MARCH , 27 



fringing the edge of the water. Unless th'e 

 weather he unusually fine, we must not expect 

 it to blow before the end of the month, but by 

 that time it is very common on marshy groimds. 

 It is often the flower which enlivens the 

 mountain streams of Scotland in the early year, 

 and is very common in France, where it is 

 called souci (Teau. It is well known in villages 

 as the water-blob and water-boot. In Lapland 

 and Sweden, whole plains are yellow vnth it, 

 and its opening is eagerly watched, as it is the 

 first flower which blooms wild in the northern 

 fields, from which the snows are scared by the 

 spring ; though it is not till IMay that it expands 

 there. Few flowers are more abundant on the 

 marshy lands of Holland, than this. It is not 

 a good plant for the pasture, as the cattle reject 

 this and the other species of ranunculus, except 

 when herbage is so scarce that thev haAC little 

 choice. The blossoms of the marsh marigold, 

 when boiled in alum., give a good dye to paper. 



MARCH. 



" What tliouRh tlie npeniiif; spring be cliil!, 

 AUhotigli tlie lark, clu-ck'(i in his airy path, 

 Eke out his son^, iiorcli'd on the fallow clod 

 That still o'crtops ihe bhuia ! Althongh iso branch 

 Have spread its foliage save tlie v iliow wand 

 That dips its pale leaves in the swollen stream ! 

 Wiat tliouph the clouds oft lower! these threats but end 

 In si'.nny sliowers, that scarcely (Ml the folds 

 Of mi'ss-couch'd violet, or interrupt 

 The merle's duket pipe, lueiodinns bird ' 

 He, hid behind the milk wliite slne-'horn spray, 

 Whose early flowers anticipate the leaf, 

 Welcomes the time of buds, the infant year."— Grahame. 



The old proverb that " March comes in like 



