92 Life and Love. 



selves and fail to make a satisfactory growth of 

 wood ; so the careful gardener removes the flower 

 buds from his young trees. 



The great majority of plants have a short 

 period of growth, followed by reproduction and 

 death. 



This is not true of all, however; some, like the 

 higher animals, having recurring seasons of repro- 

 ductive activity, followed by rest, instead of ex- 

 pending all in one great effort. 



Some, as has been seen, grow for several seasons 

 in preparation for one glorious outburst of love 

 and beauty, after which their race is run. 



To the short-lived plants belong many of the 

 garden flowers. They come from the seed in the 

 spring, and in the fall fade never to revive, — their 

 life preserved in the seed they perfect. 



The wild flowers that make the woods dear to 

 us in the spring are exquisite love-songs, and only 

 that. The hepatica, the spring beauty, the dainty 

 dicentra, are Nature's glad tribute to the great love 

 that alone keeps the earth sweet and desirable. 

 They blossom in an hour as it were. Underground 

 live stout roots and compact bulbs, reservoirs of 

 nutriment, to enable the delicate stems and leaves 

 to go forth and blossom and scatter seed for other 

 beautiful spring-times. 



If it were not for love there would be no flowers. 

 If it were not for love there would be no beauty on 

 the earth. 



