Colors of Wheat. 129 



but a shower falls, and fresh green blades shoot up. 

 Or, passing from the hollow meads up on the rising 

 slopes where the plough rules the earth, what so 

 beautiful to watch as the wheat through its various 

 phases of color? 



First green and succulent; then, presently, see a 

 modest ear comes forth with promise of the future. 

 By-and-by, when every stalk is tipped like a sceptre, 

 the lower stalk leaves are still green, but the stems 

 have a faint bluish tinge, and the ears are paling into 

 yellow. Next the white pollen the bloom shows 

 under the warm sunshine, and then the birds begin to 

 grow busy among it. They perch on the stalk itself 

 it is at that time strong and stiff enough to uphold 

 their weight, one on a stem but not now for mis- 

 chief. You may see the sparrow carry away with 

 him caterpillars for his young upon the housetop hard 

 by ; later on, it is true, he will revel on the ripe 

 grains. 



Yesterday you came to the wheat, and found it 

 pale like this (it seems but twenty-four hours ago 

 it is really only a little longer) ; to-day, when you 

 look again, lo ! there is a fleeting yellow already on 

 the ears. They have so quickly caught the hue of 

 the bright sunshine pouring on them. Yet another 

 day or two, and the faint fleeting vellow has become 

 fixed and certain, as the colors are deepened by the 

 great artist. Only when the wind blows and the ears 

 bend in those places where the breeze takes most, it 

 looks paler because the under part of the ear is shown 

 and part of the stalk. Finally comes that rich hue 

 for which no exact similitude exists. 



In it there is somewhat of the red of the orange, 



