264 GARDEN MANAGEMENT. 



blow, and soon finds the broadest yellow blossom of the furze-bush, in which 

 it can bury itself while it rifles it of its richest pollen. 



710. Though still leafless, many trees and shrubs are just bursting into 

 leaC In the words of good Bishop Mant, the poet of the months, on— 



*' Currant and prickly gooseberry. 

 Along the hawthorn's level line, 

 On bush of fragrant eglantine. 

 On bramble, and pithy elder pale, 

 On larch and woodbine's twisted trail. 

 And willow lithe, there's flush of green ; 

 The forward sycamores display 

 Their foliage ; and the shining spray 

 Of chestnut, to the sun protrude 

 His lengthen'd and expanding bud, 

 "Which once unwrapp'd, in vain would Art 

 Fold it anew." 



In the garden many floral ornaments begin to appear : the spring Adonis peeps 



out in the herbaceous border ; the Fritillaria, or crown imperial, exhibits its 



drooping bells ; the periwinkles open their bright blue eyes in old gardens, 



reminding us that Chaucer sang of its beauties along with the violet in his 



parterre :— 



" There sprang the violete al newe, 

 And fresh pewinke, rich of hewe." 



The delicate blossom of the almond perfumes the air with its fragrance, pre- 

 cursor of the apple, pear, and cherry ; and others, which we need not name, 

 admonish us "that the winter is past, that the rain is over and gone, and the 

 flowers appear on the earth ; that the time of the singing of birds is come, 

 when the voice of the turtle is heard in our land." 



711. March, while treading thus on the flowery borders of spring, does not 

 fail to remind us that it was not without sound analogy that the name of the 

 roughest of the fabled Olympian deities was given to it by the Romans. The 

 stormy winds of the veiT^al equinox render it both boisterous and cold. These 

 gales are distinguished from those of autumn, by their greater dryness, during 

 which evaporation takes place with great rapidity. The moisture engendered 

 by the heavy snows and rains of winter, exhales ; " the dry winds of March 

 come strong and thirsty, and drink up the dregs which winter has left in the 

 cup ;" and the earth is thus prepared for the seed about to be committed to its 

 bosom. Hence the old rural proverb, which declares " a measure of March 

 dust to be worth a king's ransom." Another homely adage is old euougii 

 among us to be embodied in verse by one of our poets : — 



" March, though his early mood 

 Is boisterous and wild, — feeling that shame 

 "Would follow his fell steps, if spring's young brood 

 Of buds and blossoms wither'd where he trod,— 

 Calms his fierce ire, while the blue violets 

 "NVake to new life." 



The increased temperature during this month is chiefly observable during the 

 day : it is still very variable, advancing, as it were, by starts ; but the mean 

 temperature of the month is about six degrees higher than Februarv, although 



