FEBRUARY.

Now shifting gales, with milder influence, blow,
Cloud o'er the skies, and melt the falling snow;
The soften'd earth with fertile moisture teems,"
And, freed from icy bonds, down rush the swelling

streams.

THE earlier part of this month may still be reckoned winter, though the cold generally begins to abate. The days are now sensibly lengthened, and the sun has power enough gradually to melt away the ice and snow. The hard weather generally breaks up with a sudden thaw, attended by a south wind and rain, which all at once dissolves the snow. Torrents of water then pour from the hills, every brook is swelled into a large stream, which rushes violently into the rivers; the pavement of ice, with which they are covered, now breaks up in every direction with the noise of thunder; and the floating masses, dashed against barges and bridges, force down

every thing that obstructs their passage: the bed of the river becomes unable to carry off this vast accumulation of water; it swells over the banks, floods the bordering fields, and sweeps away cattle, mills, hay-stacks, gates, trees, and, in short, almost every thing that it reaches; the manure is carried off from the fields, high banks with the trees upon them are undermined and give way, and, in the space of a few hours, very great losses are sustained.'

Muttering, the winds at eve, with blunted point,
Blow, hollow-blustering, from the south. Subdued,
The frost resolves into a trickling thaw.

Spotted the mountains shine, loose sleet descends,
And floods the country round. The rivers swell,
Of bonds impatient. Sudden from the hills,
O'er rocks and woods, in broad brown cataracts,
A thousand snow fed torrents rush at once,
And, where they rush, the wide-resounding plain
Is left one slimy waste.

THOMSON.

When the ice which covers a part of the river Danube, has been broken up by the sun's heat, and carried down the stream, it gradually collects in large masses below the city of Vienna, where the banks become narrower; each block of ice is pushed by

the current against the fragments that have gone before, till, at last, the whole has formed a high wall of ice, which extends quite across, and would effectually stop the course of the water and cause it to inundate the surrounding country, if means were not taken to remove it. A train of artillery is brought, and a steady fire, with heavy cannon-balls, is kept up against it, till the whole is battered down, and has left the channel of the river free.

The

The frost, however, usually returns for a time, when fresh snow falls, often in great quantities, and thus the weather alternately changes during most part of this month. Various signs of returning spring occur at different times in February. wood-lark, one of our earliest and sweetest songsters, often renews his note at the very entrance of the month; not long after rooks begin to pair, and geese to lay. The thrush and chaffinch then add to the early music of the groves; wood-owls hoot; near the close of the month, partridges begin to couple, and repair the ravages committed on this devoted race during the autumn and winter. Gnats play about, insects swarm under sunny hedges, and some of the earliest of the butterfly tribe

make their appearance; for though by far the greater proportion of many species of insects perishes at the close of autumn, yet several individuals, probably those that are the latest in their birth, are only rendered torpid by the cold; and the moderate warmth of a bright winter's day, is sufficient to rouse them into activity.

Many plants spring from under ground in February, but few flowers as yet adorn the fields and pastures. Snow-drops are sometimes fully opened from the beginning of the month, and often peep out amidst the

snow.

The alder-tree discloses its flower-buds; the catkins of the hazel are seen in the hedges; young leaves are budding on the gooseberry and currant trees, about the end of the month; and those causes are now in full activity, which produce the springing of plants, and the renewing of vegetable life.

The first vital operation in trees, after the frost is moderated, and the earth sufficiently thawed, is the ascent of the sap, which is taken up by the small vessels or tubes composing the inner bark of the tree, and reaching to the extremity of the fibres at the roots; the water thus taken in by the

roots is there mixed with a quantity of sugary matter, and formed into sap, whence it is distributed in great abundance to every bud. The amazing quantity of sweet liquid sap thus provided by nature for the nourishment of some trees, is evident from a general custom in some countries, of tapping the birch in the early part of spring; thus obtaining from each tree a quart or more of liquor, according to its size, which is fermented into a kind of wine. The same method is also practised in hot countries, to procure the favorite liquor of the inhabitants, palm-wine; and a similar custom is observed in the northern parts of America, with regard to the sugarmaple, the juice of which, boiled down, yields a rich sugar, each tree affording about three pounds. This great quantity of nourishment causes the bud to swell, to break through its covering, and to spread into blossoms, or lengthen into a shoot bearing leaves. This is the first process, and properly speaking, is all that belongs to the springing or lengthening of trees; and in many plants, particularly those which are annual, or fall every year, there is no other process; the plant sucks in juices from the earth, and in proportion to