April and Early May 



nil^J bloodroot; that that vindictive looking 

 t ^<p ■ spear, composed of closely plaited leaves, 

 heralds the yet remote appearance of the 

 unlovely flowers of the false hellebore ; 

 that these slender needles will expand with 

 the feathery foliage and fragile blossoms 

 of the anemone. 



But from some last year leaves we are 

 enabled to predict that from certain silken 

 coils will peep the blue eyes of the liyer- 

 *^ ^ wo?t- ^^ greet joyfully the famihar ever- 

 green leaves of the trailing arbutus, and V*^ 

 when our eager fingers have pushed aside 

 the drifts of dead leaves, we discover a 

 few early, aromatic clusters of its waxen 

 flowers. 



Not till the shad-bush flings its white «' • 

 clusters across the brook, does the blood- 

 root consent to lay aside its wraps and 

 spangle the ground with its snowy gold- 

 centred blossoms. The purity of this 

 flower is only accentuated by the blood- 

 like drops which ooze from its broken 



25 



