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 LIBRARY FOR THE YOUNG, 
 
 THE FIELD, THE GARDEN, 
 
 AND 
 
 THE WOODLAND,
 
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 THE FIELD, THE GAllDEN 
 
 AND 
 
 THE AVOODLAND: 
 
 INTERESTING FACTS 
 
 RESPKCTING 
 
 FLOWERS AND PLANTS IN GENERAL. 
 
 DESIGNED FOR THE YOUNG. 
 BY A LADY. 
 
 Sometliing to please and sometliiug to instruct, 
 K'en from ihe meanest weed." 
 
 LONDON: 
 CHARLES KNIGHT & CO., LUDGATE STREET. 
 
 MDCCCXXXVni.
 
 LONPON: 
 
 Printed by William Clowes aud Sons, 
 
 Stamford Street.
 
 TO 
 HER NEPHEW, 
 
 THIS LITTLE WORK IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED 
 
 BY 
 
 HIS FRIEND AND RELATIVE 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 2091 1 14
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The design of the following work is to pre- 
 sent to the young reader several interesting 
 facts, with which the Botanist becomes 
 acquainted in the pursuit of science. By 
 stating them in a familiar form to the un- 
 learned, the author hopes to awaken some 
 interest in the study and observation of 
 nature — a study alike elevating and con- 
 solins: in its influences on the mind. 
 
 It has been her object, throughout the 
 work, to direct the attention to the wisdom 
 and goodness of God, as exhibited in the 
 structure and arrangement of the vegetable 
 kingdom ; and to demonstrate the confirm- 
 ation which is added by Nature to the 
 doctrine declared by Eevelation, of a super- 
 intending Providence.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 Introductory Remarks — Scarlet Pimpernel — Regular unfolding 
 of Flowers — Linnaeus — Dial of Flowers — Sun-flower — Even- 
 ing Primrose — Sensibility to Rain in the Rose of Jericho — 
 Wild Convolvulus — Phosphorescent Light in the Tuberose — 
 Daisy— Remarks on a Superintending Providence . . 1 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 Dispersion of Seeds— Dandelion — Its Uses — Travellers' Joy — 
 Common Burdock — Explanation of terms Corolla and Calyx — 
 Common Avens — Furze — Beans and Peas — Nuts — Seed-vessel 
 of the Violet — Touch-me-not — Genipa Tree — Pot Tree — Mo- 
 lucca Beans— Guernsey Lily— Treason high Rocks — Beauties 
 of a Meadow ......... 18 
 
 LETTER III. 
 Profuseness of Vegetation — The Ivy — Effect of planting Trees 
 — Effect of cutting down Trees — Dropping of Water from 
 Trees — Tree in the Canary Islands — Clove Tree — Preservation 
 of Seeds — Abundance of Seeds — Uses of Seeds as Food — 
 Beauty of Fruits — Fondness of Children for Fruit — Origin of 
 several Fruits— Berries of Cold Countries — Mountain Ash- 
 Grasses — Corn Plants — Bread in Kamschatka — Bread in 
 South America — Bread Fruit Tree — Date Palm — Grasses con- 
 stituting verdure 37
 
 X CONTENTS. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 The Woods — ^listletoc — Means of Dispersion — Method of ger- 
 minating—Druids — Value of Knowledge — De<king Houses 
 with Mistletoe — Appearance of Woods in Winter — Parasitic 
 Plants — Dodder — Broom Rape — Climbing Plants — False Pa- 
 rasites — Orchis Plants 75 
 
 LETTER V. 
 Eoots — Parts of Roots — Uses of Roots — Couch Grass — Adapta- 
 tion of Roots to Soils — Sea-side Grasses — Riband Grass — 
 Upright Sea Lyme Grass — Foxtail Grass — Incursions of Sand 
 — Differences of Soils — Plants of the Mountain— Plants of the 
 Valley — Locality of Some Plants — Crocus — Preony — Varieties 
 in Colour of Flowers— Milk Vetch— Hibiscus Mutabilis— Shoe 
 Flower — Plants of Torrid Zone — Tree Ferns— Plants of Africa 
 — Plants of America — Plants of Cold Countries— Love of Home 
 — Lines on the Violet 97 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 Early Morning Walk — Anemone — Lily of the Valley — Snow- 
 drop — Sweet Woodruff — Melelot — Hay-field — Melancholy 
 Flowers — Flowers of Ceylon — Lime Tree — Scent of Tropical 
 Flowers — Flowers on the Senegal — Love of the Rose in 
 Eastern Countries — Love of Perfumes — Mound of Roses iu 
 Persia — Rose Gardens — Betel Leaf— Balm of Gilead— Use of 
 Perfumes among the Ancient Hebrews — Among the Greeks 
 and Romans — Fragrance of bruised Plants — Uses of Fra- 
 grance — Carrion Flowers — M'ater Dropwort — Poison Ash — 
 Existence of Poisons no Argument against tlie Benevolence of 
 God — L^ses of Flowers in the East as Expressions of Feeling- 
 Gardens in the East— Uses of Flowers among the Greeks and 
 Romans— Uses of Flowers in Cemeteries — Allusion to Flowers 
 in Poetry • 132 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 The Sea— Effects of Sea Air on Vegetation— Saline Plants- 
 Sycamore Tree — Cocoa-uut Tree — Man;^rove — Rosemary —
 
 CONTENTS. XI 
 
 Tamarisk — Yellow horned Poppy — Sea Lavender — Thrift — 
 Samphire — Glaucous Foliage — Sea ^Veeds — Plants yielding 
 Soda — Carrageen Moss — Salt in the Soil, Opinion of the 
 Ancients respecting ........ 179 
 
 LETTER Vin. 
 Sap — Vegetable Secretions — Milk — Opium — Excessive Use of 
 Opium in Turkey — Poppy — Milk-bearing Tree — Sugar — Acid 
 — Wood Sorrel — Gentian — Wood Sage— Flint in Plants — 
 Horsetail— Resins — Gums — Asafoetida— Indian Rubber— Oil — 
 Attar of Roses-Uses of Oils-Olive Tree- Wax Palm— Tallow 
 Tree-Soap Rerry-British Soap Wort— Cotton Plant-Tree 
 yielding Wool 200 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 Country Walk— Fuller's Teasel— Evil of Superstition- Water in 
 Teasel Leaf — Pitcher Plant— Wild Pine— Caves on the Andes 
 — Riverside— Effect of Streams on Vegetation— Water Lily- 
 Yellow Water Lily— Water Arrow-head— Love of the Countrj- — 
 Water Plantain— Persicaria—Forget-menot— Meadow Sweet- 
 Purple Loosestrife — Silver Weed — Weeping Willow — Poplar — 
 Legend respecting the Aspen— Alder 247 
 
 LETTER X. 
 Umbelliferous Plants— General Appearance— Pith in Plants- 
 Influence of Moist Situations— Wild Carrot— Coriander— An- 
 gelica— Poisons— Hemlock— Water Dropwort— Fatal Effects of 
 Poison— Appearance of poisonous Plants— Christmas Rose- 
 Wild Hellebore —Foxglove— Monkshood— Nightshade— Nettle 
 —Uses of Nettles 273 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 leaves — Various Forms— Surfaces— Covering of Hair— Structure 
 of Leaves— Seed-vessel of Winter Cherry— Uses of Leaves- 
 Perspiration of Plants— Evergreens— Shadow afforded by Trees 
 of Tropical Countries— Uses of Leaves by the Hindoos— Leaves
 
 Xll CONTENTS. 
 
 of Talipot Palm— Leaves formerly used for writing upon— Use 
 of Leaves in protecting the Tree— Fall of the Leaf— Beauties 
 of Autumn— Effect of Liglit on Leaves— Sensitive Plant— 
 Venus's Fly-trap- Quick Growth of Plants— Use of Leaves in 
 Persia— Olive Leaf brought to Noah— Effect of Trees on Land- 
 scape— Liues on the Oak 292 
 
 LETTER XIL 
 Gigantic Vegetation— Baobab— Great Age— Caverns in Interior 
 —Opening of its Blossoms— Form of its Branches- Concluding 
 Remarks 311
 
 THE FIELD, THE GARDEN, 
 
 AND 
 
 THE WOODLAND. 
 
 Letter I. 
 
 Introductory Remarks — Scarlet Pimpernel — Regular unfolding of 
 Flowers —Linnjeus — Dial of Flowers — Evening Primrose — 
 Sensibility to Rain in the Rose of Jericho— Wild Convolvulus 
 — Tuberose — Daisy — Remarks on a superintending Providence. 
 
 My dear John, 
 
 The following letters are not written with a 
 design of teaching you Botany, but with a view of 
 directing your attention to several interesting 
 facts respecting plants, in order that you may at 
 some future time be induced to pursue a study 
 which will open to you a source of deep and con-
 
 2 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 tinual interest, and strengthen that love of flowers 
 and plants which is natural to 3-ou. I say that it 
 is natural to you, because I believe that all chil- 
 dren, even those at a very early age, are fond of 
 flowers. To ramble about among the meadows, 
 gathering those early favourites the buttercup and 
 daisy, or to search the hedge-bank for the blue 
 violet, fills their hearts wdth delight; and few 
 children as they grow older (especially those who 
 reside in the country, or visit it occasionally) are 
 indifferent respecting the names, properties, and 
 uses of jilants. As the love of flowers forms a 
 pleasure not only innocen but improving — since 
 all the works of God are very beautiful and de- 
 serving careful attention — T shall tell you a few 
 things respecting the flowers that you will find in 
 the fields and hedges, as well as some facts relative 
 to plants of foreign countries, which you will be 
 able to understand without previous study; and 
 with which my own observation of nature, and 
 mv acquaintance with the works of others, may 
 have rendered me familiar. 
 
 Although I have selected this portion of nature
 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 3 
 
 for my remarks, I trust that your attention will 
 not be confined to plants. Not only every flower 
 that blows, but every bird and insect that wino-s 
 the air, or creeps on the earth, contains within 
 itself a beauty and mechanism, unseen by the care- 
 less, which bespeak alike the wisdom and good- 
 ness of God. The pursuits of nature wdll be 
 beneficial to your health, by inducing you to seek 
 the open air; and useful to your character, by 
 leading you to feel interested in facts, and to 
 observe them with accuracy. They may influence 
 your happiness by giving you a large and addi- 
 tional means of enjoyment. " Happy are they," 
 says the refined and elegant Gray, " who can 
 create a rose-tree, or erect a honeysuckle : who 
 can watch the brood of a hen, or a fleet of their 
 own ducklings as they sail upon the water !" 
 
 One great value of this kind of happiness is, 
 that it is, more than almost any other, independent 
 of circumstances. You derive pleasure from social 
 intercourse, but your friends may be removed 
 from you by death, or separated by distance, 
 and some of them may even be changed in feel- 
 
 B 2
 
 4 SCARLET PIMPERNEL. 
 
 ing towards you. Your riches may take to them- 
 selves wings and fly away, and be no longer your 
 own ; but the green meadows will still be yours, 
 and the blue skies will still be spread over them, 
 and you may wander among the fields, and as 
 you examine their various beauties, remember that 
 He who formed and daily preserves them is taking 
 care of you. I wish you to cultivate a cheerful 
 and orateful feelina; — a feelins; which cannot be- 
 long to the indolent, but which attends the reflec- 
 tion of an hour well improved. With the book of 
 nature spread open before you, and the book of 
 God for a commentary upon it, surely you ought 
 never to feel sad or lonely. 
 
 One of the prettiest little flowers that adorns 
 the sides of lanes, but spreads itself more especi- 
 ally among the corn-fields, is the scarlet pimper- 
 nel {Anacjdllis arvhisls). This small flower, 
 and the common red poppy {Papdver rhceas), 
 are the only instances of bright scarlet blossoms 
 among our British plants. This brilliant colour 
 seems to require the warm sun of the Tropics, 
 since in those countries, where great heat prevails,
 
 UNFOLDING OF FLOWERS. 5 
 
 flowers of the most brilliant scarlet hang in large 
 clusters upon the trees,' or adorn the earth ; while 
 birds with red plumage hop from tree to tree, 
 and give a lustre to the landscape unknown in 
 England. 
 
 The pimpernel flowers in June and July very 
 generally in all parts of England. Its leaves are 
 of an oval shape, and are spotted on the under 
 surfaces; it opens in warm sunny mornings at 
 about eight o'clock, and shuts up its blossoms to- 
 wards noon : so that should you seek it in your 
 early morning walk, you will find only the bright 
 red bud, peeping out from its green cup, and 
 when it unfolds its purple eye to the sun, it may 
 serve to remind you that it is the time for return- 
 ing to your breakfast. 
 
 By carefully watching the flowers, you will 
 soon perceive an order in nature which proves 
 that they are directed by an intelligent Being ; as 
 many flowers have their regular times of expand- 
 ing and closing every day. Linnaeus, the cele- 
 brated naturalist, who devoted a considerable 
 portion of his life to the study and arrangement
 
 6 DIAL OF FLOWERS. 
 
 of plants, had so accurately marked their various 
 times of opening, that he made a dial of flowers, 
 by planting them in such a manner as that at 
 each succeeding hour a blossom should unfold; 
 and thus, from morning to evening, the time was 
 indicated by this delicate monitor. Linnaeus, in- 
 deed, seldom needed a watch or clock. To his 
 eye the different aspects of nature were so familiar, 
 that one glance upon a meadow or a hedge-bank 
 was usually sufncient for his direction. How- 
 many will walk or ride for hours in the country 
 without adding one idea to those already acquired, 
 and to whom the opening or closing of a flower- 
 bud will seem a matter of mere accident quite 
 unworthy attention I 
 
 " The primrose on the river's brim, 
 A yellow primrose is to him ; 
 But it is nothing more." 
 
 It was not without long and frequent study 
 that this great naturalist became acquainted with 
 the peculiarities of flowers ; and you must ever 
 remember that unless a habit be acquired of atten- 
 tively observing the various objects by which we
 
 PIMPERNEL. / 
 
 are surrounded, much that is useful and interest- 
 ing will escape our notice, and be spread before 
 us in vain. 
 
 Poets call the flower which I have mentioned 
 " the cheerful pimpernel;" either because Pliny, 
 an ancient naturalist, said that, when taken inter- 
 nally, it promoted mirth ; or, because when this 
 flower is wdde open the sun is usually shining gaily 
 in the sky. Upon approach of rain it folds itself 
 quite up, and from its thus foretelling to the 
 labourer the coming shower, it is called the " poor 
 man's weather-glass." You may often find it as a 
 weed in the garden, and it may generally be relied 
 on as a good indication of the state of the atmo- 
 sphere ; except at a time when there has been a long 
 succession of rains, when it loses its sensibility, 
 and remains open through all weathers. This flower 
 is highly extolled in ancient herbals as one of great 
 medicinal virtues, but it is not now used in medi- 
 cine. There is a blue variety of pimpernel, but it 
 is more rare, as it is confined to diff"erent spots, 
 and in some counties it is scarcely to be met witli 
 at all ; althoufrh, in districts where it flourishes, it
 
 8 EVENING PRIMROSE. 
 
 is almost as common as the scarlet flower. A 
 pimpernel of a clear white, with a beautiful purple 
 centre, has been also found in Wales. 
 
 The evening primrose {(Enothera biennis), so 
 well known in our gardens, and often found grow- 
 ing wild in places where they have formerly been, 
 opens its yellow fragrant flowers in the evening ; 
 and the Marvel of Peru {Mirdbilis hortensis), 
 which the French call Belle de Nuit (Beauty of 
 the Night), expands when the other flowers are 
 sleeping, and, soon as morning fully dawns upon 
 it, folds its blossoms in spiral buds. 
 
 The shrub called the Rose of Jericho, whose 
 native land is Arabia Petrea, presents a very re- 
 markable instance of sensibility in rainy weather. 
 Its beautiful blossoms, which, while in bud, are 
 of a deep red, and, when fully blown, of a clear 
 white colour, grow upon stems which are not up- 
 right, but which spread from their centre over a 
 considerable space of ground. The flowers and 
 leaves fall off" together at the end of the season, 
 leaving the stems bare. These stems all approach 
 together, and close in a globular form, during
 
 ROSE OF JERICHO. 
 
 damp weather, and spread open in the sunshine. 
 The unenlightened people who live in its native 
 country, instead of accounting for this closing and 
 expanding upon natural principles, suppose that 
 every year a miracle is effected for their informa- 
 tion of futurity. When they purpose to marry, to 
 make a journey, or to perform any undertaking of 
 importance, they will go some distance to examine 
 these shrubs. If the stems are drawn up closely 
 together, they regard it as an unfavourable token, 
 and if possible relinquish their project : but if they 
 are spread open, they consider it as an intimation 
 that their undertaking will be successful. 
 
 It may seem to you very remarkable, that the 
 people of Arabia should for many years have thus 
 watched this plant, without having discovered that 
 it is thus affected by the atmosphere. But they 
 observe it with minds prejudiced against the 
 truth. Taught from childhood to regard it as a 
 guide for their direction, they would not easily be 
 persuaded to investigate the circumstance, or to 
 ascribe its effects to natural influences. " What
 
 10 FIELD CONVOLVULUS. 
 
 we learn in youth," says a Hindoo proverb, " is 
 like a writing cut in stone." 
 
 There are several other flowers in our meadows 
 besides the pimpernel, whose blossoms shrink at 
 the approach of rain ; among which is the field 
 convolvulus (^Convolvulus arvhisis), sometimes 
 called bindweed. You may have seen many a 
 little girl twine a wreath of this elegant flower 
 around her bonnet, and neither nature nor art 
 could furnish her with one that is prettier. Its 
 sweet-scented blossoms, whose smell resembles 
 that of the almond, are striped with white and rose- 
 colour; and with its leaves of a delicate green, 
 trail along the banks of the meadow, or around 
 the trunks of trees, and sometimes support them- 
 selves by clinging to the corn. They may be 
 seen during the summer and autumnal months in 
 almost every spot where the grass is growing or 
 the w^ild flower budding. If it were not that we 
 see it so often, the convolvulus would win our 
 admiration by its sweetness and beauty ; yet we 
 should not think, because any thing is common
 
 TUBEROSE. 11 
 
 that it is unworthy our notice. The bright 
 stars that shine in the Heavens are not the less 
 wondrous and magnificent because they shine 
 nightly ; and many of the most beautiful and 
 interesting objects of nature meet our eye fre- 
 quently. 
 
 I shall here direct your attention to a very 
 remarkable phenomenon exhibited by some flowers 
 during night. The common Monkshood {Acojii- 
 turn Napellus} is said by St. Pierre to emit in 
 the dark a bright phosphorescent light. The 
 same singular light was observed by a daughter 
 of Linnaeus to proceed from the garden nasturtium 
 (TropoBinm mdjus). A writer in the Edin- 
 burgh Philosophical Journal says of the Tube- 
 rose {Polidnthes Tuh eras a), vfhose white blossoms, 
 are called by the iMalays ' Mistress of the Night,' 
 " This plant emits its fragrant smell powerfully 
 after sunset; and has been observed, in a sultry 
 evening after thunder, when the air was highly 
 charged with electric fluid, to dart small sparks 
 or scintillations of lurid flame in great abundance 
 from such of its flowers as were fading."
 
 ]2 DAISY. 
 
 Some species of moss are thus illumined during 
 darkness, and it is most probable that by frequent 
 observation, this phenomenon might be seen in 
 some other flowers. This probability should in- 
 duce you to make your own observations, since 
 they may not only tend to establish facts mentioned 
 by others, but may enable you to make discoveries 
 of some hitherto unsuspected. It is not only by 
 great learning that we may promote the interests 
 of science : the most simple observer of nature is 
 here capable of adding his mite to the general 
 treasure. 
 
 I shall close my letter with some account of a 
 flower which is too common to need any descrip- 
 tion. The Daisy {BelUs Perennis), one of the 
 earliest of our spring flowers — even venturing forth 
 sometimes during winter — derives one of its great 
 attractions from its commonness; since there is 
 no part of our country where it may not be seen, 
 peeping like a gem from among the green grass 
 long before the other flowers appear. It is so 
 hardy that the frosts of February and the bleak 
 winds of March do not harm it ; and it seems to
 
 DAISY. 13 
 
 speak a promise, when we first see it, that other 
 meadow friends will in their season gladden our 
 sight; and to persuade us, that the period is very- 
 near when we shall say, " the winter is past, the 
 rain is over and gone, the flowers appear on the 
 earth, the time for the singing of birds is come, 
 and the voice of the turtle-dove is heard in our 
 land." Every creature seems to rejoice at the 
 approach of spring : and surely no human being, 
 if we except him whose sensibility has been im- 
 paired by dissipation, or by the undue desire of 
 riches, or other engrossing passions, can be alto- 
 gether indifferent to vernal beauties and vernal 
 melodies. 
 
 The fair white rays of the spring's first flower, 
 sometimes tipped with a beautiful crimson, un- 
 folding with the morning and closing up at sunset, 
 procured for it the pretty name of Day's Eye 
 (Eye of Day) : its Latin name Bellis signifies 
 beautiful; and the French call it Marguerite, 
 from Margarita, a pearl. It is always a favourite 
 flo^Yer with the lover of nature. The poet Words-
 
 14 DAISY. 
 
 worth, who has addressed many stanzas to it, 
 truly calls it the " flower whose home is every- 
 where," and elsewhere alludes to it as one of the 
 pearls of spring : Y\hile Burns and James Mont- 
 gomery are among many others who have cele- 
 brated its modest beauties in poetry. The daisy 
 was formerly regarded as the emblem of affection, 
 and Chaucer and others of our earlier poets make 
 frequent allusions to it as such. 
 
 A. playful superstition is practised with the 
 daisy by the country children in many parts of 
 France. To test the sincerity of their companions' 
 friendship, they pall off, one by one, the white 
 rays of the flowers, saying alternately, ' Does he love 
 me? — does he not?' until they have stripped ofi" 
 all the rays of the daisy. If the cpiestion ' Does he 
 love me ' occurs at the last ray, the conclusion is 
 favourable to the little inquirer. 
 
 If the yellow centre or disk of the daisy,, as well 
 as the surrounding rays, be examined, they will 
 be found to contain several florets or small flowers, 
 each one distinct from the others ; and this circum-
 
 DAISY. 15 
 
 stance constitutes the character of what is called 
 a compound flower, of which there are a great 
 number among our wild plants. 
 
 The parts of many flowers are so small that 
 they cannot be clearly seen -without the aid of a 
 microscope; and indeed in the study of nature 
 generally, you will derive great assistance from a 
 pocket glass, such as is commonly used bv natu- 
 ralists. It is composed of two or more magnifying 
 glasses, enclosed in a case, and may be purchased 
 at the expense of a few shillings. I feel per- 
 suaded, that if once used, you will derive from it 
 so much additional pleasure, as that you will not 
 readily dispense with it in future. 
 
 Nor should we fail here to remark, how plainly 
 the wisdom of God is shown to be perfect by the 
 minute parts of his creation. We may observe in 
 man, that the mind capable of accomplishing any 
 great work is often incapable of executing lesser 
 objects ; but it is not so with God. He who 
 framed the lofty mountain or the huge elephant, 
 has also fashioned the florets of the daisy, and 
 decked with feathers the winsrof the moth. This 
 
 D
 
 16 MUNGO PARK. 
 
 consideration, while it interests our understanding, 
 should also encourage our hearts; for the truth 
 that there is a God superintending the affairs of 
 every individual, should cheer us under circum- 
 stances that would otherwise be depressing. Those 
 who do not believe the Scriptures might tell you, 
 that it is presumptuous to suppose that the great 
 Creator of the universe v/ill occupy himself with 
 the trivial concerns of an individual. If indeed 
 the great God were a being like ourselves, incapa- 
 ble of attending to many things at the same 
 moment, this argument might have some force : 
 but He who has said that not even a sparrow 
 falleth to the ground without his permission, has 
 plainly confirmed his word by his works. If, in 
 his care over the flowers, he has so constituted 
 them, as that they shall fold themselves up when 
 the coming storm would injure their delicate 
 forms; if he has framed the little daisy with 
 beauties so minute and yet so perfect, — will he 
 regard an intelligent thinking being as beneath 
 his care ? 
 
 This reflection supported the heart of the
 
 MUNGO PARK. l7 
 
 lamented traveller in Africa, Mungo Park, when 
 it was almost sinking within him : faint and 
 wearied, he sat him down to rest on a spot far 
 from the sound of a human voice, and beyond the 
 sight of a human habitation. A feeling of utter 
 friendlessness had begun to weigh down his spirit, 
 when his eye happened to rest upon a small 
 flower of singular beauty, that was growing beside 
 him. The evident care manifested for the little 
 wild blossom re-animated him: and consoled by 
 the assurance that He who thus clothed with love 
 liness, and shielded from harm, a flower of the 
 desert, would not forget the wants and sorrows of 
 any of His human family, he rose and cheerfully 
 pursued his way.
 
 18 
 
 Letter II. 
 
 Dispersion of Seeds — Dandelion — Uses — Traveller's Joy — Common 
 Burdock — Explanation of terms Corolla and Calyx — Common 
 Avens — Furze— Beans and Peas — Nuts — Seed-vessel of the Violet 
 — Touch-me-not — Genipa Tree — Pot Tree — Molucca Beans — 
 
 ' Guernsey Lily — Trees on high Rocks — Beauties of Meadow. 
 
 I SHALL in this letter give you an account of 
 the many different ways in which the seeds of 
 plants are dispersed. You have perhaps often 
 passed by the dandelion {Lebntodon Taraxacum), 
 as a plant possessing little attraction ; yet it affords 
 a wonderful and beautiful instance of an appro- 
 priate provision for reproducing a flower, valuable 
 especially to the bird and the bee. The round 
 feathery head which this plant presents after the 
 yellow flower has withered and fallen off, is com- 
 posed of seeds, to each of which is attached a kind 
 of feather. These light and beautiful seeds may
 
 DISPERSION OF SEEDS. 19 
 
 often be seen floating upon the air, and children, 
 when they amuse themselves by endeavouring to 
 blow them off by one breath, assist unconsciously 
 in sending them to a distance ; while the wind 
 and rain separate the seed from its feather, and 
 the latter moistens the earth and renders it fit for 
 the reception of the seed. This is one of the wise 
 and kind plans of God, that meet us at every step 
 when we are investigating nature. The seed is 
 intended to bring up the dandelion of the next 
 .year ; and as the plants of the field are not under 
 the care of man, as are those of the hothouse or 
 garden, they are furnished with the me^ins of 
 planting themselves. Were it not for this pro- 
 vision, the plants would grow only during one 
 year, and the little birds who depend upon the 
 seeds for food would be starved ; while the in- 
 dustrious bees would, during the early months 
 of spring, greatly miss a flower of which they 
 seem very fond. 
 
 This plant is also useful for man. The leaves, 
 which grow only near the root, are much used for 
 
 c 2
 
 20 
 
 DISPERSION OF SEEDS. 
 
 Magnified examples of llie downy appendages of sefds.
 
 DANDELION. 21 
 
 salad, especially by our continental neighbours. 
 Their deep and singular notched edges have been 
 fancifully thought to resemble the teeth of a lion, 
 and they are by botanists on that account termed 
 lion-toothed. The root is frequently administered 
 by the medical practitioner in complaints of the 
 liver. 
 
 Almost every vegetable production is of some 
 use. Plants afford us food, wine, sugar, oil, medi- 
 cine, and healing applications ; and they are 
 useful in dyeing, bleaching, and various manufac- 
 tures. But there are some whose uses are not 
 yet discovered ; and it is probable that some are 
 designed entirely as ornaments to our gardens 
 and meadows. All however possess some beauty, 
 and are evidences of the goodness of that Being 
 who formed them to give pleasure to the eye. 
 Who that has walked into the woods and fields on 
 a fine summer morning, and heard the birds 
 singing, and seen the trees waving above him, and 
 the wild flowers springing beneath his feet, and 
 has not felt as he looked around him, or paused to
 
 22 traveller's joy. 
 
 listen, that God has made beautiful sip;hts for his 
 eye, and melodious sounds for his ears, in order 
 that he may observe and enjoy them ? 
 
 This arrangement of feathered seeds belongs to 
 many flowers besides the dandelion. The wild 
 Clematis, or Traveller's Joy {Clematis Vitdlba), 
 common in chalky soils, whose greenish-white 
 flowers grow in large clusters, and entv^ine the 
 neighbouring bushes during the months of June 
 and July, may be seen in winter covered with 
 downy heads, and resembling, in the distance, 
 bushes partly clothed by a snow storm. T have 
 seen woods where this plant was in much abun- 
 dance, which were in December decked with it for a 
 great extent, and their appearance was extremely 
 beautiful. The various kinds of thistles, and the 
 common groundsel, which you have so often 
 gathered as food for your canary, are also in- 
 stances of a similar structure. The feather, or 
 crown, as it is called, of some seeds, is placed 
 immediately upon the seed, when it is said to be 
 sessile; while in others, as in the dandelion, it is
 
 BURDOCK. 23 
 
 connected with the seed by a kind of stalk, and 
 termed stipitate. 
 
 Another plan of dispersing seeds for the growth 
 of plants of another summer, may be observed in 
 the common Burdock (A'rctium Lappa), a plant 
 which is very frequently seen on road-sides, with 
 flowers of a dull purple colour, and very large 
 leaves — the largest perhaps that are to be found 
 in our hedges. The stem of the plant is about 
 three feet high, and it blooms in July and 
 August. 
 
 The Burdock, though possessing less beauty 
 than many other plants, is useful both in medicine 
 and food; being eaten either as a salad, or a 
 boiled vegetable : and the young stalks are said 
 w^hen cooked to have the flavour of asparagus. 
 The bristly heads of seeds, or burrs, as you may 
 perhaps call them, are often thrown by children 
 at each other in sport, and their adhering either 
 to clothes or to the fur and wool of animals is 
 caused by the heads containing the seeds being 
 thickly set with bristles. Being by these means 
 carried from place to place, and scattered abroad 
 by the wind, they alight upon a soil suitable for
 
 24 
 
 COROLLA AND CALYX. 
 
 them, where they lie during winter, and spring up 
 at their proper season. The bristly head is the 
 calyx, or flower cup, from which the purple 
 flower has died away. 
 
 The coloured part of a flower, the flower, as by 
 pre-eminence you would call it, is termed the 
 corolla. This is red in the rose, and purple in 
 the violet. It is generally supported by the calyx 
 
 Eose Bud. a, calyx ; h, corolla in the bud. 
 
 or flower-cup, which forms its outer covering, and 
 is, in the diff"erent flowers, of various shapes. 
 The calyx serves as a protection to the delicate 
 corolla, and you may observe that before the flower 
 is wholly expanded it is generally longer than the 
 bud and almost envelops it. This is very visible
 
 AVENS. 25 
 
 in the rose-bud, the contrast of whose green calyx 
 with its bright red corolla, renders it so beautiful. 
 
 Some flowers are destitute of a calyx, as the 
 tulip ; and some others, like the poppy, lose it so 
 early, that you would probably think them naked, 
 as flowers are called whose calyxes are wanting. 
 
 The fruit of the common Avens (Geum 
 Urbdiiem), a little yellow flower growing in the 
 hedges, is not only, like the calyx of the burdock, 
 a small ball of spines, but is covered with a 
 clammy substance, which affords an additional 
 facility for its fastening itself to any object that 
 comes in contact with it. 
 
 Various provisions for maintaining the abun- 
 dance of nature present themselves continually, 
 in one form or other, to all who observe the con- 
 struction of plants ; and perhaps there is no part 
 of this interesting study that displays more clearly 
 the use of means suited to a proposed end, than 
 the means for dispersion given to the seed. The 
 awn, which is attached to the seeds of some plants, 
 as the grasses, pierces the earth and carries the 
 seed along with it; and the tail joined to others.
 
 26 FURZE, OR WHIN. 
 
 as the geranium, performs for them the same 
 oflBce ; while others, as those of the maple (Acer), 
 are furnished with a kind of wing. 
 
 The Furze, or Whin (Iflex EuropcEus), which 
 grows so commonly on our heaths and waste 
 places, is provided after flowering with pods which 
 open when ripe, and disperse their contents ; and 
 they may be heard far off on a warm summer's 
 day, making as they open a loud crackling noise, 
 and adding to the many pleasant sounds of nature. 
 The bright yellow flowers of this shrub were so 
 much admired by Linnaeus, that when he first 
 beheld them, he fell upon his knees, enthusiasti- 
 cally lamenting that his o^^^l country, Sweden, 
 was destitute of such an ornament, and envying 
 England its possession. The furze, although so 
 common in England, is rare in the Highlands of 
 Scotland. It is occasionally planted on high banks, 
 especially by those road-sides where a hill has 
 been cut down, where it renders the soil firmer 
 and prevents its crumbling and injuring the newly- 
 made road. The earth in such situations generally 
 falls from above until it meets this shrub, when
 
 FURZE. 27 
 
 forming a deposit around it, it is soon covered with 
 v/ild flowers, whose roots hold the soil together. 
 Furze cut into small pieces is often used by garden- 
 ers to improve the soil destined for strawberry beds. 
 It serves too for an excellent hedge, as its prickles 
 resist intruders; and the cottagers who live in 
 the neighbourhood of a common collect its dry 
 branches and make an enclosure to shield their 
 cattle from the inclemencies of the winter storm, 
 while their children assemble around a cheerfu 
 fire, for which it serves as fuel. 
 
 The furze blooms profusely, and sends upon 
 the air its delicate fragrance, over those arid and 
 barren rocks that surround the island of St. 
 Helena — that island, where Napoleon, once the 
 dread of nations, ended his turbulent life in 
 gloomy exile. Often as the voyager sails by its 
 shores, the golden blossoms of this shrub bring to 
 his memory the heath-lands of England, where the 
 ragged donkey feeds, and groups of men-y children 
 meet at their evening sports. 
 
 In Older that you may acquire a more exten- 
 sive acquaintance with the manner of dispersing
 
 28 BEANS AND PEAS. 
 
 seeds, you should always, upon looking at a plant, 
 endeavour to ascertain in what manner it is to be 
 reproduced. White, in his Natural History of 
 Selborne, tells us, that he found during autumn 
 several plants of horse-bean in his field walks 
 where they had not grown before. He accounted 
 for their appearance, by supposing that the beans 
 had been brought thither on the preceding 
 summer from a bean-field at some distance ; and 
 that having been hidden in the earth by birds, 
 particularly by jays and magpies, they had been 
 forgotten by them. He also mentions having 
 found peas under similar circumstances. 
 
