BOTANICAL: THE UPPER CLASSES. 167 



when our garden plants are in blossom, the several months 

 may be known. How punctually does the snowdrop 

 beautify the time of January ; the violet, February ; in 

 March, the cowslip; in April, the daffodil; the great 

 mass of plants in the leafy months of May and June; 

 many in July, August, and September ; the golden rod 

 in October and November; and the Christmas rose in 

 December ! And from three in the morning punctually, 

 hour by hour, until ten at night, do these wonderful 

 proofs of God's love speak to us. 



" To me the meanest flower that blows can give 

 Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears." 



Verily they must have had an admirable teacher 

 to have "acquired" such goodly habits of order and 

 obedience ! 



Here is one of the petals of an ordinary geranium, 

 again reminding us of the analogy of plant and animal 

 life. It has two skins, 

 one of which has been 

 peeled off the other to 

 make the structure 

 more transparent. 

 With a power magni- 

 fying 176,000 super- 

 ficial times, what do 

 we see ? A countless 

 number of deeply in 



11 Cells from petal of geranium. 



terestmg cells im- 

 bedded in a matrix begemmed with dotted tissue, the 

 cells giving to the flower its colour, and having a central 

 dark mass, from which a series of very fine lines is seen 

 running to the extremity of the cell, of most interesting 

 form and marking. 



Keference has been made to the contrasts in nature. 



