244 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



sentiments of the human soul. I alhide to the idea of pro- 

 gression combined with the image of hope and activity. 

 Nothing adds so greatly to the charms of a scene in nature, 

 as anything which is palpably suggestive of some pleasing 

 moral sentiment. It is this quality that gives half their 

 beauty to certain flowers : and the unfolding leaves and ripen- 

 ing hues of vegetation require no forced eff"ort of ingenuity, to 

 make apparent their analogy to the period of youth, and the 

 season of hope ; neither are the fading tints of autumn any 

 less suggestive of life's decline. There are not many, how- 

 ever, who would not prefer the lightness of heart that is pro- 

 duced by these emblems of progression, and these signals of 

 the reviving year, to the more poetic sentiment of melancholy, 

 inspired by the scenes of autumn. 



Among the different species of trees and shrubs, there is a 

 notable difference in their habits of leafing and flowering ; 

 some wreathing their flowers upon the naked branches, before 

 the expansion of the leaves, like the peach tree, the elm and 

 the maple : others putting forth their leaves and flowers 

 simultaneously, like the apple tree and the cherry : others 

 acquiring their full green vesture, before the appearance of 

 their flowers, as the lilac, the elder, the rose and the vibur- 

 num. When we observe these multiplied and beautiful ar- 

 rangements, we cannot avoid associating them with the 

 benevolence of nature ; and we are pi'one to regard her as an 

 affectionate parent who has instituted these phenomena, in 

 order to present at all times the greatest amount of beauty to 

 the eye, and to guard us from all that weariness that is sure 

 to follow the long continuance of one imchangeable source of 

 pleasure. 



There is manifestly some connection between the tints of 

 the half developed spring foliage, and those we observe in the 

 decline of the year. The leaves of nearly all the trees and 

 shrubs that are brightly colored in autumn, present a similar 

 variety of tints in their tender plaited foliage in May. This is 

 very remarkable in the different species of the oak, whose 

 half developed leaves are deeply marked with purple, violet 

 and yellow stains, that fade e^ntirely out as the leaf ripens and 