 Rooks are notorious for their depredations on 
 the fruit of our walnut-trees ; and it is not 
 unhkely that in places where these and other 
 trees have sprung, apparently self-planted, their 
 plantation has been effected by these indefatigable 
 little thieves. 
 
 You, who are accustomed to walk in the woods, 
 have doubtless discovered, during autumn and 
 winter, small hoards of the different kinds of nuts ; 
 laid up probably by the care of the little wood-
 
 VIOLET. 29 
 
 mouse, which some casualty has prevented from 
 enjoyiug its treasure. 
 
 In some of our wild plants, the pods of seeds 
 not only open in dry weather, but throw their 
 contents to a considerable distance, and with much 
 force. This is the case with the common violet 
 {Viola odordta), and you may derive much plea- 
 sure during your country walk, in examining the 
 singular construction of the seed-vessel of this 
 flower. This capsule is divided into three valves, 
 to each of which the seeds are fastened. The 
 seeds are exposed to view by the bursting of the 
 seed-vessel ; and they remain in this situation 
 until the valves being dried, and rendered hard by 
 the heat of the sun, shrink and press upon the 
 oblong seed; and sliding down over its shining 
 surface, throw it with a sudden jerk to the dis- 
 tance of two or three feet. The capsules will 
 retain this power if they are gathered and laid in 
 a sunny place to ripen. 
 
 I once accompanied some friends to a botanical 
 garden. While stopping to inquire the name of a 
 plant that was near to us, a young lady passed her
 
 30 TOUCH-ME-NOT. 
 
 hand carelessly over it; ^vhen the seed-vessels 
 ejected their contents with so much force as that 
 some of the seeds reached her face. To the great 
 amusement of the party, the lady stepped hastily 
 back, exclaiming, " What have I done ?" sup- 
 posing she had disturbed a nest of insects. The 
 seeds belonged to a plant found wild in some of 
 the northern counties of England. It was the 
 Touch-me-not (^Noli me tangere). The plant is 
 not very beautiful. It is generally about two feet 
 high, and the flowers are yellow, spotted with 
 orange. The capsules containing the seeds sepa- 
 rate upon discharging them into valves; and 
 each division rolls itself quickly up. But the 
 power of ejecting its seeds subsides shortly after 
 the plant has been gathered. Intending to ex- 
 hibit this singular property of the seed-vessel to a 
 friend, I carried away a piece of the plant; but 
 upon applying my hand to it, about an hour after- 
 wards, I found the pods had lost their instability 
 and remained motionless. The situations in 
 which the Touch-me-not may be found growing 
 wild are thick damp woods; and if you should
 
 GENIPA TREE. 31 
 
 at any time visit Northumberland, I should re- 
 commend you to search for it, as it has been 
 found in several parts of that county. 
 
 There is a tree mentioned by St. Pierre, as 
 growing in the West India Islands, called the 
 Genipa tree, whose fruit containing the seeds 
 falls upon the ground and bursts open with as 
 loud a noise as is made by the discharge of a gun. 
 This remarkable manner of bursting is a singular 
 provision for numerous little creatures, which 
 depend greatly upon this fruit for subsistence. 
 The land crabs of these islands live in the trunks 
 of trees, feeding almost entirely upon vegetable 
 substances, especially on the fruit of the Genipa 
 tree. Unable to ascend the tree to satisfy their 
 hunger, these little animals would have no re- 
 source but to watch under it, awaiting the fall 
 of the fruit, were they not warned of this circum- 
 stance by its loud report. 
 
 Nor is this benefit confined to the crabs. 
 They, in their turn, are destined to afford food 
 for man; and the negroes who labour in the 
 sugar islands obtain from them an important
 
 32 POT TREE. 
 
 addition to their usual fare. May we not, as we 
 consider this arrangement, exclaim with the 
 Psalmist, " These all wait upon Thee, that Thou 
 mayest give them their meat in due season : That 
 Thou givest them they gather : Thou openest 
 Thine hand; they are filled with good?" 
 
 A very singular plant seen by Webster, at 
 Para, called the Pot tree {Lecythis ollaris)^ has a 
 seed-vessel so exactly resembling an old rusty 
 iron pot with a lid, that our author says it might 
 easily be taken for an old pot brought from the 
 ruins of Herculaneum. This singular capsule is 
 full of nuts, and when it is quite ripe the lid falls 
 off and the seeds are thrown upon the ground. 
 The natives make use of the capsule for a vessel 
 to hold water. 
 
 The waves of the ocean convey to its shores so 
 many seeds from distant countries, that several 
 plants growing on the coasts of our island, and 
 considered native to it, are probably of foreign 
 origin. A plant found in great abundance on the 
 Orkney Islands, called the Molucca bean, has its 
 seeds thrown upon them by storms of westerly
 
 GUERNSEY LILV". 33^ 
 
 winds. These beans are of several distinct 
 species, and are none of them the productions of 
 these isLands, or of the neighbouring country, but 
 are natives of America and the islands of the 
 west. 
 
 The Orkney Islands are almost destitute of 
 trees ; none except the hazel and a few lov/ 
 shrubs flourishing on any of them, but they are 
 partly supplied with timber by the waves washing 
 upon their shores the trunks of trees, which the 
 storms of other lands have rooted up and thrown 
 upon the waters. 
 
 The Guernsey Lily (Amary'llis Sarniensis), a 
 plant very ornamental to our gardens, is not, as 
 you may suppose, indigenous to the island of that 
 name. It is a native of Japan, and to the melan- 
 choly circumstance of a shipw^'eck we owe its 
 production in Europe. The fragments of a Dutch 
 or English vessel, beaten by the storm, were 
 washed on the strand at Guernsey ; and tlie seeds 
 of this beautiful plant, intended probably to 
 adorn the garden of one who loved and cherished 
 flowers, sprung up unheeded, and watered only by
 
 34 BEAUTY OF MEADOWS. 
 
 the shov.-ers of heaven, to deck the land that 
 bordered his grave. 
 
 Many of the trees which are growing on high 
 rocks, walls, and other places, where vre cannot 
 suppose them to have been bcrne by the hand of 
 man, are the produce of seeds, which, after having 
 been swallowed by birds, are deposited on those 
 spots; and this is among the most frequent 
 methods of dispersing seeds. 
 
 You cannot have failed to remark how often, in 
 the wise arrangements of the Author of Nature, 
 one object is made to serve for numerous pur- 
 poses. Take, for example, a meadow clothed in 
 the flowers of spring or summer. We cannot 
 doubt that its blooming colours were destined 
 especially for the enjoyment of mankind ; and he 
 who formed them has implanted in our hearts 
 a taste for their beauties. Perhaps, too, they 
 delight the sight of birds and insects. The 
 upholsterer bee {Osmia loapaveris') selects for 
 the lining of her nest the petals of one of our 
 most glowing flowers, adorning her little dwelling 
 with the scarlet poppy, and skilfully contriving
 
 BEAUTY OF MEADOWS. 35 
 
 to place her delicate tapestry with imwrinkled 
 smoothness. The child, won by their beauty, 
 plays amidst the flowers, binding nosegays of 
 cowslips, or wreathing garlands of daisies. To 
 man their contrast with the soft and beautiful 
 verdure, their association with bright skies and 
 pure air, the quiet and repose which seem to 
 pervade all nature, and the happiness enjoyed by 
 the numerous inhabitants of the meadow, afford 
 a solace in affliction, or add a charm to hours of 
 enjoyment. At some seasons, when the mind 
 has been gladdened by a contemplation of the 
 beauties before us, we can well sympathise with 
 the feelings of the good Izaak Walton, when he 
 said, " When I sat last on this primrose bank, 
 and looked down these meadows, I thought of 
 them, as Charles the Emperor did of Florence, 
 that they v/ere too pleasant to be looked on but 
 only on holidays." The physician views them 
 with a different eye. He regards the flowers as 
 blossoms of plants that shall afford him the 
 means of alleviating sufi'ering ; while the botanist 
 beholds before him a field for investigation, the 
 
 d2
 
 36 BEAUTY OF MEADOWS. 
 
 results of which will furnish to himself and others 
 a source of knowledge that may assist in the pro- 
 duction of new species of plants, and in the 
 discovery of many properties hitherto unknown. 
 The bird seeks food for herself and her little ones 
 in the seeds of many flowers, and in the leaves of 
 others : th,e bee extracts from them honey for the 
 use of man : the butterfly sips their nectar for her 
 food ; and the cattle lie down to repose upon their 
 elastic stems, or seek their daily meals from their 
 herbage; cropping the leaves and stems, but 
 leaving untouched the brilliant blossoms, which 
 are designed to continue the plant by producing 
 its seed.
 
 Letter III. 
 
 Profuseness of Vegetation— The Ivy— Effects of planting Trees— 
 Eflects of cutting down Trees— Dripping of Water from Trees — 
 Tree in the Canary Islands— Clove Tree— Preservation of Seeds 
 — Abundance of Seeds— Uses of Seeds as Food— 'Beauty of Fruits 
 — Origin of several Fruits— Berries of Cold Countries — Mountain 
 Ash— Grasses— Corn Plants— Bread of Kamschatka — Bread of 
 South America — Bread Fruit Tree — Date Palm — Grasses con- 
 stituting Verdure. 
 
 In consequence of tlie numerous and suitable 
 ])lans for distributing over the face of the world 
 the means of its fertilit}', the earth is full of 
 plants. Wherever we look around us, except it 
 be in the busy city, or on the road trodden down 
 by the foot of man, we see the variety and profusion 
 of the vegetable kingdom. The muddy shore is 
 covered with one species of plant, the rock with 
 another ; while the margin of the salt spring and 
 the shores of the ocean abound svith saline plants.
 
 38 IVY. 
 
 Even the old and mouldering wall of the city, 
 at whose base perhaps the pavement presses so 
 closely that only a few small weeds can find 
 room to spring up, displays upon its summit the 
 bright and fragrant wall-flower, and the red and 
 white dragon's-raouth. Its surface too is thickly 
 covered in many places by a small green moss ; 
 and this same plant gives to the stagnant pond 
 that green hue which was long supposed to be 
 produced by insects. And then the ivy (^Hedera 
 helix) throws its luxuriant foliage over the 
 ruined arches, and contrasts with the decay which 
 time has brought ; as if to show how far more 
 lasting are the productions of nature than those 
 of art; how superior the commonest works of 
 God to the noblest performances of man. 
 
 Whenever a soil which has long lain undis- 
 turbed is turned up anew, a fresh stock of plants 
 arises without the aid of culture. On some spots 
 of uncultivated ground, where few plants, except 
 the lieath and the blue heather-bell had grown 
 for many years, the introduction of trees has pro-
 
 ANEMONE. 39 
 
 duced another description of plants. In the 
 course of time their leaves fall off, and by manur- 
 ing the ground improve its nature; besides that, 
 the shelter afforded by their boughs is favourable 
 to the growth of some plants, as the wood ane- 
 mone {Anemone nemorusd), the sweet lily of the 
 valley {Convalldria majdlis)^ and the other 
 flowers that frequent the woodlands. Instances 
 are common where almost immediately after the 
 plantation of trees, a fine crop of white clover 
 {Trifoliiim repens) has sprung up abundantly. 
 The seeds of the clover are facilitated in their 
 dispersion by the light wings which form its 
 corolla, and this plant is often produced upon a 
 new soil in places where it cannot be remembered 
 to have ever grown before. 
 
 But on the other hand, the vegetation of seeds 
 is often delayed by the deep shadow cast over the 
 spots where they are lying, and the cutting down 
 of trees and underwood has effected great changes 
 in the vegetable productions of some portions of 
 land. On grounds whence woods have been
 
 40 STRAWBERRIES. 
 
 cleared, the woodland flowers have disappeared, 
 but plants whose nature required light and air, 
 have arisen in luxuriant profusion in places 
 where, in the memor\- of man, they had not 
 previously existed. 
 
 The author, to whom I before refen-ed, Mr. 
 White, tells us, that on the removal of some beech 
 trees that for many years had grown on a spot in 
 his neighbourhood, there sprung up spontaneously 
 a number of strawberry plants. There was a 
 tradition in the village that strawberries had 
 formerly grown on that place, and it is most 
 probable that they had flourished there before the 
 planting of the beeches. In this instance, as well 
 as in cases where clover has been produced, the 
 seeds were already lying dormant in the soil, and 
 upon this improvement of its nature, they awoke 
 and filled the earth with renewed fmitfulness and 
 beauty. How well might the Psalmist exclaim, 
 when contemplating the wonders of nature, " Oh, 
 Lord ! the earth is full of thy riches !" 
 
 By far the greater number of plants require
 
 DRIPPING OF TREES. 41 
 
 sunsliine to bring them to perfection. The thick 
 fohage of trees not only prevents the sun's rays 
 from penetrating it, but its frequent dripping in 
 cloudy weather upon the ground beneath it, is 
 extremely injurious to the plants in such situa- 
 tions. You may often see the leaves of trees co- 
 vered with small drops of water, which are caused 
 by the mists and fogs having condensed upon 
 them ; and this drops off upon the earth, not with 
 the hghtness of a summer shower, but in sufficient 
 quantity to clog the ground, and bend the tender 
 leaves and stems of the herbage. 
 
 Trees planted in dry situations have especially 
 a great power of attracting the vapours that float 
 on the air; and travellers tell us of a single tree 
 on a mountain of Ferro, one of the Canary Islands, 
 which attracts so much moisture on its leaves, as 
 to form the grand supply of water to the natives 
 of that island. This tree is always surrounded by 
 a cloud, which settles in water upon its foliage, 
 under which vessels are placed to receive the con- 
 tinual droppings. This circumstance is accounted 
 for by St. Pierre, who supposes that the mountain
 
 42 CLOVE-TREE. 
 
 attracts the vapours of the atmosphere, and that 
 tlie tree being pLaced immediately in the centre of 
 the attraction, collects them around it. 
 
 The clove tree {Caryophyllatus), a native of 
 some of the Molucca Islands, and the tree from 
 which the well-known spice is procured, collects 
 the vapours in a very remarkable manner, its 
 foliage being always covered with moisture ; and 
 the land underneath this tree is not adorned by a 
 single flower or one little spot of verdure. 
 
 If you should at any time wish to preserve 
 seeds for future planting, you will find it of the 
 greatest importance to keep them dry, as moisture 
 will cause a fermentation to take place that will 
 destroy their vitality, and thus render the muse- 
 less, or it will cause them to vegetate before the 
 time vv'hen they can be of any service. Yet, 
 although this is the case with respect to seeds ex- 
 posed to air, it is evident that theu' living prin- 
 ciple is not only uninjured by moisture while they 
 are lying in the ground, but that its presence is 
 one of the necessary conditions for their vege- 
 tating. Nor is the vital power of a seed injured
 
 PRESERVATION OF SEEDS. 43 
 
 by its exposure to excessive cold, nor to any 
 degree of heat short of boiUng; so that the seeds 
 of many plants may be brought from far distant 
 countries and kept for years, yet will, upon plant- 
 ing, be found productive if preserved from insects 
 and moisture. Many very valuable exotics have 
 grown from seeds taken from the dried specimens 
 which were collected some years before by 
 botanists. 
 
 Seeds should be wrapped in coarse brown 
 paper, and you must be careful to ascertain that 
 you do not enclose any insects with them. Time 
 alone will, however, destroy in some seeds the 
 vital principle. The seed of the common parsnip 
 will be useless if kept more than a year, and there 
 are some seeds that will perish if not planted 
 immediately, while those of the common melon 
 have been known to germinate after being kept 
 forty years. 
 
 Seeds newly gathered will appear above ground 
 much earlier than those which have been pre- 
 viously dried: the latter will very often remain 
 a whole year in the ground before any change
 
 44 ABUNDANCE OF SEEDS. 
 
 is produced. When, however, fresh seeds are 
 planted under the most favourable circumstances, 
 the length of time before they rise above the 
 ground varies considerably in the different plants 
 to which they belong. You have perhaps expe- 
 rienced much pleasure in watching the progress 
 of mustard and cress, and been gratified by the 
 appearance of the plants so soon after you have 
 sown the seed. This quick vegetation is also 
 exhibited by the various kinds of grasses, which 
 spring up in a day or two after the grain is 
 deposited. Others, as the nuts in general, lie 
 a year or two in the ground before their powers 
 commence; while the subsequent development 
 of their plants is slower, and their duration far 
 greater. 
 
 As the seeds of many of our little meadow 
 flowers are chiefly designed as food for the dif- 
 ferent kinds of birds, they are on this account 
 much more numerous than would be necessary 
 were they merely intended for supplying a con- 
 tinual succession of the plant. 
 
 Were the seeds produced by a single plant put
 
 SEEDS USED FOR FOOD. 45 
 
 into the earth, and the whole of the crop yielded 
 by them again planted, and this plan annually 
 pursued, in a very few years the v>hole surface of 
 the earth would be too small to receive the pro- 
 duce of a single flower. 
 
 The seeds of many plants are designed for the 
 food of man. The different kinds of peas and 
 beans form not only a pleasant vegetable, but 
 contain a large portion of farinaceous or flour-like 
 Substance, which aftbrds a considerable degree of 
 nutriment. ^lany seeds are enveloped in fruits; 
 and the kind providence of God, which has so 
 arranged all nature as that the wants of all his 
 creatures shoidd meet with an appropriate supply, 
 has ordained that those countries where, owing 
 to the heat of the climate, much thirst is expe- 
 rienced, should be abundantly stocked with juicy 
 and refreshing fruits. In our own land the 
 greater number of fruits, especially those of a juicy 
 nature, ripen either during summer or autumn, 
 at a period when the warmth of the weather 
 renders them peculiarly valuable, both for allay- 
 ing thirst and reducing the heat of the system.
 
 46 BEAUTY OF FRUITS. 
 
 The hard and oily fruits which are intended for 
 our use during the winter months, are adapted 
 for keeping until the return of summer shall 
 give us again the grateful supply of the cherry, 
 the currant, the gooseberry, and the plum. 
 
 The fruits of tropical climates are very superior 
 to our own in number, size, and richness of 
 flavour; and many fruit trees which have become 
 common in our gardens from frequent plantation, 
 are natives of warmer countries. With respect to 
 the plant, the various kinds of fruit are merely 
 seed-coverings, affording protection to the seeds 
 contained within them ; and if not eaten by man 
 or animals, improving, by decaying around the 
 tree, the soil on which the seeds fall. They add 
 greatly to the enjoyment of the human beings for 
 whom they were especially created. Some fruits 
 are extremely beautiful in appearance — scarcely 
 less so than the blossoms which preceded them. 
 The group of red cherries glistening amid the 
 foliage of the orchard trees; the long bimches of 
 clear sparkling red or white currants which droop 
 among the bushes ; and the rich clusters of purple
 
 BLACKBERRY. 47 
 
 grapes, glowing amongst the vine leaves, are ex- 
 tremely ornamental. 
 
 Children are always fond of fruit, even of the 
 commonest description, as the wild sloe and the 
 blackberry. How often of an evening do we see 
 groups of children returning into the town from 
 their walks among the neighbouring lanes and 
 hedges, their small baskets full of these fruits, 
 which, valuing perhaps in some measure accord- 
 ing to the trouble they have had in procuring 
 them, they gaze at with delight and display with 
 exultation ! Do you remember how Cowper de- 
 scribes his early taste ? 
 
 For I have loved the rural walk through lanes 
 
 Of grassy swarth, close cropp'd by nibbling sheep. 
 
 And skirted thick with intertexture firm 
 
 Of thorny boughs ; have loved the rural walk 
 
 O'er hills, through valleys, and by river's brink. 
 
 E'er since a truant boy I pass'd my bounds. 
 
 T' enjoy a ramble on the banks of Thames ; 
 
 And still remember, nor without regret, 
 
 Of hours, that sorrow since has much endear'd, 
 
 How oft, my slice of pocket store consumed, 
 
 Still hung'ring, pennyless, and far from home, 
 
 I fed on scarlet hips or stony haws. 
 
 Or blushing crabs, or berries that emboss 
 
 The bramble, black as jet, or sloes austere. 
 
 Hard fare ! but such as boyish appetite 
 
 Disdains not; nor the palate, undepraved 
 
 By culinary arts, unsav'ry deems."
 
 48 VINE. 
 
 The vine, wliicb, from the time that " Noah 
 "began to be an Imsbandman," has contributed its 
 clusters to the refreshment of mankind, though, 
 like many other of our blessings, it is often 
 perverted, evidently originated in Asia, from 
 Avhence it \vas carried into Greece. It is supposed 
 to have been introduced by the Romans into Eng- 
 land, as early mention is made of it soon after 
 iheir settlement in Britain, in some of our ancient 
 records. 
 
 The vineyards of France are not beautiful ; the 
 vines are kept low, and being trained upon short 
 poles, have an ungraceful appearance ; but in 
 Italy, that land of beauty, favoured alike by 
 nature and art, the vineyards are very picturesque. 
 Tall poplars and elms grow in her vine planta- 
 tions, and around these trees the vine clin2:s 
 hanging its beautiful festoons from one tree to 
 another, so as to form a natural trellis-work, on 
 which the leaves intermingle with the rich pen- 
 dant fruit. And again, too, over the cottages and 
 the rustic garden bower, this plant throws its 
 luxuriant foliage, forming at once a pleasing
 
 ORIGIN OF FRUITS. 49 
 
 shade and a graceful adornment; just as the 
 rose and the starr}' ^vhite jessamine cluster in 
 rich beauty over some of the summer arbours 
 or cottage-homes of our own land. 
 
 The grape is not a native of the torrid zone, 
 but it will flourish only to any great extent in 
 countries where the summer's sun has consider- 
 able power. In many parts of Europe, Asia, and 
 America, it grows wild ; either trailing against 
 trees, or over sunny hills and old walls. Its 
 .cultivation for wine is extended over the countries 
 from the twenty-first to the fiftieth degree of 
 northern latitude. 
 
 The peach (Ami/gdalus Perdca) we derive 
 from Persia. The cherry {Primus ccrdsus) is a 
 native of Britain, and was first cultivated at 
 Sitting-bourne, a village in Kent, a county yet re- 
 markable for the number and beauty of its cherry 
 orchards. You have perhaps gathered the wild 
 cherry of our woods, a small fruit, and one of little 
 worth to any but the schoolboy. 
 
 The plum {Prunus domestka) is a native of 
 many countries both of Europe and Asia. You 
 
 E
 
 50 ORIGIN OF FRUITS. 
 
 would not perhaps easily detect in the wild and 
 harsh sloe-berry the origin of any variety of the 
 cultivated plum ; yet some varieties are derived 
 from it, and are a good illustration of the value of 
 culture. 
 
 The apple {Py'rus menus') grows in climates 
 moderately cold. It is hy some authors stated to 
 have been brought from the East ; but for many 
 centuries its wild species, the crab-apple of the 
 w^ood, has grown among us, and it is by many 
 considered indigenous. The pear {Py'rus com- 
 munis) is also thought to have been derived from 
 the wild pear. 
 
 We often see the beautiful walnut-tree {Juglans 
 regia) extending its massy foliage above the 
 cottage. Its leaves, which emit no fragrance 
 while hanging on the tree, produce when bruised 
 in the hand a pleasant odour. Of their power 
 in tinging with a deep brown the fair complexion, 
 you have often heard, when in the imrsery 
 your young mind was harrowed with tales of 
 children carried away by gipsies, and stained with 
 walnut juice, to prevent their recognition by their
 
 BERRIES. 51 
 
 friends. The walnut-tree, whose fruit is so useful 
 both for pickles and for the dessert, grows wild 
 in Persia, China, and Russia. 
 
 The apricot {Prunus Armemacd) and many 
 others, though transplanted from hot countries, will 
 grow well with us in the open air : but it is only 
 in the hot-house that the luscious pine-apple, the 
 mango, and some other tropical fruits, will grow- 
 in England. 
 
 Some of the northern and cold countries of 
 •Europe, as Sweden and Norway, produce a great 
 quantity of large and beautiful berries. " I have 
 seen," says St. Pierre, " a display of cherries and 
 gooseberries with ruddy tints, in barren districts 
 of Finland, and on soils where, as on the tops of 
 the alpine mountains, rocks appeared to form the 
 only surface." The same countries produce the 
 juniper and the cloudberry (a fruit in colour and 
 size resembling the mulberry), while the woods are 
 thick with raspberry-bushes. Dobell thus de- 
 scribes the berries of Kamschatka, and his de- 
 scription will give you a very good idea of the 
 fruits of northern countries : — "After climbing a 
 
 E 2
 
 52 BERRIES. 
 
 "bank, I found myself in a large forest of poplars, 
 aspens, birches, spruce-pines, and alders, many of 
 them trees of a fine growth. Amongst the under- 
 wood I perceived some bushes full of large red 
 berries, which, to my astonishment, I found to be 
 red currants, of a very large size and h^gh flavour, 
 but possessing a much keener acid than those of 
 our gardens." No doubt cultivation would im- 
 prove them. In another place our author found 
 " Several sorts of good berries, raspberry, red cur- 
 rants, whortleberry, cranberries of two or three 
 sorts, moroshkas, and, the most delicate of all, a 
 species of wild strawberry, possessing a very high 
 aromatic flavour. The berries of the Mountain 
 ash, called in Russia Rehina, are better in Kam- 
 schatka than in Siberia or Russia; as is also a 
 small wild cherry called the Cheroonka. I ought 
 also to mention the heath berry, and a red berry 
 that grows on a very small shrub, called in Russia 
 Broosnika, which are there in great plenty. The 
 cranberries are likewise plentiful, and certainly the 
 largest and finest I ever tasted. However, I have 
 met with none of these berries fit to be eaten with-
 
 MOUNTAIN ASH. 
 
 53 
 
 out sugar, though the natives certainly make use of 
 them in a natural state, and think them very sweet,"' 
 
 The peculiar excellence of all these berries is, 
 that notwithstanding the great quantity of snow 
 which covers the ground during the winter of 
 these countries, and which sometimes almost over- 
 whelms the trees and bushes for many weeks, 
 they are quite uninjured, and retain their life and 
 flavour during the severest season. 
 
 The Mountain ash {Pij'rus auciipciria), spoken 
 of by Dobell, as frequent in the woods of Northern 
 
 
 Pinnated leaf of tlie Mountain Ash.
 
 54 MOUNTAIN ASH. 
 
 Asia, is probably known to you. The leaves 
 grow opposite each other, in a manner called by 
 botanists pinnated: by which is meant, that 
 several pairs of leaflets are situated on one com- 
 mon stalk. 
 
 The tree bears in summer clusters of numerous 
 small red berries, each of which you will find 
 upon examination is formed exactly like an apple. 
 Although this tree does not, with us, attain to so 
 large a size as in colder countries, it is very orna 
 mental to our shrubberies and woods. You have 
 perhaps sometimes eaten of its crude but beautiful 
 fruit ; or you may have seen your sisters string it 
 for necklaces. By the Highlanders the jNIountain 
 ash is called the Rowan tree, and they supersti- 
 tiously imagine that it protects from evil spirits 
 the habitations near which it grows : on this 
 account it is cherished near many a Highland 
 dwelling. 
 
 The seeds of the various kinds of grasses, in 
 which are comprehended wheat, oats, barley, rye, 
 millet, rice, and maize (which are usually termed 
 Corn plants or Cerealia), form an important and
 
 CORN-PLANTS. 
 
 55 
 
 extensively used article of food. None of tlie 
 corn plants floiurish without culture, but they will 
 so easily accommodate themselves to various soils 
 and climates, as that they are found spread over 
 a greater portion of the globe than any other 
 order of nlants. 
 
 m 
 
 Ear and Plaut of Sprin;; Wheat. 
 
 The cultivation of European corn is not success- 
 ful either in regions lying near the poles, or in 
 the hot countries between the tropics. In Eng-
 
 56 
 
 CORN-PLANTS. 
 
 land, bread made from wheat is so common an 
 article of food, that when in former times the 
 crops of wheat and biirley failed, a season of 
 famine and distress was the consequence. Owing 
 
 Ear and Tlaiit of Winter Wheat. 
 
 to the subsequent improvement in agriculture, we 
 need not fear a similar calamity ; and even though 
 the wheat, the barley, and the oats should fail, we 
 might derive a temporary supply from the nutri-
 
 CORN-PLANTS. 57 
 
 tive matter contained in the potato and some other 
 plants. It is said that a good bread maybe made 
 from the horse-chestnut, and even from the roots 
 of the common bryony. 
 
 The inhabitants of some parts of Scotland make 
 their bread chiefly of oaten flour ; and the people 
 of the United States derive their chief produce 
 from the maize plant. In eastern countries rice 
 and millet constitute the great means of support ; 
 and in almost every land a bread procured from 
 the farinaceous matter contained in vegetables is 
 adopted as the chief article of daily consumption. 
 
 Maize is a very tall and handsome grass plant : 
 you have perhaps seen it cultivated in a garden 
 for its beauty. It is about six feet high. The 
 leaves that envelop the large husks of seeds are 
 worthy yoiu- notice. Delicately soft on that side 
 next the young husk, the outer surface is covered 
 with the thick fibres that extend from the top to 
 the bottom of the leaf, and are of so great strength 
 that it is almost impossible to break the leaf. A 
 long silky tuft hangs from the ear, of singular
 
 58 
 
 CORN-PLANTS. 
 
 softness and beauty, and gives the plant, pre- 
 viously to ripening, a most elegant appearance. 
 
 
 Maize will grow in any country whose latitude is 
 not higher than forty-six degrees, but its cultiva-
 
 CORN-PLANTS. 
 
 59 
 
 tion ii) England has not been successful. Cattle 
 are remarkably fond of this corn. 
 
 Rice constitutes the srand article of food of the 
 
 Ear and Plant of Rice. 
 
 inhabitants of China, and of the greater part of 
 India. As it will grow only in land that can be 
 occasionally covered with water, and as marshy
 
 60 CORN-PLANTS. 
 
 situations are unfavourable to health, the poor 
 labourer who cultivates the rice-grounds general!} 
 leads a life of suffering, and sinks to an early 
 grave. Artificial means are resorted to in many 
 plantations in order that the rice may be com- 
 pletely flooded, and the water is generally left on 
 the plant for ten days after the grain is set. 
 
 In India and China rice is dressed in various 
 ways, but in England it is little used except for 
 puddings, and as one of the ingredients of mixed 
 dishes. Bread made from it soon becomes hard 
 and dry. 
 
 When eaten occasionally, or mingled with other 
 food, rice may be considered nutritious ; but it is 
 indeed a poor diet when depended upon solely 
 for subsistence. It is, when growing, a tall grass, 
 and has awns upon it like the barley. Its leaves 
 are very firm and rigid. 
 
 Millet is a grass producing a small round seed, 
 one species of which is used in England for 
 puddings. In India, as well as in many other 
 ])arts of Asia, and some parts of Africa, it is cul- 
 tivated extensively; and in Nubia scarcely an-
 
 CORN-PLANTS. 
 
 61 
 
 other species of corn receives any care, while this 
 is very abundant ; the Nubians depending upon 
 millet as their chief article of food. 
 
 italian ^liWet—Sitaria Italica. 
 
 In the cold regions of Kamschatka, where the 
 corn plants will not attain perfection, the poor in-
 
 62 BANANA. 
 
 habitants live almost entirely upon fish and a kind 
 of bread made of the bark of the Scotch fir (Pinus 
 rubra). This bark they strip off the tree in 
 spring, and dry. After toasting it at the fire, they 
 grind it, and steep the flour in warm water to 
 remove its resinous taste. They then make it 
 into cakes and bake it. This bread can afford but 
 little nourishment, and to those unused to its 
 flavour it is very unpalatable ; yet the poor Kam- 
 schatkans become by use fond of it. In Norway 
 and Sweden the peasantry, some of whom are 
 very poor, live for half a year at a time almost 
 entirely upon this bread. 
 
 The wild tribes of South America scarcely seek 
 any other food than that furnished them by the Ba- 
 nana {Musa sapientum'), a valuable tree peculiar 
 to hot climates. A mealy substance is extracted 
 from the ripe fruit by cutting it in slices, drying 
 it in the sun, and then pounding it; but the 
 amount of nourishment contained in this sub- 
 stance is far less than that yielded by an equal 
 portion of wheat or even the potato. 
 
 In the regions between Barbary and the Great
 
 DATE PALM. 
 
 63 
 
 Desert, the soil, ^vhich is of a sandy nature, is 
 so much parched by the intense heat of the sun's 
 
 Bauana, cr Plantain,
 
 64 DATE PALM. 
 
 rays, that none of the corn plants will grow ; and 
 in this arid district, called the Land of Dates, the 
 few vegetables that can be found are of the most 
 dwarfish description. No plants arise to form the 
 variety of food to which we are accustomed, and 
 the natives of these districts live almost exclu- 
 sively upon the fruit of the Date tree. A paste is 
 made of this fruit by pressing it in large baskets. 
 This paste is not used for present supply, but 
 is intended for a provision in case of a failure 
 of the crops of dates, which sometimes occurs, 
 owing to the ravages committed by locusts. 
 
 The date, in its natural state, forms the usual 
 food ; and the juice yielded by it when fresh con- 
 tains so much nutriment as to render those who 
 live upon it extremely fat. As by the Moors, 
 great corpulence is esteemed an indispensable 
 requisite of beauty, the ladies belonging to the 
 families of distinction among them nourish them- 
 selves during the season solely with the fresh fruit, 
 and by continuing this regimen during two or 
 three months become of an enormous size.
 
 DATE PALM. 
 
 65 
 

 
 66 DATE PALM. 
 
 The Date palm flourishes very generally on 
 sandy soils in the hot countries of Asia and 
 Africa. Not always, however, is the soil that 
 supports it barren as the one I have described. 
 It is very frequently found by streams, and as the 
 tired traveller sees its foliage waving afar, he 
 hastens towards it, hoping to find a stream of 
 water. Sometimes its tall stem is surrounded by 
 beautiful chmbing plants, and the most brilliant 
 flowers flourish beneath its shadow. 
 
 This Palm frequently attains the height of 
 sixty feet, and stands perfectly upright; unlike 
 in this respect some other species of Palm, 
 whose slight forms yield to the wind. It was 
 to this tree that the Psalmist alluded, when he 
 said, "The righteous shall grow as the Palm 
 tree" — firm and unmoved by the shocks of 
 temptation and the storms of adversity. The 
 clusters of dates are sometimes five feet in length, 
 and when ripe they are of a bright gold colour, 
 over which the summit of the tree is crowned with 
 a beautiful foliage. 
 
 The natives of the South Sea Islands receive a
 
 BREAD FRUIT. 
 
