LES. VI.-CAMELLIA, MALLOW, AND CITRON FAMILIES. [EXOGENOUS or DICOTYLEDONOUS; Angiosperms; Polypetalous.]

1. Camellia japon'ica, Japan rose, xv. 12 (a tree in Japan), w. and or., My.-J., Japan. 2. Gossypium herba' ceum, Common cotton, xv. 12, y., 4 f., Jl., E. Indies. 3. Gossypium Barbaden'se, Barbadoes cotton, xv. 12, y., 5 f., S., W. Indies. 4. Althe'a ro'sea, Common hollyhock, xv. 12, r. and w., 8 f., Jl.-S., China. 5. Mal'va moscha'ta, Musk-mallow, xv. 12, pk., 2 f., Jl.-Au., Britain. 6. Hibiscus milita'ris, Louisiana hibiscus, xv. 12, pu., 3 f., Au.-S., Louisiana. 7. Citrus vulga'ris, Seville orange, xii. 1, w., 15 f., My.-J., W. Asia. 8. Citrus limo'num, Lemon, xii. 1, w., 15 f., My.-Jl., W. Asia. 9. Cit'rus limet'ta, Lime, xii. 1, w., 8 f., My.-JL, W. Asia.

1. THE large, beautiful, and rose-shaped flower called Japonica, the loblolly bay of Southern swamps, and the tea-plant of China belong to the Camellia family.

"The chaste camellia's pure and spotless bloom,
That boasts no fragrance, and conceals no thorn,"

was brought from Japan about the year 1739, and is justly esteemed one of the choicest ornaments of the green-house. A great many varieties, ranging from the purest white through delicate blush, and striped, to deep red, have been produced by cultivation. The white camellia is often addressed by the poets, as in the following sonnet, as an emblem of perfected loveliness.

2.

Say', what impels' me, pure and spotless flower',

To view thee with a secret sympathy?

Is there some living spirit shrined in thee'?

That, as thou bloom'st within thy humble bower,
Endows thee with some strange mysterious power,

Waking high thoughts'? As there perchance might be
Some angel-form of truth and purity,

Whose hallowed presence shared my lonely hour'?
Yes', lovely flower', 'tis not thy virgin glow,
Thy petals whiter than descending snow,

Nor all the charms thy velvet folds display';*
'Tis the soft image of some beaming mind,
By grace adorn'd, by elegance refined,

That o'er my heart thus holds its silent sway.-W. ROSCOE.

3. The famous tea-plant of China, a drawing of a stalk of which is here given, of about one quarter the natural size, is regarded by many botanists as merely a

species of the camellia, which it much resembles in the form of its leaves and blossoms. Some dried leaves of tea were first brought to Europe in the seventeenth century by a Russian nobleman; and now, out of China, the annual consumption of this one plant, as a beverage, is estimated at a hundred millions of pounds.

4. For this amount the Chinese people receive nearly thirty millions of dollars; and yet it is believed that they themselves consume twenty times more than the entire amount exported from their country! The different kinds and Green Tea (Thea viridis). quality of tea depend chiefly upon the time of plucking the leaves, the mode in which they are prepared for use, and the soil on which they grow, rather than upon any specific differences in the plants themselves.

5. In China and Japan tea is sold in shops and at the street corners, and borne about in kettles by itinerant merchants, who sell small cups-without sugar or milk, as it is universally taken in the East-at a trifling price. A tea-drinking in a rich man's house is, however, a very ceremonious affair, No tea-pots are used, but a portion of leaves is put into each cup, and boiling water poured on them. It would be highly indecorous to spill a drop out of the cups during the bowings which precede the drinking; and to prevent this they are but half-filled. The guests drink at many sips, and it is a point of politeness for all to empty their cups exactly at the same time, that they may put them down at once.

* The downward inflection is appropriate here, because it is, really, the conclusion of the sentiment, the remaining three lines being merely a repetition of the sentiment previously expressed. If we had given only the last six lines, beginning with "Lovely flower'," the rising inflection would have been required at "display."

6. Tea is served very hot; but it is a flagrant breach of etiquette in any one to notice this unpleasant fact. Should the weather be very warm, when the cups are emptied the master of the house says, "I invite you to take up your fans." But should any unlucky guest have forgotten his fan, the rest of the company do not permit themselves the liberty of using theirs, for fear of hurting his feelings. Finally, after innumerable tedious acts of politeness, in which each individual aims to produce the impression that, in his own opinion, his insignificant person is by no means worthy the exalted honor of drinking with the illustrious company among whom he is infinitely surprised to be received, the signal for leave-taking is given by the highest in rank rising and saying to the host, "I have been troublesome to you a very long time"-which is probably the only true word spoken during the entertain

ment.

7. We might speak of American tea-parties also, but they are too well-known and appreciated to need description here; for even the poetic muse has been evoked, on more occasions than one, to give them notoriety.

