"The pine hath a fringe of softer green, And the moat looks bright where my steps hare been." - Hemans.

The month of April in Canada is decidedly the least agreeable one in the whole year. It is often cold and cheerless; or if a few sunny, warm days present themselves, they are too often the precursors of biting winds and showers of snow and sleet, which put a bridle on the earth, and hold vegetation in check. This month does not display the same peculiar features as in England; with us it is not "April hum and April showers, That fill the lap of May with flowers".

We miss those balmy breezes laden with the odors of the violet, the primrose, and the blue bell; - those deep blue skies, rendered more lovely by the big silver thrones, as we used to call the white clouds that are so often seen in April skies, casting their hasty shadows over the streams and young fields of wheat; now for a few moments veiling the sun, then as suddenly passing away, leaving his face more glorious than before. We miss the music of the feathered choir at early dawn, and all through the livelong day. We miss the busy murmur of the bees in the bosom of the golden crocus, the starry blossoms of the little celandine on green banks by the way-side, and the daisies that powder over the meadows like snow showers.

Yet, though we lose all these sweet sounds and sights, we must not be ungrateful Our Canadian April, though colder and even more capricious than her sister of the isles, also has her charms for such as will seek them with cheerful faces and contented hearts. It is her breath that unlocks the frozen lakes and loosens the icy streams - that rids the earth of her snowy burden - that causes the sap to flow and the buds to swell, ready for expanding the leaves that have been closely shut up in their downy cradles during the long winter months.

At the voice of the flowing streams the hardier emigrants begin to flock in. The wild ducks are splashing the newly opened waters with their wide wings; and see! the little song-sparrow (Fringilla mclodia) is flitting to and fro on our garden bushes, with the neat snow-bird (F. niva-lis) and little brown wren (Troylodytes fulva); all singing a low sweet song of joy and gladness, as they flit to and fro, now searching for seeds upon the withered stalks of the rough amaranth or tall mullein, or on the mossy branches for insects. Now may be heard, on warm days, the incessant rapping, tapping, and hammering of the wood-peckers, both the red-headed (Picas erythocephalus) and the little downy spotted and midland wood-peckers; the soft, low, plaintive, note of the chickadee; or the bold, full, musical swell of the song-thrush and meadow-lark; with many others that I could nam. listen to that hollow sound; it is like the booming of very distant thunder, yet the sky displays no thunder-clouds. What can it be! In the forest, there, just at the edge of the eedar swamp, elevated on a fallen log, is the author of the mysterious sound; it is a drummer - the male of the ruffed grous, commonly known by the name of Canadian patridge.

He is beating his breast with his expanded wings, and setting up his shining dark ruff, to allure a distant mate from the depths of the cedar swamp. He has been feeding on the soft red berries of the trailing arbutus, and stripping the red bark from the wild raspberries that grow on yonder upturned roots.

The evergreens are changing their spiny leaves, and sending up new, vigorous shoots from the end of every branch. The white pine shoots measure about fourteen inches. During the spring, the last years shoot casts off its spiny covering, and the new growth is seen, like a green tassel, above it By measuring the length of the annual shoots of these trees, the age of a large pine may be pretty nearly calculated.

The catkins of the willows, birches, poplars, and alders, come out during this month, if the season be not too severe. But there is often a great difference in the forwardness of vegetation in this month. In the year 1883 the woods were almost free of snow. In the beginning of April sugar-making was nearly over; hepaticas, spring beauty, and violets of several colors were in bloom; and the leaves of the hard wood trees were many of them expanded by the 4th of May. That was the earliest spring that I remember. 1834 was like it; but on the 14th, 15th, and 16th of May, the wind changed to the northwest, a severe frost bound up the earth, and snow fell to a depth of several inches. The forest was out in leaf, and I had young chickens hatched, which died, all but four, from cold. Nevertheless, we had a splendid summer, and many trees put out new leaves - among these were willows and poplars.

Of our earliest flowers, there is none that is more lovely to the eye than the hepatica, (Hepatica Americana,) commonly called snow-flower by the Canadians. Its tufts of blue, pale pink, and white blossoms, may be seen in warm Aprils, on every grassy mound, on turfy knolls formed by the wind-fallen trees, by way-side fences, and in the partially cleared forest, its starry flowers waving with every gentle breath that passes over them. What the daisy is to the English meadows, the hepatica is to our Canadian clearings - it is a harbinger of spring.

"It tells us that winter, cold winter, is past, And that spring, lovely spring, is returning at last".

Of all the early Canadian flowers, I love the pretty hepatica best Next, and by many most admired, is spring beauty, (Claytonia virginica.) Its delicate, graceful, striped pink bells may be seen during the latter part of April, on sunny meadows. It loves the shelter of old decaying timbers, and is often to be found just peeping from beneath the overshadowing side of a mossy log, yet willing to expand its petals towards the warm sunshine. It was among the first spring flowers that attracted my attention. About the same time comes forth, in rich, moist soil, just at the edge of the forest and even encroaching a little within its bounds, the pure white flowers of the Sanguinaria, or blood-root It breaks the ground folded within its vine-shaped leaf which is veined with pale orange color; and if broken, both leaf and stem and root exudes a bright scarlet juice. It is with this that the Indian squaw dies the orange and red tints in her baskets, mats, and quills. The flower, on a small scale, resembles the white crocus. It was among my first favorites.

The Erythronium, or dog's tooth violet - that very elegant single flowered lily - comes next; and then there are some early life-everlastings, and violets white and blue, and low-stemmed creeping ranunculus, with many other small and less attractive flowers.

As the snow melts away, the green leaves of many plants that have been nursed by its friendly covering may be seen. The various species of wintergreens, the delightful Pyrolus and Chima-phiila, the creeping arbutus, Mitchella repens, (thorn-berry) and the sweet, spicy wintergreen with its gay red berries and shiny leaves, all as fresh and vigorous as though they had been perfecting their winter toilet within the sheltered canopy of their snowy chamber to do honor to the new-born spring.

We are apt to think that vegetation lies dormant during the winter months. Her powers, I should think, were not entirely suspended; the perfecting of leaf and flower buds' may be slowly but surely proceeding. On mild, warm days, the ascent of the sap is felt, for I have heard of maple sugar being made early in the month of February. Even those animals that hybernate, experience the vivifying influence of a change of temperature, from extreme cold to warmth, and come forth for a few hours or days to recruit themselves. During these intervals of sunshine and warmth, doubtless the vegetable life becomes quickened and the results of her operations manifest themselves in due season.

It is during the month of April that the animals that have been locked up in winter's sleep come forth. The squirrels may then be seen running along the rail fences, or on the logs; the little chipmunk chasing his fellows among the fallen timbers, full of playful glee; the deer steals out from among the budding under-wood, crosses our clearings, and leads his companions to the margins of our lakes and pools; the lakes and rivers are alive with fish, and dark nights are illumined by the torch of the Indian, in his bark canoe, as he quietly glides over the surface with his well-poised spear dealing the death blow to his scaly prey.

We hail April with gladness because we know that the reign of winter is at an end, and even though he sometimes reappears and frowns upon us, it can be but for a short season, and that bright days and sunny skies, and all spring's joyous things, are in store for us. April might be called the month of many hopes. Where the season is sufficiently mild, seeds of various kinds are sown or the ground prepared for them. It is also the season of grafting.

"By the violet's soft perfume, By the fragrance of the broom, By the blossom on the bough, By the hillock's flower-crowned brow, And the young leaves' verdant pride, And a thousand traits beside Of purest Joy and holiest mirth, Spring, creation halls thy birth!" - Agnes Strickland.