ecays, new ones of
a different character spring up in their places. This is illustrated in
the circumstance of the resinous substance called fat-pine being usually
found in places where the living pine is least abundant, and where the
ground is occupied by oak, ash, buck, maple, and bass-wood.

The fire-weed, a species of tall thistle of rank and unpleasant scent,
is the first plant that appears when the ground has been freed from
timbers by fire: if a piece of land lies untilled the first summer after
its being chopped, the following spring shows you a smothering crop of
this vile weed. The next plant you notice is the sumach, with its downy
stalks, and head of deep crimson velvety flowers, forming an upright
obtuse bunch at the extremity of the branches: the leaves turn scarlet
towards the latter end of the summer. This shrub, though really very
ornamental, is regarded as a great pest in old clearings, where the
roots run and send up suckers in abundance. The raspberry and wild
gooseberry are next seen, and thousands of strawberry plants of
different varieties carpet the ground, and mingle with the grasses of
the pastures. I have been obliged this spring to root out with
remorseless hand hundreds of sarsaparilla plants, and also the
celebrated gingseng, which grows abundantly in our woods: it used
formerly to be an article of export to China from the States, the root
being held in high estimation by the Chinese.

Last week I noticed a succulent plant that made its appearance on a dry
sandy path in my garden; it seems to me a variety of the hour-blowing
mesembryanthium. It has increased so rapidly that it already covers a
large space; the branches converging from the centre of the plant; and
sending forth shoots from every joint. The leaves are rather small,
three-sided and pointed, thick and juicy, yielding a green liquor when
bruised like the common sedums. The stalks are thick and round, of a
bright red, and trail along the ground; the leaves spring from each
joint, and with them a constant succession of yellow starry flowers,
that close in an hour or so from the time they first unfold. I shall
send you some of the seed of this plant, as I perceived a number of
little green pods that looked like the buds, but which, on opening,
proved to be the seed-vessels. This plant covers the earth like a thick
mat, and, I am told, is rather troublesome where it likes the soil.

I regret that among my dried plants I could not