OCTOBER. 173 



in the same direction. Our climate has probably got very 

 gradually colder during recent ages. If anyone fears the 

 gradual coming on of a cold epoch, they may comfort 

 themselves with the fact that it will not refrigerate them 

 during their time, and they may further remember that 

 the dominant races, not only of plants, but especially of 

 men, have come out of the cool regions of the earth. 



This year (1901) the season is considerably behind its 

 usual time on the average, I think, quite a fortnight. It 

 is difficult to assign general dates for the unfolding of buds 

 and flowers. The only way to arrive at a true estimate of 

 the earliness or backwardness of a season is to keep a 

 record of the plants in one locality. Thus the hedgerows 

 and deciduous trees growing on the summit of the ridge at 

 Roslyn are at an elevation of over 600 feet above those in 

 the Botanical Gardens, and it would be valueless to compare 

 the two localities. Again, those on a slope with a northern 

 exposure are often weeks earlier than those facing south. 

 But taking an average from my own garden and the sur- 

 rounding neighbourhood, I find the thorn hedges, plum 

 and pear trees, and the gorse bushes are fully a fortnight 

 behind their usual time of coming out. 



The absence of a well-marked season of arrival of life and 

 growth would soon make itself felt in the literature of the 

 land, for the spring charms us not only because it restores 

 Natiire after the rest and sleep of winter, but because also 

 it is the time of reproductive activity. It is the season of 

 blossom, when tree and bush and humble herb break out 

 into flower, offering then- stores of nectar and pollen in 

 their temptingly-coloured and fragrant envelopes to their 

 insect auxiliaries. It is the season when the birds awake 

 their song, and when their efforts to charm their mates 

 render the groves vocal. It is the season which has called 

 forth much of the sweetest raptures of the poets : 



"In the spring a fuller crimson comes upon the robin's breast, 

 In the spring the wanton lapwing gets himself another crest, 

 In the spring a livelier iris changes on the burnish'd dove, 

 In the spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love. 



