^be Sleep ot tbe iplants 191 



bends earthward. The leaf suddenly appears faded. 

 Watch this same sensitive plant at sunset ; you will 

 see it making the same motions, drooping and fold- 

 ing, preparing thus for night, and so continuing 

 until morning. 



Walk out on a spring evening. Where are the 

 dandelions which, in the morning, made the grass 

 like a "Field of the Cloth of Gold?" Search for 

 them. They are hard to find on the green turf. 

 The sepals of the wrapper have folded over the 

 closed golden discs. What ! Every one faded so 

 soon ? Xo ; only asleep, to open in renewed beauty 

 when the day breaks and the shadows flee away. 



A field of clover pi*esents a similar spectacle; the 

 leaflets hano- back as-ainst the stalk as if dried bv a 

 hot gale. The sorrel and bean also drop back their 

 leaves and assume the most wretchedly wilted ap- 

 pearance. Never mind, the morning sun will call 

 them back to vigorous life. Folding together, falling 

 •backward, lifting into a cluster, the leaves have a 

 variet}'- of ways of getting ready for sleep, just as 

 some people sleep with their arms over or under 

 their heads, laid by their sides, or folded over their 

 chests. 



We are all accustomed to seeing the morning- 

 glories close between nine and ten in the morning, 

 while the four-o'clock does not wake from sleep 



