BLOSSOM-TIME 47 



Thus he does not need to waste his time. And 

 he is, no doubt, glad of the sign. For working 

 days are few at best, and his object is to gather 

 as much honey and incidentally to fertilize as 

 many flowers as he can. Those who have taken 

 the trouble to observe these wise little crea- 

 tures, say that they keep to one kind of flower 

 at a time, visiting hundreds of blossoms in suc- 

 cession, and carefully passing over any that 

 might be mixed with them. Thus is another of 

 Nature 's wise economies fulfilled ! 



The calendar of tree blossoms begins and ends 

 along the low thickets of the water-side. You 

 remember it was here we found the first blos- 

 soms — the pussy willows. And here, along in 

 October, "when the leaves fall shivering from 

 the trees, and Nature seems at last to have lost 

 heart and given up the game," we find the last 

 ones — the "elfin blossoms" of the witch hazel. 

 How cheery they are ! Such a bright, clear yel- 

 low — a yellow whose brightness not even the 

 soddening rains, which seem striving to drive 

 out all color from the landscape, can dim! 

 Jack Frost turns the dainty petals into crepe, 

 and curls them up into ringlets that dance mer- 

 rily in the winds. 



A witch indeed is the witch hazel. For she 

 chooses to bloom at the very time she is sow- 



