THE BANKS. 



HOUGH the declivitous banks 

 on either side of the lane are 

 attractive at all seasons and 

 every season has its peculiar 

 attractions the time of early 

 buds and blossoms is perhaps 

 fraught with the greatest 

 interest and the liveliest 

 pleasure. The first of Flora's 

 forerunners to open its tiny 

 petals to the soft breath of 

 early spring, and the fitful 

 gleams of a February sun, is 

 the Vernal Whitlow Grass 

 (Draba xerna), which appears 

 on a dry sunny part of the 

 slope. So small is this plant, 

 that but for its growing in 

 patches, it would often remain 

 unobserved, especially in wet 

 or cloudy weather, when its small pearly flowers close up. 

 The scape is about two inches high, and the narrow toothed 

 leaves form a circle at the root. Next to the snowdrop it is 

 perhaps the first flower of spring, and, on this account, 



