Youth, Vol. I, No. 4, June 1902: An Illustrated Monthly Journal for Boys & GirlsVarious
General
Youth, Vol. I, No. 4, June 1902: An Illustrated Monthly Journal for Boys & Girls
Various
Children's literature -- Periodicals
Bryant calls June “flowery June,” Coleridge calls the month “leafy
June”--it might also be called fragrant June, for it seems the natal
month of most fragrant flowers. One may notice sometimes in Scotland
such a rich, almost overwhelming fragrance on a ripple of wind that one
will stop to consider its origin. The source is not far to seek; it is
a bean field in full blossom.
Another very common and fragrant family of June blooming plants is that
of the trefoil, or clover family. A field of common red clover in full
blossom will rival in richness of perfume the famous Scotch bean field.
The clover field is a blaze of beauty--full, round, rosy heads spread
under the sunshine a cloth, not of gold, but of purplish pink, strong,
healthy plants these, full of suggestions of vigor.
Across this field boom thousands of bumble bees, and here we are
reminded that the bumble bee is the special partner of the red clover,
carrying its pollen and paid by the honey from the deep cups. The
red clover is not a native of America. It was introduced here, as in
Australia, from England, but seems to have taken a special hold on the
hearts of the people and upon the soil as well.
Each head of red clover is composed of hundreds of little florets,
tube-shaped, each with its own calyx, each with its own nectary,
honey-full and deeply hidden, each pouring its portion of perfume on
the warm June air.
Another clover becoming naturalized, a stranger from afar, is the
crimson or Hungarian clover. The head of the blossoms is not round, but
long, shaped like the first joint of a forefinger. The color is rich,
vivid crimson or blood-red. This is the clover so provided with tough
hairs that it has proved injurious to cattle.
[Illustration: SUMMER NOON]
An entire contrast to the large and showy Hungarian clover is the
modest, low-growing, dainty, white clover, its fragrance equally
delicious, but more subtle and delicate. The white clover has a short,
simple stem, its leaves are much smaller than those of the red clover,
and the plant hugs the ground, having a running habit. It is such a
close grower that where it once possesses the soil it is capable of
crowding out the most noxious weeds, even the much-detested plantain.
Among these white clover will be found heads of a larger growth, more
rounded and of a pure flesh tint. The head of white clover is somewhat
flattened, is loose, and has a greenish tint under its whiteness,
because the little green calyx of each tube is seen.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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