THE ASH-TREE. 167 



would be determined." It is not only in reference 

 to garden and farm produce that such a calendar is 

 at once possible and very interesting. So exact is the 

 agreement between the period in the leafing and the 

 flowering of trees and plants, that meeting with one 

 kind in some fair and pleasant field, we are assured 

 that in the woodland we may now look with certainty 

 for some other, each being an intimation of the arrival 

 of its companion. That such a correspondence 

 exists between the arrival and departure of migra- 

 tory birds, and in their songs and nest-building ; 

 also in the hatching of certain insects, and the 

 appearance of certain flowers, has long been known 

 to naturalists, and many plants have been named 

 from this beautiful harmony, the cuckoo-flower for 

 instance, and probably the wake-robin. By-and- 

 by, when men learn to love nature as dearly as it 

 deserves, these engaging truths will all be marshalled, 

 and almanacks will deal not only with the changes 

 of the moon, and the sun's rising and setting, but 

 will become tables of the sweet harmonies that sub- 

 sist between nature's calm and pleasant teachings 

 and man's highest practical wisdom. It is im- 

 possible to enter nature at any point, but we come 

 at once upon something useful to know ; and the 

 .knowledge of which increases our happiness. 



The particular place held by the ash in the sequence 

 of arrivals of first leaves was established by the cele- 

 brated Benjamin Stillingfleet, who in Norfolk, in 



