^90 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



STUDIES IN THE FIELD AND FOREST. 



BY WILSON FLAGG. 



No. 4. A Summer Night in the Woods. 



JUNE. 



New sounds of joy are borne upon the air : 

 A riper verdure glistens everywhere ; 

 New tribes of flowers and birds of livelier song 

 Have joined their thousands to the vernal throng. 

 Heaven's fairest hues are curtained in the west : 

 The chilling winds of spring are lulled to rest — 

 For summer's queen has bid the tempest cease, 

 And given the prisoned zephyrs their release ; 

 Has waked a host of living things to birth, 

 And spread their myriad splendors o'er the earth. 

 The fields are clad in brightest green array. 

 And cast into the shade the garniture of May. 

 The young wee flowers of spring are half concealed 

 Beneath the prouder foliage of the field ; 

 The violet you can hardly now discern. 

 Peeping from underneath the broad-leaved fern ; 

 And pale anemones wilt .down and pine. 

 All unobserved beneath the flowering vine. 

 The vermeil hues of eve are hardly flown. 

 Ere morning reddens in the northern zone. 

 All things are bright : above, around, beneath, 

 While heaven is hanging out her fairest wreath 

 Of rainbow colors o'er the firmament : 

 Earth — o'er the softest verdure has besprent 

 Bright insects, buds and flowers of every hue. 

 And oped a lovelier universe to view. 



When the decline of day is plainly perceptible in the 

 lengthened shadows of the trees, and the more refreshing 

 coolness of the atmosphere, many species of birds, that since 

 morning have been silent, commence anew their vocal rev- 

 elry. Evening comes not unattended by the same captiva- 

 ting splendors that usher in the morn, and the same melodies 

 that herald her approach. As she descends from her pavilion 

 of Crimson and amber, to spread her twilight over the land- 

 scape, calling down the gentle dews from heaven and bring- 

 ing refreshment to the drooping herbs, the heavens show 



