IN JUNE. 24.7 



cuckoo, also ceases. It is amusing- now, an hour be- 

 fore sun set, to see the barn owl in search of field 

 mice, and bringing one to its nest about every five 

 minutes ; and the fern owl, feeding on the fern chaf- 

 fer, another interesting nocturnal bird. 



On the 21st of this month is the summer solstice, 

 er longest day ; when the splendid sun 



" Shoots full perfection thro' the swelling year." 



The D&w. 



The wise Ruler of the world, who watches con- 

 tinually over his children, and provides for all their 

 wants, makes use of more than one means to render 

 the earth fruitful. But the most common means, the 

 suresi, and most universal, and that which men the 

 least attend to, and are least sensible of its value, is 

 dew. This inestimable gift of Heaven, which even 

 in years of the greatest drought supports and pre- 

 serves the plants from perishing, is those sparkling 

 drops seen in such profusion morning and evening 

 on the leaves of trees and plants. The dew does 

 not fall from above, as was formerly imagined ; it 

 does not descend from the highest parts of our at- 

 mosphere ; and still less is it the sweat of the stars, 

 as superstition had supposed. This pretended ce- 

 lestial origin has probably given rise to the folly of 

 some alchymUts who hoped to convert dew into 

 gold It . now generally allowed, that the dew is 

 nothing but the sweat of the plants, and the moisture 



