CHAPTER III— MARCH 

 GETTING INTO THE GROUND 



IN this middle-states location, March as a 

 spring month is not an entire success. Its 

 early days are likely to be as wintry as the 

 coldest February, and it is safer to expect a blizzard 

 than a zephyr any time. Yet there is something of 

 spring to be noted, even when deep frost holds 

 the ground from the spade, and while the furnace 

 yet yawns for the few remaining shovelfuls of the 

 coal supply that was so surely to last the winter 

 through. 



Look at the upturning tips of the horse-chestnut 

 twigs, and note there a shiny, smooth coating over 

 the fat terminal buds that may even be sticky to 

 the touch — ^if you can touch it. If you had looked 

 in February, you would have seen just the same 

 buds, but not so shiny-sticky, and not quite so 

 large. They are preparing for the spring jump. 



The lilac buds also are worth close inspection. 

 They, too, are fat and plump, where they are to 

 be flowers rather than leaves; and, while they have 

 been plump all winter, they are just a bit softer, 



(2T) 



