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In tropical regions the rains are periodical, as before mentioned; they fall only at certain seasons, and for an hour or two daily. The drops are said to be larger than those which we are accustomed to see, and owing to their greater weight, strike the earth with considerable violence. "The morning is clear, the clouds gather towards mid-day, heavy rains fall in the afternoon, and the evening is again clear and fine. At times the sky is unclouded for months together."

Rain is unknown in some parts of the world, viz., the arid deserts of Africa and Arabia, the deserts of Gobi, parts of Mexico and California, and the west of Peru.

From numerous observations it has been proved that the mean or average annual temperature generally occurs on the 24th of April and the 21st of October in the temperate zone.

In England the course of the heat is as follows:-The temperature rises from the middle of January until the middle of July, from which period it diminishes, finally reaching its minimum again in the middle of January.

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CHAPTER V.

MAY.

"Fair-handed Spring unbosoms every grace,
Throws out the primrose and the snowdrop first;
The daisy, primrose, violet darkly blue,
And polyanthus of unnumber'd dyes;

The yellow wallflower stain'd with iron-brown,
And lavish stock, that scents the garden round;
From the soft wing of vernal breezes shed,
Anemones; auriculas enrich'd

With shining meal o'er all their velvet leaves,
And full ranunculus of glowing red.

Then comes the tulip race, where Beauty plays
Her idle freaks; from family diffused
To family, as flies the father-dust,

The varied colours run; and while they break
On the charm'd eye, the exulting florist marks,
With secret pride, the wonders of his hand.
No gradual bloom is wanting-from the bud,
First-born of Spring, to Summer's musky tribes;
Nor hyacinths of purest virgin white,
Low bent, and blushing inwards; nor jonquils
Of potent fragrance; nor narcissus, fair,

As o'er the fabled fountain hanging still;

Nor broad carnations, nor gay spotted pinks;

Nor, shower'd from every bush, the damask rose.

Infinite numbers, delicacies, smells,

With hues on hues expression cannot paint

The breath of Nature, and her endless bloom."-THOMSON.

"In April come the double white violet, the wallflowers, the stock-gilliflowers, the Cowslip, and lilies of all natures; rosemary flowers, the tulip, the double peony, the pale daffodil, the French honeysuckle, the cherry-tree in blossom, the damascene, and plum-trees in blossom, the white thorn in leaf, and the lilac-tree."-BACON.

THE wisest and best of men have ever entertained a passionate love of flowers. The poet-king of the Hebrews was evidently an ardent lover of nature, and familiar with the phenomena passing around him. "Let no flower," he exclaims, "let no flower of the spring pass by us: let us crown ourselves with rosebuds before they are withered!" And his writings teem with illustrations derived from the beauties of nature around him. In modern times we find philosophers and poets with the same love of the exquisite productions of the early year-the flowers of May. With what joy old Spenser seems to write:

"Then came fair May-the fairest maid on ground

Deckt with all dainties of her season's pride,

And throwing flowers out of her lap around."

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"Oh, May, with all thy flowers and thy greene,
Right welcome be thou, fair fresh May!"

To quote from Shakespeare would be truly "love's labour lost;" for every page is redolent with "the breath of flowers," which, as Bacon observes,

66 comes and goes like the warbling of music." How the mighty Milton, "from his eminence aloft," sweetly discourses of the denizens of the meadow and the wood, and rejoices over

"The flowery May, who from her green lap throws

The yellow cowslip and the pale primrose!"

And lesser poets, down to Wordsworth, Tennyson, and Longfellow, revel in their love of flowers.

Our Lord and Master sought in the flowers and fields the poetical illustrations of the arguments which he wished to enforce, and in so doing appealed to a strong perception and love of the beautiful, which is common in every land where Nature is prodigal of floral beauty. "Consider the lilies of the field," said he, "how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."

Since May is the festival of flowers, the gay-day of the vegetable kingdom; and since all, from the youngest to the oldest, never think of the time apart from its blossoms and sunshine, leaves and fragrance, we shall, in this chapter, "consider the lilies of the field, how they grow." A greater familiarity with the denizens of the meadow and the wood will not diminish the love we have hitherto felt for them, but will add to our list dear acquaintances whose faces will greet us as in our solitary walks, peeping from the hedge-side, or by the forest path, to remind us of the ever-watchful care which strewed the waste ground with flowers, and covered the desert island, and even the rock, with life and beauty.

A

It is manifest, as plants are not exactly alike, that it is convenient to name them differently; but it is also plain that as in some points certain plants resemble each other very closely, it is desirable to group such plants together, and give them names which imply their relationship. This nominal division of the vegetable kingdom into families and orders is necessary, if we seek to gain any general idea of its parts, because it would be quite impossible for any one person to have a detailed knowledge of each individual plant, separately considered, without its relations to others. similar kind of division is found convenient in almost everything. The country is divided into counties, hundreds, &c.; the legislative body into Lords and Commons; the school into classes and divisions. The surface of the world is artificially divided into sections, by lines of latitude and longitude; the stars are considered in groups. Knowledge is divided into arts and sciences; and science, again, is subdivided into geology, geography, &c. Division and arrangement are necessary to the consideration of every part of the vast field of nature, and as the vegetable kingdom consists of upwards of 100,000 species, it is especially convenient to those seeking to become better acquainted with inanimate life.

