2 1 o yu ne — Honeysuckle. 



The honeysuckle begins to flower a little later than 

 the elder-tree. When the elder is all covered with its 

 corymbs the honeysuckle flowers are opening, a bud or 

 two here and there entirely out, the rest not yet. Their 

 pink and yellow are pleasant with the peculiar tertiary 

 green of the older leaves, one of the best sober greens in 

 landscape. The new leaves are brighter and cruder. 



A flower strictly contemporary with the elder, and of 

 some importance from its quantity, notwithstanding its 

 extreme minuteness, is the forget-me-not, the Myosotis 

 (called so because its leaf is like the ear of a mouse). 

 The effect of the color of this tiny flower is amazing 

 when you consider how little there is of it ; but this is 

 due to a principle well known to modern painters, even 

 too well known, — the principle of stippling with pure 

 color in minute touches. Here is one of those in- 

 stances in which Nature herself does this. If the 

 flower were wholly blue it would still act in the fore- 

 ground, when abundant, as a stippling with pure color, 

 but the principle is carried still farther. There is a 

 central eye of yellow entirely surrounded by sky-blue, 

 and the effect of the flower is due in great part to the 

 purity of the central spot. Even the least observant are 

 struck by the forget-me-not, and how much of the popu- 

 larity of the flower is due to its bright coloring may be 

 guessed if we suppose it green like its mouse-ear leaves. 

 No lover would have paid much attention to it then. 



I alluded in a preceding chapter to the intense dislike 

 which some people feel for particular trees. Amongst 

 the trees which have bitter enemies may be mentioned 



