but they are in season late in autumn and in the succeeding spring. The snow under which they he for months ripens them, though they are perhaps more spicy in the autumn. Their form when perfect is remarkable for a fruit; it has five sharp drooping points at the apex, and within these lies, as it were, a second smaller rose-colored berry, containing the tiny seed; they are seldom found in this mature state until a year old, and it is in June that the berries break open and drop the seed. The birds are very fond of this berry, and some eat the spicy little seeds while they reject the fleshy part. A pair of Florida nonpareils, kept in a cage in the village, used to delight in these.
The squaw-vine, with its long creeping branches, is a constant companion of the partridge berry the year round, common in all the woods. Its pretty rounded leaflets are regularly strung in pairs on thread-like vines, often a yard or more in length, with here and there a large red berry in their midst; these last are edible, though insipid. The flowers are slender delicate pink bells, pale without, deep rose-color within; they are very fragrant, and oddly enough the two blossoms form but one large berry, the fruit being marked with a double face, as it were, bearing the remains, of the two calices.
It would seem that among our evergreen plants a larger proportion are fragrant than among their deciduous companions; it cannot, however, be the strength of the plant which gives it this additional charm, for what is so sweet as the mignionette, or the European violet, both fragile plants?
Saturday, 8th.—Delightful day. A white-breasted nut-hatch among the trees on the lawn; these active, amusing birds are resident in the State, but one cannot vouch for their remaining all
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