84 FLOWERS. 
ripen so fast, and the flowers 
are fair and fresh for many 
days, and even weeks, instead 
of yielding to the first bright- 
ness of the season. For the 
moment the great object for 
which the flower is produced is 
accomplished, which is the per- 
fection of the seed, it imme- 
diately commences to wither, 
the petals become flaccid, the 
iayalaves: Vaswacd: colors lose their brightness and 
beauty, and they soon either 
fold themselves within the calyx, or fall unheeded to 
the ground. Upon the fading of the corolla, the seed 
commences to grow, and the ovary which contains it 
gradually increases until the seed becomes ripe, when 
it bursts from its confinement, and falls to take root 
in the earth, and become itself a plant like that which 
bore it. 
There are many curious and interesting forms no- 
ticed in the fruits of different plants; some of them 
have such valuable uses assigned them by man, that 
without them life would be robbed of many of its 
luxuries and comforts. The Apples which load our 
orchard trees, the Peaches and Pears and Plums in 
almost endless variety, the Grapes and other berries 
which hang in clusters from our vines, the nuts which 
lie scattered beneath our forest trees, and above all the 
grain upon which we depend mainly for our suste- 
