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MIGRATION OF THE SWIFT.

double rose campion, catchfly, double scarlet lychnis, and double rocket, gentianella, and polyanthuses. Their choicest auriculas they shifted into fresh pots, and sowed fresh seed in pots, sprinkling the seed closely, and covering it about an inch deep. They also transplanted bulbous roots, such as lilies, &c., and sowed some of the seed of the same. Young seedlings of wall-flowers, stocks, sweet-williams, and columbines, they transplanted out into the borders. This work they contrived when the ground was moist after rain.

In the nursery-ground they trimmed the evergreens, clearing the ground of weeds, and transplanting young seedlings. And those which had made strong shoots from their stems near to the ground they cut away close off. Upon those trees which Mr. Stock had budded about three weeks or a month before, he loosened the bass that bound them, to prevent the bud from being too closely pressed, as the branches had swelled.

One day, while they were at work, Adam directed the attention of his father to one of those long-winged species of the swallow, which go by the name of swift. It had been washing itself in the shallow part of a pond by the road-side, and was now grovelling in the dust. The creature had probably been performing this operation in order to clear itself from the vermin with which its body had been tormented. Only observe, Adam," said Mr. Stock, "what difficulty it has to rise into the air, on account of the uncommon length of its wings. The swift is the last of the swallow tribe that visits this country, and it is the first to take leave of us. This is now the eleventh of the month. In about a week from this time, if you take notice, I make no doubt you will not see one in our neighborhood; they will all have taken their departure for foreign climates.

No one, however, has been able to find out where they go to. The great length of their wings, and the extraordinary speed of their flight, are favorable to their performing long journeys. You will suddenly miss them altogether; and instead of wheeling round and round the old ivy-crowned church steeple, screaming and darting to and fro like lightning, they will, perhaps, in the course of a fortnight or three weeks, be continuing the same occupation round the summit of a mosque or temple in Algiers or Ceuta, in Africa. They are happy creatures; wonderfully provided for their necessities, and enjoying a whole year of summer weather.

"If you make proper observation, you will find that new insects have come into existence this month, and are sporting away their sunny lives from flower to flower. In particular, you will see the elegant little blue butterfly fluttering about with remarkable activity; and another gay little beau, called by the zoologists (which name means, persons learned in the nature and qualities of animals) the 'papilio phleas.' Papilio is the Latin name for butterfly: what phleas means, I am unable to say, unless it come from a Greek word of similar sound, and which signifies clay or mud; importing, perhaps, that this insect, like many others, derives its birth from wet and marshy districts. I have, upon many occasions, noticed that a violent enmity exists between these two little beauties. Frequenting the same tuft of clover, or blossom of the harebell, whenever they approach, they dart at the same moment at each other with courageous rapidity; they buffet and contend, till one is driven from the field, or to a considerable distance from his station, perhaps many hundred yards; when the conqueror returns to his post in triumph; and this strife is maintained as

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MICROSCOPIC ANIMALS.

long as the brilliancy of the sun animates their courage.'

One evening, while the family were taking their usual walk, and admiring the beautiful shapes and colors of the clouds round the setting sun, and the dark tint of the trees as seen against the flaming gold of the sky, the children noticed the swarms of gnats above their heads, and which kept pace with them as they walked. "And what a noise they make," said Mary; "it is like the boys of the village at play, a good way off." "Yes," said her mother, "and those small, gray, and unseemly looking creatures, when examined closely with a microscope, make as fine a show, with lofty tufts of feathers, as any lady you ever saw going to a grand ball. The great and wise Creator of all things has shown the same minute attention in the formation and adorning of the smallest as of the largest of his creatures: and why not? The gnat and the ostrich, the ant and the elephant, are equally objects of his care; and large and small are only so by comparison, according to the formation of our eyes. If we make use of very powerful magnifying glasses, an ant may be made to appear the size of a dog or a sheep; and by the same instrument we discern creatures that the human eye could never have perceived without such assistance. The most astonishing circumstance, however, to reflect upon in the creation of these minute beings, is, that their internal formation is in all material points the same as that of the most gigantic creatures. They have a heart and lungs; and as they suffer from pain, there is no doubt that they are furnished with nerves. Now, when you hear, Adam, that in so large a creature as a man, his nerves are distributed over every portion of his frame, and that num

TRANSPLANTING OF TREES.

125

bers of these nerves are more delicate than the finest hair on his head, what are we to think of the same organs of feeling being proportioned to the body of an animal so small as not to be visible without the help of a magnifyingglass! This thought alone is sufficient to make the deepest philosopher and the most ingenious mechanic feel the insignificance of all his discoveries, and skill in handicraft. The most perfect instrument that ever was invented by man, is a clumsy piece of work compared with that little solitary piece of mechanism that composes only a small part of the animal frame;-I mean the EYE.'

In the course of the present month Adam and his father planted out many of the small seedling forest and other trees, where they were found too much crowded together. These they set in uniform rows in their nursery bed, both for future use, for their own shrubbery, and for sale. Towards the end of the month, too, they prepared a plot of ground for transplanting other trees in autumn, which is the fitter season. This they did by first clearing off all the large weeds and laying them in a heap; afterwards they dug the earth all over, and deep, trenching it up in high ridges, that it might derive all the benefit possible from the rains, the dew, and the sun.

In addition to the labors of the month already mentioned as performed by our two industrious and happy gardeners, they sowed the seeds of various bulbous plants, such as tulips, hyacinths, irises, and crown-imperials; also, the seed of anemone, ranunculus, mignonette, and auricula, in pots and boxes. They likewise planted out young sweet-williams, wall-flowers, scabious, stocks, and many other perennials, for autumnal flowering.

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ANCIENT MYTHOLOGY.

One afternoon, after they had finished as much work as Mr. Stock thought sufficient for the day, he summoned the family, and proposed that, as they had last month assisted in the hay-harvest, they should now go and witness the more important gathering in of the wheat.

"This used to be," said he, "a far more mirthful season with the ancient Greeks and Romans, and even with our own ancestors in this island, than it is in the present day. With them it was a season of great joy, and feasting, and dancing; not forgetting, at the same time, to offer the tribute of gratitude and thanksgiving for the bounteous wealth with which they were stored against the approaching season of wintry desolation. The Greeks and Romans, as you have heard and read, worshipped many gods, whom they represented under various forms and appearances, according to the object of their wants, praise, or prayer. For instance, Jupiter or Jove they considered the great and presiding father of the universe, the controller of all events; and, in order to impress the unlettered multitude with the most reverential sentiments of his majesty, bounty, and beneficent nature, as that of a parent and provider for his children, they represented him under the form of a mild, grave, thoughtful, and very handsome human being. He was supposed always to preside in heaven. Then all the other grand objects in nature they supposed to be controlled by distinct and separate deities, inferior in power, yet powerful in their several spheres. Thus, all the four elements had their several presiding deities, the fire, air, earth, and water. Others, again, were supposed to control the actions of men; and the regions of the dead, where reward or punishment was adjudged for a life passed in good or evil practices, had their separate divinities. All these, according to their