. Sharp eyes; a rambler's calendar of fifty-two weeks among insects, birds and flowers . THE EARLIEST WILDFLOWER March jis( T is now within a few hours of the1st of April, and already the har-binger spring blossom has bloomedin the woods perhaps a week ormore ago. What name shall wegive it ? What is the earliest blos-som—the earliest New England blos-som ? True, there is the skunk-cab-bage pioneer down in the bog, whichwe found some three weeks ago—thoughonly after the bees had given us the hint and alreadydiscovered it several days in advance of us—and whichhas now seen its best days. But by
. Sharp eyes; a rambler's calendar of fifty-two weeks among insects, birds and flowers . THE EARLIEST WILDFLOWER March jis( T is now within a few hours of the1st of April, and already the har-binger spring blossom has bloomedin the woods perhaps a week ormore ago. What name shall wegive it ? What is the earliest blos-som—the earliest New England blos-som ? True, there is the skunk-cab-bage pioneer down in the bog, whichwe found some three weeks ago—thoughonly after the bees had given us the hint and alreadydiscovered it several days in advance of us—and whichhas now seen its best days. But by common humanconsent this plebeian does not count, even though. 2O SHARP EYES the bee has long settled the question of its qualifica-tions. It is a flower, perhaps, but not a blossom, sosays the sentimental fiat. Upon what fairer shoulders,then, does its mottled mantle fall ? It were a rash commentator who would approachthis question idly in the face of the host of natural-ists, botanists, spring poets, and careful observers,each with his array of facts and dates and witnesses,his unimpeachable note-book, and his especial floralfavorite for the vernal honors. The question has beensatisfactorily decided by each of them ; and by a wis-dom born of experience the subject is avoided in mix-ed botanical councils as one prone to incite to con-fusion if not to riot. The dogged pertinacity andunreasonableness of the brethren on this matter arepast belief. I never knew a botanist or spring poetto be convinced of his error on the subject of the ear-liest flower, and yet the truth of the matter is as plainas A, B, C. I long ago settled the question absolutely
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectnaturalhistory, booky
