1846.] Water, its Properties and Uses. 59 



mediate and decided. The whole flower shows at once that fecun- 

 dation has taken place. Some parts wither very rapidly, while 

 others increase and expand with uncommon vigor. The calyx is 

 sometimes adherent with the ovary when it increases and grows 

 wuth it. The corolla soon fades and withers. The stamens, 

 style and stigma, having accomplished the end of their existence, 

 wither away. The ovarium, containing the impregnated ovules, 

 becomes the centre of all the vital energies of the plant, to perfect 

 the seeds committed to its care. In many plants we see them 

 laboring for a long period to provide food for the perfection of 

 the seed. The common beet spends the first year of its existence 

 in providing food for the perfection of its seeds of the next, and 

 so of many other plants. 



WATER, ITS PROPERTIES AND USES. 



Water is a compound of two gases, oxygen and hydrogen. 

 Although existing when pure, only in the form of gases, yet in 

 nature they are never found pure, and consequently never in this 

 form. They are always either combined with each other in the 

 form of water or with some other- substance. In w^ater they al- 

 ways are united in the proportion by weight of eight parts of 

 oxygen to one of hydrogen, or by volume, one of oxygen to two 

 of hydrogen. 



Nearly three-quarters of the surface of our globe is water. 

 The vast oceans that surround and separate the two great conti- 

 nents, are themselves equal to about two-thirds of that surface. 

 But the large inland lakes and seas with the numberless lakes 

 and rivers that intersect the land in all directions greatly increase 

 the amount. From this great quantity we should naturally be 

 led to expect corresponding uses. These are indeed great and 

 various, and, in agriculture alone, quite indispensable. 



The uses of water are two-fold — chemical and mechanical. 



1. Chemical. From the well known composition of plants — 

 about 90 per cent being carbon, oxygen and hydrogen — it will 



