80 March — A Larch- Wood. 



tensified by the contrast of a few old haws that may 

 linger yet from winter ; whilst, at the same time, the 

 blackthorn will just begin to be abundantly dotted with 

 little white buds which, here and there, are bursting into 

 flower, the leaf-buds meanwhile, though contemporane- 

 ous, being of no visible importance, mere points compared 

 with the flower-buds. If the blackthorn were often an 

 isolated plant it would scarcely, in early spring, be a 

 cheerful-looking one, notwithstanding its abundant efflo- 

 rescence, for the eye desires a little green amidst so much 

 white and black ; but, as it very frequently happens that 

 the hawthorn is not far off, this defect is fully compen- 

 sated by the green and leafy neighbor. Besides this, 

 in our scenery at least, you are never very far from an 

 oak, and last year's leaves still remain very abundantly, 

 offering another contrast which is not, I think, always 

 quite harmonious or agreeable, but which, at any rate, 

 is a variety. 



» * *s XVI 



A Larch-Wood — Rosy Plumelets — Horse-Chestnut — Quince Tree — 

 Ash — Walnut — Oak — Keys of Ash— -Acacia — Elder — Privet — 

 Bird-cherry — Wild Gooseberry — Daffodil — Wordsworth's Poem on 

 the Daffodil — Herrick's Poems on Daffodils — The Poet's Narcissus 

 — The Legend of Narcissus — ko?m vapiuoao<; — Keats — His Poem on 

 Narcissus. 



BY far the most charming sight in the early spring 

 is however, to my taste, a larch-wood. There is 

 such a delightful mystery in it, just when the leaves begin 

 to sprout — a pervading green-gray bloom, from the gray 



