36 FAMILIAR TREES 



"acuminate," as it is technically termed not egg- 

 shaped and tapering gradually or " acute," as are 

 those of the Pear and they dry brown, not black, 

 when dead. 



Far beyond the pale white beauty of the Pear- 

 blossom, however, which seems cold in the yet early 

 spring, is that of the delicately blushing, rosy and 

 white-streaked, round buds of the Apple. Even in 

 May, that time of flowers, when 



" The meadow by the river seems a sea 

 Of liquid silver with the cuckoo-flowers" 



that season of Marsh-marigolds and Cowslips, of wild 

 Hyacinths and purple Orchids, of the Horse-chest- 

 nut, the Lilac, and the Guelder-rose, of Pseonies and 

 Tulips there is no more beautiful sight than the 

 far-stretching orchards of Somerset, Hereford, or 

 Worcester. In the exquisite folding of the petals in 

 each short-stalked flower over its golden heart of 

 stamens, we have a bloom far more becoming to an 

 English bride than the ivory pallor of the exotic 

 orange-flower. When we look for the deeper meaning 

 of and reason for all this lavished beauty, we must 

 confess ourselves as yet to be much at a loss. The 

 succession of variously-hued flowers as spring ad- 

 vances into summer, and summer into autumn (so 

 that blue flowers, as a rule, precede white ones, whilst 

 these in their turn open before the purple, yellow, and 

 red blossoms of the summer), would seem to be due 

 in some imperfectly explained manner to the increas- 

 ing intensity of the sun's light as it travels northward 

 from the winter to the summer solstice. 



In the Apple-blossom the stigmas are, as a rule, 