"How they sit and chitter chatter',

O'er a cup of scalding water',

Of this one's dress or carriage',

Of that one's death or marriage!."

8. In the Mallow family, which contains a great variety of some of the finest flowers in nature, are found the various spe

cies of the altheas or hollyhocks, and the hibiscus, together with that famous plant, "King Cotton," avowedly the most valuable of all the vegetable products which man converts into materials for clothing. The common cotton plant grows from three to five feet in height, with fivelobed, blue-veined, dark green leaves. The flower is of a pale yellow, changing to a 3 pink color, purple spotted at the bottom, with five petals. On the falling of the flower a kind of pod or boll is developed, Cotton Plant.-1. The ri- which, in process of ripening, bursts and the morning. 3. Flower at discloses the snow-white cotton, which is the hairy covering of the seeds.

evening.

9. The citron family embraces a number of species of handsome evergreen shrubs or small trees, mostly natives of the East Indies, and cultivated only in warm regions. They have odoriferous flowers, and bear some of the most brilliant, fra

grant, and delicious fruits, among which may be enumerated the orange, shaddock, citron, lemon, and lime. As with apples, many varieties of each have been produced by cultivation. The golden apples of the heathens, and the forbidden fruit of the Jews, are supposed to belong to this family. The orange blossom, distinguished no less for its beauty than its delicious fragrance, has very appropriately been made the emblem of purity and loveliness. The land where the citron and orange grow is proverbially the land of balmy fragrance, of gentle breezes, and azure skies.

Know'st thou the land, where groves of citron flower'?

And golden orange, darkling leaves embower'?

Where gentle breezes fan the azure skies,

The myrtle still, and high the laurel rise'?

Know'st thou it well, that land, beloved friend'?

Thither with thee, oh, thither would I wend.-GOETHE.

1.

2.

3.

4.

LESSON VII.-CHORUS OF FLOWERS.

WE are the sweet flowers',
Born of sunny showers';

(Think, whene'er you see us, what our beauty saith);
Utterance, mute and bright,

Of some unknown delight,

We fill the air with pleasure' by our simple breath':
All who see us' love' us-

We befit all places';

Unto sorrow we give smiles'—and, unto graces, races'.

Think of all our treasures',
Matchless works and pleasures',

Every one a marvel, more than thought can say';
Then think in what bright showers

We thicken fields and bowers',

And with what heaps of sweetness half stifle wanton May';
Think of the mossy forests

By the bee-birds haunted',

And all those Amazonian plains, lone lying as enchanted.

Trees themselves are ours';

Fruits are born of flowers ;'

Beech', and roughest nut', were blossoms' in the spring';
The lusty bee knows well

The news, and comes pell-mell,

And dances in the gloomy thicks with darksome antheming :
Beneath the very burden

Of planet-pressing ocean

We wash our smiling cheeks in peace-a thought for meek devotion

Who shall say that flowers

Dress not heaven's own bowers'?

Who its love, without us, can fancy-or sweet floor'?

Who shall even dare

To say we sprang not there

And came not down, that Love might bring one piece of heaven the

Oh! pray believe that angels
From those blue dominions

Brought us in their white laps down, 'twixt their golden pinions.

[more'?

LEIGH HUNT.

LESSON VIII.

-THE CACTUS FAMILY.
[EXOGENOUS or DICOTYLEDONOUS; Angiosperms; Polypetalous.]

1. Cac'tus hexago'nus, Four-angled cactus, xi. 1, w., 35 f., Jl.-Au., S. Am. 2. C. speciosis'simus, Beautiful cactus, xi. 1, cr., 3 f., Jl., S. Am. 3. C. flagellifor'mis, Creeping or Snake cactus, xi. 1, pk., 6 f., M.-Jn., Peru. 4. C. opuntia, Prickly-pear cactus, xi. 1, y, 2 f., Jl.-Au., Mexico. 5. C. curassa'vicus, Pin-pillow cactus, xi. 1, y., 6 f., Jn.-J., S. Am. 6. C. peres'kia, Gooseberry cactus, xi. 1, w., 5 f., O.-N., W. Indies. 7. C. phyllanthoi'des, Winged cactus, xi. 1, pk., 2 f., Jn., W. Indies. 8. Echinocac'tus mammillarioi' des, Melon cactus, xi. 1, y. and r., 6 in., Jl.-Au., Chili.

1. WHO hung thy beauty on such rugged stalk',
Thou glorious flower'?

Who poured the richest hues,
In varying radiance, o'er thy ample brow,
And, like a mesh, those tissued stamens laid
Upon thy crimson lip'?

Lone, o'er thy leafless stem,

Thou bidd'st the queenly rose, with all her buds,
Do homage, and the green-house peerage bow
Their rainbow coronets."-MRS. SIGOURNEY.

2. Thus beautifully writes an American poetess of a beautiful flower of the rough cactus family. And this family is exclusively American, not one of its eight hund