CHAPTER XVII 



BLOSSOMING 



'TpHE white-and-pink loveliness of the May 

 -*- orchards Is a delight to us all. Everyone has 

 noticed the great spires of bloom on the horse- 

 chestnuts, and the long, sweet clusters of white 

 bean flowers which hang from the locust trees in 

 June. The linden blossoms attract attention by 

 their clover-like fragrance, and by the humming 

 of the insect throngs which gather about them. 



But few of us realize that all the trees blossom. 

 There are flowers, in their season, on the sturdy, 

 weather-beaten oaks, flowers on the maples and 

 the elms, and there is a time in early summer 

 when all the dark evergreen forest breaks into 

 bloom. 



With the exception of a few tree-ferns growing 

 In greenhouses or warm garden-spots, every tree 

 in the United States, native or imported, bears at 

 some time in the year what a botanist would call 

 flowers. 



Some of these, however, would not look like 

 flowers to anyone except a botanist, and even he 

 would describe them as " imperfect." 



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