66 Blossomed Boughs 



glow from the small but numerous blossoms which 

 crowd the twigs ; there is hardly a brighter display 

 of colour in the whole outdoor year than is to be 

 seen when a long line of crimson elms thrust their 

 plume-like tops against the blue of some clear 

 March afternoon. Though the leaf-buds are scarcely 

 yet swelling, the abundance of the elm-bloom on 

 vigorous trees gives a density at this season to the 

 whole outline of the bough, and throngs it with the 

 sense of life. Often the rooks are busy with nesting 

 in the same crimson branches ; and when the strong 

 sunshine plays upon their plumage of glossy 

 black, as they pace the twigs with many cawings, the 

 peopled elm-crowns seem the centre of spring's 

 animation and colour. 



Elm-flowers are often overlooked because they 

 open for the most part out of human reach. Even 

 when blossoms are borne upon some branch not more 

 than nine or ten feet from the ground, they are gener- 

 ally so few and scattered in this lowly situation, and 

 are so inconspicuous when seen individually, that 

 they make but little impression upon the casual 

 eye. At the time when the elm-boughs are densely 

 blooming round the lofty houses of the rooks, the 

 hedgerows and thickets beside the humbler paths 

 of man begin to whiten here and there with the 

 blackthorn flower. Like the elm, but unlike some 

 of its own close relatives which are seen in gardens 

 and sometimes also in the woods, the blackthorn 

 opens its blossom before its leaves. It is always one 

 of the first wild plants to flower in spring ; but the 

 time of its first appearance varies greatly in different 



