PLANTS PREDICT WEATHER 103 
duces the rule of red and white. Then the soft 
tones draw timidly back into shaded glens, while the 
blazing summer sun brings out the strength of the 
glorious red field poppy, the trumpet-flower, and 
the red lobelia, as contrasted to the white fields of 
clover, daisies, and mayweed. 
Red and white hold sway until August, proclaim- 
ing the onrushing fall, introduces the autumn 
styles; then the reds soften to royal purple and the 
whites yield to their regal golden successors. The 
purple asters, verbenas, and mints, together with 
the blazing goldenrod and the yellow evening-prim- 
rose, crown the year with a royal robe of purple and 
gold, the mantle of autumn, and the imperial proc- 
lamation of the Harvest Season. 
The winter has, in its turn, a distinct group of 
tones which we associate with the season, although 
these are not gained from any floral bloom of the 
time. The dark green of the evergreen and the 
brilliant red of the few lingering berries; the 
browns of earth, field, and highway; and the soft 
white of the fallen snow, are synonymous with 
winter, and must therefore be acknowledged as her 
“seasonal tones” in Dame Nature’s almanac. 
