Music of the Wild 



mottled estate, and then such a luscious, shining 

 black ])erry it has no equal; and if the birds get 

 any they must be aliead of the boys and girls. The 

 opossums must be before the boys at the persim- 

 mon tree, for few are left when they finish. The 

 robins love M'ild grapes, and cedar birds the poke 

 berries, and s(|uirrels, hazehiuts. 



Hazel bushes are beautifid. The leaf is some- 

 thing like the ehii in shape, though the hazel is of 

 finer cutting. They are nearly the same size, 

 deejily grooved on tojj, and heavily veined under- 

 neath. The nuts grow from two to six in a cluster 

 and are sheltered in a leafy, pulpy green cover Avith 

 fringed edges, most artistic and, I should think, of 

 great benefit to the decorator searching for an un- 

 hackneyed subject. There are many places where 

 they coidd be used Avith fine effect in leather Avork, 

 es2)ecially as the ripe nut is a good leather color. 

 But the boy Avho reaches the hazel bushes before 

 the s(|uirrels gets up A'ery early in the morning, 

 and then only too often to find that the Avorms 

 have been ahead of him ; for AA'hen green the shells 

 of hazelnut and chestnut are so Aery soft that bee- 

 tles bore into them and deposit eggs that hatch, 

 and the Avorm develops inside the shell, that hard- 

 ens later. This explains AA-hy so often you crack 

 a perfectly sound nut and find a Avormy kernel. 



When the Ijimberlost leaves the thicket and 

 comes into the open again it does not spread, as 



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