Mben tbe iKIlooDs are Xeat^oreen 75 



Under the fences or on the wet sides of runnels 

 along the road the chick-weed opens its white stars, 

 ^lany of the spring flowers are white. Conspicuous 

 among these are the blossoms of the shad-bush or 

 service-berry, sometimes called " June-berry," be- 

 cause its clusters of red fruit ripen in June. The 

 shad-berry is a tall shrub growing on low hillsides 

 near brooks, which it seems to delight to overhang, 

 viewing its graceful reflection in the still mirrors of 

 water between the stones. The snowy-clustered 

 blossoms come while the tree is still bare of leaves, 

 and every stray breeze tosses about the long, slender 

 loosely-hanging petals, which seem at first sight just 

 ready to be blown away. This plant has one of its 

 names from the notion that its white banners were 

 unfurled when the first run of shad began to ascend 

 the rivers. Early settlers named it also " service- 

 berry," from the use which the Indians made of the 

 fruit — drying it, beating it into a kind of cake, or 

 squeezing out the juice for a drink. 



The white blossoms dance on the April air, timed 

 to that refrain so glad to flower-lovers, '' Lo, the 

 winter is past." Do the beautiful wood anemones 

 hear and understand that ? They are the next flower 

 that appears in the spring. Now and then one or 

 two come out in the last days of March, but they are 

 small and pale, seeming to shake with the cold. All 



