Spring and Summer Vegetation 



plants are really answering a purpose by 

 staying with us so long. It would have 

 been easy to have made them disappear 

 with the approach of winter, but this 

 would not have accorded with Nature's 

 aims. They stand ugly till perhaps the 

 middle or end of April, when faster decay 

 and the rapid advance of the season clear 

 them off. And if we study them aright 

 they will really afford us pleasure. They 

 give quite a peculiar aspect to the country, 

 the new things being made to gradually 

 replace the old. After the frost and snow 

 have shattered the few last remnants of 

 the summer, the fields are a dead, dull 

 expanse, and very sweet it is to mark the 

 cheerful green rising up and conquering 

 the barrenness. And though perhaps it 

 would be impossible to care much for last 

 year s withered grass stalks, except as the 

 frail ghosts of departed friends, we may 

 certainly watch the bright green leaves 

 springing up in the ditches amongst the 

 old dry pipes of Hemlock (^Antkrtscics, 

 &c.), and gain much pleasure from the 

 contrast. 



197 



