NUTTY AUTUMN 



THERE is some honeysuckle still flowering at the tops of 

 the hedges, where in the morning gossamer lies like a 

 dewy net. The gossamer is a sign both of approaching 

 autumn and, exactly at the opposite season of the year, 

 of approaching spring. It stretches from pole to pole, 

 and bough to bough, in the copses in February, as the 

 lark sings. It covers the furze, and lies along the hedge- 

 tops in September, as the lark, after a short or partial 

 silence, occasionally sings again. 



But the honeysuckle does not flower so finely as the 

 first time ; there is more red (the unopened petal) than 

 white, and beneath, lower down the stalk, are the red 

 berries, the fruit of the former bloom. Yellow weed, or 

 ragwort, covers some fields almost as thickly as buttercups 

 in summer, but it lacks the rich colour of the buttercup. 

 Some knotty knapweeds stay in out-of-the-way places, 

 where the scythe has not been ; some bunches of may- 

 weed, too, are visible in the corners of the stubble. 



Silverweed lays its golden flower like a buttercup with- 

 out a stalk level on the ground ; it has no protection, 

 and any passing foot may press it into the dust. A few 

 white or pink flowers appear on the brambles, and in 

 waste places a little St. John's wort remains open, but the 

 seed vessels are for the most part forming. St. John's 

 wort is the flower of the harvest ; the yellow petals appear 

 as the wheat ripens, and there are some to be found till 



