v>{" THE WONDERS OF VEGETATION. 



a rose half opened in the rays of the morning sun ; 

 glittering with dew-drops ; and swaying gently upon 

 its slender branch as it is rocked to and fro by the 

 morning breeze ! 



Autumn in its turn brings its balsams and sun- 

 flowers, its tube-roses and chrysanthemums, its rich 

 carnations and brilliant colchicums, and a hundred 

 other varieties. Thus the glorious display continues 

 without interruption. Then comes sad winter with 

 its frosts, covering nature with a robe of snow, and 

 hiding it for a time from our sight ; but while making 

 us long for the returning verdure of spring, it is busy 

 with those processes of regeneration under ground 

 without which there could be no floral display in 

 summer. 



Let us pause here, and with Louis Cousin, reflect 

 upon the wisdom and goodness shown by this varied 

 succession of flowers. 



How beautiful their combination of colors ! How 

 diversified and how harmoniously are they blended ! 

 What wonderful skill in the arrangement of these 

 tints ! There, the colors seem to have been put on 

 with a delicate hand ; here they are mingled accord- 

 ing to the most learned rules of art. The color of the 

 background appears always to be chosen in such a way 

 as to bring out the drawings traced upon it, so that 

 the green, which surrounds the flower, or the shadow, 

 which the leaves throw down, serves still further to 

 give new life to the whole. 



" In the flower," writes Pouchet, " this glorious and 

 supreme effort of vegetable life, the poetic imagination 



