January Garnet, rhodolite Montana, New Mexico, Arizona, North Carolina February Amethyst North Carolina, Georgia, Virginia March Californite California April Sapphire Montana, Idaho May Green tourmaline Lake Superior June Moss-agate California, Montana, Wyoming, Arizona July Turquoise New Mexico, California, Arizona August Golden beryl California, Connecticut, North Carolina September Kunzite California October Aquamarine North Carolina, Maine, California November Topaz Utah, California, Maine December Rubellite Montana The year is divided into four seasons or cycles,—spring, summer, fall, and winter,—and each season has its particular gem The emerald is the gem of the spring, the ruby the gem of summer, the sapphire the gem of autumn, and the diamond the gem of winter For spring, no precious stone is more appropriate than the emerald. Its beautiful color is that of Nature, for Nature clothes herself with green when she awakens from her long rest of winter. Having decked herself with green of the various tints and colors, she has selected a background by which a contrast is made for the flowers that come in the spring and summer and ripen into fruit and seeds of autumn. To be a seasonable gem it must be rare, and the emerald is rare. Whether found in the mines of Bogotá, whether mined in ancient times at Zabarah in Egypt, or in the past century in the Ural Mountains, it has never been found in abundance. It is softer in color than the ruby and less hard in structure. The ruby, although as a natal stone it belongs to December, is the gem of summer. It is born in the hot climates,—the pigeon’s-blood ruby in Burma, the pomegranate-red in Ceylon, and the more garnet-hued type in Siam,—these three equatorial countries produce the ruby. Those of large size are always rare, and this is the gem which Job valued more highly than any other, although “garnet” may perhaps be a better rendering. It is on an equal plane in hardness, in composition, in crystalline structure, and in every way, with the sapphire. These are sister gems, structurally alike, yet varying in complexion, due to a slight difference which some scientists think is not even dependent upon the coloring matter. The sapphire—the gem of autumn, the blue of the autumn sky—is a symbol of truth, sincerity, and constancy. Less vivid than its sister gem, the ruby, it typifies calm and tried affection, not ardent passion; it is therefore appropriate to the autumn season, when the declining sun no longer sends forth the fiery rays of summer but shines with a tempered brilliancy.