rarelv fall out of their season, neither do 
we, but inasmuch as all seasons are ours to 
-die it becomes us to make preparation even 
in springtime; then, com? leaf-fall when it 
may, we are ready for it, apd if it be our 
lot to be gathered in life’s autumn we shall 
truly fade as the leaf, with our last days 
the brightest, cheering our path to the 
tomb, comforting those around us and sur¬ 
rounding even grim death with a halo of 
glory.— M. A. Brown. 
^ _ _ • 
The Legal Tender Strawberry. 
(SEE FRONTISPIECE.) 
The Legal Tender strawberry is another 
representative of the class of small fruits 
that has been so much improved by culti¬ 
vation that the meadows of forty years ago 
would not know them. Its disseminator, 
Mr. J. C. Gibson of 'Woodbury, N. J., says 
that it has stood the test ot two years as a 
market berry winning high praise among 
the gardeners and market men of his sec¬ 
tion. We do not know what its peculiar 
■characteristics are, but they are undoubt¬ 
edly such as will give it a place among the 
many new introductions. 
The Poet and the Children. 
With a glory of Winter sunshine 
Over his locks of gray, 
In the old, historic mansion 
He sat on his last birthday. 
With his books and his pleasant pictures, 
And his household and his kin, 
While a sound as of myriads singing 
From far and near stole in. 
It came from his own fair city, 
From the prairie’s boundless plain, 
From the Golden Gate of sunset 
And the cedar woods of Maine. 
And his heart grew warm within him, 
And his moistening eyes grew dim, 
For he knew that his country’s children 
Were singing the songs of him. 
The lays of his life’s glad morning, 
The psalms of his evening time, 
Whose echoes shall float forever 
On the winds of every clime. 
All their beautiful consolations, 
Sent forth like birds of cheer, 
Came floating back to his windows 
And sang in the poet’s ear. 
Grateful, but solemn and tender, 
The music rose and fell, 
With a joy akin to sadness 
And a greeting like farewell. 
With a sense of awe he listened 
To the voices sweet and young; 
The last of earth and the first of Heaven 
Seemed in the songs they sung. 
And waiting a little longer 
For the wonderful change to come 
He heard the Summoning Angel 
Who calls God’s children home! 
And to him in a holier welcome 
Was the mystical meaning given, 
Of the words of the blessed Master, 
Of such is the Kingdom of Heaven. 
—John G. Whittier, in Wide Awake. 
-—■- 
Changing- the Colors of dowers 
by Cultivation. 
Our knowledge of the chemistry of veg¬ 
etable pigments is not yet sufficiently ad¬ 
vanced, for which reason the effect of 
artificial influence upon the color-tone of 
flowers has not yet received its merited 
attention. According to my view, tannin 
is an important factor in the generation of 
vegetable colors; it is found in almost 
every plant, the petals not excepted, and 
by the action of the most varying re¬ 
agents—alkalies, earths, metallic salts, 
etc.—it assumes the most manifold hues 
from pile rose to deep black. A darker 
color, therefore, is produced in flowers 
rich in tannin, when manured with iron- 
salts, since, as everybody knows, tannin 
and iron-salts dye black, and produce ink. 
A practical use has been made of this fact 
in the raising of hortensias and dahlias. 
The former, which in ordinary soil blos¬ 
somed pale-red, became sky-blue when 
transplanted into soil heavily manured 
with iron ochre, or when occasionally wa¬ 
tered with a dilute alum solution. English 
gardeners succeeded in growing black dah¬ 
lias by similar manipulations. It is well 
