POWERS OF VEGETATION. 23 



course of the following summer, a single nut 

 having escaped the teeth of the destroyer, sent 

 up its verdant shoot through the hole in the 

 centre of the procumbent millstone. 



One day I pointed out this rising tree to a 

 gentleman who was standing by ; and I said, 

 w If this young plant escape destruction, some 

 time or other it will support the millstone, and 

 raise it from the ground." He seemed to doubt 

 this. 



In order, however, that the plant might have 

 a fair chance of success, I directed that it 

 should be defended from accident and harm by 

 means of a wooden paling. Year after year it 

 increased in size and beauty ; and when its 

 expansion had entirely filled the hole in the 

 centre of the millstone, it gradually began to 

 raise up the millstone itself from the seat of its 

 long repose. This huge mass of stone is now 8 

 in. above the ground, and is entirely supported 

 by the stem of the nut tree, which has risen to 

 the height of 25 ft. and bears excellent fruit. 



Strangers often inspect this original curiosity. 

 When I meet a visitor whose mild physiognomy 

 informs me that his soul is proof against the 

 stormy winds of politics, which now-a-days 



c 4 



