“On the other hand, the different series which cover them, sometimes contain the remains of vegetables and animals imbedded in them; or sometimes they are made up of broken fragments of the primitive rocks, cemented together in a new form; and these are therefore considered to be of a subsequent and secondary origin. Geologists, however, having observed that between the primitive rocks, and those which exhibit most distinctly the characters of the secondary class, there are others partaking of the nature of both, and containing comparatively but few organic remains, have distinguished them by the title of transition rocks. And the rocks which are above this transition series, they call floetz rocks; a German term, implying their having been deposited in horizontal beds, or strata; while the strata of the older rocks were generally inclined at considerable angles. These floetz rocks were again subdivided into old floetz and new floetz; and to the new floetz other writers have given the name tertiary.
“Though the distribution into the five series or orders, which I gave you, is, I think, the arrangement best suited to the science, yet it is necessary that you should recollect these other terms, because they are alluded to in almost every work to which you will have to refer. But I have given you quite enough for your first lesson.”
As soon as I came back from our walk, I wrote down all I could recollect of what my uncle had told us; and I have transcribed it here, in hopes that it may interest dear Marianne: this, at all events, will fix it more firmly in my own head.
22nd.—My aunt has just had some small plants of the rosa Banksiæ put in the stove.—This rose tree grows in the most rapid manner out of doors, and is a great ornament to the conservatory, one end of which it covers entirely with its bunches of small white flowers tinged with pink. It produced some shoots last autumn, of nine or ten feet in length, which the gardener bent downwards, and laying them in the ground, he conducted them towards the adjoining wall, to which he nailed up the ends. They now look healthy and have fine swelling buds, as if they would soon be in a very flourishing state. He has found that the way to manage this rose is to plant it in a sandy loam, and to keep it very closely nailed to the wall, just like the Morella cherry.
I take great pleasure in watching the progress of the garden. The peach blossoms are really opening, and are lovely. The gardener has been very busy protecting them from the harsh winds, and from rain and hail, by woollen nettings stretched completely over them. But my uncle is always trying some pretty experiments; and one small tree is covered, or at least its blossoms are covered, by wool attached to the branches. Another is covered by small branches of birch, about two feet long, which were collected as soon as the leaves were full grown, in the end of June, and preserved under cover. There are studs in the wall, which project eight or ten inches, and to these the birchen branches are nailed with shreds. In order to try these experiments fairly, the trees which he has selected for them are on the same wall and in the same aspect.
We have been watching the tomtits, and find that they really do eat up the insects and larvæ that would be destructive to the blossoms; but I cannot say so much for the pretty, but mischievous bulfinch, which too often amuses itself in picking off the flower-buds.
What endless entertainment, mamma, there is in observing the operations of the birds! For some days we had heard a bird in the low wet grounds, for ever going on with two notes, like the whetting of a saw; and at last we traced it to a place by the river side, where there are some willow trees, and the remains of an orchard. We found it nestling in the decayed stems. Mary pronounced it to be the little black-capped marsh titmouse. We went two or three times to the old orchard, where we saw it very busy picking off little chips, in order to deepen a hole in a decayed willow tree for its nest; and I am told, that it makes the bottom much larger than the entrance.
The birds of passage which came here for winter are now all taking their departure; and others will, I suppose, soon replace them. Frederick often points out large flocks of them at a great height; but it is the charming singing birds that interest me: the blackbird, for instance, with his sweet whistle; and the thrush, who constantly varies his song. But still more, the missel thrush, the largest of the species, who, perched on a lofty tree, warbles a loud carol to the coming Spring, with a very strong note. This bird is eleven inches long, and Frederick shewed me that it is distinguished by its having the three outer tail-feathers tipped with white.—It goes as far north, he says, as Norway; and is common in Russia. It is welcomed here as the harbinger of spring, and yet the country people call it the storm cock, because it is sometimes heard in stormy weather, drowning the voice of the other birds. It is particularly fond of building in old ash trees overgrown with lichens.
23rd.—Franklin is going to have several hives of bees, and is preparing an enclosure for them, in which there will be some of their favourite flowers; it is placed near a rivulet, as they use a great deal of water. They are particularly fond of mignonette, thyme, mustard when left to go to seed, turnips, white clover, and beans of all kinds. These are their principal favourites; and it is said they afford the purest honey. Rosemary too is a favourite, but seldom produces much honey in this country, unless the season be warm and dry. It is worth cultivating, however, my aunt says, being one of the principal plants which gives the flavour to the famous Narbonne honey. She has had some planted in the warmest part of the bee enclosure, or Franklin’s apiary, as Frederick calls it. There are several lime, poplar, and berberry trees, planted round it; and a broom hedge is sown outside.
In a new swarm, their first care is to build cells to serve as cradles; and very little honey is collected, until an ample store of bee-bread has been laid up for their food. This is composed of the pollen or dust of the anthers of flowers, which the workers are constantly employed in gathering. They fly from flower to flower, to collect it in the little baskets formed of hair, with which their hind legs are provided; and having deposited their booty in the hive, they return for a new load. This bee-bread, after it has been received into the bees’ second stomach, is brought up again, changed into a whitish jelly; and with that substance, the young brood are diligently fed by other bees, till they change into nymphs.