40 IN A GLOUCESTERSHIRE GARDEN 



and the branchlets being all on the same plane, the 

 branches are like the frond of a fern, and it bears a 

 profusion of curious, very small, yellow flowers, which, 

 however, grow under the leaves, and are so completely 

 hidden that they might be entirely passed by; but 

 they have a most delicate scent, very like vanilla, 

 which brings them into notice. With the two Japanese 

 honeysuckles, L. Standishii, and L. fragrantissima, with 

 small flowers but a most delightful scent, and often 

 flowering even in January, I may close the list of 

 March flowers. 



I have said that there was great pleasure in watch- 

 ing the ways in which different plants come through 

 the ground, and February and March are the months 

 in which that can best be seen. The more I study 

 flowers, the more I feel how little I know about them, 

 and especially how very little is known of a plant 

 by its flower only. The young shoots of a plant 

 when it first breaks the ground are often of wonderful 

 beauty, and are in many cases so utterly unlike the 

 same leaves when come to maturity, that to describe 

 a plant by its mature leaves only is to tell less than 

 half its story. And this is only one of the wonders 

 of young plant life. People sow seeds, and watch for 

 the coming of the plant, but few note that every 

 separate plant has its particular method of coming out 



