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its branches, which, as well as the smaller trunks, they cut into lengths, according to the weight and thickness. These are dragged in their mouths, and sometimes on their shoulders, to the waterside, and are then thrown into the stream, and towed with the current to the dam.

Exactly the same materials are employed in the construction of their habitations as in the dams. The houses are built either immediately beneath the bank, or if the pool be shallow at some little distance from it. They begin by hollowing out the bottom, throwing up the mud and stones around, and intermingling them with such sticks as they can procure. The walls having been raised to a sufficient height, the house is covered in with a roof in the shape of a dome, generally rising about four feet, but sometimes as much as six or seven feet, from the water. The entrance is made beneath a ledge, which advances several feet into the stream with a regular slope, terminating at least three feet below the surface, to guard against its being frozen up; water, as you know, does not freeze many inches below the surface. Near the entrance, and on the outside of their houses, the beavers store up the branches of trees, the bark of which forms their chief food during the winter; and these heaps are sometimes so large as to rise above the surface of the water, and to contain more than a cartload of provisions. Willow, poplar, and birch are their favourite kinds of bark; and the latter, according to a recent traveller, renders their flesh "the most delicious-eating of any animal in the known world."

Upon the body of the beaver grows that soft glossy fur which used to be so common, woven into hats, caps, bonnets, gloves, and other articles of dress. We know that it was used in England for hat-making more than two hundred years ago; and its value is such, that it is a chief article of traffic with an English trading company

in North America, called the Hudson's Bay Company. The number of the poor beavers which have been sought out and killed is so great, that their stock is considerably diminished. In 1743 the Hudson's Bay Company alone sold 26,750 skins; and 127,080 were imported into Rochelle. Upwards of 170,000 were exported from Canada in 1788; and Quebec alone, in 1808, supplied this country with 126,927, which, at the average price of 18s. 9d. per skin, would produce no less a sum than 118,9947.

CHAPTER XV.

TREES.

readers may be glad

We think that many of our young WE to learn something about the Trees which they see around them in their daily walks; and we propose therefore to give a short account of a few interesting facts connected with trees in general. To say all that could be said on the subject of trees would require a volume instead of a chapter.

If the ripe seed of a tree-for instance, an acorn, which, as everybody knows, is the seed of an oak-be cut open, there will be found a small body, which is the germ of the future tree. When the seed is cast into the ground, the germ swells, bursts the skin of the seed, and begins to grow in two directions-one end of it shooting upwards above the ground, and the other shooting downwards and penetrating into the soil. The part which appears above the ground forms the stem, and the part which penetrates beneath the soil forms the root. The stem throws out branches in all directions, and, in like manner, the root spreads itself underground, often extending to a considerable distance from the stem. The branches bear the leaves and flowers, and from the latter is produced the seed. We shall

have a few words to say upon each of the different parts, and we will begin with the root:

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1. The Root. This is that part of the tree by which it is held in its place, fed, and kept alive. The water which exists in the soil, together with the different substances dissolved in it, is sucked in by the roots, passes into the other parts of the tree, and affords nourishment to the whole plant. The parts of the root which are most active in sucking in the food are the young extremities. It is, in fact, a question whether any other parts have this power; and the reason why trees are so apt to die when transplanted is, that sufficient care is not taken to preserve the extremities of the roots uninjured during the process of moving. The roots have not the power of selecting the food best adapted for keeping the tree in health, and rejecting what is injurious. They will absorb poisons as readily as other substances, provided only the poison be so dissolved as to pass freely into the delicate extremities of the root. Although trees will thus absorb whatever is presented to the roots, yet, in order to flourish, different trees require different sorts of nourishment. We accordingly find that one kind of tree grows best in sandy soils, others in clayey soils, others in chalk, and so forth; the ingredients of each of these different soils forming, when dissolved in water, the particular food best adapted for each particular tree.

*

2. The Stem.-This, as we have stated, is that part of the tree which grows upwards, and from which the branches proceed. The stems of the trees found in our English woods increase in growth year by year, by the formation of new wood on the outside. If the stem of a tree of some years' growth is sawn across, there are seen a number of circles, one within the other, each circle being the formation of a single year. By counting the number of these circles, therefore, the age of the tree may be ascertained. We mention parti

* Ingredients.] The parts of which a thing is made up.

cularly the trees of our English woods, because there are other trees (for instance, palms) which are seen in tropical countries, in which the mode of growth of the stem is quite different from that of our oaks and elms. The different ways in which the branches proceed from the stem, and afterwards spread out into smaller branches, are the cause of the great variety of appearances which are found in different trees. Thus in the cedar the branches spread nearly at right angles with the stem, whilst in the poplar they form a sharp angle. In the birch and willow the branches bend with their own weight, and cause the elegant drooping appearance of those trees.

3. The Leaves.-These may be called the breathing organs of trees; that is to say, it is by means of the leaves that trees inhale, or draw in, from the air around them, the vapour and gases which are necessary to their wellbeing. It is through the leaves, also, that the superfluous vapour and gases which are contained in the tree find a means of escape, or are exhaled. This breathing is accomplished by means of little pores, or breathingholes, which are found on the upper or under surface of the leaves in extraordinary numbers. In the leaves of the white lily, there are about sixty thousand pores in a square inch on the under-surface, and about three thousand in the same space on the upper. The greater part of a leaf is made up of a vast number of little transparent cells or bladders, and the green appearance arises from the colour of a certain waxy substance contained within these cells. The beautiful tints seen upon different leaves in autumn arise from a change of colour in the contents of the cells, caused by the action of the air.

*

4. The Flowers.-We have left ourselves but little

space to speak of the flowers. The flowers of some trees-such as the Elm, the Oak, the Hornbeam, &c.Transparent.] Which may be seen through.

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attract but little notice; others-as the Horse-chestnut, the Hawthorn, and the Laburnum-produce blossoms of very great beauty. The flower is the most essential part of a tree, being the part in which the seed is produced. 5. The Seed.-The seed, as we have mentioned, contains within itself the rudiments* of the future tree. In due time, when fully ripened, it falls to the ground, and remaining buried for a short time, reappears in the form of a young plant, which passes through its stages of growth in a manner precisely similar to the parent tree.

CHAPTER XVI.

EARTHENWARE.

How many useful things owe their origin to the earth upon which we walk! All the cups and saucers, dishes and basins, which we use daily, are made out of the clay and flintstones that we tread under our feet. These useful things have one common name-Earthenware.

First of all, the flints are placed in a kiln, coals are laid between them, and the heap is set on fire. When the flints come out first, they are pounded with heavy irons, and then wetted and ground into powder. In the meantime clay has been mixed with water and ground very fine, and the next step is to mix the flint and clay and to work them up together into a smooth batter if it is meant for fine ware, it is as smooth and soft as cream. This substance is called Slip; it is poured into a flat open oven, and heated until it is sufficiently tough to be well kneaded.

Then the potter takes it in hand with his wheel. A potter's wheel is a low stand with a flat board on the top, which is made to turn round very fast. The potter puts on his board a lump of clay large enough to make * Rudiments.] First beginnings.

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