28 EARLY SPRING IN MASSACHUSETTS. 
the winter, extending straight downward two 
feet (and how much further within the earth I 
know not), a pretty dense, grayish mass. 
February 29, 1840. A friend advises by his 
whole behavior, and never condescends to par¬ 
ticulars. Another chides away a fault, he loves 
it away. While he sees the other’s error, he is 
silently conscious of it, and only the more loves 
truth itself, and assists his friend in loving it 
till the fault is expelled and gently extin¬ 
guished. 
February 29, 1852, Simplicity is the law of 
nature for men as well as for flowers. When 
the tapestry (corolla) of the nuptial bed (ca¬ 
lyx) is excessive, luxuriant, it is unproductive. 
Linnaeus says, u Luxuriant flowers are none 
natural, but all monsters,” and so, for the most 
part, abortive, and when proliferous “ they but 
increase the monstrous deformity.” a Luxurians 
flos tegmenta fructificationis ita multiplicat ut 
essentiales equidem partes destruantur.” u Ori¬ 
tur luxurians flos pier unique ab alimento luxu- 
riante.” Such a flower has no true progeny, 
and can only be reproduced by the humble 
mode of cuttings from its stem or roots. 
“ Antliophilorum et hortulanorum delicise 
sunt flores pleni,” not of nature. The fertile 
flowers are single, not double. 
p. M. To Pine Hill across Walden. The 
