256 NATURAL APPEARANCES 



the scaly flowering heads, which are the part usc<J> 

 are carefully picked off. Kent, Sussex, and Worces- 

 tershire, are the counties most famous for the growth 

 ftf hops. 



Wall fruits now come in season; and, 



" The sunny wall 



Presents the downy peach, the shining plum, 

 The ruddy, fragrant nectarine, and dark 

 Beneath his ample leaf the luscious fig." 



Vipers bring forth their young, of the size of earth- 

 worms. Many insects appear; the flies visit the 

 windows, and the bulls begin their shrill bellowing. 



Swallows appear in the southern regions ; rooks 

 roost in their nests by night; lapwings and linnets 

 begin to congregate; and the red breast, one of the 

 finest, though commonest of songsters, concludes the 

 month by the renewal of his music. 



The Construction and Vegetation of Corn. 



The wisdom which appears in the construction 

 and vegetation of corn is very striking. The leaves, 

 for example, which surround it before it has attained 

 its full growth, even those leaves have their use; and 

 it seems as if the wisdom of the Creator had placed 

 them round the blade for the same reason that an 

 architect raises a scaffolding about a building, which, 

 when the building is finished, he takes away. For 

 as soon as the blade has attained its full length and 

 consistency, the leaves which protected it dry up and 



