I 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



Mr. Cabot describes the following pears as giving promise of excellence : Inconnue Van 

 Mons — a winter variety. Delkes d'' Hardenpont — Nov. and Dec. Susette de Bavay — 

 winter. Docteur Capron — Oct. and Nov. New Long Rose Water — Nov. and Dec. The 

 Tea pear of New Haven, Beurre C'lairgeau^ Nouveau Poiteau, Beurre Montegeron. 



Beurre Ilerode is synonymous, witli Doyenne Boussocl; tSt. Nicolas with Buchesse dWr- 



leam^ and Henri Nicaire with Bartlett. The Soldat Laborer and Josepliine de Maline he 



speaks unfavorably of. The fii'st has not been fine with us ; but the latter excellent, though 



small, so far. 



♦ 



The following article is by an intelligent observer of nature in all her varied and beau- 

 tiful forms. We hope to enliven and enrich our pages with other articles from the same 

 source, when the forest shall appear in its beauty. 



FOREST GLEANINGS— April and April Flowers. 



BY MES. CAROLINE P. TRAILL. 



" The pine hath a fringe of softer green, 

 And the moss looks bright where my steps have been." — ITemans. 



Tlie month of April iu Canada is decidedly the least agreeable one in the whole year. It is 

 often cold and clieerless ; or if a few Bunny, warm days present themselves, they are too often 

 the precursors of biting winds and showers of snow and sleet, which put a bridle on the earth, 

 and hold vegetation in cheek. This month does not display the same peculiar features as in Eng- 

 land ; with us it is not 



"April suns and April sliowers, 

 That fiU the lap of May with flowers." 



We miss those balmy breezes laden with the odors of the violet, the primrose, and the blue bell ; 

 — those deep blue skies, rendered more lovely by the big silver thrones, as we used to call the 

 white clouds that are so often seen in April skies, casting their hasty shadows over the streams 

 and young fields of wheat ; now for a few moments veiling the sun, then as suddenly passing 

 away, leaving liis face more glorious than before. We miss the music of the feathered choir at 

 early dawn, and all through the livelong day. Wo miss the busy murmur of the bees in the 

 bosom of the golden crocus, the starry blossoms of the little celandine on green banks by the 

 way-side, and the daisies that powder over the meadows like snow showers. 



Yet, though we lose all these sweet sounds and sights, we must not be ungrateful. Our Cana- 

 dian April, though colder and even more capricious than her sister of the isles, also has her 

 charms for such as will seek them with cheerful fae?s and contented hearts. It is her breath 

 that unlocks the frozen lakes and loosens the icy streams — that rids the earth of her snowy 

 burden — that causes the sap to flow and the buds to swell, ready for expanding the leaves that 

 have been closely shut up in their downy cradles during the long winter months. 



At the voice of the flowing streams the hardier emigrants begin to flock in. The wild ducks 

 are splashing the newly opened waters with their wide wings ; and see! the little song-sparrow 

 {Fringilla nidodia) is flitting to and fro on our garden bushes, with the neat snow-bird {F. niva- 

 lis) and little brown wren {Troylodytes fulva); all singing a low sweet song of joy and gladness, 

 as they flit to and fro, now searching for seeds upon the withered stalks of the rough amaranth 

 or tall mullein, or on the mossy branches for insects. Now may be heard, on warm days, tlie 

 incessant rapping, tapping, and hammering of the wood-peckers, both the red-headed {Ficus 

 erylhocephalici) and the little downy spotted and midland wood-peckers ; the soft, low, plaintive, 

 note of the chickadee ; or the bold, full, musical swell of the song-thrush and meadow-lark ; with 

 many others tliat I coidd name. Listen to that hollow sound; it is Uke the booming of very 



