37 



VII. 

 SPRING FLOWERS. 



WALKING down the avenue the other day, I noticed how 

 the elms that line its sides and the flowering almonds 

 dotted about on the shrubbery were all in full bloom 

 long before the ordinary small plants could venture to 

 peep out ; and I could not help observing that this habit 

 of early blossoming was closely dependent upon the great 

 size and perennial trunks of the larger trees. They are 

 enabled by means of their old wood to store up in their 

 permanent tissues the organised material necessary for 

 the production of flowers ; and so they get a good start 

 of all their less fortunate neighbours, and come in for the 

 first attentions of the spring bees and butterflies. To- 

 day, however, out in the deep lane which runs through 

 Walcombe Vale, the similar efforts of the smaller plants 

 are forced upon my notice. There are already some 

 half-dozen flowers to be seen on the high bank that 

 bounds the lane or in the meadow's on either side ; and 

 every one of these flowers has some special device of 

 its own which enables it to come out thus early in the 

 season, before many of its near allies have begun to 

 sprout from the swelling seed. It is a general charac- 

 teristic of all the first spring blossoms that they appear 



