An Old-fashioned Garden 145 



and there a bush that will yield you a crop 

 of birds. That this may not be thought 

 merely a whim of my own, let me quote from 

 the weather record of Dr. John Conrad, who 

 for forty years was the apothecary of the 

 Pennsylvania Hospital, in Philadelphia. This 

 institution, bear in mind, is in the heart of 

 the city, not in its outskirts. Under date of 

 March 23, 1862, he records, "Crocus and 

 snow-drop came into bloom last week and 

 are now fully out." Again, he says, " Orioles 

 arrived on April 8, after the fruit-trees burst 

 into bloom." Here we have a migratory 

 bird in the city three weeks earlier than its 

 usual appearance in the country, but I do not 

 think the doftor was mistaken. I have posi- 

 tive knowledge of the faft that he was a good 

 local ornithologist. Under date of June, 

 1 866, Conrad writes, " A very pleasant June. 

 Fine bright weather, and only one week too 

 warm for comfort. The roses bloomed well 

 (except the moss-rose) and for the most part 

 opened better than usual. The garden fall 

 of birds, and inse£):s less abundant than usual. 

 Many blackbirds reared their young in our 

 trees, and as many as sixteen or twenty have 

 been counted on the lawn at one time. Cat- 

 a k 13 



