor Of their imperfect functions." This "sweet affinity to human flesh" is the great fact of their being, and is quite a sufficient excuse for their existence. The mountain is rich in its array of flowering plants, some of which are Alpine in their characters. 'In the order of their appearance, the first that attract attention are the vernal flowers. These, as in all high mountain lo- calities, rush rapidly into life the moment the frost has liberated the surface from its power. They spring from the soil in a multitude of graceful forms. Some of them are peculiar, and belong exclusively to mountains, seem- FLORA (F Tin: M UINTA IN. 247 ing to find their ])roper life -medium in the cool fresh air of elevated districts, and withering when removed from those regions. The vernal flowers are numerous in this range of heights, and to be known and enjoyed in all their sweetness, must be seen and studied in their native haunts. The snows have scarcely disappeared before the first plants put forth their leaves and delicate i)etals ui)ou the cold, raw air, and are especially prized and hailed with joy by the botanist as the i)rophets of the coming world of life. And first in rocky nooks and dripping springs, creep out, as if fearful that the winter winds might return, the Saxifrages, Draba, Heuchera, Ilepatica, and Caltha, or Marsh Marigold, in quick succession. Then follow the Wind Flowers, the Wake Ivobin, the Spring beauty, or Claytonia, Iloustonia, and Columbine, Sanguinaria, Bellwort, Corydalis, and Erythro- nium ; mingled with these are delicate violets of almost every hue, and of which numerous and petted family the mountain has many representatives. The little humble earth-gem " Mitchella," soon dots the green surface with its minute snow-white twin flowers, and the lovely Epiga}a, with its graceful trailing stem, and foliage like painted parchment hiding clusters of delicate flowers with faint but delightful ordor, is soon found creeping among the dead and fallen leaves as if to conceal its beauty and sweetness, and give it all to the earth upon whose bosom it clings so closely. More showy plants soon flash out their light upon the air, as flaming Phloxes, Cardinal Lobelias, the Epilobium, or Great Willow Herb, with wand of showy flowers, the proud Lily, and fanciful Orchidece, among which are the imperial purple-fringed Platanthera, with eccentric and anomalous Cypripedium, or Lady's Slij)])er, the bizarre form of which remarkable flower is the perpetual joke of the woods, a shape so odd, fantastic, and unexpected, that one asks if it were not created in derision. The mountain's show of sunmier and autumnal flowers is equally exteu- sive and beautiful. As the summer, or sun months, are a short season on the inomitain, this world of ])l;ints seem to 248 THE MOUNTAIN. hurry on to the full publicatiou of their lives, and especially to render glorious a short and brilliant career, with ex- travagant demonstration of ornament and show. The scythe of the first frost finds a rich and abundant harvest. The summer plants bloom on and mingle with the autumnal flowers, which seem smiling and unconscious of their coming doom. Of the autumnal flowers the Compositee, or com- pound flowers, are the most numerous. Rough and hardy, they appear at the close of the flower season, proud and defiant, as if they braved the hour of dissolution. A number of this class, after slumbering in the soil nearly through the summer, suddenly start and bloom, to be as quickly nipped and destroyed. These plants seem to defy the seasons and to have resolved that they will, at all hazards, bloom. This immense order has numerous genera* and species on the Alleghany as elsewhere. Many of them are large, showy plants, and strike the most careless ob- server by the brilliancy of the tints of their flowers, and janti- ness of their style of growth. Some of them are the largest and most conspicuous of annual plants, and are considered rough and intrusive weeds, possessing, however, rare and real beauties, as the Helianthus, Eupatorium, Actinomeris, Heliopsis, Yernonia, Lactuca, Hieracium, etc. Others of the order are more delicate and attractive in the style of their beauty, as the Asters, or star-flowers, which present a flashing array of shining faces, radiant as jewels, and of every dimension and tint of color, from white specks, minute and sparkling as snow-flakes, to broad dark-red and azure rays, until the far-famed star-flower of the celestial empire is rivaled in its perfections. Imperial and proud, the sun-flower (Helianthus) flaunts his colors, as if he were veritably "a son of the sun," and would shine as long as his sire. The Golden-rod, (solidago) its delicate wands studded with flowers, contributes to the "mute music," and makes gay the forest and mountain's * See catalogue of genera at end of chapter "Flora." FLORA OF THE MOUNTAIN. 