APRIL. 45 



kind than tlie Robert-leaved, is quite as common 

 as that flower. It has round deeply jagged 

 leaves, and its blossom is a small pink bell. 

 This is the Geranium flissectum. One of the 

 cranesbills, found wild in North America, {Ge- 

 ranimn maculatum,) has so astringent a root, 

 that it is called alum-root, and used in that 

 country, instead of that mineral, to fix the dye 

 of the manufacturer. 



Every day now adds to the charms of the 

 meadow land. "Blessed be the Lord for the 

 beauty of summer and spring, for the air, the 

 water, the verdure, and the song of birds." 

 This was the exclamation of Linnaeus ; and who, 

 in looking on the April mead, is not ready to 

 respond, Blessed be God for the green earth ? 



Every one knows the pretty and sweet-scented 

 meadow clover, {Trifoliiim pratense,') and most 

 of us have gathered it from the summer meadow, 

 or the purple field, on which it is sown, and 

 sucked the honey from its petals, while hundreds 

 of bees were humming over the clover-field, 

 intent on sucking it too. 



The farmer has not, on his land, a more valu- 

 able herbage plant than this and the white 

 Dutch clover, (TrifoUnm repens.) He has 

 commonly two crops of it, the one in spring 

 and the other in autumn. The name of trefoil 

 has been given to it for its triple leaflets, and 

 the French term it tre/le. The plant was called 

 " clcefer-wort" by the Saxons, from cloefer, to 

 cleave — probablyon account of its divided leaves. 

 The Dutch term it "klafer ;" and in our country 



