COUNTRY LIFE
A THORN hedge seems to break into leaf overnight. One looks at it and notes that it is green, and it seems that yesterday it was still in bud and looking brown. Such a thing doesn't really happen. It is true that a warm sunny morning makes the leaf break in abundance, but for days before the green is there, spattered about the hedge or in patches too small to catch the eye. Spring warmth and moist air accelerates growth. Horse chestnuts that have been pruned are budding. One morning they will be covered with those soft, delicate leaves, and those who notice will remark that the whole thing happened in a day. Casual observation produces this sort of idea, and most of us are casual observers, prone to generalisations and conclusions normally reached by untrained, unscientific people. I confess to being a casual observer because, most of the time, I am. Spring would lose a great deal of its magic and excitement if the casual naturalist became a scien- tific observer. Not only spring, but summer and autumn too. I know that in a few days the apple blossom will open, but the morning I dis- cover it has opened will be brighter if I do not stand by the tree today and study the fruit buds too carefully.
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