Nature’s Secrets

Edited by G. Clyde Fisher

1927

Today was a day that I had to set aside my “to do” list and sit for a while by the garden.  I can just see the lettuce and spinach sprouting up through the soil.  The trees and bushes are budding.  The mourning dove is up in her nest with her two newly hatched babies.  Since I live in the suburbs, I can hear a train in the distance, cars on the street, and a plane overhead.  In my garden, though, I can also hear the birds talking to each other.  I am a naturalist at heart, though not in mind.  I love the outdoors, but have little knowledge of bird names and calls.  Walking in the woods is one of my favorite things to do, although there are just a handful of trees I can name.

 

Perhaps this book I found recently can help me grow more knowledgeable in these areas.  Nature’s Secrets is a wonderfully illustrated comprehensive gathering of information on many areas of nature, both flora and fauna, with each section written by a specialist in the field.  Besides written information, there are over 700 illustrations to aid in identification.  

 

I brought Nature's Secrets outside with me today as I took in the finally warm, fresh air.   As I was paging through the book, I came across this little pressed specimen. It looks to me like a four-leaf clover!  I wonder how long it has been pressed between these pages.  I wish I knew who put it there.  This is what I love about old books.  The year is 2013, and I’m reading and enjoying a book published almost ninety years ago.  Many years ago, another nature lover browsed the pages of this book.  I wonder if that person felt the same way as I do about the opening quote by John Burroughs, 

To understand nature is to gain one of the greatest resources of life.