Evening star., 1925-01-31

see bud on the radiance in January.
II has been there ever since late last
Fan. AT that time a continuance OF
warm weather would have brought 1t
out, but the cold nipped 1t, and it has
remained steadfast all Winter.
The bud is sort Of mummy, kept in
tact against more pleasant weather,
when its Ka, or spiritual double, as the
Egyptians had it, will be born again.
But surely the winds and SHOWS yet to
be our portion will kill it at last, and
when Spring comes 1t will find nothing
but a small hard lump there.
Withered, withered, withered. How
many of us have kept our buds of hope
SO alive as this little bush?
when the snow melted from under
the back porch, one Of the last places
1t left, what do you imagine we found
there?
A violet. To me it was more inter-
esting than the eclipse, and it was much
more pleasant to the eyes. Just a little
thing, nesting there under the snow,
not very large, OF course, not very blue,
but there was enough size in it to mark
Il unnlstakably violet. and plenty of
color to let the eye delight in it.
The violet does not have to be a
''ruffied monster or as blue as indigo
to be blue violet. 1t is something
like the sweet pea, which depends fer
Its charm upon It's intimacy. The sweet
pea must be observed close to be ap-
preciated, since it's odor is evanescent,
and its coloring subdued.
Several other little flowers struggled
into bloom in our back yard, blossoms
scarcely worth the name, so immature
that no one except an expert could
possibly have identified them.
Old DR.. Johnson said Of a dog that
walked on it's hind legs that the Won
der was not that he walked well, but
that he walked at all. So, with these
little flowers, the marvel was not that
they were flowers, but that they blos-
somed at all.
The foxgloves, having stood the brunt
OF Winter next the house wall, are not
looking very good at this writing, but
probably will come out all right.
The grass seems to have held up
against the cold season very well, in.
deed. 1t Is thick and brown, with that
peculiar mixture Of shades seen only in
dormant lawn. Here and there are
patches of green.
The white clover, sown in thin places
last Fail, is very bright at this time.
White clover is used In most grass seed
mixtures, serving to tie the sward to-
gether with its mating effect.
The clover Is somewhat expensive, so
to 30 cents a pound, but its rapid
growth makes it well worth it. Even
the best lawns will develop from time
to time bare spots where the ordinary
grass does not seem to do very well
A little white clover sown on these
places soon remedies the defect. White
clover is just about as pretty as any
species of grass, to my way of thinking.
In addition it is very hardy, and the
nitrogen fixing bacteria around its
nodules help the entire lawn
Sparrows seem unusually fat this
Winter. Although ] have never been
able TO muster up the enthusiasm about
birds that / have about dogs and cats,
still I appreciate the little fellows, and
am glad to see them we'll and happy.
Bread crumbs spread on the recent
big SHOWS were much enjoyed by the
sparrows, and the visiting stariings. The
agitation in flower magazines about
cats seems to me somewhat overdone
/ haven't seen a cat catch a bird in
years. Most OF the songsters seem able
/ to take care of themselves very we'll.
when it comes to evading cats A cat,
If ordinarily we'll fed, only stalks birds
as sport, and II Is a poor flyer that
cannot escape them.
These e-Spring notes are set down
here in the firm conviction that Spring
actually will be down this way soon.
The gardeners anthem is the old negro
spirituel, II want to be ready"