MAY. 247 



thickly enveloped in green foliage; and last of all, the apple 

 trees, with blossoms of every variety of shade, between a 

 bright crimson or purple and a pure white, all come forth, one 

 after another, until the whole landscape seems to be wreathed 

 in bloom. 



During the last week in May, were you to stand on an 

 eminence that commands an extensive view of the country, 

 you would be persuaded that the prospect is far more mag- 

 nificent than at midsummer. At this time you look not upon 

 individuals, but groups. Before you lies an ample meadow, 

 nearly destitute of trees except a few noble elms, standing in 

 their blended majesty and beauty, combining in their forms 

 the gracefulness of the palm with the grandeur of the oak ; 

 here and there a clump of pines, and long rows of birches, 

 willows and alders bordering the streams that glide along the 

 valley, and exhibiting every shade of greenness in their fol- 

 iage. In all parts of the prospect, separated by square fields 

 of tillage of lighter or darker verdure, according to the nature 

 of their crops, you behold numerous orchards, some on the 

 hillside receiving the direct beams of the sun, and others on 

 level ground, exhibiting their shady rows with their flowers 

 just in that state of advancement that serves to show the bud- 

 ding trees, which are red and purple, in beautiful opposition 

 to the fully blown trees, which are white. Such spectacles 

 of flowering orchards are seen in all parts of the country, as 

 far as the eye can reach, along the thinly inhabited roadsides 

 and farms. 



The effect produced by the flowering of trees is less con- 

 spicuous in our forests than in our orchards and gardens : but 

 the dazzling whiteness of the Florida cornel, rising up amidst 

 the variegated masses of- forest verdure, attracts the attention 

 of every traveller. The flowering trees of our forests are 

 chiefly of the amentaceous tribes, whose flowers serve rather 

 to add gaiety and variety to their tints, than any positive 

 beauty of colors. Among the shrubbery, however, there are 

 many species that are made attractive by their blossoms, and 

 yield to the pastures and coppices a more beautiful appear- 

 ance than anything we have observed in the woods. While 



