Ellen. It is with pleasure I hail the return of this evening, when we are to resume our conversation upon the subject of botany, as I have felt an increasing interest in the study of flowers, and have some questions to ask, to remove some difficulties which I am unable to solve.

Mamma. You must not be dismayed, my dear, at difficulties; they will vanish by energy and perseverance. Mention them, and we will endeavor to remove them.

Ellen. I have been examining several flowers, but am unable to find either their class or order in my botanical book, although they have the number of stamens and pistils agreeing with the class and order, according to the Linnæan arrangement.

Papa. Your error here arises from not observing that the stamens in these flowers are of different lengths, which places them in another class. Thus, that, beautiful annual, the fox-glove, although it has but four stamens, does not belong to the fourth class, but to the thirteenth, called Didynamia, a word which signifies having the power of two, because two of the stamens are longer than the other two. You will find other flowers, such as the wild mustard, which has six stamens, and four of them, you will observe, are longer than the remaining two. These are placed in the fourteenth class, called tetradynamia; that is, having the power of four.

Ellen. I see now my mistake, and hope to be more attentive hereafter, but I had some difficulty in arranging my sweet peas and lupines in their proper departments.

Mamma. These flowers are called papilionaceous, a word signifying likeness to a butterfly, because you will observe the corolla of these blossoms bear some similitude to the wings of that insect.

The criterion that designates them is not the number of stamens, but their being all united at the bottom. These flowers consist of two classes, Monadelphia and Diadelphia, signifying one and two brotherhoods; so named from the union of the filaments in a sort of paternal compact.

Ellen. I am exceedingly glad of this explanation, which has removed some of my difficulties, but I have found some flowers with only stamens in them; others which I have examined have pistils, but no stamens.

Papa. There are two classes of these flowers, called Monacia and Diæcia, words which signify one and two houses, because the flowers of these two classes bear their stamens in one blossom and their pistils in another; and some plants, as the hop, has the flowers bearing the stamens upon one vine and the pistils are produced upon another; one plant never producing both. If you examine the hazlenut and the cucumber, these produce male and female blossoms upon the same vine or stem, and are called monæcia, meaning one house, because both flowers of fructification are upon the same plant.

John. Is the Linnæan system the one generally adopted in the classification of flowers?

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Papa. With some little variation. Linnæus has twenty-four classes; the modern botanists have but twenty-one-merging three, which the Swedish botanist made distinct classes, among the others. These twenty-one classes are now divided as follows:-The first ten are known by the number of stamens; the eleventh by the number of stamens over ten upon the calix; the twelfth by numerous stamens not on the calix; the thirteenth and fourteenth by the number and relative length of the stamens; the fifteenth and sixteenth, by their filaments being united. The seventeenth, by their anthers being united-the flowers belonging to this class are compound; the flowers of the eighteenth class have their stamens upon the pistil distinct from the corolla; the nineteenth and twentieth have their stamens and pistils on separate flowers, and sometimes on different trees; the twenty-first and last class, includes all plants whose flowers are invisible, such as the mushroom, ferns and mosses.

Ellen. Is there any other plan, papa, superior to that of Linnæus?

Papa. The only objection to this method of classifying flowers, is, that it brings into the same class plants which are naturally very dissimilar to each other-thus, in the sixth class, and first order, we have the tulip and the sweet-flag together; and in the second order, of the fifth class, we have the beet and the elm classed together; but in the natural method this apparent want of resemblance is avoided.

Sarah. Is not the natural method of classifying flowers taken, generally, from the form of the corolla, and are not cruciform flowers so called from the corolla having the form of a cross? as we find the blossom of the cabbage, the mustard, and the radish.

Papa. This certainly seems to be a more natural arrangement, and some think it will eventually come into general use, but at present botanists disagree in relation to the two systems. Some prefer one, and some the other.

John. Are there not numerous additions made to the number of known flowers, as well as improvements in their culture, by which they hardly resemble their peers, which still grow wild and neglected?

Papa. As to additions in this science, every traveler increases its boundaries. Sixty thousand plants and upward have been classified and examined; and such is the improvement made by culture and budding, that no science can boast of greater usefulness to man than botany.

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Mamma. This is a fact that demands our admiration of the invention of men and the goodness of God. The wild crab-apple, that grows naturally, is said to be the original parent stock of that noble and valuable fruit, which every farmer knows how to prize. Our pears, peaches, and plums, have been brought to their present state of perfection by cultivation; and the cabbage and turnip, in their original wild growth, were literally of no value to man till rendered so by art and perseverance.

Papa. If we turn from fruit-trees and vegetables to flowers, the improvements are quite as remarkable. The tulip, which displays such a rich variety of colors, in its wild state is always of a unique

yellow hue. The beautiful, fragrant hyacinth, I have often gathered in its wild state, when it is always single, and of a blue color-hence called the jacinth, or hyacinth; and all the beautiful and splendid roses, which so, richly adorn our gardens and door-yards, are brought to this state by cultivation and art-their original parent being the little single wild-flower of the same species.

Sarah. Hitherto we have named only the arrangement of flowers into classes—please to give some information about the next division, papa.

Papa. The next division, according to the Linnæan system, is marked by the number and position of its pistils, and arranges the whole vegetable kingdom into its second department, called orders. They are twenty-one in number, similar to that of the classes. These two prime divisions are subdivided into genera and species. To illustrate this method of arrangement, classes may be compared to states; orders, to towns; genera, to families; and species, to individuals.

Ellen. I find but little difficulty in ascertaining the class and order of a flower, but I wish to have some further information about the method by which I may ascertain the genera and species.

Papa. The genus comprehends one or more species, having some resemblance, in situation, proportion, and connection of the organs which constitute the flower. The generic names are often derived from particular persons or things-as the Iris, from iris, the rainbow. Species, include such individuals as agree in certain circumstances of the root, stem, leaves, and mode of flowering. Varieties are often increased by strewing the pollen of one species upon the stigma of another. Color, taste, and size are never considered as marks of specific difference.

Two THINGS TO AVOID.-Philip Henry said, "There are two things we should beware of: that we never be ashamed of the Gospel, and that we never be a shame to it."

Original.

REVERENCE FOR OLD AGE.

MY DEAR MRS, SEWELL-I have thought the accompanying beautiful stanzas, addressed to my father, by a young lady, not inappropriate to the pages of your Journal, where reverence for age, as well as parental and filial duty, should be inculcated.

Providence, R. I.

Yours truly,

S. E. K.

"The hoary head is a crown of glory if it be found in the way of righteousness."

THOU bearest a glory on thy brow,

Dear saint of the whitening hair,

As though thou'dst borrowed the sheen, e'en now,

Of the crown thou soon shalt wear;

Or the gentle hand of the Lord hath laid

A silver blessing there.

I look on thy mild and placid face,
So bright with its human love,
On the eyes betraying the inner grace-
The peace of the Holy Dove;

And I almost fancy what look they'll wear
With the golden crown above.

God shelter that head, revered and loved,
From the arrows of grief and pain;
God comfort the heart that hath been proved,
That it never be bruised again—
Till the chariot come to bear thee up,
With the glorified to reign.

THE setting of a great hope is like the setting of the sun. The brightness of our life is gone. Shadows of evening fall around us, and the world seems but a dim reflection-itself a broader shadow. We look forward into the coming, lonely night. The soul withdraws into itself. The stars arise and the night is holy.-Hyperion.