In calling attention, then, to flowers and their growth as the most remarkable phenomena of the months of May and June, we propose to consider the best method of becoming acquainted with their nature and properties; or, in other words, what system of classification it is best to adopt in the study of botany.* But to do this we must possess some information with

* The word is derived from Boravn, a plant; the root of the Greek word signifies "" to feed."

regard to plants, such as the names of their parts, and the functions which those parts are intended to perform. We shall not now pause to consider the difficulty which exists in drawing a line between the animal and vegetable kingdoms, but proceed at once to speak of what are well known as plants. Of these objects the most familiar part is the leaf; and it is remarkable that all other parts, except the roots and their appendages, can be shown to be no other than transformations of this organ; as a proof of which it may be observed that petals, stamens, &c., are liable to reassume, under peculiar circumstances, a leafy character. The transformations of stamens into petals is a common change, and is that which converts single into double flowers; hence, as the stamens perform an important part in fructification, thoroughly double flowers produce no seeds. This theorythat all appendages of the ascending axis, or stem, are leaves metamorphosed to serve particular purposes- was originally suggested by Linnæus, but afterwards more fully expounded by the illustrious German poet, Goëthe. The first growth from the seed is leaf-like, and following it come true leaves, and from a succession of these the stem is developed; from the sides of the stem, buds-which are bundles of folded leaves arise; and from a series of buds the branches proceed. When a certain degree of maturity has been attained by the plant, the leaves upon portions of the stem, near the point which flowers are about to appear, assume an altered character, and become smaller and more petal-like: such leaves are called bracts. They are seen on the stem of the rhubarb, are very remarkable objects in the lime-tree, and may be easily found on many common plants. Bracts may, in general terms, be defined to be the leafy appendages between the true leaves and the flower. There are some plants, however, in which they are not found, and many in which it is difficult to distinguish them from parts of the flower itself; as, for example, in the common daisy, where the narrow green leaflets which are so neatly folded over each other, at the back or base of the flowers, are bracts-not parts of the true blossom.

*

It will be convenient if, before we proceed further, we go into the fields and gather a plant-the more common, the better adapted will it be for our purpose, because there will be the greater probability that all our pupil will be enabled to procure specimens; and they will learn, moreover, at the same time, that the most useful and amusing knowledge may frequently be derived from objects with whose outward appearance we have been for life thoroughly familiar.

Who does not know the bright-flowered buttercup? Which of us has not, in joyous infancy, gazed upon its polished golden petals with a feeling of pure delight that in later years we seldom or never know? The buttercup-dear jewel-flower of childhood!-associated with its sweet companion, the modest daisy-what can be more fitting subjects for mature thought than these, the earliest objects of baby admiration ? Let us then, consider these two familiar friends attentively. In the butter cup the natural leaves consist of many divisions, while in the daisy the leaf is in one piece; in both leaves, however, we find the veins or fibres, of the leaf distributed upon a somewhat similar plan, viz.,

*From the Latin word bractea, a thin leaf of metal.

a central, or principal fibre, from which smaller fibres arise, and form a network of veins on either side. On cutting the stalks, moreover, and examining them with a magnifyingglass, we discover a further similarity of structure; for we see that there are bundles of woody tissue symmetrically arranged around a central pith (d).

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Above the bracts we find the blos

som, which consists of the following parts:-1. Calyx; 2. Corolla; 3. Stamens; 4. Pistil. If we look at the base or back of the buttercup, we shall observe five small green leaves, as it were, supporting the yellow leaves of the blossom (Fig. 2, 6). Each of these green leaves is called a sepal, and the five sepals together form what is called the calyx, because they are frequently united at their edges, and thus constitute a cup (calyx) for the flower. Within or above the calyx we have five yellow petals, which together form the corolla, a word that signifies in Latin a little crown or garland, and has been applied to this part because the petals (the parts of the corolla) are usually of brilliant colour, and give beauty to the flower. If we remove these yellow petals, we shall find at the base of each (Fig. 1, p)

Fig. 1.

a small scale or gland, which was at one time called the nectary, from the idea that it was the organ which secreted honey. It may here be appropriately pointed out that in nearly all plants with branched stems and reticulated (net-veined) leaves there is a curious relation in the number of their parts. In the buttercup before us we found a calyx consisting of five sepals, then a corolla of five petals; and in the section of the stem we count five bundles of woody tissue; in the other parts of the flower we shall find also the number five, or a multiple of it. In all such growths the numbers four and five, or their multiples, predominate. Within the corolla are smaller organs, which, though more difficult to distinguish, are more important agents in the production of fruit or seed. These will require the use of a lens to be minutely examined, but can be distinguished in their general outlines by the naked eye. Indeed, at first sight, the distinction between the stamens, which are outermost, and of a deeper yellow-and the pistils, which are the innermost, and have a greenish appearance-will be obvious. In the common wallflower, the cherry blossom, and poppy, the difference of appearance between the stamens and the

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Fig. 2.

II

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