 67 
 
 Bread Fruit. 
 _ A a shoot very much less than the natural size with sfamen-bear- 
 ing flowers o; [ustil-bearing flowers 2 ; fruit 4; and its stipules 1 • 
 JB, a stamen-bearing flower: C, the same opeued : D. three pistil- 
 beanng flowers, sliced opeu at the bottom to show the ovaries: E a 
 portion of the fruit, showing the nuts in the inside. 
 
 f2
 
 68 BREAD FRUIT TREE. 
 
 bread, without any preparation, from. the Bread 
 Fruit tree (Autocarpus), of which there are many 
 species. The fruit is the size of a loaf, and it 
 grows in so much abundance, as that half a 
 dozen of these large trees will yield enough for the 
 demand of a family during the whole year. The 
 taste of the fruit is very similar to that of toasted 
 bread. This tree has been successfully cultivated 
 in the West India islands, and many other coun- 
 tries of hot climates. 
 
 In order to give you some idea of the vegetable 
 food of the people whose bread is not made from 
 any of the corn plants, I have digressed from my 
 observations on the grasses, to which I shall now 
 return. 
 
 The plants constituting the verdure of our mea- 
 dows, to which we most commonly refer when we 
 speak of grass, are common to all climates ; and 
 grassy plains may be found in the frigid, tem- 
 perate, and torrid zones. It was from the bright 
 green hue of its grass that Ireland obtained its 
 poetical names of the "Emerald Isle" and the 
 *^Gem of the Ocean;" and foreigners, upon ap-
 
 GRASSES. 69 
 
 proaching England, are often struck with the 
 beauty of its verdure, which is owing to the moist 
 air of an island climate. 
 
 Superior in brilliance as are the flowers of the 
 torrid zone to those of our island, their pasture- 
 lands cannot at all compare with ours. The grass 
 is either withered by the scorching heat of the 
 sun, and presents a brown and faded appearance, 
 or it is so thick and coarse as to bear no resem- 
 blance to the soft and yielding grass of the English 
 meadow. 
 
 Only during the rainy season is the grass of 
 India bright and beautiful ; and at that time it 
 can be enjoyed but by looking upon it from within 
 doors, as the rain is so heavT as that an exposure 
 to it would not be unnecessarily incurred. As 
 soon as the showers penetrate the earth, the grass 
 springs up with inconceivable rapidity; and 
 barren places present in the course of a few hours 
 an aspect of verdure, that reminds the native of 
 temperate regions of the green fields where he 
 once loved to wander. 
 
 Grass plants have three different means of pro-
 
 10 
 
 Group of tlie Flowers of tlie principal British Grasses,
 
 GRASSES. *J1 
 
 pagation. Their seeds are scattered over the 
 earth by the winds, or are carried afar by birds ; 
 and they will also increase by means of shoots 
 which are formed at the lower parts of their 
 stems, and by creeping branches which they 
 send out to a gTcat distance. 
 
 The value of grasses, as affording bread for 
 man, pasture for cattle, and seeds for the support 
 of the little birds of the air, is enhanced by the 
 fact, that one plant only among them possesses 
 a poisonous quality. This principle is contained 
 in one of our meadow grasses, the Bearded darnel 
 {Lo/ium temulentuni), which, if used in bread, is 
 of an intoxicating nature. 
 
 In some parts of Italy and Turkey, grass plants 
 attain ihe height of twenty feet ; and in many 
 countries of Africa, in Congo especially, the grass 
 is so high and thick as to become a hiding-place 
 to noxious reptiles and beasts of prey. The 
 negroes often consume the grass by fire to a great 
 distance, in order to drive away these formidable 
 enemies. 
 
 On the sandy deserts of Africa grows a wild
 
 •72 
 
 GRASSES. 
 
 Lolium Temulentum.
 
 GRASSES. 73 
 
 grass about a foot and a half high, whose panicles 
 are formed of a bunch of thorns. These thorns 
 are very strong and sharp, and no animal will 
 venture near it to graze, neither will the unclothed 
 Hottentot attempt to approach it. 
 
 In some parts of India the lands are thickly 
 covered with a very tall grass, which bears on the 
 top of its stems large bunches of white seed- 
 vessels, whose growth is so singular as to give 
 the field the appearance of having a flock of sheep 
 scattered over it. 
 
 The beautiful green hue of our meadows in 
 spring gives a charm to the landscape on which 
 the eye loves to repose. As the grass bends before 
 the wind, or the bright light of the sun is upon 
 one portion of the field, giving a brilliant tinge to 
 its colour ; and the shadow of a cloud is cast upon 
 another part, forming a contrast by its sombre hue, 
 we look upon it again and again, to find fresh 
 beauty every moment in the verdant scene opened 
 before us. 
 
 In Lapland, where the winters are extremely 
 cold, the natives contrive to shield themselves
 
 74 GRASSES. 
 
 from its severity by putting in their boots and 
 gloves a species of grass dried. They comb this 
 grass and rub it in their hands. They then place 
 it in their boots in such a manner as to secure 
 their legs as well as feet from cold ; and severe as 
 are the winters of this countr}% the Laplander is 
 thus preserved from chilblains. Their shoes are 
 not made like ours of tanned leather, but of raw 
 hide ; they are therefore very thin, and the grass 
 affords an excellent means of preventing their 
 feet from being hurt by the stones. 
 
 In India, a light cloth is made of some species 
 of grass, which forms a clothing well adapted for 
 the heat of the climate, and which is sometimes 
 manufactured with so much skill as to equal in 
 delicacy of texture the French cambric. 
 
 In the Nicobar Islands, situated at the entrance 
 of the Bay of Bengal, the natives wear no other 
 clothing than a petticoat made of dried grass ; and 
 the Japanese make their hats of a species of grass 
 twisted together, and formed into an oblong shape.
 
 75 
 
 Letter IV. 
 
 The Woods — Misletoe— Means of its Dispersion — The Method of 
 Germination — Druids — Value of Knowledge — Appearance of 
 Woods in Winter — Parasitic Plants — Dodder — Broom Rape — 
 Climbing Plants — False Parasites— Orchis Plants. 
 
 I SHALL now turn to the woods, and select for 
 your consideration a plant wliicli you well know — 
 for who does not know the misletoe ? I might 
 almost ask to whom is it not dear for its pleasant 
 remembrances ? To you, I doubt not, it speaks of 
 friends, and Christmas festivities; and of the 
 cheerful dwellings which at that season it adorns, 
 its yellowish foliage and white fruit forming an 
 agreeable contrast with the dark glossy leaves and 
 bright red berries of the holly. I think it pro- 
 bable, however, that you may never have seen it 
 growing ; for none but those who love Nature so 
 well as to think all her varieties beautiful seek 
 the woods at Christmas time. This plant ( Viscum
 
 70 WISLETOE. 
 
 album) does not fix its roots in the earth, but on 
 trees ; and is one of the plants termed by botanists 
 parasitic, because it hangs upon another for sup- 
 port and nourishment. It grows chiefly upon 
 apple-trees, but it may be planted upon any tree 
 by making an incision in the bark, and placing in 
 it the seed contained in the berrj'. 
 
 Its seeds are dispersed chiefly by means of the 
 missel-thrush, who carries them from tree to tree. 
 This bird is the largest of our British thrushes, 
 being about a foot in length. His song cheers the 
 •winter woods, and at that season he lives chiefly 
 upon the juice of the berry. He is consequently 
 much better supplied with food than some of our 
 little songsters ; as several plants that aff'ord them 
 a large provision, as the plantain, have passed 
 away with the summer, and the groundsel and 
 chickweed are often covered wdth snow. The 
 haws too are quite spoiled by frost ; and as the 
 severe weather sometimes sets in as early as 
 November, the birds are thus deprived of a very 
 large means of sustenance. Happily for them
 
 MISLETOE. 17 
 
 many berries, among which are the numerous ivy 
 and privet berries, are uninjured by the severest 
 weather, and are remarkably plentiful. 
 
 Mudie, in his History of British Birds, tells us 
 that there is a sort of double naming in this 
 thrush. The word missel signifies to soil. It is 
 called the missel-thrush, because it missels (soils) 
 its toes with the slimy juice of the berry : and 
 the misletoe derives its name from its soiling the 
 toes of the bird. 
 
 , The manner in which this plant strikes its root 
 is very remarkable. All roots have a tendency 
 tow^ards the centre of the object on which they are 
 growing : seeds which are planted in the earth, in 
 w^hatever position they may be laid in the ground, 
 invariably strike out their roots downwards to- 
 wards the centre of the earth, and send their 
 stem upwards, to seek the light. The misletoe, 
 however, often grows on the side of a branch, and 
 sometimes on the under part of it. Its roots 
 therefore, instead of spreading in a downward 
 direction, tend towards the centre of the branch.
 
 78 r^IISLETOE. 
 
 If the seed be placed at the side of a branch it will 
 spread in a horizontal manner; if underneath it, 
 it will extend itself upwards. 
 
 When the seed commences to throw out its 
 fibre, it is too weak at first to pierce so hard a sub- 
 stance as the bark, and therefore, contrary to the 
 usual habit of roots, it grows in an outward direc- 
 tion. When it has acquired more strength, it 
 yields to the attraction of the tree, and turns round 
 towards it ; when making its way through the 
 bark into the part of the tree next it (called the 
 alburnum or new wood), it extracts from it the 
 food for its growth, in the same manner that an- 
 other plant would imbibe sustenance from the 
 earth. 
 
 The misletoe-berry was formerly used very ex- 
 tensively in medicine, but its chief use is now in 
 the manufacture of bird-lime; an article which, 
 however, is oftener used for purposes of a mis- 
 chievous than a useful character. This plant is 
 regarded by the gardener, when it attaches itself 
 to the fruit-tree, as a ereat incumbrance, as it
 
 MISLETOE. 79 
 
 deprives the tree of its vigour. It is, too, ex- 
 tremely difficult to destroy, as the roots are fixed 
 in too firm a soil to allow of their complete eradi- 
 cation; and the only way of extirpating the 
 intruder is the cutting off the branch on which it 
 is hanging. On our wild trees, however, it makes 
 a very pretty appearance, at a season when the 
 rambler in the woods misses their summer beau- 
 ties, and is glad to rest his eye on its large green 
 bough. Although it may be found throughout 
 England, and very plentifully in the southern 
 counties, it is very rare in Scotland. There are 
 nine species of it, but one only is a native of 
 Britain. 
 
 We can scarcely mention the name of the 
 misletoe without being reminded of the import- 
 ance that this plant once had in our country, 
 owing to the veneration in which it was held by 
 the Druids. The Druids were the priests of 
 Ancient Britain, at a period of our history when 
 the most superstitious religious ceremonies were 
 performed both by the priests and people. From 
 their acquaintance with the natural sciences, as
 
 80 
 
 DRUIDS. 
 
 botany, geography, and astronomy, the Druids ob- 
 tained great power in this age of general ignorance. 
 They were chosen from among the highest families 
 in the nation, and to their care was entrusted the 
 education of the children of the nobility. With 
 
 Oak Tree. 
 
 their pupils they retired to desert places and 
 caves : but their chief residence was in the Isle of 
 Anglesea, a place well supplied with the oak-tree, 
 which they considered as the emblem and peculiar 
 dwelling-place of the Deity. They regarded the 
 misletoe with the greatest reverence, especially
 
 DRUIDS. 81 
 
 when it was found on the oak. This however 
 occurs very rarely, and as the misletoe does not 
 now grow on the island which they frequented, it 
 is probable that the Druids were accustomed to 
 plant it on the oak-trees by inserting the seed. 
 The misletoe, Avhich they called by a name signi- 
 fying All Heal, was thought when gathered, with 
 certain ceremonies by the Druids, to contain 
 divine virtues ; to be an infallible antidote to all 
 poisons; and indeed a cure for every disease. It 
 was diligently sought for on the sixth day of the 
 moon, and shouts of joy hailed its discovery. The 
 chief Druid, dressed in long white robes and at- 
 tended by a multitude, ascended the tree ; and 
 with a golden pruning-knife cut off the plant, and 
 received it in his robes. Then a sacrifice of two 
 white bulls was offered, and the Deity invoked 
 to bless the plant. On some important occasions 
 human beings were offered; so true is it that 
 " the dark i)laces of the earth are full of the ha- 
 bitations of cruelty !" 
 
 A life spent thus amid the scenes of nature, 
 afforded the Druids most favourable opportunities
 
 S2 DRUIDS. 
 
 of becoming acquainted ^vith some of its most 
 striking phenomena ; and although it is probable 
 that their] knowledge of nature was not only very 
 imperfect, but very incorrect, yet it was far greater 
 than that attained by the great body of the people. 
 Their lessons, which were taught in verse, and 
 transmitted by memory, at a time when there were 
 no printed books, and manuscripts were almost 
 inaccessible, seemed to their pupils almost mira- 
 culous ; and aided by their imposing and venera- 
 ble appearance, which is always influential in 
 proportion to the ignorance of those to whom it is 
 addressed, we cannot wonder that, in an age so 
 unenlightened, the Druids should have obtained 
 almost unlimited control over the totally unin- 
 structed minds of their countrymen ; affording an 
 illustration of the truth, that "knowledge is 
 power. '^ 
 
 The practice of dressing houses and churches 
 at Christmas time with misletoe and holly-boughs, 
 is a relic of Druidi&m ; and, like many other 
 customs, is continued now that its founders and 
 their institutions are alike forgotten. The custom
 
 MISLETOE. 83 
 
 is to US a pleasing one, because we have always 
 been accustomed to associate it in our minds with 
 the enjoyment of a season peculiarly interesting 
 to those who are residents of the " happy homes 
 of England." As it is no longer favourable to 
 superstition, since few who practise it are aware 
 of its origin, and none reverence it on that account, 
 we cannot wish for its discontinuance. Dr. 
 Chandler mentions, that during the times of the 
 Druids, houses were decked with boughs, " that 
 the Sylvan spirits might repair thither, and re- 
 main unnipped by frost and cold wmds, until a 
 milder season had renewed the foliage of their 
 darling abodes." It is rather difficult to conceive 
 what must have been the ideas of the Druids re- 
 specting the nature of spirits, when they supposed 
 that they needed the protection and shelter of the 
 boughs of trees. It is probable that you will 
 smile at the superstitious practices of the ancient 
 Britons, and be disposed to feel contempt for the 
 understandings of beings so deluded. We are 
 indeed wiser than they ; but you must remember 
 that the wisdom of others contained in books, 
 
 G 2
 
 84 MISLETOE. 
 
 which has contributed so greatly to the formation 
 of your ideas, and daily assists in their improve- 
 ment, was not within their reach. The general 
 diffusion of the Scriptures has tended indirectly 
 to the advancement of the minds and manners of 
 those even who refuse the admission of its truths 
 into their hearts : while those who believe and 
 cherish its doctrines are taught by them lessons 
 of a holier and loftier character than were revealed 
 to this dark season of our nation's history. 
 
 When, therefore, you are reminded, by the sight 
 of the misletoe, of these scenes of ignorant worship, 
 do not exalt yourself upon the superiority of your 
 understanding ; but remember, that our forefathers 
 had not the Bible in their dwellings, and feel 
 grateful to the God who has placed you in happier 
 times, and revealed to you a holier way of com- 
 munion with himself than through the blood of 
 your fellow-creatures. 
 
 To the lover of nature the woods are never 
 wholly destitute of attractions. Even in v.inter, 
 when scarcely a weed appears upon exposed 
 ground, we may observe many a pretty green
 
 TVOOBS IN WINTER. 85 
 
 thing rising up under their friendly shelter ; and 
 at such times, the little white flower of the com- 
 mon chickweed, and the lively green of the Dog's 
 Mercury, possess a beauty which we might over- 
 look amid the profusion of summer. The elegant 
 bunches of crowned seeds, which the clematis is 
 twining, perhaps, over the wild rose-bush, w^hose 
 boughs, though destitute of leaves, are still covered 
 with hips ; the ivy, with its deep green leaves and 
 groups of dark smooth berries, clinging around the 
 rugged trunks of the oak ; and the large branches 
 of misletoe on the wild plum-tree, are objects for 
 the eye to regard with interest and pleasure. The 
 privet too, retaining through the winter its foliage, 
 is bedecked with its glossy black fruit, over which 
 the scarlet berries of the niditshade are still 
 drooping, — their brilliant colour tempting but to 
 betray. Then there is the birch-tree, that '' lady 
 of the woods," as Coleridge sweetly calls it, with 
 its silver bark ; whose boughs, tipped with their 
 delicate catkins, are still bending gracefully, and 
 when fringed -with the hoar-frost, looking scarcely 
 less beautiful than when clothed with the verdant
 
 86 WOODS IN WINTER. 
 
 foliage of spring ; and the hazel-tree, upon which 
 little clusters of dark ruby-coloured pistils are 
 thickly scattered ; and that singular little shrub, 
 the butcher's broom, with its small flower or its 
 cherry-like fruit, situated on the back of its leaf; 
 and the prickly holly-bush, its hardy leaves edged 
 with spines, or it may be, grown smooth with age, 
 from among which the coral berries are peeping 
 in rich clusters. The oak has still hanging upon 
 its boughs many a leaf either glowing in the 
 remains of the rich yellow tint of autumn, or 
 turned into the withered brown : and yet with its 
 lofty trunk decked with moss of an emerald 
 green, and its far-spreading branches, unbent by 
 the wind, forming of itself a subject both for the 
 poet and the painter. In its undecayed majesty, 
 this tree presents, winter after winter, the same 
 aspect as when we looked last upon it ; appearing 
 to the man to have scarcely grown older, than 
 when in childhood he sought beneath its boughs 
 for acorns. The woods contain many plants, 
 besides, which are interesting to the scientific stu- 
 dent, but these are too familiar to have escaped
 
 "U'OODS IN TTIXTER. 87 
 
 the notice of any observing person. You may 
 rest assured that you will be well repaid for any 
 investigation of nature, by the many new and 
 beautiful objects it will present to gratify your 
 taste and elevate your imagination. The careless 
 rambler in the woods in winter would observe 
 nothing but the cold blue sky, and as he shivered 
 among their leafless branches, would think that 
 all their beauties had passed away with the 
 summer. 
 
 • And let us not proceed without noticing the 
 care manifested for his winged creatures, by Him 
 who regardeth all. Besides the misletoe berries, 
 the hips, the privet, and the ivy berries flourish 
 for them ; and for them the pale chickweed 
 spreads its herbage, rising up from its seed six or 
 seven times in the course of a year ; letting its 
 seeds fall in profusion from their capsules, on the 
 ground beneath, to rise upon the spot, in a new 
 plant almost immediately after : or, scattered by 
 the winds, to fill the woods and lanes, and hedge- 
 banks, with food for the little creatures, whose 
 song is to gladden the heart of man in the coming
 
 88 PARASITIC PLANTS. 
 
 season. Then the voice of the cuckoo shall be 
 heard, and the soft cooing of the wood-pigeon, and 
 the pattering of the rain-drops as they fall upon 
 the leaves in gentle and refreshing showers ; and 
 the corn will rustle in the brown field, and all 
 nature animate and inanimate shall seem to sing 
 a song of joy and praise. 
 
 As I have given you a description of a parasitic 
 plant, it may not be amiss to mention some other 
 plants of the same character, though they bear 
 little other resemblance to the misletoe, than in 
 the fact of their deriving sustenance from another. 
 The dodder {Cuscuta), of which there are two 
 British species, grows upon the furze, thyme, and 
 even the common nettle. The smaller species of 
 dodder (Cusa'ita epithTjmum), being the more 
 frequent, shall be the subject of my remarks. 
 Both species are however very similar, their chief 
 points of difference being obvious only to the 
 botanist. 
 
 The lesser dodder fastens itself chiefly upon 
 furze. Unlike the misletoe, it does not at first 
 spring from the stem which supports it ; but its
 
 DODDER. 
 
 89 
 
 seed germinating in the ground, the young shoot 
 that rises from it clings to whatever may happen 
 to be near it. This thread-like shoot then pro- 
 
 i(:iiMl!/\ ^ 
 
 
 Dodder {Cnsmta Enroled) climbing a Trefoil. 
 
 1, ,1 perfect flower ; 2, u corolla cut open ; 3, an ovary with its 
 calyx ; 4, tlie embryo. 
 
 duces several small papillae (little prominences 
 like warts) from which spring other shoots, that
 
 90 DODDER. 
 
 send out vessels into the softer parts of the neigh- 
 bouring plant : and so firmly do thej^ unite them- 
 selves with it, that they can with difficulty be 
 separated. This plant may be found on commons 
 or on other exposed situations, in almost any part 
 of England. The furze bushes growing on the 
 heath grounds about Tunbridge Wells are covered 
 with it during the months of July and August, 
 when it is in blossom. It at first view appears 
 to be a part of the plant which it encircles, as no 
 root can be discovered, that having died away in 
 the ground as soon as the parasite had established 
 itself. 
 
 The dodder produces a great number of red 
 threads, which are sometimes two feet long ; but 
 it is not possible to disengage so large a portion of 
 them, as they are so thickly interlaced with the 
 prickles of the furze as to break in the attempt. 
 The flowers of the dodder are very pretty. They 
 are of so fleshy a substance as to look almost as 
 if made of pinkish-coloured wax, and the stems 
 are red. The plant affords a red colour, which is 
 much used in dyeing, and some animals, as the
 
 BROOM-RAPE. 91 
 
 sheep and cow, will feed upon it, but the horse 
 will reject it. 
 
 The country people of some parts of England 
 give the name of Hell's-weed to the dodder, 
 because it injures the plant to v/hich it belongs. 
 The furze bush, around which it entwines itself, is 
 often killed by it. 
 
 Another parasitic plant, which, like the dodder, 
 originates in the earth, is the Broom rape {Oro- 
 bdnche). One species of this nourishes itself 
 chiefly upon the furze and broom ; while another 
 species {Orobdnche minor) even draws its sub- 
 sistence from the little clover-plant (Trifblium 
 pratense) ; its roots after a time dying away in the 
 earth. Daring the hottest months in summer, it 
 may be found growing very plentifully in some clover 
 fields, its yellowish brown flower connecting itself 
 closely with the clover. This plant is named from 
 a word signifying to strangle, owing to the opinion 
 that it often destroys the plant to which it clings. 
 The large species of this parasite is not uncommon 
 on our heaths, and is of a hairy nature with flowers 
 of a dingy purplish colour.
 
 92 CLIMBING PLANTS. 
 
 Plants parasitic upon roots are remarkable for 
 the smallness of their leaves, or for their entire 
 absence, and for their stems never possessing a 
 green colour. Both the last-named plants, origi- 
 nating upon the roots of others, are entirely desti- 
 tute of foliage. 
 
 It will, I doubt not, greatly surprise you to find 
 that plants so small as the clover should afford 
 supplies of sustenance to others ; and I hope it 
 will interest you sufficiently to induce you to 
 examine some of the clover plants with which 
 you may meet in your future walks. 
 
 The plants which I have lately mentioned are the 
 only ones indigenous to Britain, that can, strictly 
 speaking, be called parasites ; so that you will 
 perceive that our parasitic plants are few, and, 
 with the exception of the misletoe, of an incon- 
 spicuous character. 
 
 The climbing flowers that adorn our hedge 
 banks, winding their graceful stems around those 
 of less flexible plants, as the bryony, the large 
 white convolvolus, and the sweet-scented honey- 
 suckles, do not derive any nourishment from
 
 FALSE PARASITES. 93 
 
 Others, but only recline their weakness upon the 
 strength of those which can better resist the 
 elements ; as some timid maiden leans upon the 
 manly arm of her brother, when the rude winds 
 Avould threaten to overpower her more delicate 
 form. Our climbing plants are generally very 
 beautiful, but they can convey to us little idea of 
 the immense creepers that entwine their stems 
 around the trees of tropical climates, giving a 
 feature of richness and profuseness of vegetation 
 whose effect upon the traveller, unused to such 
 scenes, is quite overpowering. 
 
 Perhaps in seeking for the parasitic plant, you 
 may cast your eye upon the graceful fern, whose 
 large leaves, placed upon a stem which bears no 
 blossoms, have upon their under surfaces the parts 
 of fructification, and which are growing upon 
 some aged oak : or you may glance upon the 
 small and beautiful moss, which covers the stem 
 of many trees of the wood, sheltering them from 
 the frosts of winter and the heat of summer, and 
 suppose that these too are parasites. These, how- 
 ever, are called false parasites, or epiphytes ; and
 
 94 ORCHIS PLANTS. 
 
 they will grow either upon dead or living vege- 
 tables, needing not for their sustenance the juices 
 of another plant. You may often see these and 
 other plants of a similar nature flourishing in all 
 their beauty and greenness on the decayed sur- 
 faces of dead trees, or on the rock almost destitute 
 of soil, but absorbing moisture for their nutriment 
 from the surrounding atmosphere. 
 
 The beautiful class of Orchis flowers, some of 
 which, termed by botanists Ophryses, present the 
 appearance of a plant upon which the bee, the fly, 
 or the butterfly has drooped awhile its wing to 
 taste its sweets ; and some others, which in their 
 more common varieties, as the Orchis mascula, 
 may be found in summer in almost every spot of 
 English woodland, are in the torrid zone epiphytes 
 upon the barks of trees, and constitute one of the 
 most beautiful objects of tropical vegetation. 
 With us they grow only on the earth, and they 
 are far less splendid in appearance. Our English 
 species of Ophrys plants, or plants resembling 
 insects, will grow only on chalky soils. They are 
 especially numerous upon the chalky range of
 
 ORCHIS PLANTS. 
 
 95 
 
 hills that spread over a great part of Kent ; but 
 they rarely, or perhaps never, long survive trans- 
 planting to a garden. We have four species of this 
 plant. The one whose resemblance to an insect 
 
 ilep — Orclt is inas cula , 
 
 is the most striking is the Bee ophrys {O'phrys 
 apifera), which might indeed easily lead the un- 
 practised observer into the belief that it was a bee 
 resting upon the stem of a flower. In South
 
 96 ORCHIS PLANTS. 
 
 America the species are very numerous. One 
 resembles the mosquito, another the butterfly ; 
 and the wanderer among the moist woods is often 
 startled by the appearance of a lizard which one 
 of these plants presents.
 
 97 
 
 Letter V. 
 
 RoDts— Parts of Roots— Uses of Roots— Couch Grass— Adaptation 
 of Roots to Soils — Sea-side Grasses — Ribband Grass — Upright 
 Sea-lyme Grass— Foxtail Grass — IncursioHs of Sand — Difference 
 of Soils — Plants of the Mountain — Plants of the Valley — Locality 
 of some Plants — Crocus — Pseony — Variations in colours of 
 Flowers — Milk Vetch — Hibiscus Mutabilis — Shoe-Flower — 
 Plants of Torrid Zone— Tree Ferns— Plants of Africa— Plants of 
 Aoierica— Plants of Cold Climates— Love of Home— Lines on the 
 Violet. 
 
 The roots of many plants are useful for medici- 
 nal purposes, and the daily appearance at our 
 tables of the potato, the turnip, the radish, or 
 others, may render it unnecessary for me to point 
 out their importance as vegetable food. A de- 
 scription of their different kinds could not fail to 
 be interesting; but it would be impossible to 
 convey any adequate idea of their various forms, 
 or the peculiar advantages resulting to the plants 
 from their respective structures, without exceeding 
 the limits of a work of this description, and using 
 
 H
 
 98 ROOTS. 
 
 terms which you are not prepared to understand. 
 It may not be amiss to state, that seven kinds of 
 roots are generally enumerated by botanists, and 
 to recommend a careful examination of this part 
 of the plant, should you feel sufficiently interested 
 to induce you to pursue farther the study of the 
 vegetable kingdom. 
 
 Roots consist of two parts, the body and the 
 fibre ; but the latter only is absolutely necessary, 
 as its use is to imbibe the nourishment requisite 
 for the plant, which it sucks up at its extremities. 
 As soon as the seed commences germinating, it 
 becomes swelled by warmth and moisture ; when 
 bursting its covering, it sends out its root in a 
 downward direction, guided by that attraction 
 which impels it toward the centre, and seeking 
 that darkness which seems necessary for the full 
 action of its fibres. By a law equally invariable, 
 the stem rises in an opposite direction seeking the 
 light. 
 
 Naturalists have not been hitherto successful in 
 accounting satisfactorily for these opposite direc-
 
 ROOTS. 99 
 
 tions of the root and the stem, and the law by 
 which the latter is governed yet remains to be 
 discovered by future experiments. Undoubtedly 
 it is wisely ordained by Him who made the plant ; 
 but as the great Creator of all works apparently 
 by means in all the operations of nature, and 
 governs the universe by undeviating laws, it is 
 highly proper that we should endeavour to ascer- 
 tain what these methods are, assured that the result 
 of every discovery will give evidence of the wisdom 
 which applies appropriate means to a worthy end. 
 
 As it is by the fibre that nourishment is ab- 
 sorbed, it must be evident that the greater number 
 of fibres a root possesses, the larger will be the 
 portion of sustenance which it extracts from the 
 earth. The fibres have also a tendency towards 
 any portion of soil especially favourable for them, 
 always creeping towards any part which, either 
 by moisture, heat, or any other circumstance, is 
 likely to promote their nourishment. 
 
 " When a tree which requires much moisture," 
 says Mr. Knight, " has sprung up, or been planted 
 
 h2
 
 100 USES OF ROOTS. 
 
 in a dry soil in the vicinity of water, it has heen 
 observed that much the larger portion of its roots 
 has been directed towards the water; and that 
 when a tree of a different species, and which re- 
 quires a dry soil, has been planted in a similar 
 situation, it has appeared, in the direction given to 
 its roots, to have avoided the water and moist soil." 
 
 Some roots are very deleterious, as those of the 
 different kinds of nightshade ; and many, like the 
 buttercup {Ranunculus a'cm),have acrid qualities 
 which will cause vomiting. Even the potato, that 
 useful vegetable, contains a portion of poison, 
 though it is rendered less by boiling, and does not 
 exist in sufficient quantity to make the vegetable 
 pernicious. 
 
 Besides their office in supplying the plants with 
 nourishment drawn in from the soil, roots serve to 
 fix them more firmly in the earth. The roots of 
 many of our fruit trees are very large, and extend 
 to a considerable depth in the earth ; besides that 
 their fibres generally spread to a space beyond 
 that occupied by their foliage. The zigzag forms
 
 USES OF ROOTS. 101 
 
 of many roots is often occasioned by their meeting 
 in their progress with stones or other hard sub- 
 stances, when they will curve round and extend in 
 another direction. The roots of some plants are, 
 however, so strong as that they will pierce through 
 materials which would appear sufficiently hard to 
 repel their delicate fibres. The couch grass {Tri" 
 ticum repens) will send its roots through a potato, 
 and is besides of such a nature as that if a portion 
 of its roots be broken off, the vitality of the re- 
 mainder will not be destroyed, but will produce a 
 new plant. This tenacity of life renders it a most 
 troublesome wxed to the agriculturist ; yet in 
 former times, when famine sometimes prevailed to 
 a distressing extent in England, our forefathers 
 were glad to obtain a supply of bread from the 
 flour-like substance contained in the root of this 
 grass. 
 
 The wisdom of God in the adaptation of the 
 forms of roots to the situations in which they are 
 designed to flourish, is in many cases no less ob- 
 vious and remarkable, than that evinced by him in 
 the dispersion of the seeds. Those grasses which
 
 102 SEA-LYME GRASS. 
 
 are to be found by the sea-shore have roots which 
 creep to a great distance ; and these prove of 
 much service in binding down the loose sand, and 
 in securing the river banks from the encroach- 
 ment of the waters. This may be seen in the 
 Phdlaris arundi?idcea, or Ribband grass ; a plant 
 sometimes cultivated in our gardens, but which 
 exhibits the peculiarity of its creeping and tufted 
 roots only when gro^ving wild on its native spot — 
 the margin of the river. This grass is common 
 during the summer on most of the borders of the 
 lakes and rivers of England, mingling with the 
 numerous lovely and bright flowers which cast 
 their delicate petals upon the meandering streams ; 
 or cluster in rich beauty beneath the shade of the 
 mournful willow, softly blooming there as if in 
 kindly sympathy with its pensiveness. 
 
 Another grass, the upright sea-lyme grass 
 {E'lymus arendria), affords by its creeping root 
 a great support to our sandy loose shores, and is 
 of so essential service to the coasts of Holland by 
 binding them together, that were it not for the 
 protection of this little plant that country would
 
 FOX-TAIL GRASS. 103 
 
 in all probability be inundated by the advance- 
 ment of the ocean : a fact of which the industrious 
 people of Holland are so well aware, that they 
 carefully cultivate the grass. Its root often 
 extends to the distance of some yards, and 
 when the grass exists in great quantities the 
 whole soil is covered with the network formed 
 by its fibres. 
 
 The grass called Cat's tail grass (Phleum 'pra- 
 thise), the Fox tail grass (Alopecurus geniculatus), 
 anql some others^ when they grow in pastures 
 watered by neighbouring streams or rivers, have a 
 fibrous root ; because this is sufScient to furnish 
 them in such situations with a regular supply of 
 water : but when they grow in dry places, or in 
 such as are only occasionally damp, their roots 
 assume a bulbous form, which being adapted to 
 contain within itself a portion of moisture enables 
 the plant to resist drought. 
 
 In the vast sandy deserts of Africa, where there 
 are few trees except those of the Thorn acacia, 
 and the Date palm, which flourish most in sandy 
 regions, and where there are few grasses or other
 
 104 INCURSIONS OF SAND. 
 
 small plants to bind down by their fibres the 
 loose sands, these are sometimes raised by the 
 wind in a most fearful manner, destroying whole 
 herds of cattle and parties of unfortunate travel- 
 lers who may be exposed unsheltered to their 
 overwhelming power. Even in some parts of 
 Africa, where the sand storms are not of this 
 appalling character, the quantity of loose sand 
 ever floating upon the air, has so great an effect 
 upon the inhabitants in their neighbourhoods as 
 that their eyes are frequently in a state of inflam- 
 mation, and many incurable complaints of the eye 
 are induced by it. 
 
 Our own island is not always free from incur- 
 sions of sand, and many instances are recorded in 
 which it has desolated valuable estates. The 
 estate of Coubin, near the town of Forres, in 
 Elgin, which has been, within the last century, of 
 great value to its possessor, is now so inundated 
 by the flowing in of sands, raised by high v.inds, 
 as to be almost wholly unproductive. This in- 
 jury to the estate was incurred by cutting down 
 some trees, and rooting up the grass which grew
 
 INCURSIONS OF SAND. 105 
 
 upon the neighbouring sand hills, when their 
 loose soil was borne away upon the elements. 
 One single plant of the lyme grass will fix the 
 sand and collect it into a small mound, and by a 
 providential arrangement, demanding our grati- 
 tude and admiration, a grass so valuable to man 
 is reserved for his especial service, by being 
 rendered so uninviting to cattle as that none will 
 feed upon it. 
 
