LEAF AND BRANCII 
267 
changes in a few lawn trees, but the attempt had 
to beabandoned. The shiftings of color were so 
frequent, owing to the changes of light, that 
the notes were apparently conflicting and 
led to no result but contradiction. Even with 
the so-called <‘‘flower-bearing trees” like the 
tulip, the locust, and the orchard fruit-trees, 
the color-transitions from hour to hour are 
swift. Beautiful, indeed, are the white blos- 
soms of the cherry, the pink-and-white of the 
apple, the darker pink of the peach. Seen in 
the early part of May, before the foliage has 
opened, they make charming masses of color 
along the hill-side of the farm and against the 
woods. They are tokens of the winter passed 
and the spring arrived, and while they are sway- 
ing cloud-like in the orchard, the castellated 
cumulus is piling higher and higher in the 
glowing sky. Fair things of spring, beautiful 
they are while they remain with us, but how 
quickly they pass! The blossom of to-day is 
not the blossom of yesterday. Its color and 
light are different. And then some night the 
wind rises, a ‘blossom storm” comes on, and 
in the morning the light and color lie broken on 
the ploughed ground and the dark boughs look 
more desolate than ever. 
Trees in 
blossom. 
Blossom 
storms, 
