IN OCTOBER. 267 



the wise and beneficent directions of Providence, 

 What wonderful means are made use of to preserve 

 and give food to certain birds ! With what tender 

 care is their subsistence pointed out to them, when 

 it fails them in some regions ! Let us learn from 

 thence, that every thing, throughout the vast empire 



of nature, is planted with infinite wisdom. 







The, Winter Sowing Time. 



Great part of the food destined for us, and for ma- 

 ny animals, is, at this time, deposited in the ground. 

 The farmer has sowed his winter corn, and begins 

 to enjoy rest from his labours. He will soon have 

 the satisfaction to see his fields gradually covering 

 with a beautiful verdure, and giving the promise of 

 a plentiful harvest. Nature at first, indeed, works 

 in secret, while the seed is opening; but its opera- 

 tions may be discovered by taking some of the grains 

 out of the ground when they are beginning to shoot. 

 Two days after the grain is put into the earth, it is 

 swelled by the juices, and begins to shoot. The 

 shoot is always at one of the ends of the grain; and 

 that part of it which is next the outside of the grain, 

 is the little root of the future plant. The corn, when 

 sowed, generally begins, in twenty four hours, to 

 pierce through the coat, and unfold itself. The root 

 and stalk become visible. The root is first wrap- 

 ped up in a bag, which it bursts open. Some days 

 after, the other roots shoot out of their sides. The 

 fifth or sixth day, a green stalk springs up above the 



