CHAPTER OF CRITICISM. 365 



With regard to Ranunculus Jicaria, the same writer, in his " Rustic Calendar," 

 says, under April 3, that " Pilewort now bespangles every shady bank and 

 sloping grove with its golden stars, which remain till May." He also says that 

 Caltha palustris is in full flower in the middle of April. If, therefore, these 

 plants did not flower with Mr. Morris till the 1st of May, he himself proves 

 the backwardness that he denies. 



May 10. — No Pear-trees yet in flower in the orchards, though, according to 

 Forster's "Rustic Calendar," they generally commence flowering on April 13. 



May 13. — Alder not in leaf except very partially; Ash, no signs of opening 

 foliage apparent ; Beech, the leaves only fully expanded to-day ; Birch, young 

 leaves just expanded ; Elm, leaves expanding, but scarcely open ; general aspect 

 denuded ; Hawthorn, — the hedges are not yet entirely green, and no sign of 

 blossom any where : yet who does not remember gathering May on May-day ? 

 "In early warm springs," says Forster, " it flowers on the 1st or 2nd of May ;" 

 Hazel, not in leaf, except here and there ; Horse Chesnut, foliage fully out, but 

 not any flowers ; Lime, only just opening ; Maple, buds as yet only apparent ; 

 Oak, entirely bare; Pear, leaves only partially expanded; Poplar (P. nigra), 

 red flowers very conspicuous, but leaves not fully expanded ; Service (Pyrus 

 torminalisj, entirely leafless; Sycamore, in young leaf, though, according to 

 Forster, this should be the case on April 10 in ordinary seasons; Willow (Salix 

 alba), young foliage just apparent. 



May 15. — Pear-trees now first fully in flower, though the third woek in April 

 is the usual period for this. 



May 25. — Horse Chesnut only just come into flower. 



May 26. — Noticed a Hawthorn-bush in flower for the first time this year, but 

 in a ride of thirty miles it was the only one so circumstanced. 



June 11. — The Horse Chesnut, Laburnum, and Lilac, are at length arrayed in 

 the beauty that in ordinary seasons they assume a month earlier ! 



I will now, by reference to a well-known, common, and universally-diffused 

 English flower, attempt to ascertain the number of days the season in question 

 was behind ordinary ones, and the plant I shall select is a solstitial species, as 

 most fit to refer to. I have noticed for a number of years that the Yellow-flag 

 Iris (Iris pseudacorus) always unfolds its brilliant corolla on May the 31st or 

 June the 1st; the latter date is given by Forster in his "Rustic Calendar," and 

 I do not remember a season in which the marsh was not yellow with some of its 

 flowers on the 1st of June. This year I observed no flower open till June 19, 

 so that there can be no doubt that vegetation received a general retardation of at 

 least eighteen days. I shall only observe further, that Rosa spinosissima, which 

 usually flowers in April, did not expand till the 11th of June; and that not a 



No. 13, Vol. II. 3 c 



