1851. 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



29 



it 



l)owtl)0' Pcpartmcnt. 



WONDERS OF VEGETATION. 



How important it is to improve every moment of 

 time, the young seldom realize. They look forward 

 to many years of life, and heed not the moments they 

 lose. Few, however, can look back upon the past 

 year without feeling regret for misspent time. It is 

 too late now — a lost moment can never be recovered. 

 But what a glorious time the beginning of a new 

 year presents to make new determinations — to resolve 

 that every minute in the future shall be well employed. 

 See to it, young friends, and in the Youth's Depart- 

 ment of the Farmer we will endeavor to furnish 

 material for the profitable employment of a few mo- 

 ments each month. Perhaps we could not better 

 employ the space for a few numbers, than in present- 

 ing some of J.he ivonders of the vegetable world. 



The vegetation which everywhere adorns the sur- 

 face of the globe, from the moss that covers the 

 weather-worn stone, to the cedar that crowns the 

 mountain, is replete with matter for reflection and 

 admiration. Not a tree that lifts its branches aloft, 

 nor a flovv'er or leaf that expands beneath the sunlight, 

 but has something of habit or of structure — some- 

 thing of form, of fragrance, or of color — to arrest the 

 attention. It is true that early and constant famili- 

 arity has a tendency to render us unobservant of that 

 which surrounds us ; but that individual must be idle, 

 and ignorant as idle, whose curiosity cannot be 

 awakened by a description of the wonderful mechan- 

 ism and adaptations of vegetable life. 



" Not a plant, a leaf, a flower, but nontains 

 A folio volume. We may read, and read, 

 And read again, and still find something new — 

 Something to please, something to instruct, 

 Even in the noisome weed." 



REPRODUCTION AND DISPERSION OF PLANTS. 



Plants are reproduced by seeds ; by tubers, as the 

 potatoe ; by runners, as the strawberry ; by slips, and 

 some even by single leaves ; and to produce others of 

 its kind, seems to be the main object of every plant 

 or tree. First we have the leaf, then the blossom 

 and the' seed, ready to produce another of its kind. 

 Increase by seed is the most familiar mode of repro- 

 duction, being common to all flowering plants, and 

 these seeds are furnished with sufficient nutriment for 

 the young plant, till its roots have struck into the 

 soil and its leaves expanded into the atmosphere. 

 They are also protected from accident, and though 

 each differently, yet all mysteriously and wonderfully. 

 The chestnut has a compact leathery envelope ; 

 the seed of the apple a fleshy covering, enclosing 

 horny cells, in which is the seed ; the pea and the 

 bean a pod of parchment. In all of them, the protec- 

 tion against cold, drouth, moisture, and other de- 

 structive agencies, is so complete that seeds which 

 have been buried for centuries, have, on being brought 

 t9 the surface, sprung up into healthy plants ; even 

 a crop of wheat has been reared from seeds taken 

 from the hand of an Egyptian mummy more than 

 three thousand years old ! 



Equally perfect with this protection is the means 

 for their dispersion over the surface of the globe. 

 What could be better adapted for floating from island 

 to island than the cocoa-nut, with its light fibrous 

 coir and woody shell ] What more easily caught up 

 by the slightest breath of air, than the seeds of the 

 thistle or dandelion, with their little parachutes of 



down ? Or what more aptly fitted for attachment to 

 the coats of wandering animals than the hooked 

 heads of the teasel and burdock ? The farmer well 

 knows how readily a small patch of weeds will scatter 

 their sceda over the whole field. 



A8AVE AMERICANA. 



The Agave Americana is one of the most singular 

 and wonderful of plants. It is known as the "Great 

 American Aloe," because resembling the Aloe in its 

 leaves, but it belongs to the pine-apple tribe, and has 

 little in common with the aloes. It is, perhaps, most 

 generally known as the Century Plant, as it was 

 supposed to flower only once in a hundred years, but 

 the plant, in favorable circumstances, flowers much 

 earlier than this. When in bloom they present a 

 most interesting spectacle, the stem rising from 30 to 

 40 feet high, and bearing hundreds of greenish-white 

 flowers on an elegant bi'anched spike. The panicle, 

 or bunch of fresh flowers, is often 15 feet in height, 

 and is, in this respect, without a parallel. The engra- 

 ving, although the best we could obtain, does not 

 show fairly the beauty of the plant in flower. We saw 

 one in bloom in Europe, and it was the most magnifi- 

 cent spectacle in the vegetable line we ever beheld. 



For the Boys. — Seven classes of company to be 

 avoided : 1st, Those who ridicule their parents or 

 disobey their commands. 2d, Those who profane 

 the Sabbath or scoflf at religion. 3d, Those who use 

 profane or filthy language. 4th, Those who are un- 

 fait-liful, play truant, and waste their time in idleness. 

 5th, Those that are of a quarrelsome temper, and are 

 apt to get into difficulty with others. 6th, Tliose 

 who are addicted to lying and stealing. 7th, Those 

 who are of a cruel disposition ; who take pleasure in 

 torturing and maiming animals and insects. 



In our travels the coming spring, we shall undoubt- 

 edly see many things worthy of notice in our YoutWs 

 Department. We shall probably give some engra- 

 vings of scenes we may witness in our sojournings. 



t 



