WAYS OF NATURE 
for the new season in the midst of the old. Cut 
open the terminal hickory buds in the late fall and 
you will find the new growth of the coming season 
all snugly packed away there, many times folded 
up and wrapped about by protecting scales. The 
catkins of the birches, alders, and hazel are fully 
formed, and as in the case of the buds, are like eggs 
to be hatched by the warmth of spring. The present 
season is always the mother of the next, and the 
inception takes place long before the sun loses his 
power. The eggs that hold the coming crop of 
insect life are mostly laid in the late summer or early 
fall, and an analogous start is made in the vegeta- 
ble world. The egg, the seed, the bud, are all alike 
in many ways, and look to the future. Our earliest 
spring flower, the skunk-cabbage, may be found 
with its round green spear-point an inch or two 
above the mould in December. It is ready to wel- 
come and make the most of the first fitful March 
warmth. Look at the elms, too, and see how they 
swarm with buds. In early April they suggest a 
swarm of bees. 
Tn all cases, before Nature closes her house in the 
fall, she makes ready for its spring opening. 