 Who, as he considers these kind provisions of 
 nature, will deny the providential care of Him 
 who causeth the herb to grow for the service of 
 man, and nourisheth and cherisheth every green 
 thing? " How do you know," inquired a traveller 
 of a poor wandering, untaught Arab of the waste, 
 " that there is a God?" " In the same manner," 
 he replied, " that 1 know by the prints of feet in 
 the sand, whether a man or a beast has gone over 
 this path." 
 
 The root is the part most important to the 
 plant, as should that be destroyed, the death of 
 the whole plant is in most cases inevitable ; while, 
 although every other part should be injured, it
 
 106 VARIETIES OF ROOTS. 
 
 may not perish should the root remain. Most of 
 us have, during our childhood, gathered bright 
 blossoms from the roots, and stuck them by their 
 stalks in the ground, delighting ourselves with a 
 garden which the morning sun was shortly to 
 wither, or the evening damp to lay low for ever : 
 as often a warm and beautiful but transient 
 emotion, which, not being fixed in the heart as a 
 principle, fades away beneath the withering influ- 
 ence of ridicule and opposition, or slowly declines 
 in the chilling atmosphere of the world. 
 
 Roots are either annual, biennial, or perennial. 
 They are called annual when the plant dies at the 
 end of the season, and is reproduced in the suc- 
 ceeding one by its seed ; these generally consist 
 of fibres or bulbs, as the barley and the tulip : 
 they are biennial when having furnished the plant 
 of one year, they he dormant during the winter 
 months, and are produced again during another 
 summer, as the fox-glove ; and perennial when the 
 root serves the plant for many years, as the field- 
 convolvulus, and many other meadow flowers, as 
 well as the various kinds of trees and shrubs.
 
 ADAPTATION OF ROOTS. 107 
 
 The adaptation of the form of the root to the 
 soil which it inhabits affords many useful hints to 
 the agricultmist and botanist. An examination 
 of its structure will sometimes determine the 
 former as to the kind of land on which the plant 
 may be successfully cultivated ; while to the latter 
 it will afford some indication as to the places in 
 which he is likely to find it growing wild. Roots 
 that are of a strong nature, and that possess a 
 considerable degree of substance, seem to require 
 a dry soil ; while boggy land is favourable to the 
 willow, which often so gracefully overhangs our 
 streams. The Lombardy poplar, which borders 
 the streams of Lombardy, its tall form raising 
 itself above the alders and willows near it, will 
 flourish on none but clayey ground. Plants 
 whose roots consist of a great number of very 
 small slender fibres, as those of the various kinds 
 of heath, which group in beauty upon our heath 
 lands, or those which, displaying their brilliant 
 colours in the conservatory, are the produce of the 
 Cape of Good Hope, need a fine soil Y>-ith a slight 
 degree of moisture, as their roots are too delicate
 
 108 DIFFERENCE OF SOILS. 
 
 to penetrate a stiff soil, or to overcome the resist- 
 ance offered by earth clogged with a considerable 
 portion of damp. 
 
 I may give you, as a general rule, a direction to 
 seek for a plant on a soil similar to that on which 
 you may have known it to grow in any previous 
 instance. I am not here supposing you to be 
 a geologist; for however valuable an acquisition 
 would be an acquaintance with the science of 
 geology, a little observation will be sufficient to 
 enable you to determine any of the most obvious 
 characters of soils. You can easily distinguish a 
 dry earth from one watered by rivulets ; or the 
 sandy soil adjoining the sea, from the chalky land 
 which forms the surface of the towering cliff in 
 its vicinity. 
 
 The character of vegetation varies greatly in 
 different situations, but you will find that under 
 the same latitudes the same kinds of plants which 
 inhabit one valley or mountain, exist in other spots 
 of the same description ; and that the borders of 
 rivers, the marshes, and the arid rocky districts, 
 present in their respective vegetable productions a
 
 MOUNTAIN AND VALLEY PLANTS. 109 
 
 very similar aspect, though a hundred miles may 
 separate them. 
 
 The variation of a plant, according to its degree 
 of elevation on a mountain, may be seen by com- 
 paring one of the same species that has been 
 found in the valley, with specimens of those that 
 grow on different parts of the ascent, when they 
 will be found so various in appearance that any 
 one unacquainted with the fact would suppose 
 them to be entirely different species of plants. 
 
 The valley, the midland part of the mountain, 
 and the land near the summit, are also clothed 
 with different kinds of plants, until the top of the 
 mountain is found to be covered with the snows, 
 which, with the exception of mosses and lichens, 
 exclude all traces of the vegetable kingdom. The 
 air of any elevated region becomes colder and 
 dryer during the ascent; and both these circum- 
 stances affect the nature of plants. Barton tells 
 us that mountainous countries, owing to their 
 differences of soil and climate, present a most 
 interesting field of observation both to the bota-
 
 110 LOCALITY OF PLANTS. 
 
 nist and geologist. ^' Even the unscientific tra- 
 veller is struck both with the beauty and novelty 
 of the flowers which he finds at every step, on 
 crossing the Alps or the Pyrenees." 
 
 In searching for flowers upon a soil whose 
 nature would lead you to expect that they might 
 probably inhabit it, you should carefully remark 
 any local circumstance ; as the absence or pre- 
 sence of trees or underwood, or the neighbour- 
 hood of a cultivated field or garden. Some plants 
 seem so to follow man, that they may be found 
 only in places contiguous to tow'ns and villages; 
 and I must here caution you, lest you meet with 
 some disappointment, that even when you have 
 fully considered all circumstances, you will not 
 in every case find the plant upon the spot in which 
 it might be expected to grow. Future attainments 
 of botanical science may perhaps enable us to 
 account for the prevalence of several plants in 
 particular spots when the adjoining land is quite 
 destitute of them. I am acquainted with a species 
 of wild sage {Salvia pratensis), which is rather a
 
 CROCUS. Ill 
 
 rare plant, and which has been found on a hedge- 
 bank on one corner of a field, while the surround- 
 ing district has been searched for it in vain. 
 
 Few, indeed, are the counties of England which 
 can exhibit the floral beauty of fields covered with 
 golden and purple crocuses {^Crocus sativus, and 
 Crocus vernus). These Mrs. Howitt describes 
 with much of poetry, as affording to the children 
 in the neighbourhood of Nottingham a treasure 
 quite as plentiful as the little ones of other 
 counties realise in the spring daisy or gay butter- 
 cup ; and sympathising, as the kind heart can, 
 with the joys of the youngest infant, she exults in 
 them as delightedly as if she too had none of the 
 cares w^hich womanhood must bring. Well is it 
 for us when, forgetting all selfish thoughts, we 
 can find enjoyment in the joys of others. Oh ! 
 never, never think that happiness is to be found 
 in selfishness ! 
 
 The Paeony (Pceonia corallina') flaunts its 
 gay beauties on scarcely any other spot of English 
 ground than on the island called Steep Holmes, 
 which stands amidst the Severn : but I will not
 
 112 V.4RIATI0NS IN COLOURS. 
 
 multiply instances familiar to all acquainted with 
 the flowers of our country. 
 
 The manner and degree in which soil and 
 atmosphere afiect the plant subject to their influ- 
 ences, is a topic on which natin^lists are much 
 divided in their opinion. Sharon Turner re- 
 marks, '' That plants with few and small leares 
 depend chiefly on the soil ; those with many and 
 large ones, more on the atmosphere." It is a very 
 singular fact, and as yet wholly unexplained, that 
 flowers of difierent colours sometimes flourish on 
 the san-.e root. This may onen be seen on the 
 Marvel of Peru, and the Sweet William of our 
 gardens ; both of which bear coloured and white 
 flowers upon the same root. The common Ling 
 {Calluna vulgaris) has been known to bear blos- 
 soms which on one branch were white, and on the 
 other of the usual colour. These were two stems of 
 "the same root, exposed to the same hght and 
 shade, drought and moisture, as all the other ling 
 which grew plentifully on the heath around it." 
 
 Plants, whose colour is deemed so constant as 
 to have become proverbial, ar-e sometimes found
 
 illLS VZTCH. 113 
 
 of a different hue ; as :s ibe case with the blue 
 hare-bell, so ofien &riudcd to in poetn' as descrip- 
 tive of the eve of some irentie maiden. Tbis is 
 the Cami'dnui:z r::u7]drju.:^ whose blossoms are 
 £ori.e:in;ct round o: a beauriiul white colour — 
 w:. - r : Ti every variety, to 
 
 pleUiL .-. - .-- :. ...^ -.;:.. :';:y STid gentle- 
 
 I es; — i . — . V- .: : :;;- i; ^ rhapsnot 
 
 ex dower of the field. 
 
 T :.c cmmon Hilk vetch {Pob^gala vulgdris^ 
 is a preuy dower frequent on hilly pastures, wiUi 
 long slender leaves, and blossoms that grow upoD 
 lae stem about to its middle. These are of a 
 purple, blue, pink, or white colour. I have often 
 seen them gradually turning from the r : : : :> 
 
 a pale tint. At first the blue becomes ^: - ..^..:er 
 colour ; then it assumes a whitish cas: ; af.er- 
 wards i: : urns eiiher to a clear white or to a whiie 
 ringed wi:h blue, 
 
 Althoiuh this charge in the colour of dowers 
 canro: be fuliy exyliir.ed. yet we ktiow some of 
 the i:.v.s by wh:ch i: is ir;nuci::ed. B.ue njwers 
 will turn to white or red, but never to yellow ; 
 
 I
 
 114 HIBISCUS MUTABILIS. 
 
 and a bright yellow flower will sometimes become 
 white, but is never known to vary to blue. 
 
 Miss Roberts in her " Characteristics of India," 
 describes a remarkable change in a beautiful in- 
 habitant of Hindoostan. " The flowers of a tree 
 of no mean growth arrive to nearly the size of a 
 paeony ; these flowers blow in the morning, and 
 appear of the purest white, gradually changing to 
 every shade of red ; until, as the evening advances, 
 they become of a deep crimson, and falling ofl" at 
 night are renewed in their bridal attire the follow- 
 ing day. When gathered and placed in a vase 
 they exhibit the same metamorphosis; and it is 
 the amusement of many hours to watch the pro- 
 gress of the first faint tinge as it deepens into 
 darker and darker hues." 
 
 Miss Roberts has not given us the name of this 
 flower, but it is probably the Hibiscus mufabUis, 
 as it answers her description. Another species of 
 this flower, the Hibiscus rosa Chine?isis,is called, 
 by the people of Singapore, the slioe-flower. The 
 beautiful petals of this flower contain a great 
 quantity of black juice, and when rubbed over the
 
 EFFECTS OF CULTIVATION. 115 
 
 shoes it imparts a lustre and blackness to them 
 unrivalled by the English composition. It has 
 too, the peculiar advantage of not soiling the dress 
 of the wearer, and is on this account much used 
 for the shoes of the European ladies resident at 
 Singapore. 
 
 It is not uncommon for the blossoms of our 
 wild plants, which are usually of a red or blue 
 colour, to become white by removal into a garden, 
 but if taken back to their original soil, gradually 
 to resume their former hue. 
 
 Some plants upon removal will die unless the 
 situation in which they are placed be very similar 
 to the one which they have left ; others more easily 
 accommodate themselves to the change ; but cul- 
 tivation has always some effect upon a plant. 
 The most common one is that of rendering its 
 flower double, but in many instances the hairs 
 and prickles which belong to the wild plant quite 
 disappear under the hand of the gardener; and 
 the plant becomes so altered in structure and 
 appearance as to bear but a faint resemblance to 
 the wild specimen. 
 
 I 2
 
 116 PLANTS OF TORRID ZONE. 
 
 The plants belonging to tropical regions not 
 only flower during longer seasons, but are larger 
 and more numerous than ours, and decked with 
 colours with whose brilliance our most glowing 
 blossoms cannot vie. Our hothouses may con- 
 vince us of this; but cultivation must have so 
 changed them that we cannot from the flowers of 
 the conservatory form an idea of the appearance 
 they present in their native lands. 
 
 The bright colours of the flowers of tropical 
 climates strike every traveller with surprise and 
 delight. In many parts of Hindoostan a flower is 
 very common, called by the natives flame-flower 
 {Ixord), the blossoms of a shrub about six feet 
 high, and whose scarlet clusters are so bright as to 
 resemble burning coals. The vegetable produc- 
 tions of the countries between the tropics vary 
 in the eastern and western hemispheres, and are 
 also much affected by the number of mountains, 
 lakes, rivers, and other circumstances of the land- 
 scape. The most characteristic feature of tropical 
 vegetation consists in the numerous species of 
 palms. You have read too many descriptions of
 
 TREE FERNS. ll*? 
 
 these, and seen too many pictures of scenes of 
 which they formed a prominent part, not to have 
 some general idea of their appearance. They 
 have tall, slender, and branchless stems, whose 
 summits are crowned with long leaves that float 
 gracefully before the breeze : in some species 
 bending down, so as to have suggested to more 
 than one poet the idea of an elegant woman w^ith 
 her head languidly reclining as if overcome with 
 sleep. 
 
 The plantains, too, flourish between the tropics 
 in many varieties; and the ferns, which with 
 us are not large plants, are there of the size of 
 trees. I shall give you an account of these plants 
 from the pen of Barton. " The ferns are dis- 
 tinguished by producing their fructification on the 
 back of the leaf, generally in the form of brown 
 spots or stripes, instead of bearing flowers like 
 other plants. We have in England about forty 
 species, none of which exceed three or four feet 
 in height ; whereas in the torrid zone they attain 
 the height of twenty and thirty feet. Of all the 
 forms of tropical vegetation these and the bamboos,
 
 118 TREE FERXS. 
 
 according to Humboldt, most excite the attention 
 and awaken the admiration of the traveller. In 
 their general aspect the tree ferns considerably 
 resemble the palms. Their stems are generally 
 black, as if burnt by the heat of the sun ; their 
 leaves of a bright and delicate green, beautifully 
 crisped at the edge. It has been observed of the 
 ferns, that they principally delight in inland situa- 
 tions : few, comparatively, are found in the interior 
 of large continents, owing perhaps to the want of 
 a due portion of moisture. They abound amongst 
 the dripping springs that ooze from the cre- 
 vices of rocks ; and some species of exquisite 
 beauty are found lining the sides and roof of the 
 little caverns which contain the sources of natural 
 fountains. Ferns are very numerous in Jamaica, 
 in New Zealand, in Otaheite, and in St. Helena. 
 In this last island they constitute a large proportion 
 of the whole number of native plants." 
 
 The Pteris excelsa, a very beautiful fern of 
 the Sandwich Islands, is, in its tender and delicate 
 parts, accounted a great luxury by the natives, 
 who eat it without any preparation.
 
 TREE FERNS. 
 
 119 
 
 Tree Fern.
 
 120 PLANTS OF AFRICA. 
 
 Tree ferns are peculiar to the tropics; the 
 smaller ferns are, however, found in the tem- 
 perate zones, and some few grow in the countries 
 bordering the arctic circle. A fern which you well 
 know, the common pteris or brake, often covers 
 our heath ground, affording a favourite resting- 
 place to the tired deer. In the cherry counties 
 the large leaves are much used in packing cherries 
 to be sent to a distance, and it is of service in the 
 preparation of some kinds of leather. 
 
 The character of the soil of Africa, consisting of 
 a great quantity of sand, gives its peculiarity to 
 the vegetation of that country. In the countries 
 lying in the torrid zone, however, many plants are 
 very similar. In all tropical countries the different 
 species of palm appear ; the plantain gives its 
 welcome shade ; the tamarind tree and the light 
 and elegant Tree-fern may be found ; while, added 
 to these, in Africa the gigantic baobab affords 
 a wide and pleasant canopy to shield the inha- 
 bitants from a burning sun. Throughout Africa 
 large tracts of sand prevail, where not even a 
 blade of grass is to be found, and where scarcely
 
 PLANTS OF AFRICA. 121 
 
 a tree is to be seen except occasionally the Thorny 
 acacia {Acacia capiensis), which is about twenty 
 feet in height, and its foliage so fine leaved as 
 that it scarcely affords any shelter from the sun. 
 The wilds of the lone Karroo, a large sandy 
 desert, are varied by clumps of this tree, whose 
 boughs bear thorns of four or five inches in length; 
 and whose beautiful and verdant foliage affords 
 a most pleasing relief to the wearied eye of the 
 traveller. 
 
 Other parts, still sandy, but less barren, are 
 clothed with beautiful heaths {erica), which form 
 a grand feature of African vegetation, and not one 
 of which is to be found in America. Some of 
 these are of extreme beauty, with white paper- 
 like flowers or blossoms with every variety of 
 rose-colour, and stems often six feet in height. 
 The dais displays there its golden blossoms. 
 The various species of lily-like amaryllis exist in 
 profusion ; the geranium exhibits its rich colours, 
 and numbers of the most lovely flowers, those 
 especially of a radiated kind, as the marigold,
 
 122 PLANTS OF AFRICA. 
 
 flourish on soils which would seem calculated 
 onh'' for a solitary waste. 
 
 The forests of Africa are not numerous. In- 
 stead of the abundance of magnificent trees pre- 
 sented by the countries of the western hemisphere, 
 the trees of Africa are comparatively few. Even 
 w^here a long line of wood extends over the sur- 
 face of the country, the trees are frequently of a 
 small kind, and are remarkable for their slender 
 leaves, scarcely any being found in regions with- 
 out the tropics with an umbrageous or dense 
 foliage. 
 
 Great numbers of bushes overspread Africa, 
 and these are very unlike the bushes of Europe, 
 resembling in their form and woody nature very 
 low trees. The bush country is covered with a 
 great number of succulent plants, most of which 
 are clothed with immense thorns or possess a 
 poisonous juice. 
 
 The hedges of the gardens in the neighbourhood 
 of the Cape of Good Hope are made of myrtle, 
 and are often twenty feet high. Their soft green
 
 PLANTS OF AFRICA. 123 
 
 leaves mingle with those of the orange tree, upon 
 whose boughs hang at once the rich golden fruit 
 and the fair clusters of flowers, "like age at play 
 with infancy;" and the lemon tree sends forth its 
 sweet odour upon the gale. Then there are the 
 different species of protea. The Protea argentea, 
 whose leaves, soft and glossy as satin, are coloured 
 like silver ; while its neighbour, the golden protea, 
 displays a foliage of a yellow^ish green colour 
 edged with scarlet, which floats in the air like 
 waves of flame. 
 
 Trees whose leaves are evergreen abound in all 
 equatorial countries, and many tall and rigid 
 grasses, as the bamboo, the sugar-cane, and others 
 of less magnitude, vary the scene with their brilliant 
 and numerous flowers. The western hemisphere, 
 however, exhibits the most glowing colours, both 
 in the tints of its flowers and the plumage of its 
 birds. The vegetation of that part of America 
 situated between the tropics is of a character 
 truly gigantic. Immense forests filled with lofty 
 trees, upon some of which hang leaves, of which
 
 124 PLANTS OF AMERICA. 
 
 one is large enough to cover the roof of a cottage, 
 and so thickly interwoven as that the traveller 
 may wander among them for miles without even 
 feeling the sun's rays, except when a fallen tree 
 makes an opening for their admission. The foliage 
 is of a most lovely green or a rich purple colour ; 
 and the trees are overhung with large creeping 
 plants, some of them bearing clusters of bright 
 scarlet blossoms, which give the tree the appear- 
 ance of being decked with garlands of flowers. 
 At night they are bespangled with the fire-flies, 
 which abound in tropical countries, whose light, of 
 the same beautiful emerald green as that of our 
 English glowworm, exceeds it far in brilliancy ; 
 its little lamp enabling the traveller to read by its 
 shining. 
 
 A creeping plant grows in the forests of Deme- 
 rara, whose stem, as thick as a man's body, winds 
 around the trees with numerous turnings, some- 
 times rearing itself above their most elevated 
 branches. These immense stems are often inter- 
 woven among the trees, and binding them to- 
 gether enable them to off*er a strong resistance to
 
 PLANTS OF AMERICA. 125 
 
 the winds. This creeper is called the bush vine, 
 because it is used by the wood-cutter in removing 
 out of the woods the heavy timber which he has 
 laid low. Sometimes a tree above a hundred feet 
 high is by one of those tremendous whirlwinds so 
 frequent in those countries, torn up by its roots, 
 but cannot reach the ground, being supported in 
 the air by these large vines. In other parts of 
 these regions there are districts consisting of two 
 thousand acres, covered with thick and high grass, 
 through whose vast solitudes no road has ever been 
 trodden by the foot of man. 
 
 Vegetation has little of this brilliant character 
 in regions near the poles. I have already men- 
 tioned some of the beautiful berries that adorn 
 the trees of northern climates amid their snows. 
 Large forests are found in some of the countries of 
 Europe and Asia, bordering the arctic circle, in 
 which the different kinds of pines and firs, the 
 birch, the alder, the aspen, the hazel, and the 
 willow flourish abundantly. Pines and firs will 
 grow in almost all countries or spots where the 
 atmosphere is cold, and may be found even
 
 126 PLANTS OF COLD CLIMATES. 
 
 between the tropics on elevated situations ; while 
 the willow grows from the tropics to those 
 countries where trees entirely disappear. Trees 
 similar in character, but fewer in number, are 
 found on the borders of the arctic regions of 
 America. 
 
 Approaching the poles trees become compara- 
 tively rarCj and grasses, mosses, lichens, and other 
 small plants appear. Mosses, indeed, exist under 
 every variety of climate ; but it is in cold countries 
 that they are most abundant. In some of the 
 northern parts of Russia, the mossy carpet is so 
 thick as to reach the height of a man's knee, and 
 it extends over a vast surface of country. Mosses 
 are extremely beautiful, and in many species so 
 tenacious of life that if exposed again to moisture 
 after having been long dried, they regain their 
 health and freshness. The Iceland moss, on 
 which the valuable rein-deer feed, and which 
 boiled to a jelly is so useful to the invalid, grows 
 very near the regions of perpetual ice and snow. 
 
 Mosses, besides their great beauty, are useful 
 in preserving the roots of trees from the cold
 
 PLANTS OF COLD CLIMATES. 127 
 
 during winter, and shielding them also from the 
 heat of summer. In China the poor, to whom, as 
 well as to the rich, tea seems a beverage indispen- 
 sable for their comfort, make their common tea of 
 a species of moss ; and it is said that this moss is 
 sometimes mingled with the article brought to 
 England as the leaf of the tea tree. 
 
 Perhaps nowhere are mosses more beautiful 
 than in some countries approaching the southern 
 arctic circle. They are described as very abun- 
 dant at Staten Island in the southern ocean, and 
 in the countries and islands about Cape Horn. 
 At Cape Horn also the bright fuchsia lifts its 
 head above the snows which the storm has scat- 
 tered around it, and the orchises and yellow 
 Magellan violet bloom there in more favourable 
 seasons under the shadow of the wild currant 
 tree and the evergreen beech. 
 
 Plants accustomed to the seasons of their 
 native climate do not easily change their habits 
 and conform to those of another. It was observed 
 by a pupil of Linnaeus that apple trees sent from 
 Britain to New England blossom at first too
 
 128 PLANTS OF COLD CLIMATES. 
 
 early for the climate and bear no fruit. Roots 
 and seeds when brought to us from more southern 
 latitudes, will often grow and appear to thrive as 
 well as if under the influence of a tropical sun, but 
 will bear no fruit for many years ; or if their 
 fruits appear they are few and diminutive, and 
 will not ripen. Many plants of Africa, Asia, or 
 the West Indies will never produce fruit in Great 
 Britain, although our climate does not prevent 
 their flowering. 
 
 When we read descriptions of other countries, 
 written by those who are capable of picturing the 
 appearances presented by their vegetation, we 
 feel eager to follow the steps of the traveller who 
 tells us of so much that is new and beautiful. 
 We long to rest our eyes on the sublime scenes 
 beheld from the lofty mountain, or to linger with 
 him among the sweet seclusions of the valley at 
 its foot. We think that could we behold flowers 
 so brilliant and trees so magnificent as thoee 
 which the sunny regions near the equator exhibit, 
 our love of nature would be increased and strength- 
 ened ; and indeed it might be so, for none ought
 
 BEAUTIES OF NATURE. 129 
 
 to love the scenes of nature — the works of God — 
 better than they who have lived most among them, 
 who are acquainted with their every aspect ; whom 
 the wild and rugged portions of the landscape 
 have filled with awe, or who have gazed with 
 calm delight upon the soft and verdant glen. 
 How much more if, while looking upon them, 
 they can say with the poet, " My Father made 
 them all." 
 
 I should not envy the person in whom descrip- 
 tions of natural beauty could awaken no feeling — ' 
 no longing of this kind. I do not wish to check 
 your imagination when it takes this -direction. 
 But are there not beauties around you? We too 
 have interchange of hill and valley — of field and 
 wood. Shall we look carelessly on our own wild 
 rose-tree, whose bloom is delicate as the blush of 
 feeling, and whose perfume, mingled with the 
 scent of the bean-flower that blossoms near, 
 breathes sweetness ; and, as says Lord Bacon, 
 "the breath of flowers is far sweeter upon the 
 air, where it comes and eoes like the warbling of 
 music, than in the hand." Shall we forget our 
 
 K
 
 130 BEAUTIES OF NATURE. 
 
 lovelv banks of primroses and sweet and modest 
 violets ? Have we not in our own woods the fair 
 lily of the valley, which, enwrapped in her green 
 mantle, is bending her delicate blossoms to the 
 earth, presenting to our fancy an image of humi- 
 lity, or of that soft pensiveness which the mind 
 feels when comparing w^hat it is with what it 
 w ould be ? 
 
 Oh ! there are thousands of beauties around 
 your own dwelling, from the small moss and the 
 elegant flow^er of the garden saxifrage or London 
 pride, to the magnificent beechen-tree that rises 
 upon the summit of the neighbouring hill, which 
 has borne the winds and storms of many years, 
 and yet stands in strength and beauty. These 
 have all one charm, which I trust will never lose 
 its influence; they grow around your home. 
 Everything that reminds us of home — of the 
 friends who have loved us long and will love us till 
 we die — may one day seem to us to possess a beauty 
 as yet unthought of; and the day may come when, 
 far from the scenes of your youth, you may fondly 
 ask, Are the wild flowers yet blooming there?
 
 THE VIOLET. 131 
 
 Yes, the time may arrive when the sight of an 
 English daisy shall bring the tear of regret upon 
 your cheek ; and the reminiscences of early days 
 awakened by the wild floweret may draw from 
 your bosom a sigh for the happy island where 
 your early lot was cast. 
 
 THE VIOLET. 
 
 The violet, the violet, oh ! we have loved it well. 
 
 And sought for it in early days in many a pleasant dell; 
 
 And when the wintry winds were still, and the April sky was fair. 
 
 We wander'd forth 'mid woods and lanes breathing the scented air ; 
 
 Though many a woodland flower we loved, and, ah ! we love them 
 
 yet, 
 The violet we loved the best— the fragrant violet. 
 
 There's not a flower that early blows but to our hearts might bring 
 Sweet memories of vernal scenes, or of our life's young spring ; , 
 But most we loved the violet ; we deem'd the white ones rarest ; 
 And long and eagerly we sought the largest and the fairest j 
 And when we found it 'midst its leaves, ah, 1 remember yet 
 The shouts of joy that ever hailed the first white violet. 
 
 We lost our friends amid the woods, and loudly called each name. 
 
 Till almost breathless with delight they quickly running came ; 
 
 And we sat down beneath a tree our treasures to unfold. 
 
 The anemone, and primrose, and celandine of gold ; 
 
 But still we earliest learnt to prize, and latest shall forget, 
 
 The sweetest flower that decks the wood — the modest violet. 
 
 I bid thee note each flower that blooms, and every waving tree, 
 I bid thee watch the butterfly, and mark the honey-bee; 
 They each can tell a tale of love — a tale of Him whose power 
 Form'd every joyous living thing, and every beauteous flower; 
 But> for past da)s and early friends.jl bid thee cherish yet. 
 The flower so fair to childhood's eye— the lovely violet. 
 
 k2
 
 132 
 
 Letter VI. 
 
 Early Morning M'alk— Anemone — Lily of the Valley— Snow Drops 
 — Sweet Woodruff — Melilot — Hay-tield — Melancholy Flowers — 
 Flowers of Ceylon — Lime Tree — Scent of Tropical Flowers — 
 Flowers on the Senegal — Fondness for the Rose in Eastern 
 Countries — Love of Perfumes — Mound of Roses in Persia — Rose 
 Gardens— Betel Leaf— Balm of Gilead— Use of Perfumes among 
 the Ancient Hebrews— Among the Greeks and Romans — Fra- 
 grance of bruised Plants — Uses of Fragrance — Carrion Flowers — 
 Water Dropwort— Poison Ash— Existence of Poison no Argument 
 against the Benevolence of God— Uses of Flowers in the East as 
 expressions of Feeling — Gardens of the East — Uses of Flowers 
 among the Greeks and Romans— Uses of Flowers iu Cemeteries — 
 Allusions to Flowers in Poetry. 
 
 I HOPE you are fond of early rising. I believe 
 all Nature's children will allow that never are her 
 scenes more beautiful than at the period of " re- 
 viving day," though all may not possess sufficient 
 strength of body or energy of mind to induce
 
 EARLY MORNING WALK. 133 
 
 them to relinquish their slumbers and wander 
 abroad to behold her charms. How freshly the 
 wind fans the cheek in an early morning walk, 
 seeming to bear health on its breezes ! How 
 beautiful are the dew-drops scattered like pearls 
 upon the leaves and flowers ! How melodious 
 the song of the uprising lark, and how cheerful 
 the active step of the countryman wlio is bending 
 his way to the field ! " Man goeth forth to his 
 labour and to his work till the evening." 
 
 When we see the pale artisan of the crowded 
 city enter beneath the roof where his daily occu- 
 pation is to be pursued, we feel much of pity as 
 we think tliat in a close and confined room he is 
 destined to be shut out from the bright sunshine 
 and the exhilirating air of heaven ; but the sight 
 of the peasant at his cheerful employment 
 awakens no such feeling. Labour such as his 
 seems to be a blessing to him who is engaged in 
 it ; placing him in scenes where all that is fair is 
 around him, and affording him that exercise so 
 conducive to health and cheerfulness.
 
 134 EARLY MORNING WALK. 
 
 In early morninG: many of the flowers are yet 
 sleeping, but some there are which expand then, 
 and then only. Nor can we any more ascertain 
 why some blossoms should revel in the sun-beams 
 and others shrink from them, than we can explain 
 the circumstance of their flowering in their re- 
 spective seasons of the year. Why does the wood 
 anemone wait for the warm day of spring before 
 it opens its delicate blossoms, and the lily of the 
 valley flourish only in the warmer air of summer; 
 while the snow-drop, equally fair and delicate in 
 appearance, blooms amid the cold of winter or 
 verv early spring? You may have beheld the 
 fragile snow-drop blossoming on some elevated 
 spot which was quite unsheltered, and daily 
 watched it, fearing that some of the rough blasts 
 which blew over it would break its stem, and 
 scatter its petals upon the wind ; yet it lasted far 
 longer than many of the flowers of the summer. 
 So I have seen a friendship formed in early life, 
 which he who gazed upon might deem too frail 
 a thing to survive trials that shortly must assail it.
 
 SWEET WOODRUFF. 135 
 
 outlast the friendship whose commencement in 
 later season and more vigorous form gave greater 
 promise of endurance. 
 
 But perhaps one of the greatest charms of an 
 early country walk is derived from the pleasant 
 scent of the air. The honey-suckle, the field 
 convolvulus, and the violet, diffuse a fragrance 
 so soft and gratefid that the most delicate nerves 
 are refreshed. The ground newly turned up by 
 the plough has a very pleasant smell in the morn- 
 ing ; even the grass and the green leaves have the 
 fresh spring-like scent, which though it scarcely 
 amounts to perfume, yet has a very pleasing in- 
 fluence. Surely the sweet scents of spring and 
 summer, and the elastic bounding of our untired 
 spirits on a fine morning, speak of the kindness of 
 God, and ought to inspire that cheerful and grate- 
 ful emotion which is a welcome tribute of love and 
 admiration to Him who designed them for our 
 enjoyment. 
 
 Have you, when gathering the summer nosegay, 
 ever bound among it a branch of the sweet wood- 
 ruff {Asperula odordta) ? If you are yet unac-
 
 136 STS'EET WOODRUFF. 
 
 quainted with it, I would bid you seek it among 
 the pleasant woods where it blooms very plenti- 
 fully during the summer months, bearing on its 
 stem crowns of leaves which in spring are of the 
 most tender green. They grow all round the stalk 
 in what is called a whorl, each whorl having eight 
 leaflets ; and they are thickly set with small hairs, 
 both on their surfaces and around their edges. 
 It is from its roughness that the plant derived 
 its botanical name ; the word asper signifying 
 rough. 
 
 The whorled position of the leaves of this plant 
 renders it very similar to the common cleavers 
 (gdlwm aparine) ; but its sweet scent sufficiently 
 distinguishes it. It does not emit this fragrance 
 while growing; and I remember once^ when 
 never having seen a specimen of this plant, I set 
 out to search for it in the woods. I several times 
 gathered it, but finding it to afford no odour I 
 threw it away in disappointment, concluding that 
 I had not rightly understood the description I had 
 previously received. I fortunately carried one 
 piece of it away with me, intending upon reach-
 
 SWEET WOODRUFF. 137 
 
 ing home to examine it more minutely. The 
 warmth of the hand soon brought forth its sweet 
 properties, and in the course of a few hours the 
 room in which it was placed was quite perfumed 
 by it. The scent is very powerful, and will 
 retain its strength for some years, imparting its 
 sweetness to any object near it. The sweet wood- 
 ruff especially prefers the neighbourhood of trees, 
 and you will find it most readily rising up around 
 the trunks of old oaks, in such a manner as to 
 need but little imagination to enable you to fancy 
 it a ruff about them. The mould on which it 
 grows is sometimes formed almost entirely of the 
 fallen and decayed foliage of these trees. The 
 flowers are of a brilliant white, clustering in little 
 stars in shape like the garden jessamine, at the 
 top of a long stalk. The whole plant is about 
 six inches high and extremely pretty, especially 
 if seen through a magnifying glass. The plant is 
 said to impart its flavour to vinous liquors ; and 
 its smell is reported to have the effect of driving 
 away insects. There are two other species of 
 woodruff, both very pretty little flowers, and
 
 138 MELITOT. 
 
 similar to this in appearance, but both destitute of 
 that peculiar fragrance which gives it its greatest 
 charm. 
 
