and hence their use has often proved fatal. The rapidity of their growth is proverbial, and in many is astonishly rapid, though some species of the Boletus genus are slow in coming to perfection, and continue for years before they perish; many have an offensive smell, but some are as fragrant as newly mown hay. Some live at the bottom of mines and other places excluded from the light, and the truffle only grows under ground, where it is discovered by the aid of dogs and pigs, which have been taught to trace it by the smell.

When Linnæus published his immortal system the Palms were little known, and as he could not refer them to their respective classes, he added them as an appendix. Most of them have now taken their regular places in the System, and therefore the necessity for attaching them to it in an appendix is no longer necessary. I shall, notwithstanding, however, attempt to give some idea of the great importance of these noble vegetables, by stating a few particulars respecting the cocoanut-tree (Cocos nucifera). You know that the kernel or white fleshy lining of the shell of the nut is esculent and very rich and palatable, but this forms a small part of the uses of the cocoa-palm. The trunk of the tree is used for beams and rafters of houses, and the fronds make an excellent thatch. These are used also as fans, and are woven into

beautiful mats. The nut-shell forms bowls and cups, and from the kernel, when dried, a very sweet oil is expressed, while the refuse serves for feeding cattle and poultry. The husk of the shell is fibrous, and is manufactured into cables, twine, and cordage of every description, which is more durable than that made from hemp. "In the Nicobar islands, the natives build their vessels, make the sails and cordage, supply them with provisions and necessaries, and provide a cargo of arrack, vinegar, oil, jagree or coarse sugar, cocoa-nuts, coir, cordage, black paint, and several inferior articles for foreign markets, entirely from this tree. Gibbon, the historian, writing of the palmtree, adds, that the Asiatics celebrated, either in verse or prose, the three hundred and sixty uses to which the trunk, the branches, the leaves, the juice, and the fruit, were skilfully applied."

* Forbes's Oriental Memoirs, vol. i. p. 23.

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CONCLUSION.

I HAVE now, reader, introduced you to a slight acquaintance with the Linnæan System of Botany. My aim has not been to give all the information I could, but, to stimulate to exertions on your own part in acquiring a deeper knowledge of the subject. And having now led you a certain way into the garden of Flora, I leave you to explore her flowery paths and verdant mazes, by your own efforts; recommending such guides as Withering, Willdenow, and Smith; by whose aid you may scrutinize with increasing instruction and delight,

each lane, and every alley green,

Dingle, or bushy dell

And every bosky bourn from side to side.

Yet, before parting, let me say a few words on two subjects, which are intimately connected with botanical pursuits; I mean the diversity of the seasons and the variety of the earth's surface. The researches of the botanist usually commence in spring, that period of the year which has in all ages

formed a theme of song and gratitude. The harshness of winter has then fled; the winding-sheet of snow, which had enshrouded all nature, has dissolved before the breath of the west wind; and every bud is prepared to burst the cradle in which it lay safe through the cold and storms of the preceding months. The snowdrop, that raised her apparently delicate form in defiance of the wintry blast, now shrinks as if afraid of the embraces of a warmer sun. The golden crocus glows with the lustre of the richest vegetables of the Tropics, and the modest primrose expands her pale cheek, gemming the green moss of bank and brae; the little celandine opens her varnished petals on the brink of the rivulet; the catkins of the hazel, and the birch, wave in the passing breeze; the daffodils,

That come before the swallow dares, and take
The winds of March with beauty,

sparkle upon the lawn; the anemone," child of the wind," adorns the wood and plantation; and several other flowers lend their aid to form the garland of the young spring, and ensure to us a fulfilment of the important promise, that, While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease.

Still, however, the hours vibrate as if doubtful

whether to submit to the dominion of frost, or yield to the blandishments of spring.

As yet the trembling year is unconfirm❜d,
And Winter oft at eve resumes the breeze,
Chills the pale morn, and bids his driving sleets
Deform the day delightless.

In a few weeks, however, this struggle comes to an end, the sun predominates; the vapours disappear, and the blue concave of heaven shines out refulgent and serene; the groves echo to the warble of birds; the lambkins bound upon the lea; the butterfly bursts its cerements and flutters in the gale; the hum of the bee falls on the traveller's ear, and the bosom of earth is spread with herbs profusely wild,

beyond the power

Of botanist to number up their tribes:
Whether he steals along the lonely dale,

In silent search; or through the forest, rank

With what the dull incurious weeds account,

Bursts his blind way, or climbs the mountain rock,
Fired by the nodding verdure of its brow.

Still, as the year revolves, new buds and blooms are produced; for the Great Parent of seasons has ordained, that as one race dies, another shall succeed smiling in youth and beauty. The violet, therefore, and other spring flowers, having bloomed their allotted period, and withered away, are followed by others born of the voluptuous winds of