VIOLETS. 
19 
" Ere rural fields their green resume, 
Sweet flower, I love in forest bare 
To meet thee, when thy faint perfume 
Alone is in the virgin air." 
Another is much larger, and grows singly. 
The white are quite small, but singularly enough, one of these 
is fragrant, though the perfume is not so exquisite as that of the 
European violet ; the sweet, white kind are sometimes gathered 
as late as August. The tri-color is a large and solitary plant, 
and I have known it fragrant, though it does not appear to be 
always so. The violets of the Western Frames are said to be 
slightly fragrant, although the other flowers of that part of the 
country have generally no perfume. 
Friday, 19 th. — Fine, bright weather. The apple-trees are in 
blossom — they opened last night by moonlight ; not one was in 
flower yesterday, now the whole orchard is in bloom. The orioles 
have been running over the fresh flowers all the morning, talk- 
ing to each other, meanwhile, in their clear, full tones. Delight- 
ful walk in the evening. We went down to the Great Meadow, 
beyond Mill Island ; the wood which borders it was gay with 
the white blossoms of the wild cherries and June-berry, the wild 
plum and the hobble-bush, all very common with us. The even- 
ing air was delicately perfumed throughout the broad field, but 
we could not discover precisely the cause of the fragrance, as 
it did not seem stronger at one point than at another ; it was 
rather a medley of all spring odors. The June-berry is slightly 
fragrant, something like the thorn. 
We found numbers of the white moose-flowers, the great petals 
of the larger sorts giving them an importance which no other 
