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[bloom]ing peculiar to this class is developed at the season
when most other vegetation is at rest, and therefore
uninteresting; here then may the zealous botanical tourist
still continue his study with as much ardour as in the
summer; and derive pleasure and edification from the
contemplation of the various gay or modest tints of these
minute works of the Creator, when the casual observer will
find nothing to attract his attention from the general
dreariness of a wintry landscape.
Those who would acquaint themselves with the mosses and
linchens (sic) of the lake and mountain district, will need
some degree of perseverance and surefootedness in
exploring the dark ravines and cavernous fissures of the
moist and slippery rocks, and of the gloomy woods where
these delight to grow; and will meet with perhaps the
greatest variety, and those in the highest perfection, where
the sun shines seldomest and the rain falls oftenest upon
them. And it should be remembered that no satisfactory
progress can be made in collecting and distinguishing the
cryptogamia when the plants are shrivelled by drought.
No little energy will be requisite, also, to hunt out the
linchens - some of which are found inhabiting almost every
rood of undisturbed ground from the verge of the ocean, to
the storm-beaten summits of the highest mountains. And last,
not least, very considerable patience is necessary to duly
investigate and decipher the microscopic stamp of family, so
minutely, but distinctly impressed upon every specific
member of the whole tribe of both mosses and linchens; and a
great
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