COLIN CLOUTS CALENDAR, 



. 





 i. 



PRIMROSE TIME. 



YESTERDAY, April showers chased one another across 

 the meadows all day long, coming and going between 

 interludes of fathomless blue sky and vivid sunshine, 

 the fleecy clouds being driven like sheep before a collie 

 by the brisk south-westerly breezes. To-day, the Fore 

 Acre is smiling accordingly with lusher grass, and the 

 bustling bees are busier among fresher and sweeter 

 primroses. For the Fore Acre is not a level field, like 

 most others on the farm : it slopes down in broken 

 terraces from the barton to the banks of Venlake, as we 

 call our little streamlet in the valley below ; and it is 

 the slope that makes it the best spot near the home- 

 stead for primroses to grow on. These pet fancies and 

 predilections of the flowers, indeed, are not without full 

 and satisfactory reasons of their own. The plant 

 chooses its proper haunt with due regard to its special 

 needs and functions. It seeks warmth and shelter in 

 some cases ; bracing moorland air in othe.rs ; moisture 

 and shade, or sun and open space, according to the 



B 



