ongy texture, retaining a moisture which preserves other
plants from the withering drought of summer. But even in winter we find
them enlivening, by their verdure, the cold bosom of Nature. We see them
abounding in our pastures and our woods, attaching themselves to the
living, and still more abundantly to the dead, trunks and branches of
trees. In marshy places they also abound, and become the medium of their
conversion into fruitful fields. This is exemplified by the manner in
which peat-mosses are formed: on the surface of these we find them in a
state of great life and vigour; immediately below we discover them, more
or less, in a state of decomposition; and, still deeper, we find their
stems and branches consolidated into a light brown peat. Thus are
extensive tracts formed, ultimately to be brought into a state of
cultivation, and rendered subservient to the wants of man.

1072. WHEN NATURE HAS FOUND A SOIL, her next care is to perfect the
growth of her seeds, and then to disperse them. Whilst the seed remains
confined in its capsule, it cannot answer its purpose; hence, when it is
sufficiently ripe, the pericardium opens, and lets it out. What must
strike every observer with surprise is, how nuts and shells, which we
can hardly crack with our teeth, or even with a hammer, will divide of
themselves, and make way for the little tender sprout which proceeds
from the kernel. There are instances, it is said, such as in the
Touch-me-not (_impatiens_), and the Cuckoo-flower (_cardamine_), in
which the seed-vessels, by an elastic jerk at the moment of their
explosion, cast the seeds to a distance. We are all aware, however, that
many seeds--those of the most composite flowers, as of the thistle and
dandelion--are endowed with, what have not been inappropriately called,
wings. These consist of a beautiful silk-looking down, by which they are
enabled to float in the air, and to be transported, sometimes, to
considerable distances from the parent plant that produced them. The
swelling of this downy tuft within the seed-vessel is the means by which
the seed is enabled to overcome the resistance of its coats, and to
force for itself a passage by which it escapes from its little
prison-house.

[Illustration: BEETON'S Book of HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT
EDITED BY MRS. ISABELLA BEETON]

[Illustration: "THE FREE, FAIR HOMES OF ENGLAND."]

1073. BIRDS, AS WELL AS QUADRUPEDS, are likewise the means of dispersing
the seeds of plants, a