54 A TOTJK BOUND MY GARDEN. 



paper filtres. It is the same with leaves in the bud; those 

 of the eyringa are folded long-wise, half upon half; those of 

 the aconite are doubled in their width, from bottom to top, 

 several times over themselves; those of the gooseberry are 

 folded like a fan; those of the apricot are rolled over each 

 other. 



It is a curious sight to see plants issuing from the earth at 

 the commencement of the Spring; many long-lived plants 

 seem to yield to winter and death, they give up their summer 

 leaves to them, and bury themselves deeply in the earth. 



But a soft rain and a mild air warus them that the beau- 

 tiful festival of Spring is about to commence, and every plant 

 must prepare itself to go upon the stage and play its part. 

 Some are quite dead; but, before they died, they confided 

 their seeds to the earth — ^little prolific eggs which the first 

 rays of the sun of March hatch — and which are eager to 

 biirst forth; others have various processes for piercing the 

 earth, hardened over them by cold, drought, and wind ; such 

 as have firm and sharp leaves, like those of the hyacinth, the 

 gladiolus, and the narcissus, unite them into close points, and 

 make themselves a passage easily; the narcissus and the 

 gladiolus place two of them one over the other, and come 

 out in a flattened blade ; the hyacinths enclose their flower, 

 already formed, in three sharp leaves, hollowed in grooves, 

 whose union only forms a single point; others, like the 

 peony, envelope their first buds in a sheath, which falls as 

 soon as they get above ground. 



But what will the anemones do, whose large leaves are 

 deeply cut, and without consistency? They make the tail 

 of each leaf ascend, bent in two in the middle; it is a rounded 

 elbow, which undertakes to breakthrough the earth, and comes 

 out like the half of a ring; then, whilst one of the sides is 

 retained by the root, the other, to which the folded leaf holds, 

 is drawn up without being rubbed the least in the world; 

 once out, it develops itself, and expands. 



But let us return to our poppy. There are red ones of 

 all shades, white, some streaked white and red, and violet 

 coloured; there are no yellow ones, nor blue ones, nor green 

 ones ; I don't even know any that are streaked with white 

 and violet. Notwithstanding the numerous varieties of flowers 



