I was anxious to see Illinois prairies on my way home; so we went to Decatur, or near the centre of the State, thence north by Rockford and Janesville. I botanized one week on the prairie about seven miles southwest of Pecatonica. I gathered the most beautiful bouquet there that I ever saw. I seldom make bouquets. I never saw but very few that I thought were at all beautiful. I was anxious to know the grasses and sedges of the Illinois prairies and also their comparative abundance; so I walked one hundred yards in a straight line, gathering at each step that grass or sedge nearest my foot, placing them one by one in my left hand as I walked along, without looking at them or entertaining the remotest idea of making a bouquet. At the end of this measured walk my handful, of course, consisted of one hundred plants _arranged in Nature’s own way_ as regards kind, comparative numbers, and size. I looked at my grass bouquet by chance--was startled--held it at arms length _in sight of its own near and distant scenery and companion flowers_--my discovery was complete and I was delighted beyond measure with the new and extreme beauty. Here it is:-- Of _Kœleria cristata_ 55 “ _Agrostis scabra_ 29 “ _Panicum clandestinum_ 7 “ “ _depauperatum_ 1 “ _Stipa spartea_ 7 “ _Poa alsodes_ 7 “ “ _pratensis_ 1 “ _Carex panicea_ 4 “ “ _Novæ-Angliæ_ 1 The extremely fine and diffuse purple _Agrostis_ contrasted most divinely with the taller, strict, taper-finished _Kœleria_. The long-awned single _Stipa_ too and _P. clandestinum_, with their broad ovate leaves and purple muffy pistils, played an important part; so also did the cylindrical spikes of the sedges. All were just in place; every leaf had its proper taper and texture and exact measure of green. Only _P. pratensis_ seemed out of place, and as might be expected it proved to be an intruder, belonging to a field or bouquet in Europe. Can it be that a single flower or weed or grass in all these prairies occupies a chance position? Can it be that the folding or curvature of a single leaf is wrong or undetermined in these gardens that God is keeping? The most microscopic portions of plants are beautiful in themselves, and these are beautiful combined into individuals, and undoubtedly all are woven with equal care into one harmonious, beautiful whole. I have the analysis of two other handfuls of prairie plants which I will show you another time. We hope to be in Madison in about three weeks. To me all plants are more precious than before. My poor eye is not better or worse. A cloud is over it, but in gazing over the widest landscapes I am not always sensible of its presence.