MARCH AND APRIL. 



trary, it thrives best not in sunny pastures where the 

 sun is doing its warmest work, but in the chill and 

 shadowy retreats of little dells, and in hollows be- 

 tween rocks and groups of stunted firs, where the 

 hillside is wet and cold with patches of melting ice 

 and snow. The starry blossoms are ineffably sweet, 

 and have a frosty, waxy look, and a dainty pink at 

 the edge of the petals, more attractive than the deli- 

 cate coloring of many a highly prized garden flower. 

 The fresh petals have a taste 

 not unlike muscatel grapes. 

 The flower grows plentifully 

 on the southeastern coast of 

 Massachusetts, and is annually 

 seen for sale in the streets of 

 Boston. 



If we call the 



Snowdrop, . -,»- n ,i 



^ , , . ,. Mayflower the 



representative 



wild flower of New England, 



then the snowdrop may be 



called the, representative spring 



flower of Old England ! It is 



not as familiar an object in 



our own meadow borders as we would wish ; yet 



it grows easily, and thrives in the bleak air of a 



New England spring. There are several old houses 



Snowdrop. 



