336 MY COUNTRY WANDERINGS 



for the advent of the balmy Springtime. The 

 protection — or what was left of it — ^was removed 

 in March, in spite of its many-weathers; a few 

 weeks later the Rose trees were pruned, and the 

 Wars of the Roses began in grim earnest. 



♦Silently the trees put on the green flush of 

 Spring, and as silently, but as surely, the amazing 

 Aphis made its unwelcome appearance. The Wars 

 of the Roses and the Wars of the Aphis! No 

 quassia chips or insecticides for Smith and Brown. 

 They employed the " finger and thumb " method 

 of keeping down the detestable Green Fly, and, I 

 must admit, that cleaner or healthier trees I never 

 saw. 



Then the weather! Never before had Smith 

 and Brown been so interested in the meteorological 

 conditions of the countryside. They knew when 

 the wind was North and South, when it was East, 

 and when it was West! They were intimately 

 acquainted with the amount of the rainfall, and 

 the registered amount of sunshine. They were 

 human barometers! 



At last the buds appeared, and one fine day in 

 April Smith made his d^but with as fine a Gloire 

 de Dijon as ever graced a banqueting table. What 

 democrats flowers are ! The aristocrat can — under 

 his stately house of glass — produce the inimitable 

 Marechal Niel, but the poor man can prove 

 the democratic character of flowers by the great 



