The Scotch made no mistake in selecting the thistle for their national flower. Bristling with needle-like prickles, a type of stern independence, it does not admit of close intimacy. But we are captivated by its reddish purple blooms, fragrant as roses and brimmed with sweetness. Economical and thrifty, the thistle can wrest a living from the scantiest means; but “ower canny” as it is, it sends out myriads of plumy seeds, by which it will establish itself in richer soil whenever the opportunity offers. The voracious caterpillar crawls by it to plants with unarmed herbage; the thistle is browsed only be underfed donkeys. It is often decked with winged visitants of black and gold, the thistle birds or goldfinches, surrounded by drifting clouds of silvery plumes, as they lightly swing on the matured flower heads and eagerly break them apart to obtain their favorite food. The buds, the beautiful flower clusters, the feathery balls of fruit, and the deeply lobed leaves with ruffled margins of the thistle, all readily lend themselves to designs for ornament.

The Field Thistle, Cirsium discolor, is particularly lovely by reason of its pale pink, or sometimes white flowers, and long, drooping leaves. The bull thistle (Ref. #1) has larger heads and still more formidable prickles; while the tall swamp thistle is less stout and spiny. [C. muticum Michx.].

These species are not undesirable for a garden, if one has space enough to keep them at arm’s length. But no good word can be said for the Canada Thistle (Ref. #2), an emigrant from Europe that multiplies apace, although allowed no rights of citizenship. It seems useless to legislate against it; for it has a running root stock that spreads while we sleep, and the seeds fly over the country to sow discomfort everywhere. It is a pest because it is so difficult to keep within bounds. If you wish to know just how Theophilus Thistlewaite thrust three thousand thistles through the thick of his thumb (too low an estimate by far!), clear by hand a plot of land that has been overrun by Canada Thistles.

A vegetable pariah, also of foreign origin, humbly occupying waste places, is especially abundant about drains and pig sties, and is stigmatized by the rude Saxon term, “stinkweed”. It is also known as Dog Fennel and as May Weed, although it blooms throughout the summer until nipped by frost. It is as pretty as its much admired cousin, “Marguerite” - cultivated here (Ref. #3), but an injury to the hay fields in the East - for it has the daisy beauties of pearly white ray flowers encompassing golden tubular flowers of the disk.

The leaf too, may be favorably compared with that of the fern. But the weed is without regard on account of its associations and fetid odor. It bears the scientific name Maruta cotula (Ref. #3, Photo right), and its nearest kin are the garden and medicinal chamomiles.

One might be justified in asking the mower to stay his scythe in the meadow until the fleeting beauty of the Grass-of-Parnassus is past (Ref. #4- Photo far right).

Happy is he who finds in brooks winding through meadows the tiny blossoms that vie with the violet and the rose in popular favor - the forget-me-not. It is not easy to Forget these pale blue flowers with yellow eyes - an unequalled harmony of color. The Brook Forget-me-not (Ref. #5), after three unsuccessful attempts has been firmly established in the wild garden, where it blooms the summer long. The parent stock in Needham, Massachusetts, grew waist high in prodigal profusion. “Oh!” said one admirer, “these flowers are just like those we see on hats!”

In pastures, giant puffballs [Calvatia gigantea] may be seen breaking through the grass. The one photographed [not shown here] weighed 14oz but specimens weighing twice as many pounds are occasional. Several over four pounds in weight have been noted this season. Some of the small puffballs have a smooth surface, some are covered with tiny tubercles of spines, and some are stalked. In the puffballs, the spores are enclosed instead of being exposed to the air on the surface of gills or tubes as in the umbrella or bracket forms of fungi. As far as is known, the true puffballs are edible. They are to be used for food when the inside is firm and white - like cottage cheese.