KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



325 



does not even contain half of one part in a 

 hundred, and the apple little more than 

 quarter, being respectively represented as 

 0.41, and 0.27. Our grain contains a much 

 larger quantity. A thousand parts of wheat 

 yield twenty-three parts ; and the same 

 quantity of oats yields no fewer than forty. 

 Hay again, which of course has lost a con- 

 siderable amount in weight by the process 

 of drying, exhibits a figure of ninety parts 

 in the thousand. 



The constituents of this ash are very 

 varied. Dr. Johnson gives no fewer than 

 fourteen elementary bodies ; and these by 

 combination with the 0. H. C. or N. form 

 an infinity of compounds. Potash and soda 

 are among the most plentiful and commonly 

 met with of all the components of this ash. 

 Sea plants, and those growing in the 

 vicinity of the sea, abound in soda ; whereas 

 inland species possess a larger quantity of 

 potash. It is a curious and interesting fact 

 in the economy of the plant, that a species 

 which inhabits the .sea shore, will, on being 

 cultivated at a distance from it, lose its 

 appetite for soda, and put up with the 

 matter at hand most nearly resembling it, 

 which is potash. Nay, it has been noticed, 

 and proved beyond the shadow of a doubt 

 by Professor Dickie, that the sea-thrift, sea- 

 plantain and scurvy-grass (which grow both 

 on the sea shore and on elevated mountain 

 districts), contain in the former situation 

 much soda, and in the latter much potash ; 

 the one being increased as the other is 

 diminished. 



Flint in a highly reduced state, occurs 

 very abundantly in many plants, especially 

 in what are called horse-tails and Dutch 

 rushes ; also in the stems of grasses of 

 different kinds. Oat and wheat-straw 

 furnish respectively, forty-five and twenty- 

 eight parts in the thousand ; whereas the 

 grains exhibit only nineteen, and four. 

 Lime, which is next in quantity, and para- 

 mount in importance, is found in all plants. 

 Sometimes, in union with oxalic acid (as in 

 the rhubarb) it acts as an antidote to the 

 poisonous qualities which are the necessary 

 concomitants of the acidity ; at other times, 

 it unites with C. and forms a body identical 

 with chalk and marble, with which it encases 

 the growing plant. This occurs in some 

 water plants. Still more valuable is it, 

 however, when, in conjunction with phos- 

 phorus, it is prepared to supply the waste 

 in our bony structure. In this form, it is 

 chiefly found in the cereal grains which 

 minister to our daily wants. Iron, magnesia, 

 copper, iodine, and a multitude of others 

 are occasionally found though in very small 

 quantities ; and, as some of these wall be 

 noticed under the head of products, we may 

 conveniently pass on without them. 



All bodies found in plants, are derived 

 either as liquids through the soil, by the 

 roots, or as gases from the air by the leaves. 

 From the soil, the plant takes dead inert, 

 matter ; which perhaps never existed as the 

 heat or life, and yet may have been the 

 earthly prison of mind itself; and from this 

 death it makes new life. From the air, the 

 plant absorbs that poisonous gas, carbonic 

 acid (C. and O.) which rises like choking 

 smoke from the furnace within man's laboring 

 bosom, and from this death, this enemy of 

 life, it extracts the sting and sends back the 

 pure vivifying Oxygen, again to cheer the 

 exhausted flame of life, — again to combine 

 with the rebel Carbon, again to return pure 

 and blameless ; and so through this giddy 

 whirl of revolutions, till the great day shall 

 come when life will depend on something 

 more infinite than a thin subtle gas. 



Plants and animals are the antithesis of 

 each other. The plant is the great gatherer. 

 It takes from the dead and motionless, 

 whether in earth or air ; and it builds a 

 living structure in itself. This is preyed 

 upon by the animal ; and another living 

 fabric is the result. It dies, and then all 

 this accumulation of organism, — all this 

 fair body, rifled from the grave, returns to 

 it again. Even we who write and read this 

 page, when the passing bell has told that 

 cur spirits have walked out in fresher 

 raiment, and the green turf has been spread 

 over our weary heads, — must restore to 

 earth all of her that we possess — to be again 

 stolen from her bosom by the green herbage, 

 to be cropped by the sheep, aye, or even the 

 ass ; again and again to perform that har- 

 monious round of unceasing and untiring 

 usefulness. D. 



SONG OF THE BEES. 



Away ! for the heath-flowers' pendent bells 



Are heavy with honied dew ; 

 And the cowslip buds in their sunny dells 



Are bright with a golden hue. 

 We spread to the breeze our gossamer wings, 



And a busy task is ours — 

 To hover around in airy rings, 



And sip from the sweetest flowers. 

 When weary, we lie on the fragrant breast 



Of the rose, ere its charms decay ; 

 And, cradled in beauty, one moment rest, 



Then spread our light wings and away ! 

 We climb up the clover-bud's slender stem, 



And o'er its sweet blossoms linger ; 

 For the honey-dew lies like a precious gem 



On a fair girl's taper finger. 

 Drowsily humming our cheerful song, 



Till the air echoes back the measure, 

 O'er meadow and mountain we speed along 



To gather the golden treasure. 

 Were man's life as useful and gay as ours, 



Oh ! he would be bless'd indeed ; 

 But whilst we are sipping the sweetest flowers, 



He rests on a noisome weed ! 



