CHAPTER III. 



APKIL. 



April, if the season be moderately genial, is one of 

 the most remarkable months of the English year. 

 Winter, though it may return now and then in bitter 

 nights, is no longer felt injuriously during the day ; 'the 

 east winds may blacken the poplar-flowers, and try our 

 tempers ; but spring, in defiance of all hindrances, 

 pursues its way steadily, resolutely, and with success. 

 Nowhere is this more beautifully shown than in the 

 vegetation of the seeds bequeathed to the soil in the 

 previous autumn, and which after lying in the earth 

 apparently dead for many months, now assert their 

 intense vitality, and lift their green blades into the air. 

 A seed ^s one of the most wonderful things in the 

 world, containing not only the first principles of the 

 plant, but holding the power to lie, as it were, asleep 

 until the fitting period, for the expansion of the germ, 

 and meanwhile, withstanding influences of destruction 

 such as totally dissolve objects that have no life in 

 them. When we consider the exquisite minuteness 

 of maiiy seeds, this property becomes still more 

 amazing. Peas, beans, and similar seeds, though by 