249 sides in those "bri«z:lit September days.'' The (jnaplialiuui, Coreopsis, and Iludljeckia, ruinf]:le their silver and goM with the pajreantry which heralds the advent of autumn and waves the first farcivcU to dcpartiug summer. Winter concludes the story of tlie flower, and its " little life is rounded with a sleep." Need the observation be made that the full and elaborate biography of the flowers of the mountain, with their special habits, phases of life-manifestation, and instincts, would be a labor of delight? Here, again, the real lover of nature will find that she is ever true and faithful to her accredited devotees. Coy and cruel, with a face of adamant and steel to selfishness and profane intrusion, she is approachable, gentle, and pliant, to earnestness and love. Thus it will be found, that the life and habits of one plant, read and studied with devout and careful seeking, is a key to the history of earth and air, and a pass-word to the intellectual throne of the knowledge of the realms of organic life. SERIES II.— PLANTS WITHOUT FLOWERS. Leaving the first great division of the vegetable king- dom, the series of Phajnogamous Botany, or those having definite and clearly marked organs for the reproduction of specific forms, and descending in this chain of organ- isms, we arrive at another order of plants with marked and distinctive features, called the Cryptogamous, or flower- less plants, or those the mechanism of ivhose reproduction was formerly supposed to be concealed, or even non-extant. The first division embraces the imperial forms, the great trees of the ages, the myriads of flowers which beautify the earth ; also the useful plants, the companions of man, the proper bread or human-flesh grasses, or cerealia, plants fur- nished with easily discoverable generative systems, and all propagated by definitely organized seeds. The other divi- sion (Cryptogamic) is a more humble series, — organizations 250 THE MOUNTAIN. of simpler and more homogeneous elements, revealing a less intricately complicated morphology, or, in other words, fewer of the wonder-workings of that same strange cytoblast, from ''those minims of the vegetable world," single-cell plants, to the more complicated structure of tree ferns, but all propagated by spores, or simple reproductive cells. These Cellulares, or cellular plants, are an inte- resting department of the vegetable world. Here com- mences the mysterious circulation of " organic water," and the protean power of that magical "protoplasm," with generative fiat, starts the whirl of the brute elements through the harmonious gyrations of Life, Here the formative forces of vitality assume their simplest attitudes of nutri- tion and reproduction; and here the "vegetable vesicle" stands the witness of the first erotic approach of the pon- derable and imponderable. This is also the realm in which the two great kingdoms, the vegeta])le and animal, ap- proximate and touch circles in a series of surprising analogies, in the first simple mechanisms of life, for the cell is the re- sult of the ultimate analysis of both. " The starting-point of both is the same ; for the embryo of the animal up to a certain grade of its development, con- sists, like that of a plant, of nothing else than an aggre- gate of cells. The lowest class of animals, the micro- scopical auimalcula, or the invisible inhabitants of stagnant water, appear to be identical with the simple cellular plants, already referred to (Yolvox globator.")* " Kutzing does not admit any essential distinction between animals and vegetables, f He maintains that the same being may, at various periods of its development, assume one na- ture or the other. The following is his theory in a few words : — Every organic being is constituted of vegetable elements and animal elements, and, according as one or other prevails, the being becomes an animal or a vegetable ; ^ Goadby. I See quotation from E-obevt Saiitb, at end of catalogue. FLORA OF THE MOUNTAIN. 