 Another plant diffusing a delightful odour while 
 drying is the common melilot {Melilotus offici- 
 nalis). This may be met with chiefly among 
 bushes, and often flowers in the hedges at the 
 sides of lanes and roads. The leaves are broader 
 at the top than at the part nearest the stalk, and 
 their edges slightly serrated (notched like a rose 
 leaf). The fragrance of this plant, though not 
 quite so powerful as that of the sweet woodrufi*, 
 is equally lasting; and when the sun, by absorbing 
 its moisture, has withered its freshness, and it ap- 
 pears almost dead, this quality is in perfection. 
 
 But the most common instance of the sweet 
 smell of dried plants is aff'orded by the hay-field. 
 We walk into the pleasant meadows in spring 
 and are greeted by no perfume, except that smell 
 of freshness which the green earth at all times 
 yields ; or, if there be a more powerful sweetness, 
 it arises from some of the many-coloured flowers 
 that are springing up around us, or from the
 
 «^p''' 'S^^kf .^'^1 ^jlji
 
 140 MEADOW-HAY. 
 
 blue violet or the fair hawthorn of the meadow- 
 bank. But M'hen the mower has cut down the 
 grass, and the summer sun has dried its juices, 
 then we experience that odour so grateful to the 
 senses, which renders the haj'-field peculiarly de- 
 lightful, associated too, as it is in our minds, with 
 the health and cheerfulness that so generally 
 accompany the rustic labour of which it is the 
 scene. The fragrance has been long sujjposed to 
 arise solely from one species of grass, the vernal 
 grass (anthoxdnthum odordtiim) ; and it has 
 been long proved to exist especially in the joints 
 of the stem, and not in the flower of this grass. 
 The scent of the vernal grass is certainly, when 
 dried, more powerful than that of any other; yet 
 it is now generally believed that other grasses 
 assist in composing the scent of the hay ; since 
 even when gathered and dried separately, many 
 others yield a degree of perfume. 
 
 Some plants which grow both in the garden 
 and hothouse, the natives of other climates, though 
 growing in England, are quite scentless during 
 the dav, but breathe their sweetness on the dews
 
 FLOWERS OF CEYLON. 141 
 
 of night. They were elegantly designated by 
 Linnaeus, the Flores tristes, or melancholy flowers, 
 because they are generally of a brown and dismal 
 colour. Like the nightingale, which is silent 
 during day and rejoices in the moonbeams, they 
 want the lustre and brilliance of the gay children 
 of the sun. 
 
 Some plants exhale their sweets chiefly on the 
 air of evening. In the island of Ceylon, where 
 the flowering trees and shrubs are beautiful, and 
 where the blossoms among the verdure are so 
 plentiful as that the trees are said to stand upon a 
 carpet of flowers, the scent of them at early morn- 
 ing and in the dews of evening is far more 
 powerful than can be conceived by those accus- 
 tomed only to the flowers of higher latitudes. 
 The passengers of vessels approaching Ceylon can 
 perceive these gales 
 
 " that sigh aloug 
 Beds of oriental llowers " 
 
 long before they reach its shores. 
 
 The same eff'ect of evening air, though in a far 
 less degree, may be instanced in the scent emitted
 
 142 THE LIME-TREE. 
 
 by the lime at the decUne of day. The blossoms 
 of the linden or lime-tree (lilia Eurojpce'a) are 
 open during the summer months, " at dewy eve 
 distilling odours." This tree, so well adapted for 
 our city walks and gardens, because uninjured by 
 the smoke and confined air of towns, is very fre- 
 quently planted in such situations among us ; but 
 is on the Continent a far more general ornament 
 to the public promenade, and in Switzerland it 
 attains to an immense size. It is with us a large 
 and beautiful tree, when covered with its foliage 
 of a light and delicate green; but one sad dis- 
 advantage to its beauty is the early fall of its leaf. 
 Sometimes as soon as the month of August, when 
 we are scarcely looking for the indications of 
 autumn, its fading branches remind us that the 
 sv^eet summer is fast hastening away ; and, as its 
 leaf is the first to leave us, so it is the latest in 
 spring to revisit the tree. Neither has its form, 
 when divested of its foliage, that pleasing appear- 
 ance of outline presented by some trees. The 
 tall elm is picturesque even in winter ; and the 
 birch, whose small pensile boughs wave in the
 
 THE LIME-TREE. 143 
 
 breath of the softest wind, seems hardly to need 
 the aid of its green dress to render it ornamental 
 to the landscape. 
 
 In Berlin in Prussia, the famous walk called 
 the Linden is planted with the lime. The inha- 
 bitants hang nightingales in cages among the 
 trees, that the ear as well as the other senses of 
 the evening rambler may be regaled, and the 
 close of a summer's day exhibits many a cheerful 
 group reclining or walking under its odoriferous 
 branches. The lime-blossoms are especially 
 attractive to bees; and these trees, possessing in a 
 great degree the power of purifying the surround- 
 ing air to a considerable distance, are thought to 
 add much to the salubrity of the neighbourhood. 
 The leaves are covered with a saccharine and 
 clammy matter, from which, by repeated boilings, 
 sugar has been obtained; and they are much 
 used in France and Germany as a remedy in pul- 
 monary complaints. The linden -tea seems to 
 the Frenchman a never-doubted resource when 
 affected with cold and cough, and its emollient 
 nature renders it a very agreeable remedy. This
 
 144 THE LIME-TREE. 
 
 tree is not a native of our country, but its fre- 
 quent plantation has naturalized it amongst us. 
 It was from the linden-tree that Linnaeus derived 
 his family name. This great naturalist bore in 
 his own country the name of Charles Linne. 
 
 It was of the wood of this tree that Grinling 
 Gibbons, the celebrated carver in the reign of 
 Charles II., executed those beautiful carved orna- 
 ments that adorn so many of the public buildings 
 erected at that time. Some of the most elegant of 
 them adorn Trinity College, Cambridge. These 
 graceful and light wreaths well deserve the praise 
 bestowed on them by Horace Walpole. " There 
 is no instance of a man before Gibbons who gave 
 to wood the loose and airy lightness of flowers, 
 and chained together the various productions of 
 the elements with a free disorder natural to each 
 species." 
 
 Notwithstanding the remarks which, in the 
 former part of my letter, I made respecting the 
 odours of dried plants, the instances I then ad- 
 duced, and a few others, form rather exceptions 
 to a general rule than a description of the usual
 
 FRAGRANCE OF PLANTS. 145 
 
 habits of plants in this respect. The fragrance of 
 most plants decreases as they lose their freshness ; 
 a circumstance which you cannot have failed to 
 remark when you have gratified your taste by 
 gathering a nosegay of wild flowers, which fade 
 sooner than the double blossoms of the garden. 
 The rose, the violet, and some others, will, it is 
 true, retain a portion of their fragrance after 
 withering; but it is far inferior in strength and 
 sweetness to that of the newly-gathered flower. 
 
 The part from which the aroma proceeds is 
 various in diff"erent plants. Most frequently it 
 exists in the blooming corolla. It is thus with 
 the honeysuckle, the hawthorn, and a thousand 
 others. Sometimes it is found in the herbage, as 
 ■ the sweetbriar, the sweet woodruff", or the ground- 
 ivy ; and even occasionally in the root, as in the 
 Avens (Geum urbdnem). The latter is a plant 
 flowering in our hedges in June. Its small yellow 
 blossoms are shaped like those of the strawberry ; 
 but the plant does not, like the strawberry, creep 
 over the ground, being about three or four inches 
 
 L
 
 146 SCENT OF TROPICAL FLOWERS. 
 
 in height. The root has a very pleasant fragrance, 
 but the rest of the plant is scentless. 
 
 In tropical climates the perfumes emitted by 
 plants are far stronger than in our own land ; and, 
 when Europeans first visit India, they are quite 
 overpowered by the influences of many of them, 
 especially of the large jessamines. The early 
 fragrance of eastern flowers is described as deli- 
 cious, the "dews being quite impregnated with 
 their odours, and rendering a morning walk de- 
 lightful." The banks of the Senegal, in Africa, 
 are full of trees bearing very large and handsome 
 flowers, which difl\ise a most exquisite odour; so 
 powerful, however, are its efi'ects, that after a 
 time it produces head-ache, and to these flowers 
 is imputed much of the sickness which attacked 
 those who resided in the French settlement 
 there. 
 
 The inhabitants of oriental countries are gene- 
 rally very fond of flowers. All odoriferous plants 
 are valued by them, but the rose is a peculiar 
 favourite. The earthen jars used in Hindoostan
 
 PERFUMES. 147 
 
 for holding water for drinking are often arranged 
 in small rooms, with as much order as the milk- 
 pans of our dairies ; and upon the surface of each 
 vessel is strewed a few rose-leaves ; not enough 
 to impart their flavour to the water, but designed 
 to please the imagination by the idea they con- 
 vey of coolness and delicious sweetness. The 
 Persians, who on many occasions carry their 
 water in leathern bottles, use rose-water in 
 cleansing them, in order that its delicate flavour 
 may linger in the bottles. 
 
 The rich natives of Hindoostan, whose habits 
 are exceedingly luxurious, scatter over the floors 
 of their houses in great profusion the cooling rose- 
 water ; and smoke their hookahs amidst its grate- 
 ful perfume. 
 
 Perfumes are greatly in request in all eastern 
 nations. These perfumes are generally extracted 
 from the sweet-smelling flowers so numerous in 
 these climates; but some, as the myrrh and frank- 
 incense, are the resinous juices of trees. In the 
 neighbourhoods of Lucknow, Ghaseepore, and 
 Cashmere, in Hindoostan, large plantations of 
 
 l2
 
 148 
 
 
 Group of rare, natural, and artificial varieties of tl:e Ro:
 
 FONDNESS FOR THE ROSE. 149 
 
 roses are cultivated for the purpose of making 
 ottar of roses ; and these delicious fields shed their 
 influence on the surrounding air to a great dis- 
 tance. The rose which grows in these fields is 
 the rose of Damascus, or Scripture rose of Sharon; 
 but those who have visited rose-fields, with high 
 anticipations of their beauty, have felt much dis- 
 appointment at their appearance. The roses grow 
 on very low shrubs, which are planted for the 
 sake of convenience in a regular and formal man- 
 ner; and, as the flowers themselves are much 
 smaller than those which are the pride of the Eng- 
 lish parterre, they do not present a realization of 
 those ideas which had been formed at a distance. 
 Fields of roses are associated in our minds with 
 beauty and poetry, yet they are generally thought 
 by the British visitant to yield in beauty to the 
 luxuriant hop-gardens of his own country. 
 
 The author of Sketches in Persia thus describes 
 a breakfast that was given to himself and some 
 other gentlemen in the vicinity of Shiraz. " We 
 were surprised and delighted to find that we were 
 to enjoy this meal upon a stack of roses. On this
 
 150 MOUND OF ROSES. 
 
 a carjDet was laid, and we sat cross-legged like 
 the natives. The stack, which was as large as a 
 common one of hay in England, had been formed 
 without much trouble, from the heaps or cocks of 
 rose-leaves collected before they were sent into 
 the city to be distilled. We were told our 
 party was the first to whom such a compliment 
 had been paid. ^Vhether this was the case or 
 not, our mound of roses, added to the fine climate, 
 verdure, gardens, and clear rills, gave a character 
 of singular luxuriance to the rural banquet." It 
 was of the beautiful Shiraz that Franclin said, 
 its dew was so pure, as that, even should the 
 brightest scimitar be left in the air during the 
 whole night, it would not be stained by a single 
 spot of rust. 
 
 The Hindoo ladies perfume their apartments 
 and their hair with the blossoms of the large flow- 
 ering jessamine {Michelia Champdca), whose 
 odour is extremely powerful; and the Chinese, 
 Indians, Persians, Arabians, and Turks, anoint 
 their bodies with a perfume made of the pow- 
 dered wood of the sandal-tree {Santahun). This
 
 AROMATIC PLANTS. 151 
 
 ^vood too is frequently burnt in their dwellings, 
 and yields a most delicious fragrance. 
 
 The Chinese think that no offering can be so 
 propitiatory to their deities as the sweet sandal- 
 wood burnt upon their altars. At the seasons of 
 some of their religious festivals, this wood is cut 
 in small pieces, and sold in the streets in order 
 to render it available to the poor. 
 
 The Indians of the Malabar Coast are in the 
 habit of frequently chewing a leaf containing, in 
 some of its species, an aromatic property. This 
 is the leaf of the betel or pepper-vine, a plant 
 which creeps up the betel or Areka-palm {areca 
 Catechu) ; and this, being sprinkled over with a 
 composition of different ingredients, and having 
 the Areka-nut folded within it to take off its bit- 
 terness, is eaten on many occasions. The Mala- 
 bar Indian would be considered guilty of great 
 presumption, who should dare to address a supe- 
 rior without having first perfumed his mouth by 
 chewing a piece of betel-leaf; or of a great want 
 of politeness, should he omit this ceremony with 
 one in his own station. The practice of chewing
 
 152 AREKA-NUT. 
 
 this leaf prevails very generally among the na- 
 tives throughout India; and when a visitor is 
 about to depart, it is customary to hand it to him 
 on a salver, the nut enveloped in the leaf, and 
 fastened by a clove. It is thought by those who 
 use it to improve the teeth, but it stains them 
 black, and leaves upon the lips a stain of a bright 
 orange colour. 
 
 The Areka-nut is sold in the bazaars and mar- 
 kets of Eastern countries. This nut contains so 
 much heat, that when a cargo is on board of ship 
 the part of the vessel where the nut is placed is 
 forty degrees hotter than the deck. Arabia Felix, 
 or Happy, is said to have derived its name from 
 the number of odoriferous trees and shrubs it 
 contains; and the Jewish historian, Josephus, 
 mentions that, among the presents carried from 
 Arabia by the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon 
 at Jerusalem, one was the balm-plant spoken of 
 in the Song of Solomon, as the balm of Gilead, 
 from its having been subsequently cultivated on 
 the Mount of Gilead. This is still in request 
 among Eastern ladies, on account of the balsam
 
 ANCIENT USE OF PERFUMES. 153 
 
 that flows from it, and which they use to improve 
 the beauty of their complexions. 
 
 The ancient Hebrews, hke the modem Asiatics, 
 appear to have had a great fondness for perfumes ; 
 and the method of extracting them was evidently 
 known by them long before it was known by the 
 Romans. Their manner of composing them is 
 not now known ; but they were doubtless ob- 
 tained from flowers containing the volatile oil in 
 which the odour consists, or from trees yielding 
 fragrant gums. In the time of their first great 
 lawgiver, it appears that they were used in Egypt, 
 since Moses speaks of the art of the perfumer ; and 
 prescribes the ingredients for two odoriferous sub- 
 stances, of which one was to be offered on the 
 golden altar, and the other used in anointing the 
 high priest, the tabernacle, and holy vessels. 
 The Hebrews anointed the bodies of their de- 
 ceased friends, and in this process perfumes were 
 largely employed, especially those of a more pow- 
 erful kind, as aloes and myrrh ; and we find that 
 these were brought with sweet spices by Mary 
 Magdalen, on the morning of the Resurrection,
 
 154 ANCIENT USE OF PERFUMES. 
 
 for the purpose of embalming the body of the 
 Saviour. 
 
 Among the ancient Greeks and Romans, sweet 
 odours were used at feasts, at their sacrifices to 
 their many deities, and at their places of public 
 amusement. It was customary to use them at 
 funerals, both to counteract any unpleasant efflu- 
 via, and to gratify, as they supposed, the remains 
 of the departed. They imported the nardus or 
 spikenard from Syria, but some of their perfumes 
 were obtained from animals such as the civet. 
 When we consider the great prevalence of this 
 taste for perfumes among the Romans of other 
 days, it seems singular that the people of modern 
 Rome should hold them, however delicate they 
 may be, in so much aversion, as that they will 
 not enter places ornamented with odoriferous 
 flowers, or endure the presence of any person 
 who is scented. 
 
 Sir J. E. Smith tells us that a pope, having 
 dreamed that a great quantity of snow had fallen 
 upon a particular spot during the month of 
 August, upon discovering that his dream had
 
 EFFECTS OF STRONG ODOURS. 155 
 
 actually been realized, built in commemoration 
 the Borghese Chapel at Rome, and directed that 
 on the anniversary of the day a representation of a 
 snow -shower should be given to the congregation 
 throughout the service. The mimic snow was 
 made of the lovely and fragrant flowers of the 
 white jessamine, and the anticipation of their 
 powerful odour deterred the ladies of Rome from 
 honouring the ceremony with their attendance. 
 
 Many persons in our own country are unable 
 to bear the scent which delights others. Some 
 will be affected with head- ache by the smell of 
 the mignionette, the hawthorn, or the lilac. A 
 wreath made of the flowers of the garden labur- 
 num, placed around the head, would in many 
 persons cause extreme pain. Plants which are 
 delightful in the field or garden, as the lily, will 
 in the house affect the nerves of delicate persons. 
 Large nosegays in confined rooms are generally 
 considered to be injurious to health; especially 
 during night, when they have a different effect 
 upon the atmosphere than when acted upon by 
 light.
 
 156 FRAGRANCE OF BRUISED PLANTS. 
 
 The investigations of the chemist have proved 
 that plants during day emit oxygen gas, which is 
 indispensable to animal life ; but that in the 
 night they give out nitrogen, which is, on the 
 contrary, of a most injurious tendency, as, if in- 
 haled alone, it would inevitably cause instant 
 death. 
 
 The fragrance yielded by some plants when 
 bruised has afforded many beautiful images to 
 poets. Moore alludes to this circumstance when 
 speaking of the only real consolation in sorrow : 
 he says — 
 
 " But Thou can'st heal the broken heart. 
 Which, like the plants that throw 
 Their fragrance from tlie wounded part, 
 Breathes sweetness out of woe." 
 
 Travellers over the desert of Africa speak of 
 an order of plants {the Diosmas) which when 
 trodden upon emit an odour perceptible afar off. 
 This property exists also in the spikenard-grass 
 (Nardus), that affords the fragrance from which 
 the ointment so often mentioned in Scripture 
 derives its perfume. When an army rides over 
 the plains of Persia, covered with this tall grass,
 
 SPIKENARD. 157 
 
 an almost overpowering sweetness, arising from 
 its stems and roots, fills the surrounding air. The 
 ointment which takes its name from this grass 
 was used among the rich Jews at their baths and 
 public feasts ; and the reproof regarding its waste, 
 which was given by Simon to the affectionate 
 Mary when she poured it over the Saviour's head, 
 proves how precious it was then considered. Its 
 value among the ancients may be inferred from 
 the mention made by Horace, that the quantity 
 contained in a small box of precious stone was 
 regarded as equal in worth to a large vessel of 
 wine. Perfumes are now but little used among 
 us, being generally considered to injure the nerves. 
 On some part of the Continent, in Spain especi- 
 ally, they are very general. The fragrance of 
 plants is not only delightful to man, but it pro- 
 bably serves to attract bees to the flowers whence 
 they are to gather honey. There are some kinds 
 of fish that are so fascinated by the scent of sweet 
 marjoram, and some other plants, as that, upon 
 plunging into the water the hand that has been
 
 158 CARRION FLOWERS. 
 
 rubbed with them, the fish will come in numbers 
 and suffer themselves to be taken. A similar 
 effect is produced upon cats by the smell of the 
 common valerian {Valeriana rubra), which will 
 rub their faces over this plant and seem as if they 
 were intoxicated by it. 
 
 Warm climates not only present examples of 
 flowers remarkable for their delicious odours, but 
 they possess others whose scent is extremely of- 
 fensive. Some kinds of Stapelia, an order of 
 plants abounding in some parts of Africa, have 
 the scent of putrifying flesh ; and have, at a dis- 
 tance, the appearance of an animal substance, in 
 colour resembling a toad. Others are scented like 
 rotton cheese or stagnant water. The odour of 
 one species of carrion flower {Stapelia hirsuta) 
 is so powerful as to deceive insects into the belief 
 that it is decayed flesh ; and the flesh-fly often 
 deposits its eggs upon the flower, following that 
 instinct which induces it to place its eggs in a 
 situation in which its young shall, as soon as they 
 are hatched, be provided with nourishment. In
 
 WATER-DROPWORT. 159 
 
 consequence of this mistake, the young insects 
 die almost as soon as produced, from not finding 
 the supply of food necessary for their support. 
 
 A plant growing wild on the banks of our 
 rivers and ditches, and which I shall have occa- 
 sion to describe in my subsequent pages, although 
 it diffuses but little perceptible odour, has a most 
 deleterious effect upon the nerves of persons ex- 
 posed to its influence. This plant, the water- 
 dropwort (CEndnthe crocata), very much in its 
 appearance resembles wild celer}^, and flourishes 
 in watery places. It is recorded of the celebrated 
 botanical painter, Mr. Christopher D'Ehret, that, 
 being once employed in making a drawing of this 
 plant, he was rendered so much indisposed by its 
 scent, as that he w^as many times obliged to quit 
 his occupation and seek the reviving influence of 
 the fresh air; but at length, recollecting the pro- 
 bable cause of his repeated uneasiness, he opened 
 the door and window of the room in which he 
 was paijiting, and was, by the admission of air, 
 enabled to finish his work. 
 
 There is in Professor Kalm's Travels in North
 
 160 POISON-ASH. 
 
 America, an account given of a species of Sumach 
 called the poison-ash. Of this tree you may 
 have perhaps heard, as its noxious qualities are 
 supposed to have suggested the many tales that 
 formerly obtained belief respecting the upas-tree. 
 The shadow of this tree was said to cast death 
 or sickness upon all over whom it fell ; and every 
 living creature that unwisely wandered under it 
 was reported to fall an almost immediate victim 
 to its dangerous properties. Several species of 
 Sumach are planted in England, but this (the 
 Rhus toxicodendron) will not, I believe, flourish 
 in our country, although it has been sucessfully 
 cultivated in France, and used there medicinally. 
 *' An incision being made into the tree," says 
 the Professor, " a whitish-yellow juice, which has 
 a nauseous smell, comes out between the bark 
 and the wood. This tree is not known for its 
 good qualities, but greatly so for the effect of its 
 poison, which, though it is noxious to some people, 
 yet does not in the least affect others ; and there- 
 fore one person can handle the tree as he pleases, 
 — cut it — peel^off" the bark — rub it, or the wood,
 
 POISON-ASH. 161 
 
 upon his hands — smell it — spread the juice upon 
 his skin, and make more experiments with no 
 inconvenience to himself; another person, on the 
 contrary, dares not meddle with the tree while its 
 wood is fresh; nor can he venture to touch a 
 hand which has handled it, nor even to expose 
 himself to the smoke of a fire which is made with 
 this wood, without soon feeling its bad effects, for 
 the face, the hands, and frequently the whole 
 body, swells excessively, and is affected with very 
 acute pain. Sometimes blisters arise in great 
 quantity, and make the sick person look as if he 
 were infected with a leprosy. In some persons 
 the external skin or cuticle peels off in a few days, 
 as is the case when any person has burnt or 
 scalded any part of his body. Nay, the nature 
 of some persons will not allow them to approach 
 the place where the tree grows, or to expose them- 
 selves to the wind when it carries the effluvia or 
 exhalations of this tree with it, without letting 
 them feel the inconvenience of the swelling which 
 I have just now described. Their eyes are shut 
 up for one or two days together by the swelling. 
 
 M
 
 162 POISON-ASH. 
 
 I know two brothers, one of whom could, without 
 danger, handle the tree in what manner he 
 pleased, whereas the other could not come near it 
 without swelling. A person sometimes does not 
 know that he has touched this poisonous plant, 
 or that he has been near it, before his face and 
 hands show it by the swelling. I have known 
 some old people who were much more affected 
 by this tree than a viper, and I was acquainted 
 with a person who, merely by the noxious exhala- 
 tions of it, was swelled to such a degree that he 
 was stiff as a log of wood, and could only be 
 turned about in sheets." 
 
 " I have tried experiments of every kind with 
 the poison-tree on myself I have spread its juice 
 upon my hands — cut and broke its branches — 
 peeled off its bark, and rubbed my hands with it 
 — smelt it — carried pieces of it in my bare hands, 
 and repeated all this frequently without feeling 
 the baneful effects so commonly annexed to it; 
 but I, however, once experienced that the poison 
 of the Sumach was not entirely without effect 
 upon me. On a hot day in summer, when I was
 
 POISON-ASH, 163 
 
 in some degree of perspiration, I cut a branch of 
 the tree, and carried it in my hand for about half 
 an hour together, and smelt at it now and then. 
 I felt no effects from it in the evening, but next 
 morning I awoke with a violent itching of the 
 eye-lids and the parts thereabouts. It ceased after 
 I had washed my eyes for a while with cold water, 
 but my eye-lids were very stiff all that day. At 
 night the itching returned, and in the morning 
 when I awoke I felt it as ill as the morning 
 before, and I used the same remedy against it. 
 However it continued almost for a whole week 
 together, and my eyes were very red, and my eye- 
 lids with difficulty recovered during that time." 
 
 The Professor adds that he never had heard that 
 the effects of the tree were more lasting than a 
 few days. In some places the tree is destroyed, 
 that it may not injure those who are obliged to 
 labour near it. 
 
 This Sumach, whose pernicious influence was 
 indeed scarcely exaggerated by the accounts of 
 the Upas-tree, is a native of Pennsylvania, New 
 Carolina, and some other places both of the 
 
 M 2
 
 164 FRAGRANCE OF FLOWERS. 
 
 eastern and western hemispheres, and is described 
 as a tall and beautiful tree. 
 
 The fragrance of flowers is a source of con- 
 tinual delight to all accustomed to seek their 
 enjoyment in the open air, either of the field or 
 the garden. It affords surely as plain a manifes- 
 tation of the goodness of God towards us as may 
 be evinced by any indication of the usefulness of 
 plants; since it proves that it is the design of 
 God that life should not only be supported, but 
 enjoyed. James Montgomery has beautifully said 
 that " Flowers are in the book of Nature what 
 the words ' God is love' are in that of Revelation." 
 Yet the poisonous effluvia that I have mentioned 
 as proceeding from some plants, and the offensive 
 scents emitted by others, may at first sight appear 
 to be at variance with my remarks on the bene- 
 volence by which the usual operations of nature 
 are directed. 
 
 "With regard to the poisonous influence diffused 
 on the air, I may remark that it is evidently 
 designed as a warning that we may not eat the 
 plant ; that the poison itself is in many instances
 
 MEDICAL rSES OF POISONS. 165 
 
 very useful in medicine, "when judiciously admi- 
 nistered; and that in many cases, where it 
 appears to render no service to man, it is owing 
 to his ignorance of the purposes to which it might 
 be applied. Many new and interesting disco- 
 veries are daily occurring, which should convince 
 us that in the application of poisons there is yet 
 much for the investigations of other days to re- 
 veal. 
 
 The scent of the carrion plants may, as Sir 
 James Smith observes, be agreeable to the Hot- 
 tentots, in whose country they abound ; and you 
 will not consider this surmise improbable, when 
 you remember that to the Chinese a dish of rotten 
 eggs, however revolting to our tastes, offers a 
 dainty repast. Even where it is impossible to 
 account for fetid odours by these means, we must 
 consider that they are so placed as that it is in 
 our power to avoid them ; and that they do not, 
 like the various sweet plants with which our 
 earth is covered, meet us at every step of our 
 country walk. Above all, we must never forget 
 that this world is not in the state in which it
 
 166 FIGURATIVE USE OF FLOWERS. 
 
 came out from the hand of God, when, having 
 looked upon all the works which he had made, 
 he pronounced them " very good.'' There were 
 no poisons in the Garden of Eden, for death or 
 sickness would never have entered there ; and it 
 was not until God had cursed the earth for man's 
 transgression that it bore briars and thorns. 
 Beautiful and pleasant to the eye and ear as is 
 nature, even yet, — retaining much to win our love 
 and admiration of its beneficent Author, — it yet 
 bears the traces of man's disobedience and con- 
 sequent punishment. 
 
 In the East flowers are often used as expressions 
 of feeling and sentiment. The Chinese and Per- 
 sian ladies, who, with no mental resources to 
 occupy their many hours of retirement, have 
 much of that taste and love of beauty and ele- 
 gance which belong especially to Oriental na- 
 tions, signify love, friendship, anger, disdain, 
 and other feelings, by their various blossoms ; 
 and to them the flowers convey a language of 
 their own. We are told that in Persia the tulip, 
 whose blossom in its native country is scarlet,
 
 GARDENS OF INDIA. 167 
 
 while the centre of its glowing cup is black, is 
 used to express warm affection ; and, when sent 
 by a lover, will convey to the object of his at- 
 tachment the idea that like this flower his face 
 is warm, and his heart consumed as a coal. 
 
 The gradual progress of affection is expressed 
 by the gift of a rose in its various developments, 
 from the small rose-bud to the fully expanded 
 blossom : and despair is signified by the nosegay 
 formed of myrtle, entwined with the cypress and 
 the poppy. The two latter symbols would find 
 a ready interpretation in any country ; but to us 
 the gay tulip might seem ill adapted to convey 
 sentiment, and would rather remind us of that 
 display which courts admiration. The berga- 
 motte and the jasmine, both of which in eastern 
 countries possess the most powerful fragrance, 
 are beautifully emblematic of the sweets of friend- 
 ship. 
 
 The gardens of India are of exceeding beauty: 
 ornamented with fountains and filled with every 
 lovely tree and flower, they aff"ord retreats of 
 coolness and fragrance, whose value is greatly
 
 168 • GARDENS OF JAPAN. 
 
 enhanced by that intense heat of the atmosphere 
 which renders shade so inviting and refreshing. 
 Very large creeping plants, bearing thick clusters 
 of beautiful blossoms, are trained against high 
 trees, uhose branches are never destitute of 
 foliage. The bright pink acacia, and the large 
 magnolia, flourish in unrivalled beauty ; and 
 amidst this scene of profuse and i^blooming vege- 
 tation birds of gay plumage, and butterflies with 
 every variety of brilliant tint, sport in the boughs 
 of the trees, or sip the nectar from the flowers. 
 
 The Japanese cultivate their gardens with great 
 care and skill ; they are remarkable for the 
 number of their trees bearing double blossoms, 
 as the peach, the apple, and others, which are 
 during their time of flowering objects of peculiar 
 beauty. The Japanese appear too to possess some 
 of that taste which is thought almost peculiar to 
 the cottagers of England, — planting little gardens 
 around their houses, and teaching the flowers to 
 wander over their walls. 
 
 Dobell, speaking of the flower-gardens of China, 
 says, "In ornamenting and beautifying of gardens
 
 GARDENS OF CHINA. 169 
 
 the Chinese excel all other nations. By means 
 of a variety of winding walks they make a small 
 place appear twice as large as it really is. In- 
 numerable flower-pots, containing a great variety 
 of beautiful asters, of which they are very fond, 
 are sometimes arranged in a labyrinth from 
 which you cannot get out again without a guide. 
 They seem to have a very extensive assortment 
 of asters ; one species is quite white, as large as 
 a rose, with long pendant leaves, and the Chinese 
 eat it in the season as a salad, justly esteeming it 
 a great delicacy. When the asters are all in full 
 bloom, the pots arranged handsomely near a 
 piece of water, and the walks and alleys all 
 lighted with variously-coloured lamps, a Chinese 
 garden has the appearance of one of those en- 
 chanted gardens we read of in the Arabian Tales." 
 One species of ornament, which other writers 
 mention as peculiar to Chinese gardens, seems in 
 laughable accordance with the idea of their taste 
 which we should have formed from viewing the 
 landspapes on their porcelain. About the gardens 
 are placed small pots on the backs of earthen-
 
 170 GARDENS or CHINA. 
 
 ware buffaloes, pigs, castles, and other images, 
 in which grow dwarf trees. Each of these per- 
 versions of nature is formed from the branch of a 
 large elm, or some other tree, which, by their 
 peculiar management, is made to assume the 
 form and appearance of a very ancient but dimi- 
 nutive tree. 
 
 The love of splendid illuminations, which the 
 possessors of Oriental gardens sometimes exhibit, 
 seems partaken by a bird of the East. The Baya, 
 or Indian Gross-beak, is said, on the authority 
 of Sir William Jones, nightly to light up its nest, 
 by placing in it a number of fire-flies, whose 
 brilliant but soft light probably pleases the eye of 
 its luxurious little owner. 
 
 In many parts of Hindostan it is usual after 
 dinner for a servant to carry round to the guests 
 a silver basin decked with newly- gathered flowers, 
 into which water is poured over the hands. The 
 flowers are placed in a perforated cover, so as to 
 conceal the water from view. In those parts of 
 India where hospitality prevails, a stranger is 
 welcomed on his entrance to a town with wreaths
 
 USE OF FLOWERS IN CEMETERIES. 171 
 
 of flowers, which the women and children are 
 eager to offer. In Japan the names of the fe- 
 males are always derived from their beautiful 
 flowers : a delicate compliment paid by the Ja- 
 panese to those who are so often in poetry called 
 the flowers of the creation . 
 
 Among the Greeks and Romans flowers were 
 very profusely employed. The master of a house 
 always provided them when an entertainment 
 was to be given, and they were introduced at the 
 second course. The cypress, in all nations an 
 emblem of sorrov/, was used by the Romans to 
 deck the gates of a dwelling in which the body 
 of any person of distinction lay dead. They also 
 carried cypress-boughs in their funeral proces- 
 sions, because, if once cut down, that plant will 
 not spring up again : and, as the Romans were 
 not aware of the resurrection of the body, it ap- 
 propriately signified to their minds the idea of 
 perpetual death. 
 
 In the early ages of Christianity the custom 
 prevailed of carrying evergreens with the corpse 
 to the burial-ground, and depositing them in the
 
 172 USE OF FLOWERS IN CEMETERIES. 
 
 grave; implying that the soul was ever-living, 
 and that the body, though now cut down, should 
 spring up again, in eternal youth and beauty, at 
 the day of the resurrection. When the ancient 
 Jews returned from the ceremony of placing their 
 friends in the house for all living, as they ex- 
 pressively called their place of interment, they 
 were accustomed to pluck off the grass two or 
 three times, and, throwing it behind them, to ex- 
 claim in the words of the Psalmist, *' They shall 
 flourish out of the city like grass upon earth." 
 This practice appears to refer to the resurrection 
 of the bodies of the departed. 
 
