their grateful fragrance! How richly is that green bank enamelled with the lady-smock, arrayed in full blossom of silver white! The double blossoms of the daffodil are now abundant. The fragrant lilac is in bloom; the garden honeysuckle twines its rich green tendrils and wreaths of scented flowers around the cottage porch; and the golden chains of the laburnum are in rich profusion.

A beautiful idea is found in Marvell's poem of the Garden, of a dial of flowers, the time being shown by the opening or closing of the blossoms. It is thus given :

"How well the skilful gardener drew,

Of flowers and herbs this dial new!
Where, from above, the milder sun
Does through a fragrant Zodiac run,
And as it works, the industrious bee
Computes its time as well as we.

How could such sweet and wholesome hours

Be reckon'd but with herbs and flowers!"

Mrs. Hemans has recorded the fact in the following beautiful lines :

""Twas a lovely thought to mark the hours

As they floated in light away,

By the opening and the folding flowers
That laugh to the summer's day.

"Thus had each moment its own rich hue,

And its graceful cup or bell,

In whose colour'd vase might sleep the dew
Like a pearl in an ocean-shell.

"To such sweet signs might the time have flow'd

In the golden current on,

Ere from the garden, man's first abode,

The glorious guests were gone."

Thus, the most magnificent of our wild flowers, the water lily, opens about seven in the morning, closes about four in the afternoon, and then rests on the surface of the water. The goat's-beard expands its yellow disk very early, and closes before the sun has reached its meridian; hence it is popularly called, "Go-to-bedat-noon." The sand-wort opens about nine, and shuts between two and three. The African marigold expands a little earlier, and closes a little later. The wild succory, or endive, expands at eight, and closes at four. The night-flowering catchfly reserves its beauties till evening, as its name denotes.

The attentive observer cannot but perceive that every plant and flower on earth appears and expands in its appointed order. "The God of the seasons has exactly determined the time when this flower shall unfold its leaves, that spread its glowing beauties to the sun, and a third hang down its drooping head, and withered, resign its sunny robes."

Mrs. Hemans adds to the verses already quoted :—

"Yes, is not life, in its real flight,

Mark'd thus-even thus-on earth,
By the closing of one hope's delight,
And another's gentle birth?

"Oh! let us live, so that flower by flower,
Shutting in turn, may leave

A lingering still for the sunset hour,

A charm for the shaded eve."

A splendid scene is often presented at this period by the blossoms of fruit-trees. The almond-tree is a native of Barbary and the Holy Land, particularly the banks of the Jordan, and flowers in our shrubberies in March and April. The flowers, which are rose-red or white, appear before the leaves, and grow on short footstalks. And who will not admire the lovely blossoms of the peach, the clustering flowers of the plum, and the rich and varied bloom of the apple-tree?

One of the most common evergreens in shrubberies and clumps, for ornamenting the lawns of villas and country residences, is the noble laurel, or sweet bay. It is a native of the south of Europe, and flowers in April and May. The blossoms are of a yellowish white colour, and grow in short clusters. What a noble tree, too, is the horse-chesnut, a native of Asia! It grows from forty to one hundred feet high, and it is an ornamental flowering tree from April to May. The leaves, when first developed, are very interesting and beautiful, being very large, and of a fine green colour. When enfolded in the bud, they are covered with a sort of down, which falls off, sooner or later, as

they expand, according to the dryness or moisture of the season. The growth of the tree and leaves is very rapid, both shoots and leaves being sometimes perfected in three weeks from the time of foliation. The flowers appear a short time after the leaves, and are white, variegated with red and yellow. The buds of the horse-chesnut are covered with a gummy substance, which protects the interior from wet-a beautiful illustration of the care taken by Providence of the buds of plants.

Plants, though without sensation, are living bodies. The operations carried on in their cells and tubes resemble those conducted in the vessels of animals. These are, in fact, laboratories for various processes. The sap is there; and from this, gum, sugar, starch, and woody matter are wondrously formed. In some, volatile, or fixed oils are secreted; in others, resin; in others, acids; in others, caustic alkalines.

The secretions in the various cells of plants are doubtless intended to answer some valuable purpose, though this may not at present be discoverable. Sometimes, however, the use of a particular secretion, or at least one use, may be ascertained. Many of the humble plants, called lichens, fix themselves on calcareous

rocks-those in which lime appears; and are observed, in course of time, to sink deeper and deeper beneath the surface. It seems, therefore, that they have some mode of penetrating this hard substance, like that which many marine worms are known to possess. They do this alike, as it appears by means of an acid, probably the oxalic, acting on the lime, and gradually scooping out the rock. The same plant, when attached to rocks which are not calcareous, remains always at the surface, and does not penetrate below it.

A more familiar fact is no less remarkable. We often find buds covered with a resinous substance, which appears to be spread over them to prevent the entrance of water, which might injure the tender leaf closed up within. It may also be a defence from the ravages of some peculiar insects, which would otherwise destroy the yet unfolded germs.

Many plants have their stems covered thickly with wax, probably with the same intent. A bluish or white powder is often found as a close coating of fruit and of leaves, of which the common cabbage supplies an instance. It must often have been remarked how readily its fresh leaves throw off the water, and how, when immersed therein, they may be taken out, the surface remaining unwetted. In this respect, they