i8o cony CLOUT'S calesdar, 



by the little rapids where the beck tumbles by miniature 

 cascades into the pond, the aromatic sweet-^alc j^rows 

 in unwonted pnjfusion : smallest of our native catkin- 

 bearin.L^ trees Cexcept the dwarf creeping; willows), it 

 loves the neiL;hbc)urhood of runnini,^ water, where its 

 little thickset bushes rise to a hei,L;ht of two or three feet 

 onl\', and its clusters of tiny nuts, dotted with little balls 

 of resin like beads of amber, overhang the i)etty brink 

 with their fra;^Tant bunches. Crush the shin}' foliai^c 

 between your rm_L,^ers, and it j'ields at once a ^^rateful 

 country perfume, redolent of the wholesome resin in its 

 dotted leaves. Here, too, are tall bur-reeds, with their 

 c^lobular heads of j^rcenish flowers ; and here arc great 

 c^raccful white-blossomed arrowheads ; and here are the 

 lollin<^r heart-shaped leaves of the floatinj^j jvjnd-wccd ; 

 and here aj^ain arc the tall black reeds, lookinj^ like 

 natural maces, with their thick black heads and their 

 waving; summit of ragijfed fluff)- cotton, standincj sentinel 

 in lon;^^ rows over the shorter vegetation in their shadow 

 beneath. 



The truth is, our ordinary taste in the matter of 

 flowers, and especially of wild flowers, is still a trifle 

 barbaric. The first thing that strikes children or savages 

 in flowers is their brightly coloured petals ; they care 

 little for beauty of shape in blossoms, for gracefulness 

 and delicacy of outline in foliage, for the glossy leaves 

 of the holly or the hartstongue, for the infinite variety 

 that custom cannot stale in the crisped and wrinkled 

 fronds of ferns. When they pick a nosegay, it is all 

 bright blossoms williout a touch of relieving verdure : 

 the only thing they care for is the crude staring red and 

 blue of the largest petals. Accordingly, all the earliest 



