184 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[J fJNE, 
ONLY A BUNCH OF ROSES. 
Engraved for the American Agriculturist. 
Roses are very common. You might find plenty of 
such daring this month in your garden,.or blossoming 
wild along the HpcIfp vnws, free for all who choose to 
pluck '!cnt -vll uum.e now the little girl in the picture 
prizes them ; how carefully she waters them. She val- 
ues them because they are beautiful, without thinking 
whether the)* be scarce or plentiful. If some skillful 
artist had designed such flowers, everybody would be 
eager to possess them ; the inventor's name and fame 
would fill the papers. Are they le?s to be Admired 
because they cost little, and is the Create-, of such beauty 
to be less praised, because he gives them freely ? He is 
rather to be adored because he has made beautiful things 
so common. The little girl has. no doubt, lately re- 
moved to the country, and the roses are new to her. In 
the crowded streets of the city she seldom saw a flower ; 
she was too poor to buy them. Now she is rich— not in 
money, but in happiness, which is more than wealth. Do 
you often think how easy it is to be thus rich? Every 
bny and girl living in the country possesses what no 
money can buy in the city. There is pleasant food for 
the eye and the mind, as well as for the body, free to all. 
A single look across the green fields is worth more than 
the finest display seen in the streets of the largest city. 
It contains more beautiful, and more wonderful things to 
those who know how to observe them. How much bet- 
ter to use the means of enjoyment so freely bestowed, 
than to toil and sigh for the less satisfying pleasures in- 
vented by man, and to be had only for money. It will 
greatly increase the pleasure of examining such objects, 
if you have them under your own especial care. Every 
girl and boy should plant at least a few seeds and w r atch 
tlirm as they grow day by day. You will find much help 
to properly observing them, by attentively studying the 
notes on "The Boys' and Girls' Garden" in another col- 
umn. This will also teach you to be observing in oilier 
matters, and thus form one of the most useful habits. 
We desire that these pages, specially devoted to the young, 
shall be to them not only a source of pleasure, but of im- 
provement also. It is only a small part of our educa- 
tion that is received at school. —The engraving is interest- 
ing as the copy of a painting by G. H. Boughton, an Ame- 
rican artist, now in England, and contributed by him to 
the sale for the benefit of the Lancashire sufferers. 
We Believe in Fortune Telling'* 
"Do vou believe in fortune telling?" asks a young 
correspondent of the Agriculturist. Yes, certainly, and 
practise it too. Would you like a few trials of our skill ? 
Well, then, give attention. When ahoy with black eyes 
and hair always tells the truth, he will be believed and 
respected as long as he lives, and as people would prefer 
to keep him alive, he will stand a good chance to arrive 
at old age. A girl with brown hair and blue eyes who 
obeys her parents, is good tempered and industrious, will 
have many admirers, particularly among sensible men. 
and she will therefore be in the way of getting a good 
husband. If a small boy with white hair and grey eyes 
will learn all he can .from books and observation, will 
practise what he learns, think for himself, and work with 
energy, he may become both wealthy and wise. If a girl 
with rosy cheeks and curly hair will avoid late hours, 
tight dresses, too many nice things to eat, will take plen- 
ty of exercise in the open air, and keep good-natured, 
she will probably bo a good looking and happy lady, and 
if she obtains a good education, she will be a fit wife for 
a Governor or President. In all these cases the hair 
and eyes are of no great importance, but the other re- 
quisites must be strictly observed to have the good for- 
tune come out right. There ! that kind of fortune telling 
is worth more than all the gipscys, seventh sons, wise 
women, astrologers and soothsayers could tell you from 
the time of the Witch of Endor, down to the year 2000. 
If you have any doubts on the subject, try following our 
directions, and see if we be not true fortune tellers. 
JJtoy »' and Girls' Gil rrten — No. 3. 