251 in the first stages of development of superior beings, and permanently in those of inferior rank, the two elements are equally l)alanced, and this is the case, in the author's opinion, with the Diatome;^, which, on this account, cannot be ab- solutely referred either to one series or the otlicr, but consti- tute the ring or circle which unites together all organic l)eings into one kingdom. Long controversies have sprung up between the supporters and opponents of this doctrine, who, to obtain victory, mutually accuse one another of logi- cal errors, of sophisms, and of paradoxes."* With the exception of the tree Ferns, (Tropical,) whose trunks sometimes attain to the height of forty feet, the cryp- togamic plants are lowly structures, the feathers, hair, and microscopic down of the skin of the world. This division of plants is constituted of three classes, viz. : the AcROGENS, the Anophytes, and Thallophytes. The first of these classes contains four orders, the Equisetacea?, Filices, Lycopodiacea), and llydropterides. The second two orders, the Musci and Hepaticae ; and the third four orders, the Lichenes, Fungi, Characeoc, and Algie. ACPvOGENS. Of til is class the mountain has the following representa- tives : — Order Equtsetace.^, (Horse-tail Family.) OKNERA. SPECIES. Equisetiim, (Horse-tail. Scouring Rush,) .... 2 Order Filices, (Ferns.) Polypodiuin, (Polypody,) Tree Fern Family, ... 2 Allosorus, (Rock Brake,) 1 Pteris, (Brake. P.rackcn.) 1 Adiantum, (Maiden Hair,) 1 Cheilanthes, (Lip Fern.) 1 * Mcncghiui, Botanical and Physiological Memoirs, Ray Society, 1858. 252 THE MOUNTAIN. GENERA. SPECIES. "Woodwardia, (Woodwardia,) 1 Camptosorus, (Walking Leaf,) 1 Aspleniura, (Spleenwort,) 4 Dicksonia, (Dickson's Fern,) 1 AVoodsia, (Woodsia,) 1 Aspidium, (Shield Fern, Wood Fern.) .... 2 Onoclea, (Sensitive Fern,) 1 Osmunda, (Flowering Fern,) 2 Botrychium, (Moonwort,) 1 The ferns are the most showy, and generally attractive of the cryptogams. Many of them are tall feather-shaped plants, their broad spreading fronds, the ornamental and im- perial plumage of the earth, producing the perpetual impres- sion of beauty. Some of them are humble and lowly plants, but possessed of exceeding delicacy and grace. The more imposing species frequently occupy extensive spaces of the mountain heath, forming brakes, or matted continuities, which cover the surface sometimes to the entire exclusion of other small plants. These fern forests have frequently a striking and characteristic expression, from the large fronds all assuming one position, by that instinct which turns the leaves of plants to the sun. The tall plumes are marshaled in order, and stand with a gentle northern inclination, their spreading pinnse, or leaflets, looking to the south, or facing the sun, and held in file by the strong attraction of his rays. Some of the species are shy and retiring in their habits, and are rarely seen ; others are found almost as common as grass, occupying large spaces, growing in the woods and swamps, while others invest the rocks and cliffs, festooning their edges and surfaces with rare and picturesque fringes and wreaths. In most of this family of delicate and comely plants, the light and spiritual forms of the vegetable world, it would seem that beauty, or the transcendent element of taste was alone consulted ; while the " homely utilities" or economical rela- tionships, with a few exceptions, had been ignored. The ferns seem to be attracted to mountains, and, from FLORA OF THE MOUNTAIN. 253 the shyness of their liabits, their lonely, retired haunts, in rocky nook or "bosky dell," they speak constantly of se- (juestered solitudes, walks sacred to the wood-jrods, of the isolation and self-sufliciency of nature, and of the mountain spirit, wild and indomitable in all its forms. The man who has no memory of fern islands minprled with his boyhood's dreams, has not yet drained all the enchanted goblets of the universe, and may have still the ecstasy of a new experience in the revelation of the delicacy and senti- ment of nature in her most touching attitudes of wildness, sweetness, and seclusion. By consulting the catalogue of genera, it will be seen that most of the prominent and interesting forms of the order Filices are represented on the Alleghanies. Order Lycopodiace^e, (Club-moss Family.) GEXERA. I-rycopodium, (Club-moss.) 5 t^PECIES. The species of ground