(The words from "Ballads for the Times," by M. F. Tupper, Esq.) KEY F. M. 96.

parts of the tune are repeated, so that it is not so long as it
looks. If you find the "second" part of the tune low for your
voice, pitch the key-note a little higher. Be careful to point on
the modulator from memory. Remember that every tune, thus
thoroughly learnt, becomes a power by which others will be
You need not attempt the words yet.
more easily mastered.
When you do, let those printed in CAPITALS be sung with
increased force and loudness of voice, and those in italics with in-
creased softness. [The square note is used to indicate the place
of DOH at the beginning of the staff, but it is not to be sung.
The place of DоH, being thus once marked, is not afterwards
indicated by a square note as in previous exercises. The pupil
must learn to keep the place of DоH in his mind. The notes
with a tail to the stem are to be sung half as long as those
without the tail.]

71. The sound of am and an, em and en, im and in, is represented by the letters anh, and is like the sound of the letters an in the English words an-chor and can-ker, with an effort to speak through the nose, as it is termed. But be particular to avoid the sound of English g in all nasals.

There is, strictly speaking, a real difference between the nasal sounds of an, en, and in, but it is so slight, and so peculiarly delicate, that scarcely any one not a native Frenchman can detect and describe it intelligibly. In common reading and conversation, these nasals above-mentioned have but one sound, viz., that which has been assigned them in our previous Lessons. It is considered correct enough for all practical purposes. When extraordinary nicety of pronunciation is demanded, as is always the case in using the language of prayer, and in holy and devotional language, the a of the nasals am and an should be pronounced broader than the e or i in the nasals em, en, im, and in. In the former case, let the a have the sound of ah; in the latter, the sound of a in the word fat.

The sound of om and on is represented by the letters onh,

Sometimes this diphthong has the sound of a in the English and is like the sound of the letters on in the English word conword fat, viz. :

This last illustration, however, is not strictly correct, because it does not preserve the distinct sound of the French u, which sound, especially in combination, many Frenchmen themselves are not careful to preserve. In common conversation, this diphthong sounds like an English w.

quer, uttered with an effort to speak through the nose, as it is termed.

The sound of um and un is represented by the letters unh, and is like the sound of the letters un in the English word un-cle, uttered with an effort to speak through the nose.

Concerning these nasals, remember these two general rules, viz. :

Rule 1.-Single m's and n's followed by vowels are not nasals.

Rule 2.-When the m and n are doubled, the nasality is destroyed.

Exceptions to this last Rule will appear in their proper places. We now proceed to illustrate these nasal sounds, commencing with examples in which the sounds am and an are found.

FRENCH.
Ambassade
Ambre

Chambre

In French words commencing with qua, the diphthong ua has two different sounds. In some the sound of ua would be illustrated by the letters koua or k'wa, but in others by ka, viz. :Quadrangle is pronounced kouah-dranh-gl', or k'wah-dranh-gl. Quadrature, a geometrical phrase, is pronounced kouah-dra- FRENCH. ture, or k'wah-dra-ture. But the same word, used as a term of horology, is pronounced kah-dra-ture.

Quai, a wharf, is pronounced kay. Quaiche, a naval term, meaning a ketch, is pronounced kaish. Until the learner has become really familiar with the French language, the surest way to be correct in the use and pronunciation of words commencing with qua, will be to consult a dictionary.

UE.-Name, re. Sound: this diphthong occurs most frequently as the final letters of French words, after the consonants g and q, in which cases both are silent.

When final, and before other consonants, they have the usual sound of the French u.

UI.-Name, we. Sound: this diphthong has the combined sound of the French u, together with that of French i, which latter is like the letters ce in the English word bee.

Ancêtres

Cantique

Sans
Quand

Aim, ain, and ein have each the nasal sound of an, represented by anh. The reason will be obvious, if we but dissect these combinations, which we now proceed to do, viz. :

In the first, aim, ai is equivalent in sound to a only; hence, substituting a for ai in the combination aim, we have simply am, whose sound has been explained.

In the second, ain, its sound is represented by anh, for the

same reason.

In the third, ein, ei is equivalent only to a in sound; hence, substituting a in the place of ei in the combination ein, we have an, whose sound is represented by anh.

Again, ean and oan have each the nasal sound represented by the letters anh.

Aen in the proper name Caen have also the sound of an, represented by the letters anh; hence the word Caen is pronounced Kanh.

The following will afford good examples in illustration of the nasal vowel sounds em and en:

Like the sound of e mute.

In past ages these tree-ferns must have been amongst the most numerous of vegetable productions. Coal, we need hardly say, is well known to be nothing more than the remains of vegetable substances, so long buried under great pressure in the earth that they have changed to the condition in which we at present find them. Notwithstanding the change of quality, yet in many cases the original shape of the vegetable has not undergone alteration. So that a person sufficiently acquainted with Botany can readily tell the kind of plant from which any specimen of coal under consideration has been formed.

Although fronds are the substitutes for leaves in ferns and several other cryptogamic plants, nevertheless these organs are not the universal substitutes; but the general complexity of cryptogamic plants, the microscopic nature of these organs, and the comparatively limited acquaintance with this division of the vegetable world, render it undesirable to state much concerning them in a series of papers like these, in which so many tribes of flowering plants claim our notice.

SECTION XII. - ON THE REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS OF
PLANTS: THE FLOWER AND ITS APPENDAGES.

look at and agreeable to smell, the botanist is obliged frequently to destroy them before he can make himself acquainted with the peculiarities of their structure; that is to say, he is obliged to cut or pull their various organs from their attachments; this operation is termed dissection. Presently, then, we shall have to dissect a flower and learn its various parts. As a preliminary to this examination, however, it will be necessary that the learner should make himself acquainted with some general terms employed in this department of Botany.

