II.

FEBRUARY.

'Come forth, ye lovely heralds of the spring!
Leave, at your Maker's call, your earthly bed;
At his behest your grateful tribute bring:

To light and life, from darkness and the dead,
Thou timid snowdrop, lift thy lowly head.'

HE cold ungenial month of February has arrived, with its chilling winds and sleety showers, its alternate changes of snow and thaw; but even in spite of these we may find a bright sunny morning to tempt us out into the sheltered lane, and be able to gather a small nosegay out of the few wild-flowers

that dare-at the season when the Almighty 'scattereth his hoar-frost like ashes' to brave the wintry blast, and proclaim, in their exquisite perfection and beauty,

'The hand that made us is divine.'

Many of the trees and bushes around us are beginning

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to give some faint indications of existence, to remind us the beautiful spring-time is close at hand, when

'The folded leaf is woo'd from out the bud.'

The fresh green of the elder-tree and gooseberry, the darker leaf of the honeysuckle, or perchance an early 'catkin,' or tassel-like blossom of the hazel, may be seen; the faint aromatic odour of the ground ivy detected, though it does not flower until a month later. Its young leaves, however, are often gathered now by country people, as a cure for coughs and colds. Early as it is, we may chance to find, on some rubbish heap near the garden, an early blossom of the dingy hellebores, of which we have two species: the green hellebore (Helleborus viridus); and the stinking hellebore (Helleborus fœtidus). Both are highly poisonous, blooming in woods and waste places, and bearing greenish flowers, those of the latter somewhat larger and tinged with purple. The green leaves are numerous and pedate, or bird-footed; the stems are usually short, thick, and sturdy.

At this time, also, the bright little winter aconite (Eranthis hyemalis) raises its yellow satiny cup above the ground:

'The aconite that decks with gold

Its merry little face.'

At one time it belonged to the hellebore tribe, but is now classed among the ranunculus family. Its green

leaves spread like a drooping frill around the neck of the stem, close beneath the flower. It grows near to the ground, and from this has derived its botanical name from the Greek, signifying earth flower. Like all the aconites, it possesses highly poisonous properties. It is a beauteous little blossom, which we value all the more for appearing at this dreary season, when so few flowers gladden our sight. Well has Clare described it,

But

'The winter aconite,

With buttercup-like flowers, that shut at night,

Its green leaf furling round its cup of gold,
Like tender maiden muffled from the cold.'

'Already now the snowdrop dares appear,
The first pale blossom of the unripened year;
As Flora's breath, by some transforming power,
Had changed an icicle into a flower.'

Let us hunt first for this exquisite herald of spring, 'the fair maid of February,' as it has been called, which, though considered a doubtful wildling, may often be found adorning the lanes of the south of England. With the earliest gleam of sunshine, when nature still rests in her winter's sleep, and only the robin is heard piping his little song of gladness, then will

'The snowdrop, who, in habit white and plain,
Comes on, the herald of fair Flora's train,'

venture to peep from the compact little flower-sheath, in which it has so long lain snugly enveloped, and show its

beauteous fair face above the snow, which it rivals in white

ness:

'Lone flower, hemmed in with snows, and white as they.' Who does not experience a gush of true pleasure in

SNOWDR OP-Galanthus.

discovering the first snowdrop? or fail to welcome with gladness, the little bunches of white blossoms that peep from out their nest beneath the sheltering tree, bringing to the flowerless earth the cheerful promise of brighter skies, and more genial sunshine?

'Like a star on winter's brow,
Or a gleam of consolation
In the midst of sorrow, thou
Comest, pearl of vegetation.'

How beautiful are its pair of straight-veined, pale-green leaves; its drooping bells, composed of three outer petals, enclosing their inner triplet delicately edged with green! How daintily they bend from the tender stalks,

'Like pendent flakes of vegetating snow,'

braving the chilling frosts, yet timidly gathering in clusters, nodding and trembling 'neath every sweeping blast! Exquisite, delicate little blossom, how we love thee! coming in this wintry season, when so few others visit us. Its botanical name (Galanthus) is taken from the Greek, and signifies milk-flower. The Germans call it snow-bell; the French give it the name of perceniege-snow-piercer, which is even prettier than our own. The snowdrop is considered the emblem of hope, doubtless because it comes

'The early herald of the infant year ;'

but a pretty legend tells us of its first adoption, which my young friends may be amused to hear.

It is said that Hope, one day standing leaning on her anchor, watching the snow as it fell on the earth, and Spring patiently waiting till the wintry blast had passed away, lamented that those beautiful white flakes