64 THE CHEONICLES OF A GARDEN. 



And the cherry proclaims of cloudless weather, 

 When its fruit and the blackbirds will toy together. 

 See, the gooseberry bushes their riches show. 

 And the currant bush hangs its leaves below ; 

 And the damp-loving rasp saith, ' I '11 win your praise 

 With my gratefiil coolness on harvest days.' 

 Come along, come along, and guess with me 

 How fair and how fruitful the year shall be ! " 



Too true it is that sometimes these guesses and hojDes 

 are blighted by a late spring frost ; the blossoms of the 

 fruit-trees drop off, the flowers shrivel and droop, the very 

 leaves are scorched and blackened, and all our anticipations 

 of the rich beauty of 



" The lilac, and the snowball flower, 

 And the laburnum, with its golden strings 

 Waving in the wind," 



and of the autumn wealth of fruit, are dashed to the 

 ground. Still, season after season, spring fills us with 

 hope ; and well it is that it should do so, for, without 

 hope, who could either watch or work? Both must be 

 done at this season. Indeed, the months of March and 

 April bring so much to be done, as well as to be hoped 

 for, that one sometimes feels at a loss what should be done 

 first ; frequently the caprice of the weather must be dis- 

 regarded, and the work pushed on ; for if not done now, it 

 cannot be done afterwards, and we are left to experience 

 the truth of the proverb, " He that will not plough by rea- 

 son of the cold, shall beg in harvest, and have nothing." 

 In amateur work, at this season, the sowing of annuals is 