pines, or club-mosses, are found extensively distributed over the mountain in shaded woods and moist places. They are among the most beautiful and striking of the cryptogamic plants. AXOPHYTES. Order Musci, (Mosses.) This interesting class of cryptogamic plants is extensively distributed over the world. The greater number require a certain humidity of atmosphere, and they are more numerous in temperate latitudes than the tropics. They are lowly and minute, but graceful and l)eautiful, and are among the first plants which take possession of rocks and sterile soils, — appearing even on volcanic slags and lifeless earth-crusts. Many of them occupy extensive swampy tracts, (the Sphagna,) and form, by their accumulations of leaves and stems, large deposits of carbonaceous mould, (modern for- mula of the coal seam,) while others climb the highest 22 254 THE MOUNTAIN. mountains, and penetrate the coldest arctic spaces. Hardy- cosmopolites ! they av?, found wherever light and moisture can penetrate, and ornament by their graceful foliage the most forsaken nooks, crannies, and neglected places. In summer their vivid velvet-mantles and verdant cushions gleam through the forests, investing nearly every prostrate trunk or living tree, bank, rock, and bed of brook. In win- ter their fragile bright-green leaves may be found fresh and smiling beneath frost and ice, and their tiny fruit-bearing stems carrying fantastic caps on bursting spore-cases, are often seen penetrating the snow with a reproductive energy that defies the most intense cold. This is a floral chapter that seems perennial in its fascinations, and the bryologist is especially happy as even winter gives no interruption to his attractive labors. Mountains seem to be the special home of the moss family, as the valleys, cultivated lowlands, and prairies, do not appear to attract this little race of rock and desert-taming pioneers of the vegetable kingdom. The Pennsylvania Alleghany range is a rich and varied moss district, and has been examined, to a certain extent, by a number of cryptogamic botanists.* It seems to possess the condition of elements most favorable as a habitat of this class of plants. In its cool air, its widely extended forests with interminable shades, and quantities of fallen and decay- ing timber, its extents of surface covered with fragments of rock, its moist ravines and gorges with projecting cliffs, its sequestered dells and shady precipices, its swampy places and fresh running-streams, — we are presented with a medium of special adaptation to the life-affinities of the Bryacese. Embracing several geological formations with diversity of mineral composition, which gives origin to a variety of soils from disintegration, and to the exposure for moss-growing * Of the number who have visited the mountain for moss-gather- ing purposes, are the accomplished bryologists Leo Lesquereux and Thomas P. James, two indefatigable workers in this department of science, to whom the American student of botany owes much, and, it is to be hoped will owe more, before their labors are ended. FL(JKA OF THE MOUNTAIN. 255 snrfaces of different kinds of rock, at the same time stretch- inu: iij) throuER IlyrKRiCACE.E, (St. Jolin's-wort Family.) GENERA. SPEOES. Hypdricura, (St. John's-wort) 4 Elod^a 1 21. Order Caryophyllace.e, (Pink Family.) Dianthus, (Pink) introduced Sapondria, (Soapwort) from Europe 1 Silene, (Catchfly Campion) 3 Agrostt'mma, (Corn-cockle) from Europe 1 Stelliiria, Chickweed, Starwort) 1 Ceriistium, (Mouse-ear Chickweed) 2 Spergula, (Spurrey) from Europe 1 22. Order Portll.\cace.e, (Purslane Family.) Portuluca, (Purslane) from Europe 1 Claytonia, (Spring-Beauty) 2 23. Order Malvace.e, (Mallow Family.) Allhjea, introduced from Europe Mdlva, (Mallow) from Europe 2 24. Order Tiliace.e, (Linden Family.) (Enumerated.) 27. Order Oxalidacex, (Wood-sorrel Family.) Oxalis, (Wood-sorrel) 3 28. Order Geraxiacejc, (Geranium Family.) Geranium, (Crane's Bill) 1 29. Order Balsaminace.e, (Balsam Family.) Impatiens, (Jewel-weed) 2 32. Order Axacardiace.e, (Cashew Family.) Rhus, (enumerated) 33. Order Vitace^, (Vine Family.) Vitis, (enumerated) Ampelopsis, (enumerated) 34. Order Rhamnaceje, (Buckthorn Family.) Ceanothus, (enumerated) 35. Orer Celastrace.e, (Staff-tree Family.) Celastrus, (enumerated) Euonymus, '* 23 266 THE MOUNTAIN. 