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A CONTRIBUTION TO

LOCAL NATURAL HISTORY

BY JOSEPH JACKSON

ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS BY J. C. LYFORD

O all ye Green Things upon the earth, bless ye

the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever-BENEDICITE

WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS

PUBLISHED BY PUTNAM, DAVIS AND COMPANY

1894

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FIVE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIVE COPIES PRINTED.

OF THESE THIRTY-FIVE ARE ON LARGE PAPER,
NUMBERED AND SIGNED.

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TO THE SUTTON FARMER

AND

HIS LITTLE GRANDDAUGHTER

WHO, ALTHOUGH DIFFERING MUCH IN AGE,

WERE ONE IN A COMMON LOVE

OF THE

WILD NATURE AROUND THEM IN GLADE AND MEAD,

AND WHOSE LOVE IS ONLY A TYPE

OF THAT WHICH FILLS MANY HEARTS

BOTH IN CITY AND IN COUNTRY,

IN

GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE

OF THEIR KINDLY APPRECIATION

THIS BOOK

IS DEDICATED.

PREFACE.

It was several years ago, although it seems as if it were but yesterday, that I was walking, early in July, along the road which leads from Millbury to Sutton. In a low-lying meadow by the roadside some velvet-grass (Holcus lanatus, L.) was conspicuous, and I had collected a little of it for my herbarium. As I was getting over the wall again, a farmer returning from the village drove up slowly and stopped.

Farmer. Be you Mr. Jackson that writes them articles about wild flowers in The Spy?

I. Yes, sir.

F. I thought so when I see ye get over into the lot for that grass. What kind of grass is it?

I. (Holding it up for his inspection.) It is called velvetgrass in the books. I don't find anyone about here who has taken the trouble to name it in any other way.

F. Just so. Well, I want to tell ye, Mr. Jackson, that we take The Weekly Spy at my house and we're very much interested in them papers of yours.

I. It is pleasant to know that.

F. Yes, I suppose so. You see there is nobody at home but my wife and me and my little granddaughter. She's only young, but she's very much interested in the flowers all around, and when she gets hold of the paper every Saturday she just

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