alex-\nder] the tamarack 15 



flourishing where no other tree has dared to come, in the frigid and 

 cheeriess swamps of Labrador, and standing erect and unafraid on 

 the very edge of the Arctic ttmdas. 



"In the first mild day of March 

 Each minute sweeter than before, 

 The redbreast sings from the tall larch 

 That stands beside the door." 



— The Spirit of the Season. 



When Wordsworth speaks of the larch standing beside the door, 

 in the verse cited from his "Spirit of the Season," it is the European 

 larch to which he refers, Larix eurofcBa; this tree differs in some 

 respects from an American species, and there are those that will 

 claim for it greater beauty and finer proportions; but the writer 

 feels that the sentiment is over wrought in the case of the European 

 species. It is not a finer tree than the product of our own native 

 moimtains. The writer dwelt in a house for many years, that had 

 beside its front door a tall American larch, a noble tree, pictures- 

 quely p\Tamidal and faultlessly SNTnmetrical, and in its branches 

 the first robin sang in the spring and the first glad green appeared ; 

 a happy combination and one to which the maples and the elms 

 could lay no claim; the larch carried high the first banners of 

 returning life, while the other trees were winter bare and still 

 asleep. 



Then who has not seen the larch flowering in the first warm days 

 of spring, those unforgettable days in late March, when the master- 

 ful Sun is mustering out the black crew of cold uneasy clouds ? 



Hang out your flags birch and willows 



Shake out your red tassels larch, 

 Up blades of grass from your pillows, 



Hear who is calling you, — March! — Lucy Larcom. 



Yes, that describes it ; March is calling, and out comes the red 

 tassels of the ever-ready, quick to respond to the call larch. The 

 flowers come a long while before the leaves have made up their 

 minds to slip out at the ends of tlieir high pedicels, and freshen up 

 the old grey world. Their tiny blossoms are described as being 

 solitar>% monecious and naked. But where many are seen together 

 the sight is grateful and colorful too, and we can not help the 

 feeling of joy that abounds within us as we contemplate this 

 promise of the teeming month to come. The Tamarack is a well- 



