those which still show flower, or are coming to fruit, should occasionally be very well watered. March is the best month for planting new beds.

MISCELLANEOUS.

379. Sow a few annuals for succession; and plant cuttings of sweet-williams, pinks, rockets; pipings of pinks and carnations. Divide the roots of auriculas, polyanthuses, and the primulas.

Transplant late sown annuals; also hollyhocks, lychnises, sweetwilliams, wall-flowers, pinks, peonies, and many other herbaceous plants; introduce the bee ophrys, and pyramidal orchis.

Clip box-edgings; mow grass lawns, very early in the morning, if the weather be dry; at any hour, if showery.

Gather, and preserve seeds as they ripen; cut flowers with a knife or scissors, so as not to disfigure the plants; and attend to every operation consistent with neatness or good order.

380. Selection of a few of the many shrubs and plants that flower in the month of July.

Deciduous Shrubs.- Roses of many kinds; Rosa; Azaleas, Fuchsia, five or six sorts; St. John's-wort, Hypericum, two or three

sorts.

Evergreen Shrubs.-Yellow rock-rose, or cistus, Cistus helianthemum; horse-shoe geranium, Pelargonium zonale, &c.; Heath, Erica; broad-leaved kalmia, Kalmia latifolia rubra et alba; rosebay, Rhododendron, two or three species; trailing gaultheria, G. procumbens.

Herbaceous Plants.-Musk-Mallow, Malva Moschata; sweetpea, Lathyrus odorata; hollyhocks, Alcea; love-lies-bleeding, and prince's feather, Amaranthus caudatus et hypochondriacus; musk scabious, Scabiosa atro purpurea; cardinal flower, Lobelia cardinalis, et fulgens. Dahlia, some of the earliest.

Bulbous-rooted.-White martagon and tiger lily, Lilium candidam, chalcedonium et tigrinum; pyramidal orchys, Orchis pyramidalis; bee ophrys, Ophrys apifera.

THE NATURALISTS' CALENDAR.

JULY.

THIS is generally the hottest month of the year; and one of the two or three months that are altogether free from frost; the thermometer has in three or four instances, within the last twelve years, risen to 85°, 87o, and once even to 90°; and though it is a remark that such hot weather usually "breaks up with a thunder storm," thunder was then less frequent than in wet and windy seasons, when atmospheric decompositions, develope of necessity, masses of electricity, which often induce the phenomena of thunder and lightning. July is frequently a showery month: the rain, towards the middle of it, assumes somewhat of a periodical character; and hence, doubtless, the continuation of the popular superstition, which ascribes to St. Swithin the long continued rains that in some years do so much injury to the crops. "If it rains on St. Swithin's day, there will be rain the next forty days." The tradition, some say, took its origin from the following circumstance: "Swithin, or Swithum, Bishop of Winchester, who died in 868, desired that he might be buried in the open church-yard, and not in the chancel of the minster, as was usual with other bishops, and his request was complied with; but the monks, on his being canonized, considering it disgraceful for the saint to lie in a public cemetery, resolved to remove his body into the choir, which was to have been done with solemn procession on the 15th of July; it rained however so violently for forty days together at this season, that the design was abandoned."-(FORSTER'S Perennial Cal., from HOWARD's Climate of London.)

The 15th of July now, does not coincide with the 15th of the olden time, before the change of the style: how is it that the saint's influence has not been somewhat interfered with by that alteration? We can only reply, that Saints are different from other men; and that their prerogatives are not to be shuffled off by Acts of Parliament !

The average height of the barometer is about 29 inches 86 cts. thermometer, about 64 degrees.

Ditto

In the first week.-The cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) is at times heard, but rarely beyond the second or third day; black-cap and white-throat (Motacilla atricapilla, M. or Sylvia cinerea) sing.

Second week. The quail (Perdix coturnus, vel Tetrao ferrugineus) calls, or utters its three singular notes during day, and through great part of the night.

Third and Fourth week.-The great horse-fly (Tabanus borinus) appears; young partridges (Perdix cinerea) fly; domestic fowls begin to moult.

AUGUST.

SECTION I.

SCIENCE OF GARDENING.

VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY.

PART III.

PHENOMENA OF VEGETABLE LIFE.

381. Nature of vegetable life.-Before we attempt to investigate the phenomena of the vegetable developements, it will be proper to make some inquiry into the nature of vegetable life itself; and the question immediately suggests itself,-whether that life be essentially such as is usually understood by the term vegetative—that is, entirely devoid of volition, sensation, and spontaneous motion; or whether plants, to a greater or less extent, be not endowed with the qualities, in common with other living organized beings. The inquiry is one of great interest, and therefore, it will be requisite to have recourse to some of our most accredited authorities, from whose works I shall have occasion to quote largely, because it is essential that nothing be omitted, that can tend to throw light upon a subject involving much intricacy, and which, in itself, is so sublime, as to have induced the late Sir J. E. Smith to close the first chapter of his Introduction in the following impressive manner :"I humbly conceive that if the human understanding can, in any case, flatter itself with obtaining in the natural world, a glimpse of the immediate agency of the Deity, it is in the contemplation of this vital principle, which seems independent of material organization, and an impulse of his own divine energy."

Keith observes, on the authority of Humboldt, that, "the best and most satisfactory evidence of the presence and agency of a vital principle, as inherent in any subject, is perhaps that of its rendering the subject, in which it inheres, capable of counteracting the laws of chemical affinity. The rule is applicable to the case of vegetables,

as is proved by the introsusception, digestion and assimilation of the food necessary to their developement; all indicating the agency of a principle capable of counteracting the laws of chemical affinity."

Dr. Smith, when comparing vegetable and animal organization, remarks that " Vegetables are organized beings, supported by air and food, endowed with life, and subject to death, as well as animals. They have, in some instances, spontaneous, though we know not that they have voluntary motion. They are sensible to the action of nourishment, air and light, and either thrive or languish, according to the wholesome or hurtful application of these stimulants. This is evident to all who have ever seen a plant growing in a climate, soil, or situation, not suitable to it." "The spontaneous movements of plants are almost as readily to be observed, as their living principle." (See Light, no. 180.) "As they possess life, irritability, and motion, spontaneously directing their organs to what is natural and beneficial to them, and flourishing according to their success in satisfying their wants, may not the exercise of their vital functions be attended with some degree of sensation, however low, and some consequent share of happiness? Such a supposition accords with all the best ideas we can form of the Divine Creator; nor could the consequent uneasiness which plants must suffer, no doubt in a very low degree likewise, from the depredations of animals, bear any comparison with their enjoyment on the whole. However this may be, the want of sensation is most certainly not to be proved with regard to vegetables, and therefore of no use as a practical means of distinguishing them, in doubtful cases, from animals." (p. 3, 4.) “The most satisfactory remark I have for a long time met with, is that of M. Mirbel, in his Traité d'Anatomie et de Physiologie Végétales. He observes, Vol. i. p. 19, that plants alone have a power of deriving nourishment, though not indeed exclusively, from inorganic matter, mere earths, salts, or airs, substances certainly incapable of serving as food for any animals, the latter only feeding on what is or has been, organized matter, either of a vegetable or animal nature. So that it should seem to be the office of vegetable life alone, to transform dead matter into organized living beings.' This idea appears to me so just, that I have in vain sought for any exception to it." (p. 5.)

"If it be asked, what is this vital principle, so essential to animals and vegetables, but of which fossils are destitute, we must own our complete ignorance. We know it, as we know its Omnipotent Author, by its effects.

"Perhaps in the fossil kingdom, heat may be equivalent to a vital