where men can read Latin and Greek fluently and correctly, who can neither spell, write, nor read their native tongue accurately.

Among the most interesting parts of plants are flowers. Their endless varieties of form, colour, and odours never fail to excite our admiration of that wonderful display of infinite perfection exhibited in their matchless hues and inimitable structure. He who hath no love of flowers in his soul,

"Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils.”

The vacant moments of life are often beguiled of their pains by these emblems of purity and innocence. They please us by their beauty, they please us by their fragrance-even their evanescence pleases us, and we hail their return with a joy which would be unknown were they the abiding objects of creation. The pleasure derived from flowers is greatly enhanced by a knowledge of their parts, and the important functions they perform in the economy of nature; the instructed eye will perceive beauties which must remain hidden to the untaught vision.

A few general ideas will comprehend the folious system of plants, in which may be found much useful information-such as the general structure of the leaves, and the purposes which they answer in the growth of the vegetable-that by them the sap is elaborated, in the same manner as the blood in the lungs of animals, by the absorption and decomposition of air-the means employed by nature to renew them the following year, by buds in the temperate and cold regions, but by another process in the torrid zone. Vegetable physiology, including the structure and growth of plants, is itself an exceedingly interesting subject, easily taught and comprehended.

One of the noblest occupations which engages the active powers of man is agriculture. As it is the support of all others, so should it rank first in point of dignity. Its claims to superiority over manufactures and commerce demand that the man should not sink below his profession. As a large proportion of those who receive a common education will become tillers of the earth, we know of no way in which they could be more efficiently benefited, than by teaching them a knowledge of the soils and their productions, amidst which they are to employ their labour and spend their days. Of scientific agriculture our country has much to learn before the husbandman can reap the full reward of his exertions. Horticulture is beginning to strew its flowers and fruits along the path of healthful industry, giving fragrance and richness to the beauties of nature. It is ardently hoped that an improvement in education will do something to free agriculture from its abasement, caused by the habits, prejudices, and want of information in too many of its worthy followers.

It is an old saying that nothing was made in vain; yet what a vast number of living creatures there are, as well as of plants, of whose importance or connexion in the economy of nature we are ignorant. How much yet remains to be accomplished before man can become the interpreter of nature, to which his rank entitles him, and which his improvement demands.

The condition of our being makes it incumbent upon us to understand the nature of that system of things of which we form a part, and from which we derive our subsistence. To know ourselves would comprehend a knowledge of almost everything else; but no know. ledge is more interesting or more useful than that which

is derived from the study of nature. Our existence is as intimately connected with the elements around us, as is that of a plant; and it is pleasing to know how we live and move. This inquiry would show us the importance of the study now under consideration. How intimately connected is the continuance of life with air and heat; and these alone, in their various phenomena, open a wide field for observation. From the earth we draw most of the solid materials which enable us to hold dominion over nature. A knowledge of these, and their application, inwoven as they are into every department of civilized society, is no less useful than interesting. We derive our food from the earth; but are unable to subsist upon its crude materials. Established then between us and the fountain of our existence is the great laboratory of animal life, the vegetable kingdom, which opens to us a field of boundless extent and variety. From the vegetable kingdom we derive much of our food and clothing. It furnishes the softer materials for building our houses and machines, and enables us to construct the noble ship, and navigate it to all parts of the earth, thereby extending the boundaries of commerce and civilization, giving to the less the luxuries of the more favoured climes, and making the nations of the earth one great community. Our interest, our welfare, and our happiness, all combine to invite and urge us to study this delightful part of creation.

A stronger claim, arising from sympathy, is urged upon our attention by the countless races of animals which people the air, the earth, and the ocean. In viewing the forms and habits of animals, we are led to bestow on them a certain capacity or intellect, some traits of which are exhibited by them in a wonderful

degree. We imagine them susceptible of pleasure and pain, and endowed with the nobler qualities of our nature, such as love, courage, and gratitude. These, together with the multiplied relations which animals hold in the grand economy of nature among themselves, and to us, always come home with a pleasing interest to all minds in all ages. No study is better calculated to unite the twofold purpose of amusement and instruction than this. What an immense number of human beings are supported on the flesh of animals. Millions are daily sacrificed for food and clothing. Almost every animal is taken for food in some parts of the earth; while feathers, fur, wool, silk, and skins, are converted into articles of dress. Oil, spermaceti, wax, tallow, afford us light; and bone, ivory, pearl, shell, horn, whalebone, hair, bristles, are all made to administer to our wealth and happiness. This fact that animals supply our wants to such an extent ought to excite our interest in their history. The favourite mistress of the Indian hunter is robed in less spoils of animals than the votary of taste and fashion in refined society. The ox and the kid have yielded up their lives to furnish their skins for a lady's shoes. The whale sent its oil from the arctic regions to dress the leather, and the swine lent its lard and bristles, and the bee its wax, to assist in the manufactory. For her dress, silkworms in multitudes have toiled and died. The sheep silently relinquished her fleece to form the outer robe, on whose borders the marten, the otter, the ermine, or the sable, holds a conspicuous place. From the ears are suspended, curiously wrought, the mother-of-pearl brought from the depths of the tropical seas; the turtle has been robbed of its shell, and the cow of her horns, to be

transferred as ornaments to the lady's head; while the rich plume of feathers and the ivory fan show us that the ostrich and the elephant have not escaped this general destruction. The representatives of twenty different animals, from the four quarters of the globe, frequently unite in a lady's wardrobe. In some instances, whole tribes of men subsist almost entirely on a few species of animals. The Esquimaux and the Laplanders turn the reindeer to a better account than Boniface did his ale. They not only eat and drink and sleep upon this useful animal, but convert it into many other purposes in their simple economy.

Some of the domestic quadrupeds are the faithful companions of man in every part of the globe, rewarding his care and protection by their clothing, their milk, and their flesh. It is interesting to learn the changes which all domestic creatures undergo by cultivation; and, in an agricultural point of view, this knowledge is highly useful. Some scientific knowledge of animals, their form, structure, disposition, and modes of living, should be regarded as a valuable portion of every education. The number of objects in Natural History seem to point it out as the appropriate field for the development of the young intellect. It suits well the restless disposition of childhood, when no one object pleases for a long time; and, unlike most other subjects, this retains its interest in after life: he who loves a flower in youth will love it when he is old. The taste for nature must be planted early in life, to enable its possessor to enjoy a ripened harvest.

Every thing which the Deity has created is worthy of our attention.

"Nature has nothing made so base, but can

Read some instruction to the wisest man."