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. 



In all cases, before Nature closes her house in the 

 fall, she makes ready for its spring opening. 



