240 AUGUST. 



and elm, put forth shoots and new leaves, enlivening 

 the sombre woods. The hedges assume a lighter 

 green ; and if their leaves have been devoured in 

 the spring by caterpillars, as is sometimes the case, 

 they are now completely reclothed in the most deli- 

 cate foliage. The ground already experiences the 

 effect of the shortening days. The drought occa- 

 sioned by the intense heat and long days of July 

 has abated ; cool nights, dews, and occasional 

 showers restore the mown fields and sunburnt pas- 

 tures to a degree of verdure, and reanimate the 

 remaining flowers. The small blue campanula, 

 wild scabious, blue chicory, the large white con- 

 volvulus, hawkweeds, and the Calluna vuJgaris, or 

 common heath, still adorn wastes, fields, and way- 

 sides. The pink-and-white convolvulus has been 

 one of the chief ornaments of summer, flowering 

 in the dryest spots, where all around is brown from 

 extreme drought, with cheerful beauty. A few 

 clusters of honeysuckles may yet be seen, here and 

 there, on the hedges. And the antirrhinum linaria, 

 or common toad-flax, is in full flower in the thickets. 

 It may not be out of place here to notice that 

 singular property of seeds by which they are 

 preserved in the ground for ages. It appears from 

 certain circumstances, that when they are buried 

 below that particular depth at which they feel the 

 influence of the atmosphere and consequently vege- 

 tate, they are in a state of preservation which may 

 and does often continue for centuries perhaps, for 

 aught we know to the contrary, to the end of the 



