increase in bulk could take place, except an expansion in all directions, as it is with the plants of the lowest class, called fungi. How valuable then are these minute scales! These little projections are called leaf-buds. Usually they grow singly; but in some plants, as in the peachtree, they appear in greater numbers. It is well worth while to watch their progress from time to time; and insensible must be the mind that is not filled with wonder and admiration, as these little products of the Divine hand are contemplated. Beneath their scales these leaf-buds form a number of rudimentary leaves, ready to unfold and rapidly to increase in size, as soon as the branch is called into action. Most curiously are these minute leaves packed up within the bud, so as to occupy the smallest possible space. And equally wonderful is it that the particular mode of folding, peculiar to a given species, may be observed in every bud of every individual tree. In the very smallest parts there is no uncertainty or confusion, nothing is left unsettled, but every plant is so ordered by the wisdom of God, that the manner in which these leaves are folded up has been adopted for purposes arrangement among men of science. of Leaf-buds generally lengthen out into branches, but ADVANCE OF VEGETATION. sometimes if any thing tends to interrupt or stunt their growth, they exchange their power of lengthening for that of hardening and sharpening at the point. Thus they become spines or thorns. This may be seen in the common hawthorn, in which the branches will be found in all their different stages of alteration into spines. As the season advances, the buds burst open. Buds produce not only leaves, but flowers. Hence a distinction is made between leaf-buds and flowerbuds. Leaf-buds are always larger and more slender than those which yield flowers. This may be seen by observing the little roundish bud on the apple tree, containing the beautiful pink blossom, and comparing it with the bud which is to yield a shoot bearing leaves. Some buds, like those on the lilac tree, yield both flowers and leaves. And now, look around! Vegetation is advancing. The common elder and gooseberry are putting forth their leaves. Every spray teems with the buds of the purplish brown tint which overspreads the elm on the eve of unfolding its foliage. Only let the eye dwell on even a small space on the first verdant ditch-bank in spring, and marvellous indeed will the diversity of the leaves appear. Nor let it be supposed that leaves are formed for ornament alone. They are to plants as lungs are to animals. Tear them off, and death comes, as it does when the lungs are destroyed. On the contrary, if the air be warm, and the sun shines on the leaves, an important change passes on the sap, which returns to nourish the branches, stem, and root, and other parts of the plant; in the same way as the blood passes from the lungs to the heart, to be sent to all parts of the body. In the Spring, the herbage under trees is generally more vivid and luxuriant than that which is beyond the spread of the branches. In some instances this may be owing to cattle having harboured there, and the ground consequently becoming more manured. But the herbage will be found rich and verdant in other circumstances; a very intelligent writer, therefore, traces it chiefly to the effects of the driving fogs and mists. These cause a frequent drip beneath the trees, and thus the soil is constantly refreshed. At the same time, the decomposition of the foliage is promoted, and this being drawn into the earth by worms, contributes to the verdure by the nutriment yielded. Other objects of the vegetable world, such as the vernal crocus, claim our notice. The snow-drop too January till April, is a native plant, flowering from according to the soil and situation. In a wild state it |