By ponds and in damp thickets in Connecticut and New Jersey may be found the showy rhexia, or meadow-beauty, the petals bright reddish-purple, with crooked stamens brilliant yellow, and captivating seed-vessels shaped like little antique vases. Several species of the singular orchis tribe are in bloom during this month. As a general thing, these remarkable plants delight in cold, damp, boggy, muddy pastures, and old dark woods and thickets.
The flowers are beautiful, and several are fragrant; the colors white, yellow, and shades of purple, and one, the fragrant purple-fringed orchis, is as perfect and beautiful as can be imagined, and well repays the tramp through damp woods. So also does the superb white lady's-slipper, found in the same localities, and contrasting finely with the dark, shaded places it loves, the large white blossoms, with purple or red lines, two or three on a stalk. In shallow pools and wet places the white arrow-head is plentiful; and the whiter wild calla, really handsomer than its majestic relative the cultivated calla, and the brilliant cardinal-flower gleam out beside the water-courses.
WILD FLOWERS OF JULY.
| COMMON NAME. | COLOR. | LOCALITY, ETC. |
| Aconite, wolf's-bane | Purple, poison | Dry rocky places; Pennsylvania. |
| Agrimony | Soft yellow | Open woods; New Jersey. |
| Archangelica | White | Dry open woods; Middle States. |
| Beach-pea | Purple, large | Sea-coast; New Jersey. |
| Black snakeroot | White racemes | Deep woods; Maine, West. |
| Butterfly-pea | Violet, large | Sandy woods; Maryland, Virginia. |
| Button-ball | White | Wet places. Common. |
| Callirhœ | Red-purple | Dry fields, prairies; Illinois. |
| Cardinal-flower | Intense red | Wet places. Common. |
| Coral-berry | Pink | Dry fields and banks. Middle States. |
| Deptford pink | Rose-color, white spots | Dry soil; Mass. to Virginia. |
| Evening primrose | Pale yellow | Sandy soil. Common. |
| Everlasting-pea | Yellowish-white | Hill-sides; Vermont, Mass. |
| Fringed orchis | Purple | Dark woods; New England. |
| Fumitory | Rose-color, nodding | Sandy fields; New Jersey. |
| Ginseng | White | Cool, rich woods. Rare. |
| Glade mallow | White | Limestone valleys; Pennsylvania. |
| Grass of Parnassus | Wh., green lines | Damp meadows; Connecticut. |
| Hardhack | Rose-color | Damp meadows; New England. |
| Hedysarum | Purple | Vermont, Maine. |
| Hercules's club | Greenish-white | River-banks; Middle States. |
| Indiana dragon-root | Black and red, poison | Damp woods; West. |
| Indian physic | White, pink | Rich woods; Pa., New York. |
| Lady's-slipper | White, red lines | Deep, boggy woods; New England. |
| Lead-plant | Violet | Crevices of rocks; Michigan. |
| Marsh-pea | Blue, purple | Moist places; New England. |
| Meadow-beauty | Bright purple | Borders of ponds; Conn., N. J. |
| Meadow-sweet | White, pink | Wet, low grounds; New England. |
| Moss-campion | Purple, white | White Mountains. |
| Myrtle-pea | Pale purple | Climbing; New England thickets. |
| New Jersey tea | White clusters | Dry woodlands; Middle States. |
| Nondo, lovage | Wh., aromatic | Rich woods; Virginia. |
| Passion-flower | Green'h-yellow | Damp thickets; Pa., Illinois. |
| Pencil-flower | Yellow | New Jersey; pine-barrens. |
| Poison-hemlock | White, poison | Waste, wet places. Common. |
| Prairie rose | Deep pink | Climbing; prairies West. |
| Prickly poppy | Showy yellow | Open woods; South and West. |
| Rattle-box | Yellow | Sandy soil; New Jersey. |
| Royal catchfly | Deep scarlet | Western prairies. |
| Sea-rocket | Purplish | New England coast and West. |
| Slender sundew | White | Shores of Western lakes. |
| Snow-berry | White | Rocky banks; Vermont to Pa. |
| Spikenard | White | Rich woodlands; New England. |
| St. Andrew's cross | Yellow, stamens crossing | New Jersey; Illinois. |
| St. John's wort | Yellow, large | River-banks; New England. |
| Stone-crop | Yellow | Rocky road-sides. Common. |
| St. Peter's wort | Light yellow | Pine-barrens of New Jersey. |
| Touch-me-not | Pale yellow | Moist banks. Common. |
| Veratrum (false hellebore) | Purple, poison | Swamps; New England. |
| Vetch | Blue, purple | Thickets; New England. |
| Western wall-flower | Orange-yellow | Limestone cliffs; West. |
| Wild calla | White | Wet places. Common. |
| Wild hydrangea | Purple, white | Rocky banks; Pennsylvania. |
| Wild larkspur | Purple, blue | Rich woods; Pa., New York. |
| Wild licorice | Dull purple | Damp woods. Common. |
| Wild senna | Yellow | Damp soil; Middle States. |
| Wolf-berry | White, pink | West and South. |
THE STORY OF THE AMERICAN NAVY.
BY BENSON J. LOSSING.
Chapter I.
"You have no right to tax us without our consent," said the English-American colonists to the British Parliament more than a hundred years ago. "The Great Charter of England forbids it."