those of others. In general, however, different grasses are suited to different soils; and by improving soils, the quality of the grass is improved.

G. Does grass grow in all countries? T. Yes the green turf, which naturally covers fertile soils of all countries, is chiefly composed of grasses of various kinds. They form, therefore, the verdant carpet extended over the earth; and, humble as they are, they contribute more to beauty and utility, than any other part of the vegetable creation. H. What-more than trees?

T. Yes, certainly. A land entirely covered with trees would be gloomy, unwholesome, and scarcely inhabitable; whereas the meadow, the down, and the corn-field, afford the most agreeable prospects to the eye, and furnish every necessary, and many of the luxuries of life. Give us corn and grass, and what shall we want for food?

H. Let me see-what should we have? There's bread and flour for

puddings. G. Ay, and milk, for you know cows live on grass and hay-so there's cheese and butter, and all things that are made of milk.

T. And are there not all kinds of meat too, and poultry? And then for drink, there are beer and ale, which are made from barley. For all these we are chiefly indebted to the grasses.

G. Then I am sure we are very much obliged to the grasses.

T. Well-let us now walk homewards. Some time hence you shall make a collection of all the kinds of grasses, and learn to know them from each other.

A TEA LECTURE.

Tutor-Pupil.

Tut. COME-the tea is ready. Lay by your book, and let us talk a littleYou have assisted in tea-making a great many times, and yet I dare say you never considered what kind of an operation it was.

Pup. An operation of cookery-is

it not?

Tut. You may call it so; but it is properly an operation of chemistry. Pup. Of chemistry! I thought that had been a very deep sort of a business. Tut. O-there are many things in common life that belong to the deepest of sciences. Making tea is the chemical operation called infusion, which is, when a hot liquor is poured upon a

substance in order to extract something from it. The water, you see, extracts from the tea-leaves their colour, taste, and flavour.

Pup. Would not cold water do the same ?

Tut. It would, but more slowly. Heat assists almost all liquors in their power of extracting the virtues of herbs and other substances. Thus good house-wives were formerly used to boil their tea, in order to get all the goodness from it as completely as possible. The greater heat and agitation of boiling make it act more powerfully. The liquor in which a substance has been boiled is called a decoction of that substance.

Pup. Then we had a decoction of mutton at dinner to-day.

Tut. We had-broth is a decoction, and so are gruel and barley-water. But when any thing is put to steep in a cold

liquor, it is called maceration.

The

ingredients of which ink is made are macerated. In all these cases, you see, the whole substance does not mix with the liquor, but only part of it. The reason is, that part of it is soluble in the liquor, and part not.

Pup. What is the meaning of that? Tut. Solution is when a solid put into a fluid entirely disappears in it, leaving the liquor clear. Thus when I throw this lump of sugar into my tea, you see it gradually wastes away till it is all gone, and then I can taste it in every single drop of my tea; but the tea is as clear as before.

Pup. Salt would do the same.

Tut. It would. But if I were to throw in a lump of chalk, it would lie undissolved at the bottom.

Pup. But it would make the water white.

Tut. True, while it was stirred; and