 The Hindoos place flowery offerings on the 
 shrines of their deities; and Forbes, in his Ori- 
 ental Memoirs, thus speaks of an interesting 
 custom : " In the Mahomedan cemeteries of Gu- 
 zerat are displayed the amiable propensities* of the 
 female character. To those consecrated spots the 
 Mahomedan matrons repair, at stated anniver- 
 saries, * with fairest flowers to sweeten the sad 
 grave.' The grand tombs are often splendidly 
 illuminated, but the meanest heap of turf has its
 
 USE OF FLOWERS IN CEMETERIES. 173 
 
 visitors, to chant a requiem, light a little lamp, 
 suspend a garland, or strew a rose, as an affec- 
 tionate tribute to departed love or separated 
 friendship." 
 
 The Turks in their burying-places, which they 
 call " Cities of Silence," perforate the slabs 
 which cover their graves, and through these 
 openings spring beautiful flowers, which shed 
 their sweets around. These flowers are carefully 
 tended and kept from weeds by the Turkish 
 females. The cypresses, too, with their dark 
 gloomy foliage, mingle with other trees, and by 
 their odour counteract the unpleasant eff*ects 
 which cemeteries in hot climates are so apt to 
 produce, where the coffinless dead are buried at 
 but little depth from the surface of the ground. 
 
 The Chinese plant flowers and shrubs about 
 the places destined for the last reception of their 
 families; and in many instances approach them 
 through avenues of beautiful and lofty trees. 
 The Germans place upon every grave little clusters 
 of primroses, violets, lilies, and forget-me-nots. 
 The celebrated cemetery of Pere la Chaise at Paris
 
 174 USE OF FLOWERS IN CEMETERIES. 
 
 presents much of picturesque beauty in its ar- 
 rangement ; and 3-et the bereaved mourner would 
 generally feel more willing that the remains of 
 his friend should lie in the peaceful churchyard 
 of the village than in a spot so much visited by 
 the gay and thoughtless. 
 
 To the dead these kindly offices matter not; 
 their bodies lie unheeding, and their spirits are 
 far removed : but to the living there is something 
 of soothing pleasure in thus adorning the spot 
 which covers the remains of the beloved. Fit 
 emblems as are flowers of the fragility of life, and 
 meet to picture forth in their spring renewal the 
 rising again of the objects of our regret, they 
 seem well adapted ornaments to the burial-place. 
 
 The frequent use of flowers was once much 
 more common in England than it now is, espe- 
 cially that ajBfecting custom of strewing them over 
 the grave of the mourned, or placing them in the 
 hands of a corpse. In many parts of England 
 it is still usual for the attendants at the burial of 
 a young maiden to carry wreaths of flowers be- 
 hind the coffin, a practice much used on the con-
 
 USE OF FLOWERS IN CEMETERIES. 115 
 
 tinent, and in Russia it is usual to fill the coffins 
 with flowers. 
 
 At wedding ceremonies, the rosemary, which 
 by our forefathers was esteemed a plant of great 
 virtue in improving the memory, and regarded as 
 an emblem of wisdom and affection, was always 
 carried by the friends of a bridal party : and 
 flowers and rushes were strewed over the path on 
 which they walked from their dwelling to the 
 church. The bride and bridegroom were after 
 the marriage ceremony crowned with wreaths of 
 flowers. These garlands were sometimes made 
 of myrtle, but in the time of Henry VIII. it was 
 customary to adorn the bride with a chaplet made 
 of ears of corn mingled with flowers. In Holland 
 it is still usual to deck with flowers and ever- 
 greens the home of a newly-married couple, and 
 to strew plentifidly upon their thresholds these 
 tokens of kindness and aff"ection. 
 
 In all ages and nations flowers have formed a 
 frequent source of allusion in poetry ; and to the 
 poetical mind each of our most common blossoms 
 is associated with some idea peculiar to itself.
 
 176 ALLUSIONS TO FLO\\ERS IN POETRY. 
 
 In oriental writings these allusions are most 
 abundant. Asia was the scene of the narra- 
 tives recorded in the Scripture ; and the Sacred 
 Writings contain a great number of references 
 to these lovely objects of Nature. Jotham, the 
 son of Gideon, when he made his appeal to the 
 people whom his father had formerly befriended, 
 addressed them in the beautiful and expressive 
 parable of the trees choosing a king. The Jew- 
 ish nation is spoken of under the figure of a vine, 
 and the exquisite allegory in which the Psalmist 
 so pathetically bewails the injuries done to this 
 vine is justly considered one of the finest effu- 
 sions of poetry. 
 
 Our Saviour following the beautiful custom of 
 his country, a custom as prevalent now in the 
 East as it then was, could in his familiar conver- 
 sation point his hearers to the flowers, and say, 
 *' Consider the lilies how they grow, for they toil 
 not, neither do they spin : and yet I say unto 
 you, that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not 
 arrayed like one of these:" and drew from their 
 beauty the consoling inference, " Wherefore, if
 
 ALLUSIONS TO FLOWENS IN POETRY. 177 
 
 God SO clothe the grass of the field, shall he not 
 much more clothe you ?" 
 
 The Ghulistan, or Rose Garden, a beautiful 
 collection of tales and familiar proverbs, both in 
 prose and poetry, is so popular throughout Persia 
 as to be a book of daily reference ; and its con- 
 tents are common to the poorest and most unin- 
 structed of that nation. It has been translated 
 into English by Mr. Gladwin, and the following 
 is the introduction of its author, Saadi : " I am 
 able to form a book of roses which wall delight 
 the beholders, and gratify all who are present; 
 whose leaves the tyrannic arm of the autumnal 
 blasts can never affect, nor injure the blossoms of 
 its spring. What benefit will you derive from a 
 basket of flowers ? Carr)^ a leaf from my garden. 
 A rose may continue in bloom for five or six days^ 
 but my rose-garden will flourish for ever." 
 
 But the custom of alluding to flowers is not 
 confined among eastern nations to their writings. 
 The maimers and customs of Asiatics vary less 
 during a number of years than those of Europe- 
 ans ; and the practice of introducing poetical allu-
 
 178 ALLUSIONS TO FLOWERS IN POETRY. 
 
 sions, and those often of a beautiful and well-sus- 
 tained character, is scarcel}- less common than in 
 those days when the Scripture narratives were 
 penned. Even in their official documents these 
 images are employed ; and some of their ad- 
 dresses to British officers are clothed in language 
 which cannot fail to produce a smile upon the 
 countenances of any of our countrymen who are 
 unaccustomed to the glowing and figurative lan- 
 guage of the East.
 
 179 
 
 Letter YII. 
 
 The Sea— Effect of the sea-air on -vegetation — Saline plauts — Syea- 
 moie-lree — Cocoa-nut tree — Mangrove — Rosemary— Tamarisk — 
 Yellow Horned Poppy— Sea Lavender— Thrift— Samphire— Glau- 
 cous foliage— Sea-weeds— Plants yielding Soda— Carrageen Moss- 
 Opinion of the Ancients respecting salt in the soil. 
 
 How grand and sublime an object is the ocean 1 
 Few can look on it without interest, as its calm 
 waters ripple in soft murmurs upon the bordering 
 sand, and would seem so gentle and placid that 
 the frailest bark might trust their smoothness. 
 And surely none, even the most untaught and 
 usually indifferent observer, can gaze upon its 
 waves, as, agitated by the storm, they dash upon 
 the rocks with almost overpowering violence, 
 without some feeling of awe and of wonder, that 
 they do not overleap the limits appointed them by 
 Him who hath set its bounds to the sea that it 
 cannot pass over. The wild tumult of the waters 
 
 n2
 
 180 THE SEA. 
 
 seems to have suggested to the prophet Jeremiah 
 the image of the human heart when under the 
 first impulse of some agonising grief. " Sorrow 
 is on the sea, that it cannot be quiet," said the 
 prophet, as his inspired eye foresaw the day of 
 anguish that the people should shortly experience. 
 The air in the neighbourhood of the sea is ren- 
 dered of a saline quality by having passed over 
 the ocean, and the surrounding soil contains a 
 large portion of salt. You may easily perceive 
 this quality of the air by tasting any of the plants 
 that grow upon the sea-coast; or even by putting 
 to your tongue the linen which has been dried in 
 the air of the beach. This air is so generally 
 considered favourable to the health of the human 
 constitution, that multitudes of invalids annually 
 resort to the sea-shore to enjoy its invigorating 
 influences ; but these are far from being friendly 
 to vegetation. None of the corn-plants will 
 flourish very near the sea, and few, except those 
 termed saline plants, will grow if transplanted 
 into its immediate vicinity. Some saline plants 
 will however live on no other soil, while some,
 
 THE SYCAMORE. 181 
 
 whose robust habit seems especially to adapt 
 them for this situation, will yet attain perfection 
 on inland spots. 
 
 On the shores of our island few trees will grow, 
 and the Sycamore seems almost the only one 
 which the sea-breezes do not appear to render 
 dwarfish in growth and languid in appearance. 
 The Sycamore, or Great Maple {Acer pseudo 
 pldtanus), is a large tree with handsome leaves. 
 Its form is not very graceful, yet it often gives 
 interest to the landscape by the variety of colour 
 exhibited by its stem, the bark of which peels off 
 at many places. This tree is a very favourite 
 plant with bees, who fly humming around, and 
 extract the sweet substance which exists more 
 or less in every species of maple. 
 
 The shores of the Indian seas are thickly 
 planted with the tall and stately Cocoa Palm 
 (Cocos nucifera)y which rises to a height of sixty 
 feet, and whose summit is crowned with long 
 and flowing leaves, often about twelve feet in 
 length. The waves of the sea carry to the land 
 the large cocoa-nut, and, dashing it on the beach,
 
 182 THE COCOA-NUT. 
 
 leave it there to germinate. On no other soil 
 will this tree thrive so well ; and, as its root con- 
 tains an immense number of fibres, few trees are 
 so well adapted to benefit the shore which sup- 
 ports it. 
 
 The Cocoa-nut tree supplies the Indian with 
 almost every necessary of life. Its strong and 
 durable stem serves in the construction of his 
 hut, and its large leaves are useful in covering its 
 roof, as well as in defending him from the heat of 
 the svm, by serving as a parasol. Of its bark he 
 makes his canoe ; and of its numerous fibres he 
 manufactures cordage, sufficiently strong to fur- 
 nish the necessary ropes for a vessel ; while, 
 woven together in another manner, they form the 
 mat on which he nightly reposes. The shell of 
 the nut furnishes bowls for his domestic purposes, 
 and its substance yields both food and drink; a 
 full-grown Cocoa-nut affording more than a pint 
 of milk. These nuts are in their native country 
 much larger than those we see in England, 
 because the latter are gathered before they are 
 matured ; being in that state much fitter for
 
 THE COCOA-NUT. 1S3 
 
 keeping than when quite ripe. The Cocoa Palm 
 yields also a juice called toddy, from which an 
 intoxicating liquor named arrack is distilled ; and 
 of this liquor the natives of these countries are 
 very fond. In Ceylon the various parts of this 
 tree are used for medicinal purposes, and the 
 Otaheitans attribute to the liquid contained in 
 the nut the property of maintaining freshness 
 and youthfulness of countenance, and preserving 
 the face from the lines which time or sorrow 
 would wrinkle upon it. 
 
 The natives of countries between the tropics 
 generally attach a high value to this tree, and 
 many legends exist in different parts recording its 
 introduction as effected by a personal visit of one 
 of their gods. The Singalese tell of the Cocoa 
 Palm, that it will not thrive unless you walk and 
 talk under it; an assertion very plainly contra- 
 dicted by the majestic Cocoa-tree which springs 
 upon many a shore whose rocks never echo to 
 the sound of a human voice, where the wild 
 beast prowls in undisturbed possession, and the
 
 184 THE MANGROVE, 
 
 surges beat in lonely music upon the desolate 
 strand. 
 
 Gibbon, the historian, writes of the Palm-tree, 
 that the Asiatics celebrate in prose and verse 
 three hundred uses to v.hich the different parts of 
 the tree are applied. The appearance of the 
 Cocoa-tree greatly adds to the picturesque beauty 
 of the landscape. Possessing that slender and 
 upright stem peculiar to the palms, its feathery 
 crown of leaves waves lightly and gracefully before 
 the sea-breezes, and its large fruit so peculiarly 
 formed to float uninjured upon the waters, falls 
 upon the sand, and is washed into them. 
 
 Many islands, as those of the West Indies, 
 have on their shores large forests of Mangroves 
 {Rhiwphom) , which grow in the v/ater, and well 
 secure the damp sands from the incursion of the 
 waves. So moist is the land on which it grows, 
 that, were it not for an admirable provision, it 
 would soon fall beneath the hurricanes to which 
 it is exposed. Its trunk is placed upon the point 
 of union formed by several roots, which "unite at
 
 ROSEMARY. 185 
 
 a height of some feet from the ground, making a 
 strong basis on which the stem is to rest. Besides 
 these a number of small shoots arising from the 
 branches and the trunk, and taking root in the 
 soil, add their strength to constitute the solidity 
 of the tree. These trees flourish also upon the 
 coast of Eastern India, and the lower parts of 
 their trunks are frequently covered with oysters, 
 which attach themselves firmly around them. 
 In places where mangroves grow in the sea- 
 water oyster fishing is attended with very little 
 labour, as the natives have only to walk into the 
 water and cut the oysters off the trees with a 
 hatchet. 
 
 In the southern parts of Spain, Italy, and 
 France, large Rosemary-trees {Rosmarinus^ ^ 
 grow on the sea-shores in great number, wafting 
 their perfume upon the sea-air at some distance 
 from the land. 
 
 Our own sea-side plants are small in size and 
 few in number. The largest and prettiest shrub 
 growing on our sea-coasts is the Tamarisk (Ta- 
 Tnarix gdllicus), sometimes called the Sea Cypress.
 
 186 TAMARISK. 
 
 It is probable that this shrub was of foreign 
 origin, but it is now generally numbered among 
 British plants. It received its name from the 
 Tamarisci, a people who dwelt on the banks of 
 the Tamariscus (now called the Tambra), in 
 Spain, where the plant grows in great quantity. 
 It is a most elegant and graceful shrub, often 
 cultivated in shrubberies, where however it after 
 a while assumes rather the character of a tree : its 
 stem becomes taller, thicker, and more branched. 
 The blossoms are of a delicate pink colour, and 
 are succeeded by seed-vessels scarcely less beau- 
 tiful. The foliage is of a pale green, the stems 
 slender and upright, and those of the branches of 
 a red colour. 
 
 On some parts of the coast it is plentiful, as at 
 Sandgate in Kent, where it grows down to the 
 beach, and adorns the cliffs which surround the 
 town and neighbourhood. It abounds also upon 
 the sandy shores of the Lizard and St. Michael's, 
 in Cornwall ; and on many other parts of our 
 coast it flourishes in less abundance. It is eagerly 
 eaten by sheep, and considered very good food for
 
 YELLOW-HORNED FOPPY. 187 
 
 them, but it does not grow in sufficient quantity 
 to admit of their enjoying it, as it is too great an 
 ornament to the lands where it exists to be 
 applied to purposes of pasture. 
 
 The Yellow Horned Poppy {Glaucium lii- 
 teum) is one of the most showy plants on our sea- 
 coasts, and is much used by marine painters in 
 giving richness and character to their foregrounds. 
 Its blossoms are large and of a bright yellow, and 
 its leaves boldly formed and extremely rough. 
 When the flowers die, long pods are formed, 
 which give the plant a very singular appearance, 
 as if it had a number of succulent pipes upon it, 
 and they are sometimes nine or ten inches in 
 length. The whole plant is about two or three 
 feet high ; and if you are accustomed to visit the 
 coast you can scarcely have failed to see it, as it 
 is very general, and grows close down to the sands. 
 
 The Sea Lavender (Stdtice Limonium), a pretty 
 delicate flower, in colour resembling the lavender 
 of our gardens, grows very abundantly in salt 
 marshes or muddy shores near the sea, but not 
 immediately upon the beach. It bears its bios-
 
 188 SEA-LAVENDER. 
 
 soms in large bunches, and its leaves are broad 
 and pointed at the top. It makes when dried a 
 very pretty ornament for chimney vases during 
 winter, as it retains its form and colour by being 
 merely hung up as it is gathered. Crabbe speaks 
 of it as the " Sea Lavender that lacks perfume," 
 and besides this difference between it and the 
 Sweet Lavender, it does not resemble the latter 
 in its erect mode of flowering, but is spread in a 
 wide and full cluster. The root of this plant is 
 much used in Russia by tanners, and is one of 
 the ingredients used in preparing the Russian 
 leather commonly known to us by its pleasant 
 scent, and its use in making portfolios, work- 
 boxes, and bindings for books. The odour pecu- 
 liar to it is however derived from an oil made of 
 the bark of the birch-tree ; the scent of the birch 
 of cold climates being far more powerful than that 
 of the '* fragrant birk " of Scotland or England. 
 
 The Rose-coloured Thrift (Stdtice Armerid), so 
 commonly used in gardens instead of box-cut- 
 tings, as a border to flower-beds, is also a native 
 of the sea-shore, growing very commonly on high
 
 thrift; sea-kale. 189 
 
 rocks, or on the salt marshes near the sea or 
 river. The asparagus of our tables is cultivated 
 from the wild asparagus of the shores of England ; 
 and in Kynance Cove, in Cornwall, this vegetable 
 grows in such quantity as to have given its name 
 to a small island, thence called Asparagus Isle. 
 In its native state, however, it is so inferior in 
 size, that it would scarcely be recognised as the 
 valuable culinary vegetable it becomes by culture. 
 The asparagus was formerly much used in medi- 
 cine, but it is now chiefly cultivated for the Lon- 
 don market. 
 
 The Sea Kale (^Crdmbe Maritimci) is an excel- 
 lent vegetable when well blanched. It is a hand- 
 some plant of a purplish colour, and covered with 
 a mealy powder. The flowers are white, and 
 have a pleasant odour. The stalks when just 
 unfolding are the parts eaten as food. 
 
 The Crithmum Maritimum^ox Samphire as it is 
 called (a corruption most likely of the French 
 name, Herhe de St. Pierre)^ is much valued on 
 account of the excellent pickle it makes. This is 
 of a fleshy substance, with small flowers, and its
 
 190 SAMPHIRE. 
 
 stems are branched and jointed. It is common 
 on some parts of the English coast, but never 
 grows so near to the sea as to be washed over by 
 the waves. An anecdote related by Burnett re- 
 specting the Samphire proves how important is 
 the acquisition of every species of knowledge, 
 and how valuable may one day prove the informa- 
 tion we have acquired. A ship having been 
 wrecked in the year 1821 in the English Channel, 
 off Beachy Head, four only of her crew escaped 
 from finding a grave in its waters. Thrown upon 
 the cliffs by the violence of the waves, in the 
 midst of a dark and tempestuous night, the ship- 
 wrecked men clung for safety to one of those 
 eminences forming the promontory, and, in a state 
 of agonising suspense, with which we who calmly 
 read the narrative can but faintly sympathise, 
 they waited there for the morning's dawn. At 
 every instant, how^ever, the waters advanced, 
 threatening to overwhelm the little spot upon 
 which the mariners had gathered; till they 
 deemed themselves painfully certain that when 
 the tide should have gained its height, their place
 
 SAMPHIRE. 191 
 
 of refuge would rescue them from destruction no 
 longer. The storm dashed the spray against the 
 rocks ; their voices were lost amid the roaring of the 
 winds ; and, even had the sailors of any vessel near 
 been aware of their situation, it could have availed 
 them nothing, as they could not have reached the 
 cliffs. In the midst of a scene, such as would 
 have bowed down the energies of the feeble mind, 
 the distressed men endeavoured to devise some 
 means of escape. No scheme could be suggested 
 but that of casting themselves upon the ocean, 
 hoping that by its fury they might be thrown 
 upon a shore where they could retreat beyond the 
 reach of the waves ; or willing to perish by a 
 sudden death, rather than to watch in suspense 
 its slow approach. At this dreadful crisis, one of 
 the men, unable to stand against the storm, clung 
 to a w^eed on the rock, w^hich in one moment a 
 flash of lightning enabled him to discover was a 
 sprig of Samphire. Happily, the seaman knew 
 that Samphire never fixes its root upon land which 
 the ocean rolls over, and, reassured by this encou- 
 raging circumstance, they determined to wait till
 
 1 92 SAMPHIRE. 
 
 day upon the cliff, when they were at length 
 released from their distressing position by some 
 people who saw them from the neighbourhood. 
 
 I shall not attempt to describe the joyful emo- 
 tions experienced by all these men when this 
 discovery was made by one of them. The human 
 heart that beats within your bosom needs not 
 that I should endeavour to call forth its sympa- 
 thies by any comment on the narrative of an event 
 so affecting. Truly did that poet testify of the 
 works of God who said 
 
 " Nature never did betray 
 The heart that trusted her !" 
 
 It was by the assurance which the mariner felt 
 of the constancy of the laws by which Nature is 
 governed, that he inferred a fact so important in 
 their perilous condition. 
 
 Plants which inhabit the sea-shore are remark- 
 able for the peculiar colour of their leaves and 
 stems, they being very generally of that light 
 green tint which we call sea-green, and covered 
 W'ith a mealy substance of this colour, which 
 seems in its nature something like the bloom on
 
 FUCI- 
 
 193 
 
 the skin of a plum, and may he ruhhed off m the 
 same manner. When this mealy powder exists 
 upon their foliage, plants are said to be glaucous. 
 Some of our inland plants have leaves and stems 
 which are glaucous, but their number is compar- 
 atively small. 
 
 The plants which I have in this letter enume- 
 rated do not constitute the whole number of our 
 sea-side plants; but these are the most conspi- 
 
 Group of Fuci. 
 
 cuous and well known, and I have not added the
 
 194 FUCUS GIGANTEUS, 
 
 remaining few, lest mere description should prove 
 tedious. The great number of Fuci (sea-weeds), 
 which the storm throws upon the beach, or which 
 float upon the surface of the water, show that the 
 depths of the mighty ocean are covered with a 
 variety of plants which afford food to its numerous 
 inhabitants. St. Pierre mentions, that the seas 
 about Cape Yerd and the Gulf of Florida yield 
 so great a profusion of floating herbage, as that 
 the ocean is covered with it for the space of thirty 
 or forty leagues ; so that ships can with diflSculty 
 force their way through its entangled mass. The 
 Fucus gigdnteuSj well known in these seas, is a 
 weed of such magnitude as that one plant is often 
 700 feet long. Sea-weeds of immense length 
 float about Cape Horn, whose consistence is like 
 leather, so that buckets are sometimes made of 
 them : and Webster mentions having found one 
 pretty green species, that was of an acid taste, 
 while some others afforded a jelly-like substance, 
 resembling isinglass, and far superior to that of 
 the Carrageen moss. Others were of the most 
 beautiful colours, and yielded dyes that may some
 
 CARRAGEEN MOSS. 195 
 
 day be used by manufacturers. The sea around 
 the Cape of Good Hope has little groves of an 
 immense species of sea-weed (the Fucus bucci- 
 ndlis)^ which grows under the water. The stems 
 of this plant are quite hollow, and about six feet 
 high, and from its summit extend large and broad 
 leaves. The Dutch at Cape Town call it the sea- 
 bamboo; and Mr. Burchell tells us that boys, 
 after cutting its stalk to a convenient length when 
 dry, sometimes amuse themselves by blowing it 
 as a horn or trumpet. 
 
 The Chinese and Japanese esteem some species 
 of sea-weed a great delicacy for the table. Another 
 species makes a very pleasant pickle. 
 
 The Carrageen moss {Fucus crispus) is a 
 species of sea-weed, found on the rocks or in salt- 
 pools near the sea. It is very common on the 
 coast of Ireland, and is called by the country 
 people, who collect it, Irish moss. On many 
 parts of our own coast too it may be found. 
 Sometimes it grows very plentifully on the 
 southern shores of England, at other times it can 
 scarcely be found there at all. 
 
 o2
 
 196 
 
 PRICKLY GLASSWORT. 
 
 A plant tliat grows by the sea-side, or in the 
 neighbourhood of salt rivers, called Glasswort {Sal- 
 sola), is in some of its several species very com- 
 
 Prickly Glasswort — Salsola Kali. 
 
 mon on all the coasts of Europe, and is cultivated
 
 GLASSWORT. 197 
 
 in some of the southern countries, especially in 
 Spain, on account of its use in the manufacture 
 of soap and glass. The only species on our 
 shores (the Salsola Kali, or prickly glasswort) 
 raises its awl-shaped rough leaves, and angular 
 stem, on the sandy margin of the sea ; each 
 branch bearing one small pale-green flower. A 
 plant which, in its English varieties at least, 
 yields a greater portion of salt, and better deserves 
 its English name of glasswort (Salicornia), is not 
 unlike the Samphire in appearance ; and its suc- 
 culent and jointed stems are often used for a 
 pickle instead of that plant, though certainly 
 inferior. 
 
 All the succulent plants which grow near the 
 sea contain, in a greater or less quantity, a portion 
 of alkali or soda, which is procured by burning 
 the plants to ashes. When extracted entirely 
 from saline plants it forms the well-known soda 
 used for medicinal purposes. The same sub- 
 stance, though of a coarser nature, is obtained 
 from burnt sea-weed, and called kelp, which is 
 used in making glass ^and soap. The people
 
 198 KELF. 
 
 li\dng in the neighbourhoods of the sea collect the 
 sea-weeds and burn them for this purpose : and 
 kelp forms a very important article of commerce 
 in the islands of Scotland, especially the Orkney 
 Islands. Many of the inhabitants of the Orkneys 
 derive their entire support from the manufacture 
 of kelp, which is of more value than the produce 
 of the same substance obtained from any other of 
 ihe Scotch islands. 
 
 So much of the soda is contained in these ashes 
 as that ill glass manufactories it is not an un- 
 frequent circumstance for crystals to be formed 
 upon the faces of the workmen, owing to its 
 evaporation during the process of glass-making. 
 In some of the inland parts of Asia, whose in- 
 habitants are too far from the sea to procure from 
 it the salt used for their domestic purposes, and 
 where the land is destitute of the salt-mines and 
 springs which afford the usual resource, the na- 
 tives procure their salt from burnt vegetables, 
 especially from a species of duck-weed. In many 
 parts of Hindoostan salt is so expensive, owing to 
 the process by which it is obtained, that it can
 
 SALT. 199 
 
 only be applied to those uses in which it is of 
 absolute necessity. 
 
 At Bamboukj a kingdom of Africa, situated on 
 the hottest part of the globe, the indolent and 
 careless natives have not discovered that salt 
 exists in vegetables ; and, ignorant of this mode 
 of procuring it, and their land being wholly with- 
 out salt-mines and springs, they are glad to pur- 
 chase this necessary of life from the Moors, and 
 to give them gold in exchange. 
 
 The mixture of some portion of salt with the 
 soil is considered by agriculturists as an im- 
 provement to its nature ; but when it contains a 
 great quantity few plants will arrive at perfection. 
 Among the ancients the presence of salt in the 
 soil was considered so detrimental to vegetation 
 as that, when they condemned a held to sterility, 
 it was customary to sow it with salt.
 
 200 
 
 Letter VIII. 
 
 Sap — Vegetable secretions— Milk — Opium — Excessive use of Opium 
 in Turkey— Poppy — Milk-bearing tree — Sugar— Acid — Wood Sorrel 
 — Gentian — Wood Sage — Flint iu Plants — Horsetail— Resins — 
 Gums— Asafoetida— Indian rubber— Oil— Attar of Roses— Uses of 
 Oils— Olive-tree— Wax Palm— Tallow-tree- Soap Berry— British 
 Soapwort— Cotton-i)lant — Tree yielding Wool. 
 
 There is, as you are probably aware, a fluid in 
 plants, somewhat similar in its uses to the blood 
 of animals, called sap. It is formed from various 
 fluid substances absorbed from the earth by the 
 root. From thence it ascends into the stem, and 
 is impelled into the leaves, where it is exposed 
 to the atmosphere and made to undergo those 
 chemical changes which fit it for the production 
 of what are called the proper juices of the plant, 
 and of the materials of which the plant itself is 
 made. From the leaves it returns into the stem, 
 forming in its course the substances peculiar to 
 the plant, and depositing them in cells appro-
 
 VEGETABLE SECRETIONS. 201 
 
 priated to their reception. The sap very much 
 resembles water ; and may be obtained for ex- 
 amination by making an incision in the branch 
 of a grape-vine, early in the morning. The 
 vegetable products or secretions, to which I 
 have alluded, are gum, milk, odour, acid, &c. 
 
 It is of these I am about to treat, and this is 
 a subject very interesting. As, however, the 
 consideration of every secretion peculiar to plants 
 would rather require a volume than a few pages, 
 I shall introduce either those which are likely to 
 come immediately under your own notice, or 
 others which by their uses or peculiarities would 
 probably excite your curiosity. 
 
 The several varieties of Spurge (Euphurbia), 
 one of which, the sun spurge {Euphorbia Helio- 
 scopia)y is common as a weed in almost every 
 garden, secrete a white juice of a poisonous 
 nature which is often applied as a cure for warts. 
 Plants affording a milky juice are called lactes 
 cent, and this class, except when they are of 
 the order of compound flowers, as the dandelion,
 
 202 OPIUM. 
 
 are generally of a baleful and destructive quality 
 A juice similar in appearance to that of the 
 spurge, but different in its properties, is yielded 
 by the various species of lettuce, and several other 
 plants, whose flowers are compound, and is ad- 
 ministered to invalids to soothe pain and restless- 
 ness. 
 
 The opium, which is so valuable a medicine 
 when judiciously used, and which is often given 
 by the physician to mitigate suffering, is smoked 
 and chewed by the natives of eastern countries, 
 in most pernicious quantity. It is procured from 
 the white poppy {Papdver Somniferum) , but all 
 the^species of poppy possess in some degree the 
 same narcotic principle. Opium is very exhila- 
 rating when first taken, producing an agreeable 
 excitement; but its effect upon the mind and 
 body after this has subsided is extremely ex- 
 hausting and depressing, and fatally destructive 
 to the energies of both. 
 
 The delightful reveries which it causes the 
 excited imagination to produce render the fre-
 
 OPIUM. 2oa 
 
 quent use of opium very agreeable to the indolent 
 natives of eastern countries, but nowhere is it so 
 much used as in Turkey. 
 
 At Constantinople the smokers of opium as- 
 semble at their coffee-houses, and, sitting around 
 them in the open air, indulge in a practice no less 
 exciting than that of drinking ardent spirits, 
 and even more rapid and fearful in its ravages 
 upon the constitution. Here the Turk inhales 
 his opium, which soon has the effect he desires to 
 attain. A pleasing delirium commences : he 
 perhaps fancies himself an orator, and addresses 
 his companions in glowing, and sometimes elo- 
 quent language. Amid the most frightful ges- 
 tures, loud voices mingle with each other, and 
 the confusion soon resembles that of a party of 
 Bacchanals. Its deleterious effects upon the con- 
 stitution are shortly manifest ; many of its victims ■ 
 have distorted necks; others have the joints of 
 their fingers contracted; the whole body trem- 
 bles, and, with the gradual loss of appetite, debility 
 increases. 
 
 Early death is the inevitable consequence of
 
 204 OPIUM. 
 
 excessive indulgence in tlie use of opium, and 
 rarely indeed does the unhappy being who prac- 
 tises it exceed the age of thirty years. A gradual 
 feebleness of mind is induced by this drug, which 
 impedes every attempt to overcome difficulties ; 
 and each succeeding year renders the opium-eater 
 less able to make the necessary attempt for the 
 resistance of the habit. Many of the Turks, in- 
 deed, so enjoy the delirium produced by it, that, 
 although conscious they are hastening themselves 
 to the grave, they would be made miserable by 
 the idea of relinquishing their indulgence, and 
 are restless and uneasy while awaiting the daily 
 period for its gratification. 
 
 How melancholy is this picture ! Alas, that 
 men should thus turn a blessing of Providence into 
 a curse, by perverting that which was intended 
 as a valuable medicine into a poison, that which 
 was designed as an antidote to ill, into a source 
 of bitter suffering. The late great author and 
 excellent man Coleridge, who commenced the use 
 of opium in a less degree as a medicine, became 
 so accustomed to its stimulating effects, as that
 
 OPIUM. 205 
 
 he had not courage to check the growing habit, 
 until the practice of taking it had rendered him 
 languid and distressed in mental and bodily- 
 feelings. Few can read the lines in which he 
 laments wath pathetic anguish the influence this 
 habit had acquired over him, without deep sym- 
 pathy ; and none ought to read it without being 
 impressed with the importance of checking in its 
 commencement every pernicious habit. 
 
 Opium is made by cutting incisions in the large 
 seed-vessels of the white poppy when fully ripe ; 
 a process regularly performed during several even- 
 ings at sunset. From the openings a milky 
 juice exudes, which dries into a hard substance 
 that is scraped off the next morning and made 
 into cakes. Opium has been made in England 
 by this process, and has been considered equal to 
 the foreign drug. 
 
 The fields of white jDOppies planted in England 
 for this and other purposes have a very beautiful 
 appearance, as their large white flowers float upon 
 the breeze, nodding upon their tall stems ; or, 
 when the winds are stilled, giving the field a
 
 206 WHITE POPPIES. 
 
 resemblance to a plain of snow, surrounded by 
 green hedges and verdant lanes/ I have seen 
 plantations of lavender and fields of roses, which 
 could not at all vie with these in elegance of form 
 or loveliness of colour. 
 
 In some parts of India and the south of Europe, 
 the white poppy is reared extensively for the pur- 
 pose of making opium. In England, however, the 
 fields of poppies which we see planted in difi'erent 
 counties, are more generally designed to afford 
 a supply of the seeds which are so useful in me- 
 dicine. 
 
 The poppy may be cultivated in most countries, 
 but is peculiarly a plant of cold climates ; and is 
 found, both in its red and white species, in those 
 desolate regions near the poles, where little else is 
 to be met with but mosses, lichens, and plants of 
 a similar character. 
 
 In India, the poor Halcarras, or messengers, 
 often take long journeys with no supply of food 
 but a little rice and a small quantity of opium ; 
 and they are enabled, by the temporary stimulus 
 afforded by the latter, to make exertions, which,
 
 THE POPPY. 207 
 
 when the heat of the climate is considered, would 
 appear almost incredible if not well authenti- 
 cated. 
 
 When a horse is to be sold at any of the 
 markets in India, whose viciousness would, if 
 known, prevent his obtaining a purchaser, the 
 native Indians, who are too often ready to deceive 
 the British residents, administer to him, as a 
 sedative, a small dose of opium: and the unruly 
 animal appears, when under its influence, to be 
 of a most gentle and tractable disposition. 
 
