THINGS GREEN AND FAIR 25 



This does not mean that a single Rose-blossom can 

 be so altered. It means that the plant .which bears the 

 one kind may be gradually made to bear the other kind. 

 Any particular sort of Rose-tree can be so tended as 

 to bring forth Roses more and more double year by 

 year. 



It is the gardener's care which causes such a remark- 

 able transformation of stamens into petals. And if 

 for a long while a Rose-tree bearing double Roses is 

 neglected, and no further care is taken, then very often 

 the Roses will become smaller and less double, with 

 fewer petals and more stamens, each year. The plant 

 has thus begun to revert, as it is called, to the old form. 



Pistils also can undergo this change from their natural 

 state into petals. 



" In misty blue the lark is heard 

 Above the silent homes of men ; 

 The bright-eyed thrush, the little wren, 

 The yellow-billed sweet-voiced blackbird, 

 Mid sallow blossoms blond as curd 

 Or silver oak-boughs, carolling 

 With happy throat from tree to tree, 

 Sing into light this morn of spring 

 That sang my dear love home to me. 



Airs of the morning breathe about 

 Keen faint scents of the wild wood side 

 From thickets where primroses hide 

 Mid the brown leaves of winter's rout. 

 Chestnut and willow, beacon out 

 For joy of her, from far and nigh, 

 Your English green on English hills ; 

 Above her head, song-quivering sky, 

 And at her feet, the daffodils." 1 



1 From England and Other Poems, by Laurence Binyon; pub- 

 lished by Elkin Matthews. By permission. 



