PART III 
STUDIES FOR SUMMER TERM 
XXXIII. THE PROGRESS OF THE SEASON 
“Now ts the high tide of the year. . 
We sit in the warm shade and feel right ‘well 
How the sap creeps up and the blossoms swell; 
We may shut our eyes, but we cannot help knowing 
That skies are clear and grass is growing; 
The breeze comes whispering in our ear 
That dandelions are blossoming near, 
That maize has sprouted, that streams are flowing.” 
—Lowell (A Day in June). 
Summer is here! 
The fields that were brown when overturned in the spring 
are now all green again. The desolation wrought by the 
plow was but to prepare them for a better growth. The 
cattle stand knee-deep in the grass. The butter is yellow. 
There is no bare ground in the garden of the thrifty house- 
holder. Splendid flowers are blooming; nestlings are trying 
their wings. The earliest of the wild fruits are ripening; 
and living is easier for every creature. 
The spring rush is over and the great work of the heated 
season is on—the work of crop production. We speak 
figuratively of raising crops—that is nature’s work, not ours. 
All we can do is to arrange some of the conditions favoring 
their growth. We can remove their competitors and destroy 
their enemies and stir the soil about them, but nature makes 
them grow. 
Most plants consume their food reserves in getting started 
in spring; then they settle down to the steady work of 
gathering new sustenance from the soil and from the air. 
Under natural conditions, they must act quickly when the 
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