3G. Oedeb SAriNDACE.E, (Soapberry Family.) GENERA. SPECIES. Acer, (enumerated) 37. Order Polygalace^, (Milk-wort Family.) Polygala, (Milkwort) 4 38. Order Leguminos.e, (Pulse Family.) Lupinus, (Lupine) 1 Trifolium, (Clover) 3 llobiuia, (enumerated) Tephrosia, (Hoary Pea) 1 Hedysarum, (Iledysarum) 1 Desmodium, (Tick Trefoil) Lespedeza, (Bush-Clover) Stylosanthes, (Pencil-Flower) Vicia, (Vetch) Lathyrus, (Vetchling) Phaseolus, Kidney Bean) Apios, (Ground-nut) 1 Baptisia, (False Indigo) 1 Cercis, (enumerated) Cassia, (Senna) 1 39. Order PiOsXcE^, (Rose Family.)* Prunus, (enumerated) Cerasus, (enumerated) Spirasa, (Meadow-Sweet) 3 Gillenia, (Indian Physic) 2 Agrimonia, (Agrimony) 1 Geum, (Avens) Potentllla, (Cinque-foil) 3 Fragiiria, (Strawberry) 1 Dalibarda, *' 1 Riibus, (enumerated) Rosa, ** Crataegus, " Pyrus, (Pear Apple) 1 Amelanchier, (enumerated) 42. Order Ltthrace.e, (Loosestrife Family.) Ciiphea, (Cuphea) 1 43. Order Onagrace^e, (Evening Primrose Family.) Epilobium 2 * See end of catalogue. FLORA OF THE MOUNTAIN. 267 GENERA. SVr.ClZS. (Enothtjra, (Evening Primrose) 3 naiira, (fiaura) 1 hinhvigia, (FiiL^ic Loosestrife) Circiea, (Enchanter's Nightshade) 2 40. OiiDEu GuossuLACE,^:, (Currant Family.) Rlbes, (Gooseberry) 4 48. OuDEu CucuRBiTACE.E, (Gourd Family.) All the cultivated members of this family flourish here, except a few of the delicate melons, which never ripen, although they grow well. 49. Order Grassulace.e, (Orpine Family.) S^dum, (Stone Crop) renthorum, (Ditch Stone-Crop) 50. Order Saxifrage.e, (Saxifrage Family.) Saxifraga, (Saxifrage) Ileiichera, (Alum-root) 2 Mitella, (Bishop's Cap) 1 Tiarolla, (False Mitre-wort) 1 Hydrangea, (Hydrangea) enumerated 1 51. Order Hamamelace^e, (Witch-IIazel Family.) Hamamelis, (Witch-Hazel,) enumerated 52. Order Umbellifer^e, (Parsley Family.) Ilydrocutyle, (>Larsh Pennywort) Sanicula, (Sanicle) Daucus, (from Europe) Angelica, (Angelica) Zizia Cicuta The cultivated species of this order grow well on tlie mountain, as the parsley, celery, dill, fennel, and cori- ander. 53. Order Araliace.e, (Ginseng Family.) Aralia G 53. Order Corxace.e, (Dogwood Family.) Cornus, (enumerated) Nyssa, ♦' 268 THE MOUNTAIN. Division II.— MOXOPETALOUS EXOGENS. 55. Order Caprifoliace^, (Honeysuckle Family.) GENERA. SPECIE Lonicera, (Woodbine) Triosteum, (Horse-gentian.) 1 Sambucus, (Elder,) enumerated 2 Viburnum, (Arrow-wood) 4 56. Order Eubiace.e, (Madder Family.) Galium, (Bed Straw) 5 Cephalanthus, (Button-bush) 1 Mitch^lla, (Partridge-berry) 1 Oldenlandia, (Bluets) 2 58. Order Dipsace^, (Teasel Family.) Dipsacus, (introduced) 1 59. Order Composite, (Composite Family.) Vernonia, (Ironweed) 1 Liatris, (Blazing Star) 2 Eupatorium, (Thoroughwort) 5 Aster, (Starwort) 12 Erigeron, (Fleabane) 4 Solidago, (Golden-rod) 13 Inula, (Elecampane) introduced 1 Ambrosia, (Ragweed) 2 Xanthium, (Clotbur) Heliopsis, (Ox-eye) ... Rudbeckia, (Cone-flower) Helianthus, (Sunflower) Actinomeris, (Actinomeris) Coreopsis, (Trickseed) Bidens, (Bur-marigold) Hel^nium, (False Sunflower) Maruta, (Mayweed,) introduced Acbillfea, (Yarrow) Leucanthemum, (Ox-eye Daisy) Tanacetum, (Tansy,) introduced Gnaphalium, (Cudweed) Antennaria, (Everlasting) Ereclithites, (Fireweed) Cacalia, (Indian Plantain) FLORA OF THE MOUNTAIN. 269 OEXERA. !-Pt;^nake-plantain) 2 Spiranthes, (Lady's Tresses) 1 Listera, 1 Arethusa, (Arethusa) 1 Microstylis 1 Corallorhiza, (Coral-root) 1 Cypripedium, (Lady's Slipi»cr) 3 274 THE MOUNTAIN. 120. Order Amaryllidace-i:, (Amaryllis Family.) GENERA. SPECIES. Hypoxys, (Star-grass) 1 121. Order H.emodorace.e, (Bloodwort Family.) Aletris, (Colic-root) 1 123. Order iRiDACEiE, (Iris Family.) Iris, ( Flower- Je-Liice) 1 Sisyrinchium, (Blue-eyed Grass) 1 125. Order Smilacej2, (Smilax Family.) Smilax, (Greenbrier) 4 Trillium, (Wake Robin) 3 Medeola, (Indian Cucumber-root) 1 126. Order Liliace^, (Lily Family.) Asparagus, (from Europe) 1 Polygonatum, (Solomon's Seal) 2 Smilacina, (False Solomon's Seal) 3 Clintonia, (Clintonia) 2 Allium, (Onion, Garlic) 2 Lilium, (Lily) 2 Erythronium, (Dog's-tooth Violet) 1 127. Order Melanthace^, (Colcliicum Family.) Uvularia, (Bellwort) 2 Streptopus, (Twisted-stalk) 1 Melanthium 1 Yeratrum, (False Hellebore) 1 Helonias, (Helonias) 1 128. Order Juncace.e, (Rush Family.) Juncus, (Bog Rush) 7 129. Order Pontederiace^e, (Pickerel-weed Family.) Schollera, (Water Star-grass) 1 131. Order Xyridace^, (Yellow-eyed Grass Family.) Xyris, (Yellow-eyed Grass) ? 