Charles E. Burchfield, Journals, April 13, 1939

To Cattaraugus County -

A bright clear day - cold, March-like...

I stopped at a point where the road crosses the railroad, which I think was the railroad stop known as Persia, and walked out the track a short distance - I gathered bits of lichen & moss (having in mind a plan to cover an empty coconut shell, as a "pot" to put an hepatica in for Bertha). From a dead tree I secured large pieces of beautiful birch-bark...

At Cattaraugus, I parked, and walked out the Erie Railroads northwards, when back in 1928, I had once before walked, also found so many hepaticas. (On that day, I just had time to make a watercolor of a clump of pink hepaticas before an all day rain set in.  Ever since the Beethoven Quartet Opus 95 had always been associated with this spot & day)...

I found the hepaticas in bloom here, in that miraculous stage, when the buds, fully developed, still hang their heads shyly.  I dug the one plant of pink ones, to take home...

I found it well-nigh impossible to do anything with the coconut shell, and conceived the idea of covering an ordinary flower pot with birch-bark.  It worked out very well, and I put the hepatica in it, and presented it to Bertha. 

Charles Burchfield, April 13, 1939