38 



NATURE'S CALENDAR 



March 2 



change in the appearance of the woods 

 that denotes its coming long before win- 

 ter relaxes its grasp. He sees a peculiar 

 brightening of color in the contour-twigs 

 of the groves and swamps, and by the 

 middle of the month the ruddy hue of 

 the leafiess maple crowns is plain for 

 half a mile. This reddishness is due less 

 to the twigs, however, than to the blos- 

 soms which appear long before the leaves, 

 as also do the blossoms of the aspen ; and 

 the bees hum about them for their earliest 

 spring feast, save, perhaps, the sweets they 

 have sucked from the skunk cabbage. 



Now, too, is the time for " pussies," the 

 drooping, fuzzy catkins of the willows, 

 alders, and birches, which children love 

 to gather; and by the close of the month, 

 even in northern New England, the hazel 

 is covered with its minute but exquisite 

 flowers. 



Of lowlier plants those in and about 

 the waters where the ice is disappearing 

 show most verdancy — greenest and largest 

 of all the skunk cabbage, which is scat- 

 tered about the black ooze of half-flooded 

 woods like so many great emeralds. The 

 bees welcome it and get a good supply of 

 the first of the season's sweetness in the 

 pollen of its great flowers. But if one 

 scrape away the matted dead leaves, or 

 even the snow, one may find, early in the 

 month, many little plants that have put 

 forth their primary leaves, and will soon 

 push out into the sunlight; and some of 



March 3 



