MAY. 61 



that glide along the valley, and displaying every shade 

 of green in their foliage. In all parts of the prospect, 

 separated by square fields of tillage of lighter and darker 

 verdure, according to the nature of their crops, you behold 

 numerous orchards, some, on the hillside, receiving the 

 direct beams of the sun ; others, on level ground, exhibiting 

 their shady rows with their flowers just in that state of 

 advancement that serves to show the budding trees, which 

 are red and purple, in beautiful opposition to the full- 

 blown trees, which are white. Such spectacles of flower- 

 ing orchards are seen in all parts of the country, as far as 

 the eye can reach along the thinly inhabited roadsides 

 and farms. 



The air at this time is scented with every variety of 

 perfumes, and every new path in our rambling brings us 

 into a new atmosphere as well as a new prospect. It is 

 during the prevalence of a still south-wind that the herbs 

 and flowers exhale their most agreeable odors. Plants 

 generate more fragrance in a warm air ; and if the wind 

 is still and moist, the odors, as they escape, are not so 

 widely dissipated, being retained near the ground by mix- 

 ing with the dampness of the atmosphere. Hence the 

 time when the breath of flowers is sweetest is during 

 a calm, when the weather is rather sultry, and while 

 the sunbeams are tinged with a purple and ruddy glow 

 by shining through an almost invisible haze. A blind 

 man might then determine, by the perfumes of the air, 

 as he was led over the country, whether he was in 

 meadow or upland, and distinguish the character of the 

 vegetation. 



Now let the dweller in the city who, though abounding 

 in riches, sighs for that contentment which his wealth 

 has not procured, come forth from the dust and confine- 

 ment of the town and pay a short visit to Nature in the 

 country. Let him come in the afternoon, when the de- 



