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HOW THE WILD ELOWEKS GEOW. 



HE old prophets took the "flowers of the field" 

 as the most natural emblems of the life and im- 

 mortality of man, and we repeat the words without 

 knowing how true the comparison and how close the 

 analogy between the life of a plant and the life of a 

 man. Under the genial influence of spring weather, 

 the little seed bursts the sheath in which it has been 

 bound and preserved during the long winter months, 

 and sends downwards into the earth a tiny fibre, and 

 upwards into light and air a young stem, to which are 

 attached the first pair of leaves. We see these leaves 

 bespangling the bare loam and dotting the mould on 

 a warm spring day suddenly and without warning; 

 These are the nursing leaves of the young embryo. 

 They are thick and fleshy, and are formed of the bulk 

 cl the seed. These cotyledons, as the botanists call 

 them, perform a duty peculiar to themselves. They 

 are lull of starchy matter, which enables them to feed 

 the young plant until the true aerial leaves appear. 

 These nursing leaves are not only different in texture 



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