BY THE EIVEE AND THE STEEAMLET. 



" Let us walk where reeds are growing 



By the alders in the mead, 

 Where the crystal streams are flowing, 

 In whose waves the fishes feed." 



rriHE hedgerows are gay aud the flowers are laugh - 

 ing in the meadows and woodlands ere the 

 blossoms that dwell by the streamlet and the river 

 show their beauties to the sun. Early in April, in 

 shallow waters, some of the aquatic plants send their 

 foliage to the surface of lake and river, but they wait 

 for the summer sun ere they show their brightest 

 flowers. Not so the large Butterbur (Pefasites vul- 

 ffturii), which sends its thick stems, loaded with a 

 crowded cluster of flesh-coloured flowers, before the 

 leaves emerge from their winter resting-place. Its 

 big heart-shaped leaves will be conspicuous enough in 

 the summer, for its foliage is the largest of any of our 

 wild flowers, and always forms a feature in the land- 

 scape. 



If the weather is mild the bright flowers of the 

 Mny-bloba, the Marsh Marigolds (C.; tin /W/'.v/m 1 ), 