How aoes the little garden get on ? Most of you, 
doubtless, have the plants well up by this time, and have 
compared their early growth with the account given in our 
last chapter. Y'ou have seen that there was already a littte 
plant, or embryo, contained in the seed, and that this ex- 
panded and grew from the food which was provided for 
it beforehand. This small supply of food was soon used 
up, but not before the plant had made a few roots by 
which it could draw sustenance from the soil. Let us 
consider what your plants are doing : They are, like all 
other plants, engaged in taking up materials from the 
earth and air, and working them into their own substance— 
they are growing. Is it not wonderful that the little plant 
can build up fresh green leaves and, by and by, beautiful 
flowers out of the crude and shapeless matter supplied 
from the earth and air ! The plant receives most of its 
nourishment by the root, which goes on branching and 
spreading underground in search of it. If we take up a 
plant carefully, Flax for instance, we shall see (fig. 10,) 
how the root is forked and divided up into little fibres. 
All that the plant takes up from the soil is dissolved in 
water, and the roots are made to expose great surface in 
order to take it up rapidly. The principal business of 
the root is to absorb moisture. All of the plants we have 
selected for our illustrations are annuals. That is they 
live but one year and, with the exception of the Four 
O'clock, all make these fibrous or branching roots. <k VVe 
have seen that the seed leaves or cotyledons in some 
cases serve two purposes— in the Melon, (or cucumber,) 
and Flax, they first hold the food for the young plant and 
afterward serve as ordinary leaves. In biennial plants, 
or those which live two years, the roots are made to do 
two different things. The first year, they absorb crude 
food from the soil, and after this has been prepared in the 
leaves, it goes back again to the roots where it is stored up 
for use the next year. The root in this case becomes 
very thick and fleshy as is seen in the beet, turnip, and 
carrot, which are all biennial roots. The first year they 
store up food and the second year they expend it in mak- 
ing flowers and seed. Where the root lasts through ser- 
cral years, as in our trees and shrubs, it is perennial. This 
is enough about the root for the present, though we may 
have to return to it again another time. Let us now look 
at the stem which, while the root has been growing and 
spreading below ground, has been lengthening above 
ground and doing its work, which is to hold up the leaves 
and allow them to spread to the light and air. The first 
growth from the seed was the elongation of the little stem 
or radicle which in the Flax, Morning glory, etc., lifted 
the seed leaves above the surface. A little bud soon ap- 
peared between them, which was lifted up by the length- 
ening of the stem, and, in the Flax, (fig. 10,) two leaves 
unfolded ; above these the stem lengthened again and two 
mere leaves opened, and so on. The increase in night of 
the plant being produced by a 
continued lengthening of the 
stem, bearing pairs of leaves at 
intervals. We see that the 
growth of the plant since it 
started from the seed is but a 
repetition of its early growth. 
We bad at th? first the embryo, 
which was a Utile stem and a 
pair of leaves, and the plant has 
done nothing since but make 
little joints of stem and produce 
pairs of leaves. It will be no- 
ticed that the Flax and Four 
O'clock produce a pair of op- 
posite leaves at each joint of 
the stem, while the Morning 
glory, (fig. 11,) bears only one 
leaf at each joint; such leaves 
are said to be alternate. The 
stems of our plants present con- 
siderable difference : while the 
Flax and others stand upright, 
the Melon will soon lie flat up- 
on the ground and the Morning 
Glory will wind itself around a 
slick or some other support. 
Still, with all these differences, 
it is easy to distinguish the 
stem, and it is really the same 
thing and answers the same 
purpose, whether it is the weak 
stem of the Morning Glory that 
dies down with the Winter, or 
the woody stem of the apple 
or other tree that lasts for 
many years.— Now let us look a Utile at the leaf. This is 
a most important part of the plant, for here the crude li- 
quids taken up by the roots are exposed to the light and 
air and fitted to be used in the growth of the plant 
In the leaves much water is evaporated, and the breathing 
Flax.— Fig. 10. 