 Some of the many species of the poppy that our 
 gardens exhibit possess great beauty, yet this is 
 not generally a favourite flower ; chiefly perhaps 
 because of its powerful scent. The common red 
 poppy, although regarded by the farmer as a 
 troublesome weed, is a very handsome flower ; 
 its brilliant and deep scarlet forming a fine con- 
 trast to the pale brown colour of the ripened corn. 
 
 The ancients were evidently aware of the nar- 
 cotic principle that exists in these plants. Som- 
 nus, the son of Night, and the god of slumber, 
 whom, notwithstanding their learning and refine-
 
 208 CELANDINE. 
 
 ment, tlie Greeks ignorantly worshipped, is 
 poetically and beautifully represented by a child 
 in that attitude of deep and scarcely-breathing 
 slumber peculiar to childhood, and pillowed upon 
 a bunch of poppies, which he holds in his hand. 
 
 Some plants emit upon bruising a juice of an 
 orange colour. This juice may be seen to ooze 
 from the larger Celandine {Chelidoniiim mdjus}^ 
 when its stem is bruised. This plant grows 
 especially on waste places near towns and vil- 
 lages. It has large leaves deeply cut at the 
 edges, with flowers of a bright yellow and un- 
 pleasant smell : a similar juice is afforded by the 
 water dropwort and some other plants, and is 
 always of a poisonous quality. 
 
 The milky substances I have mentioned be- 
 come gums by exposure to air. A more remark- 
 able kind of milk, much resembling animal milk, 
 is yielded by a tree, which Webster and Hum-, 
 boldt have both described; and which may be 
 found growing all along the Cordilleras of the 
 coast of South America. It is a very handsome 
 tree, yielding in beauty and loftiness to few which
 
 PALO DE YACO. 209 
 
 may be met with even among the gigantic trees 
 of these forests. Its trunk is a hundred feet in 
 height, and a dehcious fruit, in flavour resembhng 
 a strawberry, hangs plentifully among its foliage. 
 The Palo de Vaco grows on the soil which covers 
 the surface of a barren rock, and for several 
 months in the year its foliage is never moistened 
 by a single shower. It is described by Webster 
 in his account of the voyage made by Captain 
 Foster in the Chanticleer. He met with it at 
 Para. " It seems rather startling," says this 
 gentleman, " to talk of a tree yielding milk, yet 
 such is the fact, and it is drank by the people in 
 large quantities, and was used by us on the gun- 
 room table for mixing with tea, in lieu of cows' 
 milk, from which it is no way distinguishable in 
 general use. The milk is a rich white, bland 
 fluid, without odour, and of the taste and flavour 
 of common milk. It mixes readily with tea or 
 cofl'ee, without curdling or undergoing any change, 
 and in every respect seems like cows' milk. 
 Boiling water does not alter it. It keeps un- 
 altered six or seven days, in the temperature of 
 
 p
 
 210 PALO DE VACO. 
 
 85°. It appears to differ from all the known 
 milky juices of plants, and to approach in obvious 
 properties to animal milk, from which it differs 
 in chemical composition. There is no cream nor 
 caseous matter. 
 
 " I kept a little of the milk until our arrival at 
 Trinidad, eight weeks after my procuring it, when 
 it was sent to the Admiralty. Some which I had 
 myself had then separated into a sourish milky 
 water and a white solid mass, which, when 
 taken out and dried in the air, was a white in- 
 flammable substance ; not softening at the tem- 
 perature of the body, melting at 143°, tasteless, 
 insoluble in water or spirits, and resembling 
 white wax more than any other substance to which 
 I could compare it. It burned with an agreeable 
 flame, without smelling, and was neither greasy 
 nor resinous. I am therefore inclined to consider 
 it as a species of wax." 
 
 You will not be surprised to find that this tree 
 is the daily resort of the natives of the places 
 where it abounds. At sunrise the milk is most 
 plentiful, and at an hour rendered delightful, on
 
 SUGAR-CANE. 211 
 
 account of the cool refreshing contrast which it 
 presents to the later hours of the day : they as- 
 semble with their bowls to receive the copious 
 draught. By making a wound in the trunk of 
 the tree the milk pours out, and the mother car- 
 ries it home for the nourishment of her expectant 
 family. 
 
 Sugar is secreted in a greater or less quantity 
 by almost every vegetable. The sugar generally 
 used in England is obtained from the sugar-cane 
 {Sdccharum qfficindrum) , by pressing the cane 
 between iron rollers, until the juice is squeezed out, 
 when it is subjected to some other processes, until 
 it forms into crystals. Our chief supply is the 
 produce of the West India islands, to which the 
 cane was originally brought from China ; but the 
 cane is cultivated with great success both in the 
 East Indies and in South America. This plant 
 is a jointed reed of a fine straw-colour, which 
 terminates in blades or leaves, the edges of which 
 are finely notched. When in bloom its flowers 
 grow in a cluster of a delicate silver colour and 
 are very handsome. 
 
 p 2
 
 212 
 
 SUGAR-CANE. 
 
 The presence of sugar in the carrot and pars- 
 nip may he easily detected by the sweetness of 
 their flavour, and the beet-root contains it in great 
 
 ^Sugar-cane — Succharum nfficinurum. 
 
 abundance. The French, at one time, extracted
 
 SUGAR MAPLE. 
 
 213 
 
 a considerable supply from the root of the white 
 beet; and some manufacturers of that nation 
 expected that improvements upon the process 
 would, in course of time, enable them to produce 
 an article equal to that of the West Indies. In 
 this, however, they were not successful, as the 
 expense of making the sugar from the beet is very 
 great, and the sugar itself inferior in quality. 
 
 Among the North American Indians sugar is 
 obtained from a species of maple (Acer sacchari- 
 num), and the sugar yielded by this tree seems 
 
 Sugar Maple — Acer sacchatinun:. 
 
 nearly equal to that afforded by the cane. A
 
 214 SUGAR MAPLE. 
 
 sweet juice issues from the maple upon making 
 an aperture in the stem of the tree, which, when 
 prepared by a process similar to that employed on 
 the cane-juice, becomes sugar. A common-sized 
 tree will in the months of April or May yield two 
 or three gallons of juice daily, without at all 
 injuring the tree. This maple is about forty 
 feet high and is very plentiful throughout the 
 United States. The maple-juice has also been 
 employed in France for making sugar, and from 
 the same species the Canadians extract their 
 vinegar, and the highlanders make wine. There 
 are several species of Acer, and all of them contain 
 sugar. The wood of our maple or sycamore-tree 
 is used in inlaying cabinet-work, for which its 
 hard and knotty texture renders it peculiarly 
 adapted. 
 
 No substance yields a greater supply of nourish- 
 ment, in an equal quantity, than is afforded by 
 sugar. 
 
 The Canadians in their excursions take with 
 them, in little baskets, some corn previously dried 
 and ground, and some maple-sugar. Their meal
 
 WOOD-SOKREL. 215 
 
 sometimes consists of a few spoonsful of an equal 
 portion of corn and sugar, mingled with a pint 
 of water ; yet this simple food is sufficient to 
 maintain their strength for some days. In the 
 West Indies a pound of sugar mixed with a small 
 quantity of grass or hay supports the strength 
 and spirits of a horse during a day's labour. 
 
 Acid is very generally secreted in different 
 portions by all vegetables. The common wood- 
 sorrel ( Oxdlis acetosella) is probably well known 
 to you by the acid flavour of its triple-leaves. 
 This plant is very common in woods, flowering 
 iri spring and during the whole of the summer. 
 It is often worth while to search for it in winter, 
 as its leaves may be found covered up from the 
 cold by the fallen and withered foliage which has 
 been scattered by the autumn ; and they have 
 perhaps grown securely under the additional 
 mantle of snow which is cast over the plants by 
 the winter storm, and which serves to shelter 
 them from the nipping frosts. The leaves, which 
 are similar to those of the common clover, are 
 used in some countries to form a conserve ; 
 being for this purpose pounded in a mortar with
 
 216 
 
 TVOOD-SORREL. 
 
 sugar. Their acid quality renders it a pleasant 
 medicine in feverish complaints, and at all times 
 during summer an agreeable beverage if mingled 
 with milk. 1 believe school-boys are so much 
 accustomed to gather this plant and eat it with 
 their bread and butter, that I need hardly inform 
 vou it bears a white flower. 
 
 Wood-Sorrel— Oxdlis acetosclla.
 
 GENTIAN. 217 
 
 Wood-sorrel grows in very cold countries, and 
 was found by Captain Parry in places where 
 scarcely any other flower imparted animation to 
 the scene. When he saw no longer the wood- 
 sorrel he had reached the dreary regions of per- 
 petual snow. 
 
 From its juice the powerful oxalic acid is ex- 
 tracted. A plant to be found in every meadow, 
 and which perhaps you have been used to call 
 sorrel, but which is a species of dock {Rumex 
 acetosa)^ affords a pleasant acid, though it is not 
 so powerful as that of the wood-sorrel. 
 
 The bitter substance secreted by some plants 
 may be instanced in the common gentian of our 
 fields ( Gentidna campestris), a plant which is used 
 by the Swedes instead of hops. It is frequent on 
 hilly pastures, where tlie soil is chalky, in most 
 'parts of England. Its flowers are of a purple 
 colour, and cover the plant in great profusion, 
 blooming in the months of August and September. 
 The roots are the parts chiefly used in medicine, 
 and much gentian is procured from the moun- 
 tainous districts of Germany for this purpose.
 
 218 WOOD-SAGE. 
 
 The aloes, whose bitter as a drug is so well 
 known, is the juice contained in the leaves of a 
 plant of that name, which is boiled until it be- 
 comes of a proper consistency, when it is left to 
 harden. This aloe is brought from the isle of 
 Socotra in the Arabian Sea, ready for commercial 
 purposes. 
 
 A plant sometimes substituted for hops, or 
 mingled with them by country-people, is the 
 wood-sage {Teucrium scorodonid). The whole 
 of this plant is so bitter that the flavour will long 
 remain on the tongue. It grows about a foot 
 high upon roads and dry banks. Its stems are 
 purple and its blossoms of a greenish yellow. 
 The leaves somewhat resemble those of the gar- 
 den sage and are much wrinkled. Perhaps there 
 is not any vegetable secretion that will seem to 
 you more wonderful than that of flint. What 
 uninstructed eye, as it gazes upon the frail and 
 delicate texture of the small plant which is grow- 
 ing near it, would detect the presence of one of 
 the hardest substances in nature in its slender 
 stem and small branches ? The discovery that
 
 HORSETAIL. 219 
 
 flint exists in grasses and some other plants has 
 been made but a few years. In wheat-stalks it 
 is found in considerable quantity. The various 
 kinds of horsetail growing wild, some of them in 
 ditches, others by road-sides or in moist woods, 
 contain a larger portion of it. One species or 
 another of this plant can scarcely fail to be known 
 by you, as they are very common in all parts of 
 England, and you can hardly have wandered 
 over lands watered by streams without remarking 
 them. They have rigid and furrowed stems, and 
 have about the latter end of summer catkins or 
 cones at the tops of these stems. Their long 
 green branches, which are so slender and nu- 
 merous as to have suggested the name of horse- 
 tail, are situated around the stem in a whorl ; they 
 are jointed, and if pulled will separate into pieces 
 at the joints. If you examine these joints you 
 will see that they are formed by several small 
 chaffy teeth, which fix into each other, and which, 
 though minute, are quite regular and perfect. 
 
 The rough horsetail {Equis^tum hyemdle) is 
 of the most flinty nature, and is brought hither
 
 220 
 
 HORSETAIL. 
 
 Iqutsetum hyemdte.
 
 ROUGH HORSETAIL. 221 
 
 from Holland, under the name of Dutch rushes, 
 to be used in polishing ivory, hard wood, brass, 
 and other substances, for which purpose its hard 
 and rough nature renders it suitable. The stem 
 of wheat, when reduced by burning to a powder^ 
 is used to give a fine polish to marble and some 
 other articles. 
 
 To that eminent chemist. Sir Humphry Davy, 
 we are indebted for the discovery that some plants 
 contain flint ; and it is very interesting to remark 
 how much an improvement in any branch of 
 natural science assists in the advancement of 
 others. Facts ascertained by the geologist are 
 often extremely important to the botanist. To 
 the experiments of chemistry every student of 
 Nature is indebted ; and, since the improvements 
 which have been made during late years in the 
 microscope, the structure of plants and of the 
 minuter animals has been much better ascer- 
 tained, and more generally known. Knowledge 
 gained by study or observation is always valuable, 
 for, besides that it may be useful for any purpose 
 which we had not anticipated, it produces a men-
 
 222 GUM-ARABIC. 
 
 tal activity, which, as a habit of mincl, is of incal- 
 culable service to the young. Too many there 
 are, who walk amid the most beautiful scenes of 
 Nature, or wondrous productions of art, unmoved 
 and uninterested ; and of whom, as regards the 
 natural world, it may be said, that " Seeing they 
 see not, and hearing they do not understand." 
 
 Resin is a substance which exudes from many 
 plants, and is capable of being dissolved only by 
 spirits. Gum can be dissolved by water; but 
 several substances flowing from vegetables are 
 soluble either by water or spirits, and are called 
 gum-resins. The gum afforded by many trees of 
 our orchards, as the cherry and the plum, is fami- 
 liar to you. One peculiarity among others which 
 distinguishes gum from resins, or gum-resins, is 
 that it is tasteless; but the latter are often de- 
 scribed under the common name of gums. 
 
 The Gum- Arabic of commerce is very similar 
 in its nature to that of our British trees, and is 
 imported chiefly from the shores of the Mediter- 
 ranean. It exudes from a species of Acacia 
 (Mimosa), and is used in medicinal preparations,
 
 ASAFCETIDA. 223 
 
 as well as in several manufactures. So much 
 nutriment is afforded by this gum, as that on one 
 occasion, when a party of travellers in the Desert 
 were destitute of food, and far removed from the 
 means of procuring any, they subsisted for several 
 days solely on gum-arabic, and scarcely felt the 
 pressure of hunger or the decrease of strength. 
 
 The powerful and offensive smelling Asafcetida, 
 so frequently used as a stimulating medicine, is a 
 resinous gum formed of the hardened juice of a 
 plant of that name, the Ferula Asafcetida, which 
 grows wild in Persia and the East Indies. This 
 juice when it first flows from the root is a white 
 liquid substance, but forms into masses by ex- 
 posure to air. 
 
 Disgusting as is the scent or flavour of this 
 drug to our senses, the Brahmins of Hindoostan 
 eat with relish a kind of cake made with flour, 
 and highly seasoned with the powerful Asafcetida. 
 The resinous juice of the Scotch fir {Pinus Syl- 
 vestris) affords turpentine. The Birch-tree of 
 cold countries contains in its bark so large a quan- 
 tity of resinous matter, as that it is frequently
 
 224 
 
 SCOTCH FIR. 
 
 cut into strips, and, being twisted together and 
 made into torches, will burn for several hours. 
 
 Scotch Fir — Finus Sj^lvesfris. 
 
 Caoutchouc, or Indian rubber, is a resinous 
 gum that flows from a tree which is a native of 
 warm climates. The Hevea, from which it has
 
 CAOUTCHOUC. 225 
 
 been chiefly derived, grows in Brazil, in the 
 •woods of Demerara, and many other of the lofty 
 forests of tropical America ; and is as tall as any 
 of the trees which may he found there. A large 
 climbing plant in Sumatra and some other places 
 (the Urceola Eldstica) yields the same sub- 
 stance, though its different mode of preparation 
 gives it an appearance somewhat dissimilar from 
 the produce of the western hemisphere. The 
 milky substance is contained in the bark of the 
 tree, and when this is cut it freely oozes out. It 
 is white, and has about the consistence of cream. 
 In South America this juice is spread several 
 times over a mould of earth, and dried in the sun. 
 When the coat is thick enough, the mould is 
 broken, and thus we generally receive the Indian 
 rubber imported from America in the shape of 
 bottles. That prepared at Sumatra is, in con- 
 sequence of a diiferent process, usually in small 
 square pieces. 
 
 The uses of Indian rubber in obliterating marks 
 made v.ith the pencil, and in making surgical 
 instruments, are well known ; and the daily im- 
 
 Q
 
 226 CAOUTCHOUC. 
 
 provements in manufactures suggest many other 
 purposes for its application, as the making of 
 shoes and great coats, through which the rain 
 cannot penetrate. The America Indians make 
 large boots of it, and, having well dried them in 
 the sun, they have the appearance of leather. 
 
 The Indian rubber hardens almost as soon as 
 it flows from the tree, so that a ball mi ay be 
 formed of it by making it into a globular shape 
 as it oozes out, which becomes hard and black by 
 being exposed to the sun. An anecdote of an 
 imposition practised upon Mr. Waterton, during 
 his wanderings in South America, will, I think, 
 amuse you. " Some years ago," says Mr. Water- 
 ton, " when I was in the Macoushi country (in 
 Dutch Guiana), there was a capital trick played 
 upon me about Indian rubber, which shows that 
 the wild, uncultivated Indian, is not without abi- 
 lities. Weary, and sick, and feeble, through loss 
 of blood, I arrived at some Indian huts which 
 were about two hours distant from the place 
 where the gum-elastic trees grew. After a day 
 and a night's rest, I went to them, and with my
 
 CAOUTCHOUC. 227 
 
 own hands made a firm ball of pure Indian 
 rubber: it hardened immediately as it became 
 exposed to the air, and its elasticity was almost 
 incredible. 
 
 " While procuring it, exposure to the rain, which 
 fell in torrents, brought on a return of inflamma- 
 tion in the stomach, and I was obliged to have 
 recourse again to the lancet, and to use it with 
 unsparing hand. I wanted another ball, but was 
 not in a fit state to proceed to the trees. A fine 
 young Indian, observing my eagerness to have it, 
 tendered his services, and asked two handsful of 
 fish-hooks for his trouble. Off he went, and to 
 my very great surprise returned in a short time. 
 Bearing in mind the trouble and time it had cost 
 me to make a ball, I could account for this Indian's 
 expedition in no other way except that, being an 
 inhabitant of the forest, he knew how to go about 
 his work in a much shorter way than I did. This 
 ball, to be sure, had very little elasticity in it. I 
 tried it repeatedly, but it never rebounded a yard 
 high. The young Indian watched me wdth great 
 gravity, and, when I made him understand that I 
 
 q2
 
 228 CAOUTCHOUC. 
 
 expected the ball would dance better, he called 
 another Indian who knew a little English, to 
 assure me that I might be quite easy on this 
 score. The young rogue, in order to render me a 
 complete dupe, brought the new moon to his aid; 
 and he gave me to understand that the ball was 
 like the little moon, which he pointed to, and by 
 the time it grew big and old the ball would 
 bound beautifully. This satisfied me, and I gave 
 him the fish-hooks, w^hich he received without the 
 least change of countenance. 
 
 " I bounced the ball repeatedly for two months 
 after, but I found that it still remained in its 
 infancy. At last I suspected that the savage had 
 (to use a vulgar phrase) come Yorkshire over 
 me, and so I determined to find out how he had 
 managed to take me in. I cut the ball in two, 
 and then saw what a trick he had played me. 
 It seems he had chewed some leaves into a lump 
 about the size of a walnut, and then dipped them 
 in the gum-elastic. It immediately received a 
 coat about as thick as a sixpence. He then rolled 
 some more leaves round it, and gave it another
 
 CASTOR OIL. 229 
 
 coat. He seems to have continued this process 
 till he made the ball considerably larger than the 
 one I had procured, and in order to put his 
 roguery out of all chance of detection, he made 
 the last and outer coat thicker than a dollar." 
 
 Castor Oil, so valuable as a medicine, and one 
 which is used more frequently in the East than 
 with us, is obtained from the tree called Palma 
 Christi {Ricinus Communis)^ which grows in the 
 East Indies, by pressing the nuts of this tree. 
 It is a handsome tree, about forty feet high, and 
 often cultivated for its oil. The leaves of the 
 Castor Oil tree are by the natives of the East 
 applied externally as a remedy for some com- 
 plaints with great success. The Chinese employ 
 this oil in cooking, but they have some means of 
 altering its flavour. 
 
 The sweet oils of general use, are obtained 
 either by the expression, chiefly of seeds of dif- 
 ferent plants, or by distillation from sweet-scented 
 flowers, as the rose and jessamine. The deli- 
 cate oil or Attar of Roses is made in Persia, and 
 some parts of Eastern India, and is highly valued
 
 230 ATTAR OF ROSES. 
 
 by the luxurious natives of those countries. It is 
 the pure essential oil of roses, and is found in 
 small particles on the surface of newly distilled 
 rose-water, of which it requires many gallons to 
 yield only a few drops of the attar. When this 
 has been skimmed off, the rose-water is sold to 
 those w^ho are not rich enough to indulge them- 
 selves with the more expensive perfume. 
 
 As no candles are burnt throughout India, 
 many very beautiful trees and shrubs are planted 
 for the oil they afford. The oil extracted from 
 the cocoa-nut is used in great quantity ; but as 
 the cocoa-palm will flourish only near the sea, 
 this tree furnishes no supply to many inland dis- 
 tricts, and large plantations are formed of the 
 trees w^hose seeds contain oil. 
 
 Oils procured from vegetables are used in India 
 for anointing the body, for religious ceremonies, 
 and for an immense number of nightly lamps ; so 
 that the preparation of its different kinds gives 
 employment to many of the natives of India. 
 
 The altars of the superstitious Hindoos often 
 consist of a plain white slab, over which they pour
 
 COCOA-NUT PALM. 231 
 
 M^^ 
 '^^'•^S^^^^^ 
 
 ^^-7^^ 
 
 Cocoa-uut Palm,
 
 232 COCOA-NUT. 
 
 oil as an offering to their deities. The practice 
 of consecrating stones seems very ancient; and 
 Jacob when he wished to sanctify the spot where 
 a beautiful and encouraging vision had been af- 
 forded him, set up the stone on which his head 
 had lain, -and poured oil over it. 
 
 Often at night-time may be seen upon the 
 stream of the Ganges, a small lamp lighted with 
 oil, which is sent floating upon its voyage by some 
 Hindoo girl, as an offering to her deity for the 
 propitious voyage of some beloved friend. Sad 
 would be the heart of that maiden should its 
 small light be by any accident extinguished ; for 
 then would she superstitiously imagine that the 
 winds and waves would be adverse to him whom 
 she thus remembers. As however she watches 
 its little light burning until distance conceals it 
 from her viev\', she fondly hopes that her offering 
 is accepted, and his safety insured. 
 
 Well may we breathe the sigh of sympathy as 
 we see feelings thus kindly, feelings which adorn 
 the most enlightened of our species, linked with a 
 superstition so misguiding and degrading as that 
 of the Hindoo faith !
 
 OLIVE. 
 
 233 
 
 In the South of Europe, oil obtained from the fruit 
 of the olive-tree {Olea Eiiropefea)^ is commonly 
 
 
 Olivo-tree — Olea Europt'esa. 
 
 used for the same purposes for which we employ 
 butter J and those accustomed to its use, would as
 
 234 OLIVE OIL. 
 
 little relish the butter we obtain from milk, as we 
 should enjoy the oil which supplies their tables. 
 The olive-tree is cultivated in large plantations, 
 and it gives a very peculiar appearance to the 
 landscape where it abounds. Its leaves have 
 that dark and sombre tint which we generally call 
 olive-green ; and when the wind stirs the foliage, 
 and raises their white under surfaces to view, 
 they look like a stream of light floating amid the 
 gloom of their dark boughs. Often too, the bright 
 skies of a southern summer are spread over the 
 scene where groups of olive gatherers with skins 
 embrowned, and eyes of dark and soft radiance, 
 are scattered around the trees. Let us hope that 
 they obey the kind injunctions of Scripture re- 
 specting this plant, and leave of the shaking of the 
 olive-tree for the poor of the land. The olive-tree 
 grows wild in some parts both of Asia and Africa, 
 and also in Greece. 
 
 The olive will grow in England, but the tree 
 which in more congenial climates is always ar- 
 rayed in its deep green mantle, loses its leaves 
 in our colder atmosphere. The oil which we
 
 OLIVE OIL. 235 
 
 chiefly use for salads, and which is imported in 
 bottles covered with wicker-work, is procured by 
 pressing the fruit in sacks made of coarse linen. 
 
 This oil is in some countries used for anointing 
 the body, and among the Ancients it was poured 
 out of vases upon the ground as a libation to the 
 gods. Plantations of olives are by most travel- 
 lers thought very beautiful, though some speak of 
 *' the unlovely green of its foliage." The flowers 
 are very pretty, of a delicate yellow colour, and 
 the fruit you have often seen, as it is brought to 
 England in bottles after being salted. 
 
 In some parts of the interior of Africa, the 
 Negroes are furnished plentifully with a kind of 
 vegetable butter by a tree called the Shea, or 
 Butter tree. This is a large and handsome tree, 
 and travellers have described it as very much in 
 appearance resembling the American oak. The 
 butter is obtained from the kernel enclosed in the 
 fruit, which upon being dried in the sun, and 
 afterwards boiled in water, produces a substance 
 exactly resembling the butter which is the pro- 
 duce of our dairies. It has, too, this advantage
 
 236 WAX PALM. 
 
 over the butter made of milk, that it does not re- 
 quire salting for the purpose of keeping, and is 
 besides firmer in its substance, and richer in its 
 flavour. Mungo Park considered its taste supe- 
 rior to that made of cows' milk, and adds, that 
 the Negroes not only use this butter for their 
 family supply, but that it forms among them a 
 considerable article of barter. 
 
 Upon the heights of the Andes, or Cordilleras, 
 a chain of mountains that extend nearly from 
 north to south of the Continent of South America, 
 grows a handsome species of palm, whose trunk 
 is covered with a thick substance very much like 
 wax in its nature and appearance, and applicable 
 to the same uses. The Wax Palm {Ceroxylon 
 Andicola) attains the immense height of 160 
 feet, and is able to bear a greater degree of cold 
 than any other species of palm ; all of which are 
 natives of hot climates, and generally unable to 
 bear the atmosphere of elevated situations. 
 
 The nut of the Tallow tree {Croton Sehifera), 
 a native of China, contains in abundance the sub- 
 stance from which it derives its name. Several
 
 TALLOW TREE. 237 
 
 of these kernels are contained in the pods, which 
 are about the size of a chestnut, and succeed the 
 blossoms of this tree. They are full of a white 
 pulpy matter, exactly of the colour, consistence, 
 and smell of the tallow procured from animal sub- 
 stances. The only preparation necessary to ren- 
 der it fit for the purposes of commerce, is that of 
 dissolving it, and in some cases mingling it with 
 oil. This tallow is used by the Chinese for their 
 candles, and these are said to burn as well as 
 those manufactured in Europe from wax, and are 
 equally free from any unpleasant odour. 
 ■ The appearance of the tallow-tree is singularly 
 beautiful; and the large plantations of it culti- 
 vated in China, add greatly to the interest of the 
 scenery. The flowers are yellow, and the colour 
 of the leaves has that variety at different seasons 
 of the year which tropical foliage so often ex- 
 hibits ; changing from a deep crimson to a rich 
 purple tint, giving an appearance to the landscape 
 of great brilliance. A number of these trees are 
 said, when at a distance, to resemble a profusely 
 blooming flower-garden.
 
 238 SOAP-BERRY. 
 
 A kind of soap frequently used in the East and 
 West Indies, instead of being, as soap is with us, 
 a commodity resulting from the experiments of 
 the chemist and the skill of the labourer, is ob- 
 tained by merely plucking the outer rind from 
 the black berries of the soap-tree (Sapindus). 
 These berries you have perhaps seen used in 
 England for necklaces, and they are the fruit of a 
 tree, a native only of warm countries, which rises 
 to the height of twenty or thirty feet. As its 
 white blossoms fall away, its fruit is formed. 
 This is about the size of a cherry, growing either 
 singly or in clusters, and its covering contains the 
 soapy matter. 
 
 The soap berry is much used for washing in 
 America, but if used in too great quantity, or in 
 a careless manner, it destroys the linen to which 
 it is applied. In the East Indies it is preferred 
 to manufactured soap for washing shawls, silks, 
 and embroidery. It lathers in salt water, which 
 renders it very serviceable at sea, where common 
 soap is almost useless. 
 
 A pretty wild plant in our own native w^oods is
 
 SOAPWORT. 
 
 239 
 
 called soapwort {Sdpoiiaria officinalis), from its 
 
 
 ■'if. 
 
 ?":: '• 
 
 
 
 'im 
 
 Soapwort — Sujionaria Off Lcinalis. 
 
 possessing a similar property. Its flowers, situ- 
 ated in a cluster at the top of a stem about a foot 
 high, are rather large and handsome, and of a 
 pale rose-colour. It is a pleasing-looking plant, 
 and it yields a soft, soapy juice, which has some- 
 times been employed instead of soap, but the
 
 240 SOAPWORT. 
 
 quantity of this material produced by the plant is 
 so small, as that it is not likely to supersede the 
 article of the soap manufacturer. 
 
 That ^vise Providence that has placed the na- 
 tives of tropical climates in such situations as are 
 unfavourable to the attainment of great bodily 
 vigour, or mental energy, neither of which seem 
 scarcely to exist under a vertical sun, has afiorded 
 them many plants that yield spontaneously those 
 articles of comfort and luxury, which in the more 
 moderate temperature of our climate, must be 
 procured by industry and science. 
 
 But although the vegetable products of our 
 own countr\- are in this respect very inferior to 
 those of the countries between the tropics, we 
 have no cause to complain on this accountj that 
 our advantages are fewer. The energy which 
 enables us to meet difiBculty and overcome it, the 
 satisfaction that arises from an active and diligent 
 pursuit of knowledge, are ample compensations 
 for luxurious ease, and languid indolence. Wisely 
 and kindly has the Great Governor of the Uni- 
 verse adapted our respective allotments to our 
 respective w:mts !
 
 COTTON'. 
 
 241 
 
 I shall conclude my letter by giving you an 
 account of some singular vegetable substances 
 contained by the seed-vessels of plants of foreign 
 countries. ^ 
 
 The cotton which is so valuable an article in 
 manufactures, and of which so much of your own 
 clothing is made, is produced by a shrub which 
 grows in the East Indies, and many other hot 
 
 
 Cotton Sht\ih—Gossji/'pium>
 
 242 
 
 COTTON, 
 
 countries. The cotton-shrub {Gossy'pium) is 
 about the size, and has somewhat the appearance 
 of a currant-bush; and it is in Eastern India 
 
 Cotton ; showing a pod bursting.
 
 COTTON. 243 
 
 often planted in the Tice-fields between the rows 
 of that ph\nt. The season when the rice is 
 gathered in, is the time when the pale yellow 
 blossoms of the cotton-tree begin to unfold. The 
 flowers are very pretty, having a crimson spot on 
 each petal at the part near the centre : when they 
 wither away the pods appear. These are about 
 the size of an apple, and are full of the downy 
 threads of cotton, which, when the pod ripens and 
 bursts open, look like long feathery Hakes sus- 
 pended from the branches. It often happens that 
 in the same ])lantations may be seen these elegant 
 snowy tufts, and the numeroes fully blown or 
 half expanded blossoms. 
 
 Few objects presented by Eastern landscapes 
 arc more generally admired than the cotton field ; 
 and few are associated with more pleasing notions 
 of prosperity and comfort, as the agriculture of 
 this plant is attended with little trouble, and its 
 manufacture forms an employment for thousands 
 of Hindoos, well suited to the excessive heat of 
 the climate, and the languid luiture it induces. 
 
 Seated under the wide-spreading Banian, whose
 
 244 COTTON. 
 
 sheltering bouglis present to the mind of a Hindoo 
 an image of the protecting care of the Deity, an 
 Indian family may he seen assembling all its 
 members, scarcely one of whom is too young, or 
 too feeble, to aid in the light business of manu- 
 facturing the cotton. There the loom is fixed, 
 and the thread extended. The easy labours of 
 cleansing, spinning, and weaving the cotton, are 
 all performed under this verdant canopy without 
 any fatigue : and in a country where but little 
 animal food is requisite for sustenance, and where 
 vegetable provision is so abundant, their daily 
 need is w^ell supplied by the fulfilment of a slight 
 daily task.' 
 
 An elegant little bird of Hindoostan, called the 
 tailor-bird, avails itself of the contents of the 
 cotton-pod in making its nest. It plucks off from 
 a tree some large and smooth leaves, and gather- 
 ing some cotton spins it out, and sewing the leaves 
 together, makes for itself a cool and shady little 
 dwelling, which it swings upon the bough of the 
 cotton shrub. 
 
 At Guyaquil grows a tree which produces a
 
 CEIBO WOOL. 245 
 
 substance no less singular than cotton. The 
 Ceibo-wool {Ldno de Ceibo) is a very high and 
 handsome tree, its stem perfectly straight and its 
 bouahs and foliasre tufted at the summit. This 
 tree presents a most striking appearance either 
 when covered with its profuse white blossoms or 
 with its bursting and ripe pod, which when dried 
 by the sun opens and displays a beautiful and 
 silky tuft of wool of a reddish colour. The pod 
 is two inches in length, and the texture of its 
 contents so soft and delicate as that hitherto no 
 use has been made of it in manufacture ; though 
 some travellers think that the wool is capable of 
 being spun, and that should this ever be the case 
 the material will deserve the name of Ceibo silk. 
 
 The natives of Guyaquil fill mattresses with it, 
 and these are described as being of a very su- 
 perior quality ; the soft nature of the wool fitting 
 it to yield upon pressure, and to rise again upon 
 being laid in the sun, even so much as to stretch 
 the covering of the mattress. Dampness alone 
 injures these mattresses, for when placed in a 
 moist situation they compress so much as not to
 
 246 CEIBO WOOL. 
 
 recover their elasticity when again exposed to the 
 full power of the sun. 
 
 The substances which I have thus shown you 
 to be contained by vegetables illustrate some of 
 the gi'cat number of uses to which they may be 
 applied. Many plants, which in themselves are 
 so ornamental that we might deem their end fully 
 answered did they only contribute their beauty to 
 the prospect, are found to contain properties re- 
 markably conducive to comfort and enjoyment. 
 The ingenuity of man discovers and applies them, 
 and every one who finds out the means of appro- 
 priating them, either to add to the pleasure or to 
 alleviate the sufferings of his fellow creatures, 
 ought to be regarded ; not merely with the respect 
 to which superior intellect is entitled, but with 
 the gratitude which is due to the benefactors of 
 mankind.
 
