whose virtues are seldom sung, as though the 

 blossoms of trees counted for little. Surely the 

 bursting of silver-gray rods into this vivid bloom 

 is an event w^orthy the muse. It is not only in 

 autumn the red maple graces the swamp. These 

 modest blossoms of the early year — willow, alder, 

 poplar, elm, maple — must have their place in the 

 flower calendar, are worthy a Festival of Trees, 

 to be associated with the song of the hyla. 



Anything like an exadl flower calendar is out of 

 the question, for much depends on the locality 

 and the season. We look for bloodroot and 

 hepatica to follow arbutus, and yet I have, on 

 occasion found bluets several weeks in advance of 

 these. The saxifrage is perhaps quite as early as 

 any, though I have seen the buds of the marsh- 

 marigold about to open on the 25th of March. 

 Much depends on which has the more favorable 

 spot in any locality. In a warm nook, on the 

 13th of April, bloodroot, hepatica, spring-beauty, 

 early saxifrage, dicentra, wood- and rue-anemones 

 and adder's-tongue, as well as common blue and 

 long-spurred violets, were blooming together in 

 profusion. The saxifrage and bloodroot might, of 

 course, have been seen a week earlier. In the 



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