OCTOBER. 



361 



The great business of Nature, with respect 

 to the vegetable creation, at this season, is dis- 

 semination. Plants, having gone through the 

 successive stages of springing, flowering, and 

 seeding, have, at length, brought to maturity 

 the rudiments of a future progeny, which are 

 now to be committed to the fostering bosom of 

 the earth. Seeds are scattered by the hand of 

 Nature in various manners. The winds which 

 at this time arise, disperse far and wide many 

 seeds, which are curiously furnished with fea- 

 thers, or wings, for this purpose. Hence, plants 

 with such seeds, are, of all others, the most 

 universally to be met with, as dandelions, rag- 

 wort, thistles, etc. Other seeds, by means of 

 hooks, lay hold of passing animals, and are 

 thus carried to distant places ; as the bur. 

 Many are contained in berries, which are car- 

 ried about by birds. The seeds of some trees, 

 as the maple, sycamore, etc. exactly resemble 

 the wings of dragon-flies, being placed in pairs. 

 Thus carefully has Nature provided for the 

 distribution and propagation of plants. 



Trees generally lose their leaves in the fol- 

 lowing succession : walnut, mulberry, horse- 

 chesnut, sycamore, lime, ash; then, after an 



