PLANTS PREDICT WEATHER 103 



duces the rule of red and white. Then the soft 

 tones draw timidly back into shaded glens, while the 

 blazing summer sun brings out the strength of the 

 glorious red field poppy, the trumpet-flower, j 

 the red lobelia, as contrasted to the white fields o 

 clover, daisies, and mayweed. 



Red and white hold sway until August, proclaim- 

 ing the onrushing fall, introduces the autumn 

 styles ; then the reds soften to royal purple and the 

 whites yield to their regal golden successors. The 

 purple asters, verbenas, and mints, together with 

 the blazing goldenrod and the yellow evening-prim- 

 rose, crown the year with a royal robe of purple and 

 gold, the mantle of autumn, and the imperial proc- 

 lamation of the Harvest Season. 



The winter has, in its turn, a distinct group of 

 tones which we associate with the season, although 

 these are not gained from any floral bloom of the 

 time. The dark green of the evergreen and the 

 brilliant red of the few lingering berries; the 

 browns of earth, field, and highway; and the soft 

 white of the fallen snow, are synonymous with 

 winter, and must therefore be acknowledged as her 

 "seasonal tones" in Dame Nature's almanac. 