133. Order CypIirace^, (Sedge Family.) Cyperus, (Galingale) ? Scirpus, (Bulrush) ? Eriophorum, (Cotton-grass) ? Rhynchospora FLORA OF THE MOUNTAIN. 275 GENERA. SPECIES. Scleria ? Curex, (Sedges) 30 This extensive genus of obscure and intricately re- lated plants is largely represented on tlie mountain. In moist spots and along spring streams, pursuing the general habits of tlie genus, tliey are found in fringes and tufts, scattered almost ubiquitously over humid and other spaces. Of the l^>'2 species contri- buted by John Carey to Gray's Manual, casual observa- tions have brought into notice some thirty species. 134. Order Gramine.e, (Grass Family.) Alopeciirus, (Foxtail Grass) 2 riileum, (Cat's-tail Grass, Timothy) from Europe 1 Sporobulus, (Drop-seed Grass) 1 Agrostis, (Bent-Grass) 1 Muhlenb^'rgia ? Calamagrostis, (Reed Bent-Grass) 2 ? Stipa, (Feather-Grass) ? Tricuspis, (Tall-red-top) Kccleria, (Koeleria) Eatonia Glyceria, (Manna-Grass) 2 ? Poa. (Meadow-Grass, Spear-Grass) D Bromus, (Brome-Grass,) from Europe 3 Triticum, (Wheat) Hordeum, (Barley) Elymus, (Wild Rye) 1 Aira, (Hair-Grass) 2 Danthonia, (Wild Oats) Avena, (Oat) Holcus, (Meadow Soft-grass) from Europe 1 Phalaris, (Canary-Grass) Milium, (Millet-Grass) Panicum, (Panic-Grass) 7 Sorghum, (Broom Corn) 276 THE MOUNTAIN. (See ante, p. 250.) "Given, the head of Socrates, the wisest philosopher of Greece, and a Protococcus pluvialis, a microscopic single-cell plant, is there no 'essential distinction,' and to which does the word incompre- hensible most justly apply ? Of the creation and destiny (genesis, exodus) of a cell, or a limitless congeries of cells, (organic bodies,) of the how and why of their getting into special shapes or living forms from the sleep of inorganic matter, and staying there to circulate for a time within the 'ring' of natural affinities, then dropping out of that circulation into another apparently temporary sleep, called death, — or of the creation and destiny (genesis, exodus) of a man or numberless congeries of men, (Humanity,) of the how and why of their assuming particular styles of existence and circulating for a time within the grasp of supernatural affinities (supersensuous, quondam spiritual, — immaterial forces, — will, intel- lection, sensation, and afiection, entities, real as iron or stone, but not on the chemist's table, or naturalist's catalogue,) and also, get- ting out of that material and spiritual circulation, into an apparent sleep, called, likewise, death, what has the microscopic atom, the proud mote, the wise monad, man, tlie Philosopher, to say ? "Place the dry skulls of Plato and Shakspeare beside the rup- tured and eifete cells of the Protococcus pluvialis and Volvox glo- bator, and say which are the most inconceivable existences, which are the everlasting wonder of wonders. Does not the cell stand the most imposing mystery, the most incomprehensible miracle? The two problems, vast towers ! ! loom up from the Infinite, their sum- mits and bases both hidden in darkness and unapproachable solitude. The broad gulf between them can only be passed upon the wings of a purer and nobler philosophy, and the deep abyss can only be fathomed by the plumb-line of a profounder and more earnest Faith." — Robert Smith, Philosophical and Religious 3Ieditations, vol. vii. p. 472. FLORA OF THE MOUNTAIX. 277 FKUIT-TKEES AND ESCULENT VEGETABLES. FRUIT-TREES. That tho Alleghany could supply itself with fine fruit of almost every kind there is not the slightest doubt. The indifference of the mountain counties to this department of earth cultivation, as well as many other "cultures," is to be much regretted by all the friends of progress of that region. This indifference or carelessness is not con- fined, however, to the mountain districts of the State. The follow- ing observations of the venerable Dr. Darlington, the justly celebrated botanist of Chester County, are, it would seera, as applicable to his district as to the one here alluded to. Looking, as the inhabitants of the wilderness counties do, to the East for evidences of civili- zation and light, it was to be hoped that the cultivated county of Chester had passed the ''thoughtlessness'' at least, not to speak of the rudeness and barbarism deplored by the Doctor in one part of his observations on this subject. He says: "Indeed, it is melancholy to reflect how thoughtless and negligent mankind generally are with respect to providing fruit for themselves. There