s 



CHAPTER I 



COLOK ARRANGEMENTS OF FLOWERS 



HOULD those winter town-dwellers who 

 are lovers of nature, and whose thoughts 

 during the ice-bound months continually 

 wander to their own gardens or to trees and 

 green places which they know and love, 

 chance to take a short trip into the near 

 country in mid-March, a brightness and 

 touch of warmth in the sunshine, and cer- 

 tain awakenings of nature, will bring to them 

 a thrill of delight in the knowledge that 

 " the winter is past." 



Snowbanks may be lingering in dark nooks; 

 there may still be a fringe of ice upon the 

 brooks that wander through the woods; 

 but in marshy places the skunk cabbage 

 is unfolding its broad leaves; the downy 

 buds are expanding upon the willows; many 



