COUNTRY LIFL.
THE most gorgeous emergence: of spring are seen in northern or high mountain regions. Flowers innumerable tread on the heels of the melting snow, even help to melt it. Immigrant birds, large and small, arrive at the same moment in huge congregations to devour the emerging gnats. In my recollection the most cheering of surprises was a pool of yellow lilies blossoming between patches of snow high up in the Canadian Selkirks. In England, where seasons are more nicely graded, the greatest and most general cheer is provided by the corn. It never looks more green and refreshing than when it is released from the snows. Like the apple tree and the snowdrop, it rejoices in cold, and grows the more strongly for the gentle watering; and how well it looks today! Plants have a certain warmth in them. selves, though no other (so far as I know) quite rivals the snowdrop, which contains within its lovely inverted bell a spot (so an Austrian botanist discovered) that is habitually two degrees warmer than the surrounding air. It is warm-blooded. Does any flower give us quite so much pleasure?
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