238 VEGETATION. [Lesson 



berries, which being eaten by birds, the seeds are 

 discharged again uninjured, and grow wherever 

 they happen to fall. In these, and in many other 

 ways, is the distribution of various kinds of Vege- 

 tables provided for. The shedding of the seed . 

 being finished, the parent Vegetable, if of the 

 herbaceous kind, either totally perishes or withers 

 down to the root; if a shrul, or tree, it casts all 

 those tender leaves that in the Spring and Summer 

 it had put forth. Thus it continues until the fol- 

 lowing Spring, when 



These naked shoots, 



Barren as lances, among which the wind 



Makes wintry music, sighing as it goes, 



Shall put their graceful foliage on again, 



And more aspiring, a*nd with ampler spread, 



Shall boast new charms, and more than they have lost. 



LESSON 



