SPRING BEAUTY. 17 



The scape springs from a small deep tuUer, })earing a single pair 

 of soft, oily, succulent leaves. In the white ilowered species these 

 leaves are placed about midway \i\) the stem, but in the pink {C. 

 Virginica) the leaves lie closer to the ground, and arc smaller and 

 of a dark bluish green hue. Our Spuing Beauty well deserves its 

 pretty poetical name. It comes in with the l?obin, an<l the song 

 sparrow, the hepatica, and the first white violet; it lingers in shady 

 spots, as if unwilling to desert us till more sunny days have wakened 

 up a wealth of brighter Idossoms to glachlcn the eye; yet the first, 

 and the last, are apt to be most prized by us, with flowers, as well 

 as other treasures. 



How^ infinitelv wise and merciful are the arranjirements of the 

 Great Creator. Let us instance the connection between Bkhs and 

 Floavers. In cold climates the former lie tor])id, or nearly so, 

 during the long months of Winter, until the genial rays of the sun 

 and light have quickened vegetation into activity, and buds and 

 blossoms open, containing the nutriment necessary for this busy 

 insect tribe. .. . 



The Bees seem made for the Blossoms ; the Blossoms for the 

 Eees. 



On a bright March morning what sound can be more in harmony 

 with the sunshine and blue skies, than the murmuring of the honey- 

 bees, in a border of cloth q\ "-old crocuses ? what sight more cheerful 

 to the eye ? But I forget. Canada has few of these sunny flowers, 

 and no March davs like those that woo the hive bees from their 

 winter dormitories. And April is with us only a name. We have 

 no April month of rainbow suns and showers. We miss the deep 



