-/ FIRST STUDIES IN PLANT LIFE 



looking at certain flowers that were just opening. 

 The idea is not a fanciful one. Last year the goose- 

 berry bush beside the summer-house broke into leaf 

 on the 20th of July. This year, on the 22nd of the 

 month, I walked down to the bush and found that the 

 .grey thorns were almost covered with a shimmer of 

 green ! That rhubarb plant burst through the ground 

 on the 10th of August last year, and this year the 

 clods were pushed aside on the 11th of the month ! 

 What wonderful timekeepers these plants are ! The 

 last week of September brought the green flowers to 

 the elm, though as yet no leaf had shewn ; and the 

 same week saw the new green fruit-balls of the plane 

 tree swinging side by side with the old, brown 

 battered ones. Year after year, the willow is in full 

 leaf in the last week of August ; and on the last week 

 in September the beautiful leaves of the plane begin 

 to hide the winter outlines of the tree. Have you 

 heard of the chesnut at the Tuileries that was called 

 old Vingt Mars by the gardeners who had grown grey 

 in its company. This stick marks the place where 

 an African lily is buried. There is no sign of life 

 to-day ; but, within a week, it will throw up a flower- 

 stem ! The flower is even now on the way to keep its 

 tryst. George Eliot has the fine thought of God 

 calling the bead-roll of the stars, and of the stars 

 coming out in the evening sky, one by one. Even so, 

 the flowers obey the heavenly summons. 



4. Can you wonder that the Greeks conceived of 

 this yearly marvel as the return of the Flo\Yer-goddess 

 from the lower world ? The myths of every land and 

 the art of every eye have added their own charm to 

 •what is perennially charming. And one never tires 



