THE STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 797 
always requires to have a back iloor for retreat. The boxes may be 
placet! uiuler heaps of straw or corn in barns, sheds, or gardens. 
A few sheaves of half thrashed oats may be laid over them in the 
latter places ; the place will soon become the rendezvous of the ver- 
min, and on removing the straw or corn, they will be found in their 
lodging- rooms with their young ones. The box may be ly or 24 in. 
wide, and of any length, (fig, 12S) 1, 2, are the augur holes for in- 
gress and egress ; to prevent either, a false frame or square of hoop 
iron may be made to drop down over all the holes at once, and the 
box may then be earned off to a convenient place for the dog Billy 
to try his agility. John Howden. 
NATURAL HISTORY 
ARTICLE XVII. 
OBSERVATIONS ON THE ADVANTAGES RESULTING FROM A 
JUDICIOUS STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
BY MR. JOHN SMITHL'RST. 
In my last paper, I endeavoured, though inadequately, to point out 
some of the advantages resulting from a judicious study of Natural 
History. I was compelled to leave the subject unfinished, for fear 
of swelling my communication to an inconvenient length. I now, 
however, hope again to be allowed the liberty of offering a few addi- 
tional observations, for the consideration of such of your readers, as 
may think them worth attention. The study of Nature abounds 
with objects of the highest interest; there cannot be a more rational 
or more pleasing employment, either for the scholar, the man of 
business, or for the humble cottager, than that which results from an 
attentive inquiry, into the infinite wisdom displayed in the formation 
of all created things. It is not in the animal kingdom alone, we ob- 
serve the most indisputable evidences of the divine skill and benefi- 
cence. The vegetable world, also, affords ample scope for observa- 
tion and improvement; and it is my intention, as far as I am able, 
to notice a few of the numberless instances, in which the wisdom of 
the Deitv is peculiarly conspicuous in the admirable construction of 
vegetable productions. When by the almighty fiat of Jehovah, the 
earth had been formed, and after the waters had subsided, and the 
land appeared dry and fit for vegetation, at the divine command, 
herbs, plants, trees, and the almost endless variety of the vegetable 
world, began immediately to appear. Thus, before God formed any 
living creature to dwell upon the earth, he provided abundantly for 
its sustenance. The gi*eat Author of all things intended, that the 
