of the new furrow. As soon as the frost is
gone and the ground settled, the plow is started upon the hill, and at
each bout I see its brightened mould-board flash in the sun. Where the
last remnants of the snowdrift lingered yesterday the plow breaks the
sod to-day. Where the drift was deepest the grass is pressed flat, and
there is a deposit of sand and earth blown from the fields to
windward. Line upon line the turf is reversed, until there stands out
of the neutral landscape a ruddy square visible for miles, or until
the breasts of the broad hills glow like the breasts of the robins.

Then who would not have a garden in April? to rake together the
rubbish and burn it up, to turn over the renewed soil, to scatter the
rich compost, to plant the first seed or bury the first tuber! It is
not the seed that is planted, any more than it is I that is planted;
it is not the dry stalks and weeds that are burned up, any more than
it is my gloom and regrets that are consumed. An April smoke makes a
clean harvest.

I think April is the best month to be born in. One is just in time, so
to speak, to catch the first train, which is made up in this month. My
April chickens always turn out best. They get an early start; they
have rugged constitutions. Late chickens cannot stand the heavy dews,
or withstand the predaceous hawks. In April all nature starts with
you. You have not come out your hibernaculum too early or too late;
the time is ripe, and, if you do not keep pace with the rest, why, the
fault is not in the season.

V

BIRCH BROWSINGS

The region of which I am about to speak lies in the southern part of
the State of New York, and comprises parts of three counties,--Ulster,
Sullivan, and Delaware. It is drained by tributaries of both the
Hudson and Delaware, and, next to the Adirondack section, contains
more wild land than any other tract in the State. The mountains which
traverse it, and impart to it its severe northern climate, belong
properly to the Catskill range. On some maps of the State they are
called the Pine Mountains, though with obvious local impropriety, as
pine, so far as I have observed, is nowhere found upon them. "Birch
Mountains" would be a more characteristic name, as on their summits
birch is the prevailing tree. They are the natural home of the black
and yellow birch, which grow here to unusual size. On their sides
beech and maple ab