A Venerable Orchard 



tic uses, and eager to know whether the 

 trees will be more likely to thrive in the 

 moist or in the dry part of the grounds. 



But there is a charm about this unpro- charm of 

 ductive old orchard, with its wilderness of *** orchar<L 

 venerable shrubs along the fence, that no 

 thrifty modern row of fruitful trees will 

 ever possess. As one sits there in the 

 shade on a sunny day, with the white pet- 

 als drifting down from their lofty boughs, 

 there is a murmur of bees among the foli- 

 age, of robins chattering among the twigs, 

 a rustle of leaves and flowers in the gentle 

 breeze, that seems the essence of the many 

 summers gone that have helped to swell 

 their great boles, and to increase their 

 majestic height. From under the arch of 

 branches the green meadow is visible, with 

 wooded hills rising from its margin, among 

 which nestle cottages, white and red, with 

 the faint smoke curling lazily from their 

 chimneys, up to the blue sky flecked with 

 round white clouds* How many years the 

 old trees have looked out upon the quiet 

 meadow, and for how many generations 

 have they dropped their rosy fruit ! 



In this new country of ours we yearn 

 93 



