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a few years’ growth, in the same place,
accumulates, so that the plant cannot be
supported ; for it will not take up what
it has rejected. Its location must be
changed, and another kind put in its
place. This practice, applied to grain-

bearing plants, is called ‘ rotation of
" crops.’”

CG. “How is the seed formed? Is it
made from the proper juice ?”

F. “Not exactly. Every part of a
growing plant is filled with germs, which
only require suitable coverings to be-
come seeds, When a plant has attained
its perfection, it begins to provide these
coverings. The flower-buds open, and
disclose, as in the lily, an outer row of
stamens, surrounding a central column,
or pistil.
collection of germs, ready to become
seeds. The anthers of the stamens se-
crete a powder, which, when ripe, is
dropped upon the top of the pistil, or
stigma. The excitement thus produced
stimulates the germs, which rapidly in-
crease in size, and become properly
clothed so as to fit them for all the ex-
igencies of the weather. The blossom,
leaves, and stamens, having fulfilled their
office, decay, and fall off; so that the
seeds, left without incumbrance, gradu-
ally mature.”

 

My Mother’s Voice.

My mother’s voice! now often creeps
Its cadence on my lonely hours!
Like healing sent on wings of sleep,
Or dew to the unconscious flowers.
I can forget her melting wee
While leaping pulses madly fly ;
But in the still, unbroken air
Her gentle tones come stealing by ;
And years, and sin, and manhood flee,
‘And jeave me at my mother’s knee.

At the base of the pistil is a

 

THE YOUTH’S CABINET.

The April-Fool Egg.

nat kind of an egg is that?”
\ y you ask, Well, I am just
going to tell you all I know
about it. When I was a little
child, I found an egg ina hen’s nest, on
the first day of April. It was just the
size and shape of any hen’s egg; but
one thing about it seemed very strange
to me—there was “ April-Fool” on one
side of it, in plain characters. They
were not written with a pencil, or with
ink, neither were they scratched into the
surface. They were made of the same
material as the shell, and close examina-
tion proved that they were not pasted
on. They stood out in bas relief, as
artists say. How strange! Did the
hen know it was the first of April? And
if so, how did she know it? If she had
an almanac, she could not read. It seem-
ed very unaccountable—almost as mys-
terious as the peculiar knockings that
are said to be heard in the city of Roch-
ester. It occupied my mind all day.
Did the hen mean to have me put the
egg back in the nest, and have it hatch-
ed into achicken? ‘Then it would be
an April-fool chicken, I thought. I
never found out to a certainty how it all
happened. But I suspect my sister
Harriet, who knew more of chemistry
than I did, could have told me all about
it, At any rate, she enjoyed the sport
of seeing me so puzzled.

Ever since that time, when I have
heard of some wonderful mystery, that
somebody will show me for a little
money, I have remembered the April-
fool egg; and it has saved me many a
shilling. Perhaps, dear reader, it may
give you a hint. Ww.