APEIL. 123 



from that secret renovation which the aged fathers of 

 the forest and their sapling sons are now experiencing. 

 The swelling buds are first brown, then bronze, then 

 of a reddish hue, and thus they continue till a light 

 green bough is seen to wave, as if in triumph, from 

 some warm sheltered nook. This is a signal for a 

 general foliation ; and he who retires in the evening, 

 casting a look at his beloved woods, rather wishing 

 than expecting that another week will cover them with 

 leaves, often rejoices the next morning to observe that 

 the whole forest has burst into greenness and luxu- 

 riance."* 



The Sycamore very early puts forth its fine broad 

 frondage, a beautiful object wherever it stands by the 

 roadside and old farm-house ; the weeping Willow 

 (Salix Babylonica), is now also arrayed in its pallid 

 young foliage, and the Hazel and common white Wil- 

 low have their leaves just expanded; the Elm and Pear 

 are beginning to be partially green, but the other forest 

 trees will still remain in a denuded state much longer, 



April 18th, according to Forster, has been desig- 

 nated Ulmifrondes, or Elm's-tide, on account of the 

 Elm generally appearing in leaf on this day; but this 

 will only happen in central England in early seasons. 

 The Elm (IJlmus cainpestris) flowers early in March, 

 long before the foliage appears, as does the Wytch- 

 Hazel (Ulmus montana), a true British denizen, often 

 of distorted aspect, whose hop-like clusters of capsules 

 begin to appear very conspicuous. Where a deep 

 winding lane is fringed on either side with pollarded 

 ashes or old monstrous-headed wytch-hazels, a solemn 

 yet soothing effect is often produced at this transition 



* Annals of my Village, a Calendar of Nature, &c. 



