1 autumn are greatly reduced before spring, by guns, nets, and traps. All is vigour and activity in the vegetable kingdom in this month, and the most patient observer of nature is almost bewildered by the countless profusion of interesting objects. Towards the middle of the month, the spiked willow (spirea salicifolia), jessamine (jaminum officinale), hyssop (hyssopus officinalis), and the bellflower (campanula), have their flowers full blown. The campanula patula is a beautiful lilac bellflower, found very generally on heaths and dry banks, and worth cultivating in gardens, for ornament. It flowers through the greater part of this month and the next. The wayfaring tree, or guelder rose, begins to enrich the hedges with its bright red berries, which in time turn black. The Virginian sumach (rhus typhinum) now exhibits its scarlet tufts of flowers upon its bright green circles of leaves. The berries of the mountain ash turn red. The lavender (lavendula spica) is in flower. In this and the following month, the purple loosestrife (lythrum salicaria) ornaments the sides of ponds and brooks, and, by its tall spike of blue flowers, gives a rich appearance to the cooling retreats of river banks: it is intermixed with the meadowsweet (spiraa ulmaria), the spicy fragrance of which scents the surrounding air. A sensitive plant in a garden grew, And the young winds fed it with silver dew, And the spring arose on the garden fair, And each flower and shrub on earth's dark breast But none ever trembled and panted with bliss Like a doe in the noontide with love's sweet want, The snowdrop, and then the violet, Arose from the ground with warm rain wet, And their breath was mixed with fresh odour, sent Then the pied wind-flowers, and the tulip tall, And the Naiad-like lily of the vale, Whom youth makes so fair, and passion so pale, And the hyacinth purple, white and blue, And the rose, like a nymph to the bath addrest, PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY. The enchanter's nightshade (circæa lutetiana); the Yorkshire sanicle (pinguicula vulgaris); the water horehound or gypsy wort (lycopus europaeus), the great cat's tail, or reed mace (typha latifolia), often introduced into aquatic scenery as a graceful addition, by the most celebrated painters; the common nettle (urtica dioicia); the goose grass (asperula galium); the fringed water-lily (menyanthis nymphoides); solanum belladonna, dulcamara and nigrum; the asparagus, and some species of rumex; with buck-wheat (polygonum fagopyrum), the seeds of which are extremely nutritious and wholesomeand a variety of other plants, may be almost said to S bloom, fade, and die, within the present month.The dianthus, or pink and carnation tribe, grace the gardens of all; while their allies, the several species of lychnis, cerastium, and spergula, add beauty to the fields, and glow with every hue and shade of colorific radiance. The rhodiola rosea is also in bloom, the dried root of which emulates the odour of the rose-a flower it were almost sacrilege to name, without some poetical tribute to its peerless beauties. -As a sweete rose fairely budding forth Bewrayes her beauties to th' enamoured morne, Towards the end of the month, the flowers of the laurustinus (viburnum tinus), and the burdock (arctium lappa), begin to open; and the elecampane (inula helenium), the amaranth (amaranthus caudatus), the great water plantain (alisma plantago), and water mint (mentha aquatica), have their flowers full blown. The mezereon (daphne mezereon), which in January cheered the eye with its flowers without leaves, and regaled the smell, now displays its scarlet berries through its bright green leaves. The meadows begin to whiten, and the flowers that adorn them are mowed down. The corn gradually assumes a yellow hue, and the colours that decorate the rural scene are no longer so numerous. Corncockle (agróstemma githago) is in flower, and reminds the farmer to pull it from among his crop of wheat, lest it spoil his sample and deteriorate the bread. As summer advances, the vocal music of the groves is lessened, and in this month may be said to cease altogether if we except the chirping of the wren and two or three small birds. This is not the case, however, in South America, as appears by the poet's account of Summer in that wonderful country. SUMMER was in its prime;-the parrot-flocks The mock-bird sings-and all beside is still. And, stealing drop by drop, in mist descends; Through whose illumined spray and sprinkling dews, There, through the trunks, with moss and lichens white, And, 'mid the cedar's darksome boughs, illumes, And when the winter came, retired to rest, BOWLES. Insects now take the place of the feathered tribe, and, being for the most part hatched in the spring, they are now in full vigour. Gnats and flies buzz around us, the grasshopper chirps his merry note, and the dew-moth and butterfly appear. Flying ants quit their nests. The bee still pursues his ceaseless task of collecting his varied sweets to form honey for his destroyer, man. This industrious insect, however, will sometimes retaliate, and wreak a dreadful vengeance on his tyrant. (See our last volume, p. 218.) In this and the following month, numbers of the shrew-mouse (sorex) may be seen lying in the footpaths dead, or in a dying state. About the middle or end of July, pilchards (clupea pilchardus) appear in vast shoals, off the Cornish coast; but, in the year 1821, there was so great a deficiency of fish, that the inhabitants of Cornwall were led to suppose that the pilchards had deserted the coast altogether. Of the quantity of fish annually taken in the county, it is impossible to give any specific statement. Sometimes the aggregate amount will not exceed 15,000, and at other times it exceeds 50,000, and even 70,000 hogsheads. The price also is still more variable. During the war, when the Italian ports were shut, pilchards have been so low as 15s. per hogshead; but in the year 1815 they procured £5 5s. The number of pilchards contained in each hogshead is equally variable, much depending upon the size of the fish; 3000 or 3500 may be considered as the average |