264 Flowers of May. 



less branch, so small that its burden surprises you ; of the most delicate 

 imaginable shade of green, with a bloom as sensitive as that upon a white 

 grape or a plum ; as yellow within as the richest of cream, and softer than 

 the ripest of peaches ; with a fruity odor that leads you as true if not as 

 far as a blossoming orange-tree ; with a flavor, which, if it were not all its 

 own, you would liken to nectar, to ambrosia, to your highest ideal in the 

 realm of tastes, — this is the pawpaw. " I have eaten the lotus, and don't 

 want to go back," wrote a collega president who was transported from 

 Massachusetts to Southern Ohio. Like the cardinal-bird and the scarlet 

 tanager, which gleam and burn amid its branches, it reminds us of the 

 tropics. Indeed, in its own character, as well as in its botanical relations, 

 it is the most genuine representative of the fruits which a vertical sun can 

 ripen, that this corner of the world produces. As such, it will be sure, 

 with the increase of horticultural zeal and knowledge, to come to a wider 

 recognition and welcome. Had Thoreau wandered West instead of North, 

 and found an Ohio pawpaw-grove in some calm October day, our gardens 

 and our literature would certainly have been the I'icher. 



Yellow Springs, O. 



FLOWERS OF MAY. 



(Concluded.) 



As May advances, flowers succeed each other in such profusion, that to 

 describe them all would be an endless task. As brevity above all other 

 virtues is indispensable in magazine articles, nothing remains for us but to 

 choose a few of the most conspicuous from among the floral array, and, foi 

 the time, leave the rest in a neglect which very many of them are far from 

 deserving. But first we must observe, that, from the middle of May to the 

 middle of June, a judicious choice and arrangement of hardy perennials 

 alone will enliven the garden with colors as rich and as various as those 

 of the bedding-plants at the middle and end of summer. No color will 

 be wanting. For masses of blue, we have veronicas, lupines, dwarf iris, 

 and, a little later, Delphinium sinense in its varieties ; for yellow, trollius, 

 Doroniaim Caucasium, Achillea tomentosa, and Alyssum saxatile ; for red. 



