INTRODUCTION 



[[cation 



%kc &cd.utcrlan Shoard of &b- The germ of the book lay in aseries 



of articles contributed during 1899 

 to Forward and Wellspring — juvenile 

 periodicals of the Presbyterian Board 

 of Publication ; and my thanks are 

 due to that Board for permission to 

 use so much of the material as was 

 desirable for the present purpose. 



^zof, (Slazencc 31b. HVced. Prof. Clarence Moores Weed, of 



the New Hampshire College of Agri- 

 culture and the Mechanic Arts, has 

 rendered valuable assistance in re- 

 spect to insect -facts, the monthly 

 calendars of insect life coming wholly 

 from his knowledge and pen. 



oiir- ^^ I n ..-.^.11 I am similarly indebted to my 



daughter, Miss Helen IngersoU, for 

 help in respect to local botany, credit 

 for the paragraphs relating to the 

 annual procession of plant life mainly 

 belonging to her. 



SJbz. Giarcncc £>o^n. Finally, I wish to thank Mr. Clar- 



ence Lown, of Poughkeepsie, for the 

 use of twelve of the photographs that 

 have been made by him from time 

 to time in the Hudson Valley, and 

 which illustrate, by suggestion as 

 well as by scene, the progress of a 

 rural year in the Eastern States. 