are few persons who do not own or occupy sufficient ground to admit of three or four choice fruit-trees and a grapevine ; such, for instance, as an apricot, a peach, a May-duke cherry, a Catharine pear, and a Catawba grape ; yet the great majority seem never to think of planting such trees, while they are ready enough to invade the premises, and revel on the fruits of some more provident neighbor ! It is due to the minor morals of the community that such disreputable negligence and such marauding practices should cease to be tolerated." — l^lora Cesirtca, p. 72. Pyrus communis, common Pyrus, or Pear-tree. — This tree is a native of Europe. There are many varieties of this delightful fruit, which should be cultivated wherever it will grow. The mountain counties liave not given the care they should to the cultivation of this tree. The seedling plant grows well on the Allcgliany, and the improved varieties would of course flourish equally well. Some fine pears have been produced on the range, and it is to bo hoped the subject will receive more attention. Pyrus malus, Apple Pyrus, common apple-tree. — This species is also a native of Europe. Pomologists have produced and described almost innumerable varieties of this wholesome fruit. It will grow everyplace in Pennsylvania, both mountain-tops and valleys; but 24 278 THE MOUNTAIN. little attention has been given to this interesting department on the Alleghany. Some fine apples have been produced, and every variety and quality of that fruit can be grown there, after a time of accli- mation of buds and shoots. Cydonia vulgaris, Quince-tree. — This well-known tree is a native of Southern Europe. It grows well on the Alleghany. Persica vulgaris, common Peach-tree. — This member of the almond family is a native of Persia. It does not find on the Alle- ghany Mountain a very genial clime. Persia and the Alleghany are widely-sundered habitats, but as that mountain has a vital con- nection with the whole globe it must necessarily unite with Persia on some issue of fate and nature. The peach, it seems, is this happy bond, not to mention other equally interesting radicles of associa- tion ! ! ! The juices of the fruit, as grown on the mountain, are not exactly Persian, or even Jersey-an in their deliciousness of flavor, nevertheless, it produces a peach of respectable dimension, and decidedly agreeable character. It requires constant watching and renewing by planting, as the frost frequently kills it entirely to the ground. Armexiaca vulgaris. Apricot. — This delicious fruit is a native of Armenia. Very little attention is given to its cultivation in the mountain region of Pennsylvania, and on the Alleghany none Prunus domestica, common plum, Gage or Damascene. — The cul- tivated plums are natives of Europe. ''^ Several of the varieties might be cultivated here with success, if attention were given to them. Those that have been tried grow well. Cerasus, or Cherry genus. — Professor de Candolle distributes the commonly cultivated cherry into four species ; Dr. Darlington and others into two. These are the Prunus (cerasus) avium, English, or heart cherry, (sweet;) and the Prunus cerasus (vulgaris,) sour red cherry, or Morello cherry. The heart cherry grows well on the Alle- ghany, and with a special luxuriance in the red shales of the eastern base and slope of the mountain. The Morello cherry also grows finely, the whole cherry family seeming to have the most friendly relations to the mountain. f RiBES. — The current family are produced in quantities on the mountain. These are the Ribes Uva-crispa, or gooseberry, (Europe,) the Ribes rubrum, or red currant, (Europe,);}: and Ribes nigrum, or black currant, (also Europe.) Like the native species of Ribes, the introduced species seem to flourish as if at home. * Prunus domestica, L., the cultivated plum, is now deemed by the best botanists to have sprung from the sloe. — Gray's Manual, p. 113. t See wild cherry, or Serasus Serotina, now Prunus Serotina, p. 220. t Gray recite? a "rubrum" which is found in New Hampshire as identical. FLORA <>r TIIK MorxTAiy. 