WHEAT.

heaths, the stem, instead of rising upright, is procumbent, while the roots, instead of being fibrous and spreading freely, grow knotty and jointed, like those of couch-grass. If, however, this dwarfed, knottyrooted grass be transplanted from the wall-top or the heath, into the rich, deep soil of a garden, the stem will become erect and tall, and in the following season the spike will be from six to eight times longer.

In every species of grass and corn there is a simple unbranched stem, straight, hollow, and jointed, or knotted at certain intervals. At each of the joints a single leaf surrounds or sheathes the stem to some distance, and then spreads out, into a long, narrow surface of equal breadth, all the way till it approaches the end, when it invariably narrows off to a point.

Wheat is the most highly valued of all the corn plants. In some cases poverty forbids its culture, and restricts subsistence to the cheapest means by which it can be sustained. Where, on the contrary, choice can be exercised, bread made from wheat is freely eaten. One sort is called spring or summer wheat. It is not so hardy as the winter kind; the stem being thin and delicate, the ear more slender and less erect, and the whole plant having a weaker appearance. This grain is found in the more southerly and the

midland districts of our land. Its principal advantage is in the security it affords against the serious consequences of a cold and rainy spring.

In every country there will be some spots more favourable than others, and some persons more successful in their agricultural toils. Pliny tells us that a Roman named Cresinus produced such large crops from a very small spot of ground, that he became an object of envy to the people, who cited him before the Curule Edile, and a public assembly, to answer a charge of sorcery. But what was his reply to the accusation? He produced his efficient implements of husbandry, his well-fed oxen, and a healthy young woman, his daughter, and exclaimed, "These, Romans, are my instruments of witchcraft, but my toils and cares I cannot show you." How much may be still accomplished by similar means! "The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat." Prov. xiii. 4.

The thistle by the way-side is a troublesome weed, yet, in cultivated ground, it is not without interest to the careful observer of nature. The flowers differ in form from those of the daisy, but like it they are aggregate, or compound. The ass browses on the thistle, in preference, it would seem, to any other herbage, which

THISTLES.

might be supposed to be more palatable. And why is this? It may be, that from the structure of the tongue of that animal, it requires the stimulus of the prickles of the thistle, in the same way as peacocks are fond of cayenne, and we of pepper and horse-radish. In this manner goats will eat the shoots of gooseberry bushes, and deer the prickly furze, and still more prickly holly.

The thistle is fed upon by a great number of insects, particularly by one of our largest and most beautiful butterflies-the painted lady. These plants, therefore, are not useless; they form a link in the great chain of creation. As to the particular species placed in the royal arms of Scotland, there has been much discussion. One botanist states, that the common cotton thistle is cultivated by the Scotch as their true badge, while another gives the preference to the spear-plume thistle, as being most common by the way-sides, while the other is less frequent; and a third contends, that the usual heraldic figure seems to be most like the musk thistle, a plant frequent on limestone soils. The truth seems to be, that we may as well try to find the unicorn in the royal arms, as the natural species of this thistle. It is a heraldic, not a botanical species. It would be, most probably, no less vain to inquire which

is the true botanical species of the English rose, the Irish shamrock, or the French fleur-de-lis.

Let not vegetables of a still humbler order be overlooked. In these peat originates, a substance of great value in many parts of our own and other countries, as a fuel. The alternations of peat with sand and gravel occur on sea-shores, at the estuaries of rivers, or their termination in lakes, or in other situations where large quantities of these materials are carried down by rivers, so as for a time to cover the plain, and destroy the process of vegetation.

The term "mountain peat" is not confined to those deposits which are found on the sides of mountains, but includes all produced in situations where the drainage is considerable. In the highlands and islands of Scotland, though seldom more than one or two feet in thickness, and generally not exceeding a few inches, it covers an amazing extent of country. Forest peat is supposed to have had its origin in forests, in fact, from the decayed trunks, branches and roots of timber Marsh peat is very abundant. When a bog is drained this variety is produced; but it more generally appears as a bed of vegetable roots, chiefly those of the rushes and grasses, retaining much of the firmness which they have when living. Lake peat is produced

trees.