18 



MV HANDKERCHIEF GARDEN. 



CHAPTER IV. 



PLAn$ FOK moRK. 



T is curious to note how quickly, 

 after the season turns, there are 

 visible signs of spring. No mat- 

 ter if the snow does fly in the 

 north. Far down in the south the 

 spring has landed on our coasts. 

 The wave of green grass will cover 

 the land, creeping up the Missis- 

 sippi Valley, and stealing along the Atlantic Coast 

 The snow that covers the northern half of the coun- 

 try will retire slowly, sometimes pausing, sometimes 

 advancing far down south, only to retreat farther 

 than before. The buds soon begin to swell along the 

 Gulf, and hints of spring are in the air. In the north 

 we can only watch the slowly lengthening twilight 

 over the snow-clad hills. By the tenth of January 

 there is a perceptible lingering in the sunset colors, 

 and, if we mark the spot where the sun goes down, 

 we see he is already well started to the left, or south. 

 My home is in the neighborhood of New York 

 City, and these notes from the journal of my hand- 

 kerchief garden refer to the out-of-door seasons 

 there. If you live south of Washington or Cincin- 

 nati, the work would come about ten days earlier. 

 If farther south, still earlier. The best plan is to 

 observe nature yourself. If the spring begins in your 

 neighborhood in March, then you must be getting 

 ready in January. The out-door season here begins 

 in April, so my work begins in February. 



First of all — books. There is no greater pleasure 



