The Work Of Nature In The Months.

Can ever fling such zeal and zest Into the tiny hand and breast . Who does not recollect the hours AVheu burning words aud praises Were lavished on those shining flowers , ' Buttercups and Daisies' ?

" There seems a bright and fairy spell About their very names to dwell ; And though old Time has marked my brow AVith care aud thought , I love them now . Smile , if ye will , but some heart-strings Are closest linked to simple things ; And these wild flowers will hold mine fast , Till love , and life , and all be past :

And then the only wish I have Is , that the one who raises The turf-sod o'er me , plant my grave AVith ' Buttercups and Daisies . '"

Leaving now , for a little Avhile , sentiment , let us seek to learn somewhat of our flower-friends themselves . Upon the Daisy Ave have dwelt more than once , for it is an almost universal blossomer , although UOAV in the greatest profusion of bloom , for" Of every moneth in the year , To mirthful May there is no peer . " We may , liQAveverlinger a short time over the Buttercupfor its relatives—the

Crow-, , foots—are a numerous family ; " King-cups , " " Gold-cups , " '' Cuckoo-buds , " and " Marybuds , " Shakespeare and other writers used to prettily name them . The Buttercup , proper , has a bulbous root , which possesses emetic properties ; this " virtue" (!) is not ivanting in other parts of the plant , nor indeed in other members of the family , as many a naturalist , AVIIO has nmvarily cheAved the leaves or flowers , has found to his cost ; his parched and heated tongue and throatto say nothing of the uneasiness in other

, portions of his internal economy , having as much diminished his day ' s pleasure as the " lop " of tho " calm " sea has often disturbed the serenity of the marine brother of Avorthy old Izaac Walton . Besides the bulbous Crowfoot , or Buttercup , there are the Creeping Cro \ A'foot and the Upright Meadow Crowfoot , AA'hich will blister the mouth of cattle happening to broivse upon their leaves ; whilst the little yelloiv variety has even

been knoAvn to kill sheep that have eaten it ; so poisonous is it that three ounces of its juice has proved fatal to a clog in three minutes ; this kind may be recognized by the very large , prickly , seed-vessels that succeed the fioAver . Another species , the Celery-leaved Crowfoot , which has stout juicy stems and bright glossy leaves , but very small flowers , grows by the side of streams ancl ditches ; laid upon the skin , this fknver Avill raise a blister , ancl most unpleasant inflammatory symptoms will even folloiv its

being carried in the hand ; the juice of the bulbous kind , applied to the nose , -will induce sneezing . Altogether Ave have no less than fifteen species of this plant groAving Avild . Here , Ave must not pass oi'er a relative of the Buttercup , which , if little and humble , is pretty : we mean the green-flowering Mousetail , which may be found on the borders of cornfields ; it derives its name from the shape of its clusters of seed-vessels . An easy step brings us to a close neihbourif not a relativeof the Croivfootthe

g , , , Poppy . Who does not knoiv the huge expanse of colour shoivn by this common plant ] For there is perhaps no more beautiful or brilliant effect produced upon the face of Nature than Avhen the breeze , sweeping over the ivide expanse of the cornfield , produces alternate AA'aves of scarlet and green or gold . Who again can fail to call to mind the cautious dread ivith Avhich in childhood ' s days we handled the

" Corn Poppies , that in crimson dwell Called Head-aches , from their sickly smell "very fearful that too close contact might result in such a headache as would bring our holiday ramble to an abrupt close ? The Poppy takes its scientific name from the