aisle [], passage with vista.

a-nem'o-ne, the wind-flower.

col'um-bine (from Lat. columba, dove).

cel'an-dine, a plant of the poppy gen'tian [jen'shan].

family.

chrys-an'the-mum, one of the composite plants.

lo-be'li-a, a genus of plants having

many species.
tur'tle, the turtle-dove.

1. WHEN the winter is past, and "the voice of the turtle is heard in our land," the sweet odors from budding plants remind us of the flowers that soon shall open to our gaze their manifold beauties of form and color. Our gardens will soon be full of purest white, of red, of yellow, and of blue. Orange and purple, too, of matchless tint, will be seen in many a flower. Even green will not be wanting, for every leaf will lend its share to the all-abounding verdure.

2. The flowers of our gardens are for the most part large and showy. The plants which bear them were brought here from foreign countries; and, of course, we would naturally expect that people coming from abroad, if they brought plants or seeds at all for garden culture, would bring the most striking and attractive. The peony, the chrysanthemum, the china-aster, the hollyhock, are but a few of the many kinds of showy flowers that belong to the garden, and not to our own wild woods and fields.

3. Beautiful, indeed, are all these chosen flowers that fill our greenhouses, adorn our borders, and grace our conservatories. Still, if we go into the woods in the pleasant summer weather, and look for wild flowers, we shall find many of most lovely hues and shapes growing amid the freedom and freshness of nature.

4. There is the cardinal flower. Is there any flower that has a more charming red color? It is one of the most beautiful of all flowers. Then, again, there is a most

handsome blue flower, of the same shape as the cardinal. Both kinds grow in low grounds; they are called lobelias. The flowers are large, and thickly set on the tall stems and when they appear in clusters they make a splendid show. The time to look for them in bloom is in July and August. There are in the woods many other lobelia plants with smaller flowers, all beautiful too; and we have in our gardens and greenhouses many very pretty lobelias that have been brought from foreign countries.

5. The spotted geranium is one of the earliest showy flowers of the season. In many places the woods are filled with them. You may see them growing in the shade under trees in April or May.

The fringed gentian is one of the loveliest of all the blue flowers, and likes to grow in low grounds, cool and shady. The plant does not grow high. It has a few branches that bend upwards. On the top of each long stem grows a single hollow flower, shaped something like a great thimble. Unlike most hollow flowers, it does not droop, but holds its head up, so that the open end is at the top. There it is adorned all around the edge with a curious fringe. The month of August is the time to see it.

6. There is another wild plant of our woods with beautiful blue flowers. These do not stand singly on long stems, like the fringed gentian, but are crowded close together around a tall stem. The plant that unfolds these charming flowers is called the tall bellflower.

Among the earliest flowers of summer are the lovely little anemones. They are the first sweet smiles of suminer. Every child, every man, every woman that loves the woods finds fresh gladness in the sight of the modest, trembling

anemones.

7. Hardly are the anemones gone, when the curious and no less beautiful columbines and larkspurs enliven the shady retreats with their dangling flowers. The yellow buttercups and the nodding violets are now also in the fields and forests.

Under the green hedges, after the snow,
There do the dear little violets grow;
Hiding their modest and beautiful heads
Under the hawthorn, in soft, mossy beds.

Sweet as the roses, and blue as the sky,
Down there do the dear little violets lie;

Hiding their heads, where they scarce may be seen,

By the leaves you may know where the violet hath been.

8. The month of June, laden with abounding foliage, opens to the precious sunshine a vast host of forest flowers. Birds, from lowly fen and leafy bough, pour forth on every hand their exultant melody. Bees, humming from flower to flower, and buzzing flies, lend their tiny music to the chorus of summer voices. Mingling with these, in well-chimed harmony, are heard the merry chirpings of the grasshopper and of the cricket. Wildroses, in their very wildness more lovely even than the garden queen, illumine the forest aisles and decorate the verdant solitudes; while butterflies, robed in rainbow hues, kiss the sweet flowers as lovely as themselves, and color comes to color.

9. The countless kin of the mighty sunflower host adorns the later summer and autumnal woods. Asters, many, various, and beautiful, of rays red, blue, and white, abound on every hand; and with the asters go, hand in hand, the yellow golden-rods, no less numerous and no less

varied. These flowers bear the last lingering colors of the late autumnal woods; and even after the gorgeous hues of autumn foliage have well-nigh vanished, an aster or a golden-rod may still be seen.

Thou waitest late, and com'st alone,
When woods are bare and birds are flown,
And frosts and shortening days portend
The aged year is near its end.

Then doth thy sweet and quiet eye
Look through its fringes to the sky;
Blue, blue, as if that sky let fall
A flower from its cerulean wall.