100 STUDIES IN THE EIELD AND FOREST. 



character of the spring flowers, yet, as the season ad- 

 vances, the blossoms of plants become less and less 

 fragrant, until the fields of autumn display their myr- 

 iads of gaudy flowers, that give out scarcely a percep- 

 tible odor. 



la this phenomenon I think I can detect one of those 

 mysterious provisions of nature, which are instituted for 

 the preservation of the species. All flowers seem to 

 depend more or less upon insects as agents in the work 

 of their fertilization. In early spring, when there are 

 but few insects abroad, they might not be able to dis- 

 cover the flowers, if the latter did not send out into the 

 atmosphere a strong and agreeable perfume, by which 

 the insect is guided to their honey cups. The insect 

 having entered the cup of the flower, while engaged in 

 sipping sweets from the nectaries, mixes the pollen upon 

 the stigma, by the motions of his delicate feet and 

 wings ; or, as in the case of the dioecious plants, bears 

 it upon his downy wings and thighs, to the distant 

 blossom that requires its fertilizing properties. 



Children, who are unaftected lovers of flowers, have 

 always shown a preference for those of early spring, 

 when they are more attractive on account of their 

 novelty, and seem more beautiful as the harbingers of a 

 warmer season. It is at this time that we most fully 

 realize the influence of the alternations of the seasons, 

 in promoting our happiness. The philosophers of na- 

 ture long since discovered that winter is necessary as a 

 period of repose for certain vegetable tribes, that with- 

 out it would perish or become unproductive. But this 

 beneficent change is equally necessary to promote the 

 vigor of all our susceptibilities for enjoyment ; and 

 winter, while it shuts us out from very many healthful 

 pleasures, is a period during which our moral feelings 



