VERNAL FLOWERS. 195 



causes. But it should be the main object of education to teach youth to reflect, to 

 seek the connection between cause and effect ; and especially, to look through 

 second causes to the Great Being who is the First Cause of all — "himself ?m- 

 causcdy But to return to the question, " What causes Spring ?" or, to state it in 

 another form. By what means does the Almighty produce the changes which this 

 season presents ? To answer tliis, we must refer to astronomical (jeocjraphy, which, 

 pointing out the course of the sun, shows us, that having journeyed to his utmost 

 southern boundary, he returns, crosses the equator, and with rapid strides advances 

 tt>ward the northern hemisphere, beaming more directly upon us, and increasing 

 the temperature of the atmosphere ; — to chemistry we owe our knowledge of the 

 effects of caloric on bodies ; — physiological botany shows us the sap, or vegetable 

 blood, expanding by the influence of caloric, and every exhaling and inhaling organ 

 of the plant commencing operations under the same powerful influence. The 

 earth, released from the icy bonds of frost turns kindly to the mute but hving 

 children of her bosom, and unparts the maternal nourishment, which, rushing 

 tlurough every fiber of the vegetable being invigorates it with health and strength. 



296. From the first appearance of vegetation in the spring, 

 until the commencement of winter, nature presents an ever- 

 varying scene. The phenomenon of the flowering of plants is in 

 many respects similar to that of the putt mg forth of leaves;'^ in 

 both, the same causes either hasten or retard this period. The 

 putting forth of leaves, and the blossoming of flowers, differ, 

 however, in one circumstance : the leaves begin by the upper 

 leaf-buds ; the flowers- generally by the lower flower-buds ; 

 stipes, panicles, and thyrses, begin to blossom gradually from 

 the base to the summit ; cymes and umbels blossom from the 

 outside to the center. 



297. In plants of the north transported to the south, the 

 period of the putting forth of leaves and blossoming is hast- 

 ened ; in those of the south carried to the north, it is retarded. 

 Even in their native soil this period varies in some degree in 

 diflerent seasons. With greater warmth of temperature, we 

 have an earlier appearance of vegetation ; yet in general this 

 variation is so slight, that botanists are able by observation to 

 fix with a sufticient degree of accuracy the time of the flower- 

 ing of plants in j^articular latitudes and climates. The progress 

 of vegetation varying little from latitude 40^ to 43° north, the 

 remarks we make on this subject may ap2~>ly to that region of 

 country extending from the mouth of the Hudson on the south, to 

 the mouth of the Mohawk on the north ; eastward to the Atlan- 

 tic, and westward to the Pacific Ocean. In Ohio and the west- 

 ern part of ]^ew York, the climate on account of the influence 

 of the lakes, and the cold eastern winds from the Atlantic being 

 broken by ranges of mountains, is milder, and vegetation is 

 somewhat earlier, than in New England in the same latitude. 



298. In some cases a plant puts forth leaves and blossoms 



• Foliation. 



29G. Clian^ps in vogetation— Putting forth of leaves and blossoming of flowers agree in some respects, 

 ilDicr ill oth(T.-f. — 297. Plants of liie north transplanted to the south, and the reverse— Remarks on the 

 progress of vegetation. 