First of all, then, the manner in which flowers are arranged upon any plant is termed the inflorescence of that plant. By this term botanists understand not merely the flower itself, but various appendages to the flower; in short, the term inflorescence has a very wide signification.

SECTION XIV.-MANNER IN WHICH FLOWERS ARE
ATTACHED.

The attachment of flowers to the parent stem usually takes place through the intervention of a little branch-like appendage, to which the term peduncle, or occasionally pedicel, is applied. The reader will therefore remember that a peduncle or pedicel

Having written what is necessary concerning the nutritive stands to a flower in the same relation as a petiole to a leaf. It

parts of plants, we shall now de-
scribe their reproductive members,
the flower and its appendages. It
would be folly, indeed, to describe
formally what is meant by a flower,
but the purposes to which a flower
is designed in the economy of vege-
table nature will require our atten-
tive consideration. Without flowers
there could be no fruit; without
fruit there can be no seed; and
without the latter the greater num-
ber of vegetables could not be
multiplied. The reason, then, for
denominating flowers the reproduc-
tive organs of plants will be mani-
fest. To state this fact, that flowers
are the reproductive portions of a
plant, is very easy. To demon-
strate, however, the elaborate means
by which the functions of reproduc-
tion are discharged is very difficult.
Indeed, the laws affecting the mul-
tiplication of animals and vegetables
are so similar in many respects,
that many of the terms employed
in this department of Botany are
borrowed from the sister studies of
animal anatomy and physiology;
and without some preliminary know-
ledge of these sciences it would be
next to impossible to make the
reader comprehend the intricacies of vegetable reproductions.
We therefore shall not attempt to deal with these intricacies,
but shall content ourselves by saying that all plants most pro-
bably, certainly all evidently-flowering or phænogamous plants,
possess sexes, and these sexes are usually in the same plant, in
the same flower of the plant. Occasionally, however, the two
sexes are on different flowers, and sometimes on different
plants. We may, therefore, popularly say, that the greater
number of flowers contain both gentlemen and ladies; but occa-
sionally, on some plants, the gentlemen and ladies have flowers,
each sex to itself; and occasionally, again, the gentlemen mono-
polise all the flowers on one plant, and the ladies all the flowers
on the other. When the two sexes reside in two sets of flowers
on one plant, then such a plant is said to be monacious, from two
Greek words, uovos (pronounced mon'-os) and oxos (pronounced
o-kos), signifying "one house;" the plant, we suppose, being
regarded as a house, and the flowers as chambers in the same.
When, however, the males all reside in the flowers of one plant,
and the females in all the flowers of another, then such plants
are said to be diacious, or "two-housed," the reason of which
will be obvious.

59. TREE FERN.

SECT. XIII.-ANATOMICAL EXAMINATION OF A FLOWER.
Pleasing objects of contemplation as flowers are, beautiful to

is also called the primary axis of inflorescence, and the flower-stalks which spring from it are called the secondary, tertiary, etc., axes. These pedicels or flower-stalks are arranged on various plants in different ways, and thus give rise to various terms indicative of the nature of inflorescence. The word peduncle is derived from the low Latin pedunculus, a little foot, while pedicel is derived from the Latin pediculus, which has the same meaning. Both words are diminutives of the Latin pes, a foot.

The inflorescence, or mode of flowering, is said to be definite or terminal when the primary axis is terminated by a flower. When the original stem goes on growing in a straight line, giving off as it proceeds little flower-shoots or secondary, axes of various degrees on either side, but does not terminate in a flower, then the term indefinite inflorescence is applied; the propriety of which term will be ob vious. The term axillary is sometimes given to this condition of inflorescence. If the reader glance for an instant at Fig. 60 in the opposite page, he will be at no loss to comprehend what is meant by indefinite or axillary inflorescence. The reader will here please to observe the little leaf-like things from the axilla (or junctions with the primary axis) of which the flower-peduncles spring in this example. Such leaf-like appendages are frequently to be seen attached to the peduncles of many flowers. They are called bracts, from the Latin bractea, a thin plate of metal, and although their usual appearance is green like a leaf, yet they sometimes undergo very strange modifications. Thus, the pineapple, which we discovered long ago to be no fruit, is, in reality, nothing more than an assemblage of fleshy bracts, and the scale of the fir-cone is nothing more than hard leathery bracts. In proportion as bracts are developed nearer to a flower, so does their natural green colour give place to the colour of the flower itself. Occasionally the flower actually springs from the upper surface of a bract, as in the case of the linden (Fig. 61).

Sometimes bracts unite at the base of each group of flowers, and on the same plane, as, for example, we find it in the carrot. This association of bracts gives rise to what botanists term the involucrum, a Latin word, which is derived from volvo, to wrap or roll, and which means anything that serves to wrap

or cover.

Under he classification indefinite inflorescence are compre

60. AXILLARY INFLORESCENCE.

61. FLOWER OF THE LINDEN TREE-BRACT CONSOLIDATED WITH THE PEDUNCLE. 62. RACEME OF THE CURRANT. 63. COMPOUND RACEME OF THE HORSE CHESTNUT. 64. CORYMB OF THE MAHALEB CHERRY. 65. SIMPLE UMBEL OF THE COMMON CHERRY. 66. COMPOUND UMBEL OF THE COMMON FENNEL. 67. DICHOTOMOUS CYME. 68. CORYMEOUS CAPITULUM OF GROUNDSEL 69. COMPOUND SPIKE OF WHEAT. 70. SIMPLE SPIKE OF THE VERVAIN. 71. CAPITULUM OF THE SCABIOUS. 72. CORYMBOUS CYME OF THE HAWTHORN. 73. FASCICULE OF THE MALLOW. 74. UMBELLAR CYME OF THE CELANDINE.