Because seeds are, as it were, provided with various wings for seizing on the breeze. The thistle and dandelion are familiar examples of this mode of dissemination. "How little," Sir J.E. Smith observes, "are children aware, as they blow away the seeds of dandelion, or stick burs in sport upon each other's clothes, that they are fulfilling one of the great ends of nature." Dr. Woodward calculates, that one seed of the common spear thistle will produce "at the first crop, twenty-four thousand, and consequently five hundred and twenty-six millions of seeds, at the second." Some plants discharge their seeds. Thus, a certain fungus has the property of ejecting its seeds with great force and rapidity, and with a loud cracking noise, and yet it is no bigger than a pin's head! _Why is a milky fluid found in the cocoa-nut?_ Because in this case, as well as in a few others, all the fluids destined to nourish the embryo of the fruit does not harden, whence a greater or less quantity of this kind of mild emulsion is contained within the kernel. _Why are certain eatable roots unfit for the table when the plants have flowered?_ Because the mucus or proper juice in the tubular cells being appropriated for perfecting the flower stem, the flower, and the fruit, is absorbed as the fructification of the stem advances; and, as these are perfected, the cells are emptied, and their sides become ligneous. _Why is the Jerusalem Artichoke so called?_ Because of its corruption from its Italian name, _Girasole Articiocco_, sunflower artichoke, as the plant was first brought from Peru to Italy, and thence propagated throughout Europe.--_Smith._ * * * * * AMERICAN MANNERS. We suspect certain pages of Mrs. Trollope's _Domestic Manners of the Americans_ to be highly coloured, but they are cleverly written, and will be read with considerable interest. _A Backwoodsman._