ning he
stands spellbound before the full-blown bells of the yucca, cream-tinted
or pink, and fragrant as the breath of summer.

Before the Nature-lover is tired of feasting his eyes upon that stately
flower, shall begin to unfold the crumpled draperies of the great
Mexican poppy, dotting the hillsides and the mesa with white, as far as
the eye can reach. Meanwhile, the earth itself shall suddenly turn to
pink, and a close look disclose a tiny, low-growing blossom, sweet as
the morning, with the glow of the sunrise in its face; a little bunch of
crazy-looking stamens, and tiny snips of petals standing out at all
angles, and of all shades on one stem, from white to deep red; the whole
no bigger than a gauzy-winged fly, and shaped not unlike one, with a
delicious odor that scents the air.

Next day--or next week--wandering over the pathless barrens, the
observer may come upon a group of cream-colored satin flowers, wide open
to the sun, innocent looking and most tempting to gather. But the great
fleshy leaves from which they spring give warning; they belong to the
cactus family, and are well armed to protect their treasures from the
vagrant hand. The walker--if he be wise--will content himself with
looking, nor seek a nearer acquaintance.

While these royal beauties are adorning the highlands, others, perhaps
even more lovely, are blooming in the canyons, under the trees, and
beside the noisy brooks. First, there is a "riot of roses"--the only
expression that adequately suggests the profusion of these beautiful
flowers. They grow in enormous bushes, far above one's head, in
impenetrable thickets, extending for yards each way.

"Rose hedges
Abloom to the edges."

Every country road is walled in by them; every brookside is glorified by
their rich masses of color; and no rocky wall is so bare but here and
there a tiny shoot finds root, and open its rosy bloom. All these
bushes, from the low-growing sort that holds its mottled and shaded
petals three inches above the ground, to that whose top one cannot
reach, are simply loaded with blossoms of all shades, from nearly white
to deepest rose-color, filling the air with perfume.

The first time one comes upon this lavish display, he--or more probably
she--picks a spray from the first bush; she cannot resist the next
variety, and before she knows it her arms are full, with temptations as
strong as ever before her. She may at last, like "H. H.," take home her
ros