270 ESCULENT YECJETABLES. Of the introduced esculent, garden, or kitchen vegetables, the mountain produces nearly all the ordinarily cultivated species and varieties. The season for growing pot-herbs, or edible plants, is short here, and also lute, as the frosts of spring and fall come close together. They almost all, however, grow profusely with any care, and many varieties assume proportions wliich tlie same plant rarely attains in tlie lowlands. Between the valleys of the eastern and western parts of the State and the mountain heights, knobs, and table-lands, there is a diflference in the time of growth and perfection of garden vegetables (this difference applying more or less to the whole vegetable world) of from two to four weeks. The results of forcing plants, as achieved in the east and west by hot- beds, hot-houses, and protected sites, is not considered in this gene- ral statement. By the use of artificial appliances, hot-beds, hot- houses, and the selection of sheltered situations in the mountain vegetables could be brought very much earlier to perfection, and grown there with the finest qualities and proportions. This sub- ject will receive more attention, in certain parts of the mountain, soon, and extensive experiments will be made. At the present time the farmers of that district have only small patches of a few yards in extent for kitchen-gardens, and cultivate only such plants as will grow without much care. The amount of vegetables produced in many of these little gardens is quite extra- ordinary, and shows that the mountain's climate and soil, with any industry, are very favorable and friendly to the class of edible plants. One point of advantage possessed by this region is, that when the staple products of the garden have passed their season, and are withered and dried in the valleys and lowlands east and west, the mountain has them green and fresli, and in the highest perfection. The following vegetables grow well on the mountain: — Br.\8sica oler.\cea. Cabbage. — This is a native of Europe, and thrives here with several of its varieties or sub-species. Tiiese are the "acephala," or tree-cabbage, (leaves not forming heads,) the "bullata," or savoy cabbage, with finely crisped leaves, and tlio "capitata," or York cabbage, with dt^e head. The variety Caulo- rapa, ( Kohl-Ilabi,) bulked-stalkcd cabbage, grows finely, also variety ** cauliflora." The BiiASSicA uapa, sub-species "depressa," or common turnip, grows well also. 280 THE MOUNTAIN. EArHANUS SATivus, Garden Radish. — This plant, a native of China, is hardy, and grows almost every place. There are several varieties or sub-species, as "radicula," "rotunda," "turnip radish," oblonga, common radish, also varieties of the "nigcr." Hibiscus esculentus, Okra. — This plant will grow here, but has not been cultivated much. It is a native of India. PisuM SATIVUM, Garden Pea, and its varieties, are produced in abundance. PuASEOLUS VULGARIS, String Bean, common pole-bean, and Lu- nata or Lima Bean, grow well, but the latter will scarcely ripen on account of the shortness of the season. The Apium Graveolens, Celery, Petroselinum sativum, Parsley, Carum and FffiNicuLUM, Caraway, and Fennel, as already remarked in the catalogue, grow well. The Daucus carota, Garden Car- rot, variety Sativa, and Pastinaca sativa. Garden Parsnip, also Umbelliferous plants, flourish equally well. CucuMis SATivus, Common Cucumber. — This plant is a native of Asia. It grows well, but the Cucumis melo, Musk Melon, will not ripen on the mountain. CucuRBiTA pepo, Pumpkin ; varieties do well, also the Cucurbita MELOPEPO and Verrucosa. Tragopogon, Oyster Plant, grows well. Lactuca sativa, Common Lettuce, Salad, a native of India, and Helianthus tuberosus, Jerusalem Artichoke, a Brazilian plant, also flourish. The Beta vulgaris. Common Garden Beet, has several varieties, all of which, including the Mangel-wurzel, cultivated for cattle, grow well. Spinacia OLERACE.E, Spinach, and Asparagus officinalis. As- paragus, (from Europe,) grow well. Allium. — Several onions are easily produced, as Allium cepa. Garden Onion, Porium, Garden Leek, Sativum, Garlick, and Scceno- PRASUM, or Chives. The Lycopersicum esculentum, or Tomato, grows well, but the seasons are too short to produce or ripen the fruit without a hot- house to develop the plants largely before planting out. The SoLANUM melongenum, or Egg Plant, might be cultivated if the same care were taken. The Solanum tuberosum, or Common Potato, is particularly adapted to the soil of the mountain. Rheum rhaponticum, or Pie Rhubarb. This plant, a native of Scythia, grows luxuriantly. _„ *'•"' fort, Bolanical a. QK 131 .J32 1860 Jackson Robert Mon/Flora. or. Vegetable ^*" 3 5185 00128 6192 y- mf'-^