FEBRUARY-AND PLANT-LIFE STILL SLEEPS IN 



NORTHERN CLIMES 



BY R. W. SHUFELDT, M. D., R. A. O. IL, ETC. 



(Photographs by the Author) 



THROUGHOUT New England indeed often 

 throughout the entire State of New York typical 

 winter weather usually prevails during the en- 

 tire month of February, with plenty of snow and ice 

 everywhere. Rarely is the reverse the case; while, as 

 we proceed southward and pass below the mid-tier of 

 Atlantic States, the woods, the fields, the streams one 

 and all appear very much as we see them in early spring 

 still farther South. In eastern Virginia, for example, 

 the meadows may remain green during some winters; 

 and while most trees will have, many weeks before, 



parted with their leaves, yet, here and there a few 

 dandelions, and perhaps other flowers, have bloomed all 

 through this month, in situations sheltered from the more 

 searching winds of winter. It is needless to say that, as 

 we proceed still further southward, for example into that 

 land of flowers, Florida, the sequence of growing vegeta- 

 tion is perpetual. 



To v return northward again, however, we may, on 

 one of our tramps along some roadside, meet with a 

 Bittersweet vine (Solatium dulcamara), which, though 

 it has lost most of its leaves, nevertheless has remaining 



THIS IS AN AUTUMN SCENE AT THE NATION'S CAPITAL 

 Fig. 1 The waterfall at Pierce's Mill, in beautiful Rock Creek Park, Washington, D. C. 