 247 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 Country walks — Fuller's Teasel — Evil of superstition — Water in the 
 Teasel leaf— Pitcher plant — Wild Pine — Canes in the Andes — River 
 side— Effect of streams on vegetation — Water Lily — Yellow Water 
 Lily — Water Arrow Head — Love of the Country — Water Plantain 
 — Persuaria — Forget-me-not — Meadow Sweet — Purple Loosestrife 
 —Silver Weed— Weeping Willow— Poplar— Legend respecting the 
 Aspen — Alder. 
 
 You often walk into the country, and it is well 
 for you that you do ; " God made the country, but 
 man made the town," said one who looked upon 
 Nature with the eye of a lover and a poet. What 
 can be more exhilarating than the breezes that 
 blow upon you as you wander upon the hill? 
 When can you gaze upon aught that shall pre- 
 sent to your mind so many new and beautiful 
 images, as when your eye rests upon the wild 
 scenes of nature ? Whether you look upon the 
 soft green carpet at your feet, or watch the chang- 
 ing and pillowy clouds that pass over the azure 
 sky : whether you lie among the wild flowers
 
 248 TEASEL. 
 
 beside the rippling stream, or actively pursue 
 your way through the wood amid the entangling 
 branches, — all is beauty and delight. Even 
 though the remembrance of the falling leaf and 
 the fading flower should intrude, yet can you 
 never forget that spring will again revisit the 
 earth to stock it with loveliness, and that what 
 to you shall appear in the season of winter to 
 have perished will flourish again in renewed 
 youth and beauty; an emblem of that more 
 glorious spring which shall one day renew with 
 fresh-born powers and splendour the frail bodies 
 of those whom we mournfully number with the 
 dead. 
 
 There is a plant growing wild in many places 
 on hedge-banks, around meadows, or on waste 
 spots generally, when the soil is pretty good, 
 called the Fuller's Teasel (Dipsacus FidlSnum), 
 which is very useful in cloth manufactures. Its 
 stem is about three or four feet high, and quite 
 full of sharp prickles. The flowers are situated 
 on a receptacle or head of an oval shape, which 
 you will find some pleasure in examining after
 
 TEASEL. 
 
 249 
 
 '/v. r 
 
 '3 ,^N?' 
 
 FuUer's.Teasel — Dipsacus Full'unum. 
 
 the blossoms have fallen off, for the beauty and
 
 250 TEASEL. 
 
 regularity of its structure. This receptacle is set 
 ■with awns, at the end of which are hooks. 
 Perhaps this plant may be familiarly known to 
 you by the name of devil's broom, which it is 
 often called by the country people; its chaffy 
 head covered with the long awns rendering it not 
 unlike a broom in appearance. In some villages, 
 whose distance from towns has prevented the cot- 
 tagers from receiving much instruction, the super- 
 stitious people attach a high value to this plant, 
 from its supposed virtue in removing the ague. 
 Upon cutting open lengthwise the head of the 
 teasel, you will find enclosed in it a worm, well 
 known to naturalists as the solitary teasel-worm. 
 The country-people collect several of these worms, 
 always taking care to have an odd number of 
 them, as five or seven. They then place them in 
 a quill and hang them around the patient's neck. 
 Situations remote from towns are often con- 
 sidered peculiarly favourable to simplicity and 
 virtue, and many beautiful poetical descriptions 
 of secluded villages serv'eto maintain the illusion; 
 yet I believe it will be found that many of the
 
 TEASEL. 251 
 
 most retired spots in our land are chiefly remark- 
 able for the ignorance and superstition which are 
 prevalent there. In some villages this practice 
 of curing the ague by the teasel-worm is regarded 
 with so much confidence as that it is impossible 
 to induce the sufferer to resort to medical treat- 
 ment until he has tried this method of relief and 
 found it ineffectual. 
 
 As this custom is not productive of any injury 
 to the patient, you may be disposed to regard it 
 as a matter of no importance. All superstition is, 
 however, unfavourable to the advancement of 
 truth, and an error of any kind seldom exists 
 alone in the mind, but generally forms a link in 
 a lengthened chain. Those who are prone to 
 regard with veneration the spells and charms too 
 often applied by the ignorant, are little likely to 
 exert their minds for the discovery of any kind of 
 truth, superstition always casts a veil over the 
 understanding. 
 
 In the northern and western counties of Eng- 
 land, teasel is cultivated in fields to be sold to 
 cloth-dressers to the manufactories. The heads
 
 252 TEASEL. 
 
 are fixed around a large and broad wheel, and to 
 this wheel, while turning, the cloth is applied. 
 The woollen knap is thus raised by the hooks, 
 w^hich are sufficiently pliable to prevent them offer- 
 ing so much resistance as would tear the cloth. 
 
 The seeds of the teasel are planted in March, 
 but the heads do not form until the month of 
 August in the following year. It is of great im- 
 portance to the plantations that the soil be good, 
 as should this not be the case, the prickles which 
 render the plant so serviceable would not appear, 
 or would be very small. This may often be seen 
 in the wild specimen, as varieties of this teasel 
 are found with very small awns. 
 
 When the teasel is fit for use it is cut and laid 
 in the sun in bundles to dry, unless the weather 
 be wet, when it is placed in a dry room. The 
 teasel-fields are very often the property of the cot- 
 tagers in the neighbourhood of cloth manufactories. 
 
 The leaves of this plant, which are large and 
 irregularly notched, were formerly very generally 
 used in medicine, and are still resorted to in the 
 cure of some complaints by village practitioners.
 
 TEASEL. 253 
 
 The botanical name of this plant, DipsacuSf 
 is taken from a verb signifying to be thirsty, and 
 was ai3parently given from the opinion that the 
 teasel required for its own refreshment the large 
 supply of water with which its leaves are fur- 
 nished. This water, however, appears to be 
 designed for the use of birds and insects quite as 
 much as for rendering any service to the plant 
 itself. The leaves grow in pairs on the stem of 
 the teasel, and unite and close around it, making 
 at their bases a small reservoir capable of holding 
 a large glassful of water. The vein down the 
 middle of each leaf serves for a channel. The 
 rain pours down this little channel into the basin 
 below, which by this means becomes filled with 
 the liquid, and will remain in this condition for 
 some time. I have often, on a warm day in sum- 
 mer, seen in the teasel-leaf a clear draught whose 
 appearance was most inviting. 
 
 It does not appear that this water is absorbed 
 by the stem or leaves of this plant, as after a 
 while the leaves bend down with its weight, and 
 it runs off by the same course in the leaves by
 
 254 PITCHER-rLANT. 
 
 whicli it entered. It falls on a spot at a con- 
 siderable distance from the stem ; and the only 
 way in which it can at all relieve the drought of 
 the plant is by moistening the earth around the 
 fibres which may thus imbibe refreshment. 
 
 That insects derive a supply from this little 
 basin is very evident, as we may often see float- 
 ing upon the surface of its water many a little 
 winged creature, which, too eager to enjoy the 
 beverage it offered, have fallen into it and pe- 
 rished. A very singular plant called the pitcher- 
 plant {Nepenthes distillatoria), contains in its 
 vase-like leaf a glassful of water. This liquid is 
 not, like that contained in the teasel-leaf, formed 
 by the accumulated drops of the summer shower, 
 but is secreted through the stalk of the leaf. The 
 pitcher- plant is often found on boggy plains in 
 the East Indies, in Amboyna, IMadagascar, and 
 some other places. Each of its leaves ends in a 
 closely-shut tube like a tankard, and the lid of 
 this tube which prevents the liquid from evapora- 
 tion, either opens after some time by itself or is 
 lifted up by insects, who derive from the clear
 
 PITCHER-PLANT. 255 
 
 water within a more pleasant refreshment than 
 
 'Pitchev--p\aint— Nepenthes distillatoria. 
 
 they could procure from the surrounding bogs. 
 Indeed the exhalations of these marshy grounds 
 are often in the moist and hot climates where 
 they are situated, of a most noxious and fetid
 
 256 PITCHER-PLANT. 
 
 quality. The water of the pitcher-plant is sweet 
 and exquisitely clear. 
 
 On some occasions it may afford enjoyment to 
 the thirsty traveller, while to the numerous little 
 worms and insects it is a frequent and abundant 
 resource. One species of small shrimp especially 
 lives in its waters, revelling in its limpid stream, 
 and feeding upon many other insects which are 
 drowned in the fountain at which they came to 
 sip. 
 
 The Chinese call this plant pig-basket-grass, 
 from the resemblance of its leaves to the baskets 
 in which they carry their pigs for sale. The 
 Malays superstitiously fancy that the gathering 
 these plants causes rain ; and Rumphius men- 
 tions that when he wished to obtain some spe- 
 cimens of it from the mountains of Amboyna, the 
 people refused to procure them ; alleging that if 
 they emptied these natural fountains the rain 
 would fall upon them before they could reach 
 their dwellings. 
 
 In the hot climates of the West India islands 
 grows the wild pine (Tilldndsia)^ which displays
 
 WILD PINE. 257 
 
 an admirable place of refreshment, and is thus 
 described : ** The large barren wild-pine of the 
 AVest Indies is a parasite, and might be denomi- 
 nated an aquatic plant; for although it is sus- 
 pended in air between lofty trees, to whose 
 boughs it is fastened by numerous roots, yet it 
 is not indebted to those boughs, like the mistletoe, 
 for nourishment but only for support. The leaves, 
 which much resemble the pine-apple but are 
 larger, surround this plant in a circular manner ; 
 each leaf being terminated near the stalk with 
 a hollow bucket which contains half a pint of 
 water. It is by these numerous small reservoirs 
 of water that the roots, as well as every other 
 part of the plant, are supplied w^ith nourishment 
 without the help of any earth. 
 
 " One contrivance in the nature of this plant is 
 admirable. The seed is covered with many long 
 downy threads, not only that it may be carried 
 by winds, but that by these threads, when driven 
 through the boughs, it may be held fast and 
 stick to the arms and prominent parts of trees : 
 so soon as it sprouts or germinates, although 
 
 s
 
 258 WILD PINE. 
 
 it be on the' under part of the bough, its 
 leaves and stalks rise perpendicularly and erect; 
 if they assumed any other direction, the cistern 
 just mentioned, made of hollow leaves, could not 
 hold water, which is necessary to the life and 
 nourishment of the plant, and in scarcity of water 
 useful to birds, insects, and man." 
 
 As this plant appears to attach itself to the 
 branch of the tree, and not to derive sustenance 
 from the tree, it is most likely that, in the lan- 
 guage of modern botanists, it would be termed an 
 epiphyte, a term I have before explained. 
 
 Our admiration of the care for the comfort of 
 his creation shown by Him who has thus ar- 
 ranged this plant, is increased when we consider 
 in what situations He has caused it to flourish. 
 Not in the mild climate of the temperate zones, 
 where the rays of the sun are so subdued as but 
 in few instances to cause pain either from heat 
 or its attendant thirst; not in those countries 
 where the gentle rain alternating with the sun- 
 shine secures the wanderer from perishing for 
 want of water ; but in those lands where the sun
 
 WILD PINE. 
 
 259 
 
 shines so intensely that the bright verdure of the 
 grass is withered by its influences; or where the 
 change of seasons presents either a long period 
 of uninterrupted rain, or a similar space of dry 
 weather, where heat is unmitigated by a single 
 shower. 
 
 In the countries near the Bay of Campeachy, 
 where the two seasons of rain and drought expose 
 the land either to being overwhelmed with the 
 one or parched with the other, the celebrated 
 navigator Dampier describes these resources 
 when nearly falling victims to thirst, by which in 
 these forests many hunters and travellers annually 
 perish. After mentioning that the leaves of these 
 trees often contain a pint and a half or a quart of 
 water, he says, "When we find these juices we 
 stick our knives into the leaves just above the 
 roots, and the water gushing out we catch it in 
 our hats, as I have often done to my great relief." 
 
 The Andes or Cordilleras, a large chain of 
 high mountains in South America, are passed by 
 roads some of which are so rugged that even 
 the mules, though trained to their ascent and 
 
 s2
 
 260 CANES IN THE ANDES. 
 
 accustomed to its difficulties, can scarcely keep 
 their footing. By the sides of several of these 
 roads are thick and extensive forests, and a bene- 
 volent contrivance for allaying the thirst of the 
 ^yearied traveller of these mountain-passes may 
 be seen in the canes which grow upon their 
 borders. These canes are of a great height, and 
 their stems, which are very large, hollow, and 
 jointed, contain during the whole of their growth, 
 and until they begin to wither, a great quantity 
 of water. 
 
 One singular circumstance respecting the 
 quality of this liquid is, that when the moon is 
 full it is clear as crystal and in great abundance ; 
 but as the moon wanes, it gradually diminishes 
 and becomes thick, until just before the full 
 moon the water can scarcely be found at all. 
 The water exists in the joints of the cane, not ir\ 
 each joint, but in every other one alternately. 
 The Indians consider this liquid a certain remedy 
 for bruises, and always administer it to those who 
 experience any of those accidents so frequent in 
 these dangerous roads. Whether or not this fluid
 
 BEAUTY OF STREAMS. 261 
 
 possesses the healing efi&cacy ascribed to it by the 
 Indians, it supplies on many occasions when 
 greatly needed a refreshing and delicious draught. 
 
 At no time of the year can we in this country 
 realize the full force of that comparison of Scrip- 
 ture, " it's a river of water in a thirsty land." On 
 a warm summer's day, indeed, the ground may be 
 dried, and we at noon-day may feel languid and 
 weary from the smallest exertion. The draught 
 of pure water or the juicy berry may be a welcome 
 refreshment, and when after a sultry day the 
 gentle evening comes on, the stroll in the open 
 air may be delightful. The termination of a day 
 in the tropics, however, witnesses the flowers 
 fading, and the foliage of the trees languidly 
 drooping, until they are revived by the copious 
 dew of night. In such scenes a gentle rivulet or 
 an artificial fountain bears an aspect of refresh- 
 ment and coolness, which add greatly to the 
 attractions a river offers to us. 
 
 But even in England the margin of the calm 
 lake or the flowing rill is a spot very interesting 
 to the lover of natural beauty. There some of
 
 262 ^ATER-LILY. 
 
 our most beautiful flowers spring up ; there the 
 banks are greener than elsewhere ; and there 
 the soft breezes play with peculiar freshness. 
 And then too how sweet are the sounds of the 
 waters as they gurgle over the stones or flow with 
 a whispering noise among the rushes ! and so 
 composing are they that the agitated bosom is 
 often hushed into calmness, and the tired wan- 
 derer sinks to sleep, as a child soothed by the 
 murmurs of its mother's lullaby. 
 
 Many very lovely flowers grow in the water, 
 rearing their heads and some of their leaves upon 
 the quiet surface of the stream. There wave the 
 banner-like blossoms of the yellow and purple 
 flags (/?7'-5 Pseud' J corns and Iris fcetidissima), 
 in rich and varied beauty. Under the shadow of 
 the drooping willow the fair white water-lily 
 {Nymphcsa alba) blooms in unsullied elegance, 
 bending with the slightest breeze that agitates 
 the water, or softly reclining upon its smooth 
 surface : like some of the enjoyments of earth, it 
 perishes almost as soon as obtained, for it scarcely 
 survives its gathering, and no care in tending it
 
 WATER ARROW-HEAD. 263 
 
 will keep it alive more than a few hours. Bota- 
 nists designate the flower Nymphcea, because, 
 like the nymphs or naiads of the classical poets, 
 it loves to haunt the streams, and delights in the 
 shadow of the foliage that hangs over them. 
 
 A yellow flower called also the water-lily 
 (^Nuphar lutea), but which has somewhat less 
 pretensions to that beauty which we associate 
 with the name of lily, abounds in many streams, 
 and with its big stems and heart-shaped leaves 
 has a pretty appearance. The country-people 
 call the flower brandy-bottle, because its large 
 yellow blossoms have a strong smell of brandy. 
 
 You are probably acquainted with tlie water 
 arrow-head {Sagittdria sagUtifolid) of our streams. 
 This plant is very beautiful, its white flowers 
 forming a lovely contrast to the rich green of its 
 leaves. The leaves too possess remarkable ele- 
 gance of form, and exactly resemble the point of 
 an arrow. This plant is very common upon the 
 borders of rivers, and may be seen on many parts 
 of the Thames about London. It grows some- 
 times on that part of the river that uashes the
 
 264 LOVE OF THE COUNTRY. 
 
 borders of Temple-gardens, seeming almost like 
 a little verdant islet amid its darkly-coloured 
 waters, and bringing to the mind of the dweller 
 of the city remembrances of country-walks by the 
 side of clear streams, and perchance of the seem- 
 ing haunts of his childhood. 
 
 That love of the country which is implanted 
 in the bosoms of many from its having been in 
 early life the scene of their enjoyment, is seldom 
 perhaps wholly extinguished by a long residence 
 in the crowded city in after life. Imagination 
 reverts to the fair landscapes once daily familiar, 
 decking them, it may be, with beauties which 
 another eye might not see. Often the ardent 
 longing to wander again among the hills and 
 valleys which surrounded his early home, prompts 
 the busy man to the active improvement of pre- 
 sent advantages in the business of life, that he 
 may realize the means of ending his days in the 
 sweet seclusions where they commenced. 
 
 And who would wish to banish from his 
 memory the scenes where his youthful days were 
 passed, associated as they are in the mind with
 
 WATER PLANTAIN. 265 
 
 friendship warmer and more disinterested than 
 many of those of later Hfe, and with hours when 
 light of step and light of heart he dreamed not of 
 care or grief, but like the liUes of the field took 
 no thought of the morrow ? It were well, if 
 when parting with the thoughtlessness of child- 
 hood, we gained that confidence in God which 
 might preserve us from heaviness of heart. 
 
 The water plantain {Alisma Plantdgo) rears 
 its branches in almost every stream, and has a 
 strong appearance with its numerous small rose- 
 coloured flowers situated on its branched stem, 
 and its broad and pointed leaves ; while three dif- 
 ferent species of the numerous plants called knot- 
 grass or Persicaria {Poly'gonum) ornament the 
 watery ground on its border. The pink blossoms 
 of these plants are extremely bright and beau- 
 tiful. One species (the Poly'gonum Persicaria) 
 has upon its smooth leaves one or more large 
 black spots, which are supposed by the peasantry 
 of Scotland to have originated from a drop of 
 our Saviour's blood having at the crucifixion 
 fallen upon one of these plants, which grew at
 
 266 FORGET-ME-NOT. 
 
 the foot of the cross. But we might wander far 
 among our wild flowers without finding an)' to 
 equal in beauty that one which among almost all 
 the nations of Europe is considered sacred to love 
 and friendship. The bright azure blossoms of the 
 forget-me-not (^Myosotis palustris) fringe the 
 borders of many a clear and meandering rill, or 
 almost cover the little isles which lie upon its 
 surface. This bright flower has a yellow centre, 
 and a small vein of white at the base of each 
 division of its corolla. While the flower is not yet 
 fully blown the buds are of a delicate rose-colour. 
 The leaves are usually hairy. When bloom- 
 ing in large clusters and great profusion among 
 the bright green of its leaves, or the moist grass, 
 and surrounded by the limpid waters, it has in- 
 deed an aspect so lively and attractive that we 
 cannot wonder at the peculiar honour bestowed 
 upon it. The pretty legend which tells of its 
 origin is doubtless familiar to you, and most pro- 
 bably had its birth in the imagination of some 
 poet, who wished to throw around so lovely a 
 flower the charm of a poetical association.
 
 MEADOW-SWEET. 26*7 
 
 Then there is the graceful meadow-sweet 
 {Spircea Ulmaria), or queen of the meadow, as it 
 is often called, which waves in large clusters of 
 delicate white flowers over the stream, casting its 
 snowy petals upon its bosom, and wafts its per- 
 fume so far away over hill and dell that its sweet 
 scent reveals its presence long before its beauties 
 meet the eye. Somewhat of this fragrance re- 
 mains after the flower has withered, and the 
 specimen of the meadow-sweet in the herbarium 
 of the botanist will often impart its perfume to 
 all the flowers in the collection. Years after the 
 specimen itself has perished its sweetness will 
 linger, as the kind tones of a departed voice 
 will rest on the memory long after its fragile 
 owner has mingled with the dust. 
 
 The flowers of the meadow-sweet are clustered 
 lightly on a stem three or four feet in height, and 
 its leaves grow in groups of three together, their 
 under surfaces being white with a downy cover- 
 ing. 
 
 The purple loosestrife {Ly' thrum Salicdria), 
 with its showy spikes of beautiful and bright
 
 268 SILVER-WEED, 
 
 purple flowers, arrests the eye immediately as it 
 gazes upon the margin of a stream, and may vie 
 with many flowers which, from their being the 
 natives of far distant countries, transplanted into 
 our gardens, are regarded with great admiration. 
 
 The silver-weed {Potent'illa Anserina) that 
 grows about the river-banks is a very pretty little 
 plant. Its notched leaves have on their lower 
 surfaces a thick clothing of silky down, which 
 gives them the appearance of silver, whence the 
 plant has its familiar name, and I dare say you 
 have often seen this silky part turned up to view 
 among the herbage. The large yellow flowers of 
 the silver-weed are soft as velvet, and creep along 
 the watery margin. St. Pierre says this plant 
 is very common on the borders of the Seine in 
 France, and that it is eagerly sought for and 
 eaten by the ducks and geese. Whether our 
 English poultry have in this respect the same 
 taste I have never been able to ascertain. 
 
 Several very graceful willows {Sdlix) are to 
 be found in the neighbourhoods of lakes and 
 rivers, and the pendant branches of the well-
 
 WEEPING WILLOW. 269 
 
 known weeping willow {Sdlix Babylonica), and 
 its bluish-green foliage, render it peculiarly orna- 
 mental. Many species of willow furnish the twigs 
 used for baskets. Some of them supply timber. 
 Their bark is useful for tanning, and that of one 
 species (the Sdlix Russellidna) is used as a sub- 
 stitute for Peruvian bark. The weeping willow, 
 a tree ever regarded as an emblem of sorrow, is 
 not an indigenous tree, but a native of the Levant, 
 and its plantation among us is owing to a cir- 
 cumstance both interesting and remarkable. The 
 celebrated poet, Alexander Pope, having received 
 from Turkey a present of a basket of figs, re- 
 marked, while unpacking it, that one of the 
 willow-twigs of which it was composed was 
 forming a new shoot. He placed the twig in his 
 garden, which in course of time became a fine 
 tree ; and from this tree have sprung all the 
 beautiful weeping-willows which are so frequent 
 in moist grounds. We can but regret that a tree 
 planted by the poet, and one which has been so 
 conducive to the picturesque beauty of our scenery, 
 should not have been suffered to perish by the
 
 270 THE POrLAR. 
 
 hand of time ratlier than to have been felled by 
 the axe of the woodman. 
 
 The Lombardy poplar (Populus dilitdtd) lifts 
 its tall spire upon many marshy soils. This tree, 
 though having, when planted in lengthened rows, 
 rather a formal appearance, is often ornamental 
 to the landscape, its lofty summit waving to every 
 breeze. I have seen it growing alternately with 
 the weeping ash, and thought that, when mingled 
 and contrasted with it, it was really beautiful. 
 
 The trembling poplar or aspen (^Populus tre- 
 muld) has its leaves so lightly hung, with their 
 stalks so compressed, as that they are shaken 
 by every zephyr. The highlanders, whose super- 
 stitious fancies often lead them to invest with 
 mystery causes which are obviously natural, ima- 
 gine that the Saviour's cross was made of the 
 wood of this tree, and that on this account its 
 leaves were smitten with the curse of perpetual 
 restlessness. 
 
 The dark alders *'that fringe the pool" {A'lnus 
 glutinosa) add greatly to its beauty; and the 
 wood of this tree having the property of resisting
 
 THE ALDER. 271 
 
 the decaying effects of moisture, renders it very 
 valuable in the construction of bridges. Pipes 
 are also made of alder- wood, as it is not liable to 
 split. The celebrated bridge of the Rialto in 
 Venice, which is familiar to our minds from its 
 poetical associations, and very remarkable for its 
 architecture, is built upon piles of alder. The 
 alders that grow in our moist grounds are more 
 often shrubs than trees. 
 
 The borders of rivers and streams, though thus 
 favourable to vegetation, can by no means be 
 considered as conducive to the health of the 
 human constitution; and it has been a general 
 remark that the situations the most healthy for 
 man are often the most unfriendly to the growth 
 of plants. In Africa, where the soil is arid and 
 little intersected by streams, notwithstanding the 
 many inconveniences to which the traveller is 
 liable from drought, his health is generally un- 
 injured, and in many instances it is improved by 
 the dryness of the air. Those countries where 
 heat equally prevails, but which are well watered, 
 as some parts of Eastern India, are generally very 
 unhealthy ; and it is in moist situations that so
 
 272 GRASSHOPPERS. 
 
 many Europeans are subjected to early and sudden 
 death. 
 
 The different objects of animated nature that 
 present themselves to the wanderer on the banks 
 of streams, add greatly to the interest which is 
 awakened by the sight of the clear waters that 
 reflect the overhanging trees, and are fringed 
 with lovely flowers. Over its calm surface the 
 moorfowl sails gracefully, attended by her little 
 ones, exulting in the sunshine ; the merry frog 
 leaps among the grass at its border. *' Lightest of 
 heart in saddest season," he rejoices in the rainy 
 day, which we, however necessary we may deem 
 it for vegetation, are apt to view with regret. 
 Then there is sometimes the lively, chirping 
 grasshopper, whose existence seems all enjoyment, 
 and whose light -green coat, resembling the carpet 
 over which he springs, enables him to elude his 
 pursuers. That was at least a beautiful imagina- 
 tion of the ancients, that the grasshoppers were 
 the spirits of the deceased poets. They deemed 
 that these insects lived on air, and fancied their 
 ethereal natures fit residences for the beings whom 
 they considered so unearthly.
 
 273 
 
 Letter X. 
 
 Umbelliferous Plants— General appearance— Pith of Plants— Influ- 
 ence of moist situations — Wild Carrot — Coriander-plant — Angelica 
 — Poisons — Hemlock — Water Dropwort— Fatal instance of Poison 
 — Water Hemlock — Appearance of poisonous jilants— Christmas 
 Rose — Wild Hellebore — Foxglove — Monkshood — Nightshade — 
 Nettle — Uses of Nettles. 
 
 I HAVE not attempted throughout this work to 
 give you any idea of the various arrangements of 
 plants made by botanists according to their pe- 
 culiar systems. These are formed upon characters 
 which belong to all the plants in the same class, 
 but their classification could not be rendered in- 
 telligible to one wholly unacquainted with the 
 science. I shall, however, devote a few pages to 
 the consideration of some of the large class of 
 umbelliferous plants, because this objection does 
 not apply to them, as they are so much alike in 
 their general appearance and manner of growth* 
 as that if any one of them is known it will lead 
 to a detection of the remainder. 
 
 T
 
 274 UMBELLIFEROUS PLANTS. 
 
 The flowers of umbelliferous plants are among 
 the most minute of our blossoms ; but, raised upon 
 one common stem, and clustered together in small 
 bunches, each of which is situated on a short 
 stalk, they make a conspicuous appearance. The 
 small stalks diverge from the middle like the 
 spokes of an umbrella. Sometimes the middle 
 cluster of flowers is lower than the rest, when the 
 head is of a convex form, as in the wild carrot ; 
 sometimes the central cluster is the highest, and 
 then it is concave, as in the hemlock. The flowers 
 are, in almost all the plants of this class, of a 
 white colour, but a few of them, as the fennel, 
 are yellow. They are most numerous in the 
 spring of the year, and at that interesting and 
 cheering season their leaves, which are of a lovely 
 green and a very elegant form, add greatly to 
 the beauty of the hedges. 
 
 The umbelliferous plants will not grow in very 
 hot climates ; not one of them is to be found in the 
 torrid zone; but in some countries of Europe, and 
 in countries both of Asia and Africa, whose cli- 
 mate is warmer than that of England, they are
 
 UMBELLIFEROUS PLANTS. 275 
 
 greatly superior both in number and beauty. If 
 in the spring you gather any one of these plants, 
 you will generally find its stem hollow, and con- 
 taining a beautiful silver-looking lining. If at 
 a later season you examine the plant you will 
 perceive in the hollow stem a number of ragged 
 fragments, which appear as if the growth of the 
 outer part of the stem had been too rapid for this 
 delicate lining, and thus torn it : and this is, 
 indeed, exactly the fact. This internal part is 
 the pith of the plant, and the same substance, 
 though differently arranged, which at that season 
 of the year occupies the interior of the young 
 shoots of the elder and currant-bush, where it is 
 of a greenish-white colour, and spongy substance. 
 I have often seen boys gathering it to make 
 whistles ; and the elegant rice-paper, so often 
 used by ladies for painting or the manufacture of 
 ornaments, is the pith of a Chinese plant called 
 by the natives Toong-shue. 
 
 The class of umbelliferous plants presents a 
 great difficulty not merely to the unpractised 
 botanist, but to the more advanced student ; and 
 
 t2
 
 2*76 THE MUSHROOM. 
 
 some eminent men of science have directed to it 
 the studies of many 3'ears. The general appear- 
 ance of the various plants being so similar, the 
 distinction between their several species is formed 
 of characters that require a great deal of atten- 
 tion. ■ 
 
 The greater number of these plants when in- 
 habiting dry places are of an aromatic nature, 
 and valuable for their stomachic virtues : but 
 when growing on the banks of rivers or other 
 moist places, they ought on no account to be 
 eaten. Some of our most deadly poisons are con- 
 tained in this class, and they are generally pro- 
 duced by those among them which are found in 
 watery places. 
 
 Indeed plants whose character is doubtful are 
 always most likely to be dangerous when found 
 under such circumstances. The common mush- 
 room {Agdricus camphtris)^ when it grows near 
 the water, contains a great quantity of poison ; and> 
 although we do not often hear of accidents arising 
 from eating it, it is chiefly owing to the fact that 
 in England mushrooms are but little used for any
 
 THE MUSHROOM. 
 
 277 
 
 other purpose than making ketchup, %vhere not 
 Only th^ quantity taken of it is small, but the 
 
 
 
 M^'3. 
 
 Eatable Ag^nci 
 
 Poisonous Agarici. 
 
 method of preparing it weakens the effect. Plants 
 which in a raw state are extremely pernicious 
 are often rendered quite innoxious by boiling, as
 
 278 WILD CARROT. 
 
 tlie principle of vegetables is greatly influenced by 
 heat. On the Continent mushrooms are eaten at 
 table dressed in a greater variety of ways ; and 
 death is more frequently occasioned by their use. 
 
 The wild carrot (^Daucus carotus), a plant 
 frequent in every hedge, is well known to you* 
 This is the origin of our garden carrot, and an 
 examination of its root will serve to convince you 
 of the value of cultivation, as its inferiority to the 
 garden vegetable is very perceptible. Its clusters 
 of flowers are very pretty, as their white is very 
 clear and their form very regular. Their central 
 floret is of a crimson colour, and this little mark 
 serves well to distinguish the wild carrot from 
 many similar plants, this distinction being quite 
 peculiar. 
 
 The seeds which, enclosed in sugar, are sold by 
 confectioners under the name of coriander-comfits, 
 are obtained from an umbelliferous plant which 
 grows wild in several parts of England ; though 
 it is generally thought to be the product of seeds 
 formerly planted in the neighbourhood where it is 
 found, as it was once much cultivated for medi- 
 cinal purposes.
 
 HEMLOCK. 279 
 
 The Angelica Archang^lica, which is another plant 
 much used in confectionary, a preserve being made 
 of its stalks, is occasionally found wild, though it 
 is not very common. In some parts of Warwick- 
 shire it is abundant. It flowers in September, 
 and its stem is about four feet high. It has in its 
 undressed state a pungent flavour, too powerful to 
 be agreeable. It grows very plentifully in Lap- 
 land and Sweden, and is thought by the people of 
 those countries to possess excellent medicinal 
 qualities. Few of the Laplanders who have a 
 garden neglect to cultivate the Angelica, and they 
 resort to it as a remedy in numerous complaints. 
 
 The chief service rendered by the umbelliferous 
 plants to mankind is yielded by those among them 
 of a poisonous kind. The hemlock {Conium 
 Mdculatiim), which is very common in most 
 counties of England, may be distinguished from 
 plants which in many respects resemble it by the 
 purple spots that thickly overspread its stem and 
 branches, and by the powerful and unpleasant 
 odour which it emits when either these parts or 
 the leaves are bruised. The extract procured
 
 280 WATER-DROPWORT. 
 
 from this plant is much used in the cure of dis- 
 eases, and to the physician it is perhaps more 
 valuable than many beautiful and pleasant plants. 
 Among the ancient Greeks the dose of hemlock 
 was administered as a means of death, and it was 
 by this fatal draught that the venerable and 
 enlightened Socrates fell a victim to the super- 
 stitions of his countrymen. 
 
 The water-dropwort {CEndnthe crocdfa), the 
 effect of whose effluvia upon the constitution I 
 have before mentioned, is of this class. It is a 
 large and rank-looking plant, its stem about four 
 feet high, and full of a poisonous, orange- coloured 
 juice. Numbers have perished by eating this 
 plant, for, as its appearance somewhat resembles 
 celery, it has been mistaken for that vegetable. 
 Both the garden and tlie wild celery have, how- 
 ever, a great distinction in their peculiar scent, 
 and they are both devoid of the juice. The wild 
 celer)-, whose stems are much more slender than 
 the dropwort, is, however, a poisonous plant. 
 
 Great care ought to be taken by those unac- 
 quainted with botany in eating any plant which
 
 WATER-HEMLOCK. 231 
 
 is not known to them. In many cases the scent, 
 or the dingy appearance of the foliage in flowers, 
 is sufficient to show the dangerous nature of the 
 plant ; yet it is unwise to presume on the absence 
 of any visible indications. 
 
 The botanist indeed possesses infallible means 
 of distinction, by which, under any circumstance 
 of country or climate, he can detect the presence 
 of poison by an examination of the structure of the 
 vegetable. This knowledge is, as you may easily 
 suppose, of incalculable value to the traveller in 
 strange countries. 
 
 There prevailed, at one time, a great mortality 
 among the cattle in some parts of Lapland, for 
 which their owners were quite unable to account. 
 Linnseus discovered that it was caused by the 
 cattle having eaten of the water-hemlock {Cicuta 
 virosa), an umbelliferous plant which grows 
 either on the banks of rivers or ditches, and which 
 in this instance grew under the water. 
 
 Animals are, however, provided with an instinct 
 which enables them in most cases to perceive what 
 kinds of food are wholesome for their own species.
 
 282 INSTINCT OF ANIMALS. 
 
 If a horse be placed in a pasture where the most 
 noxious plants are growing, he will reject them ; 
 as is the case when he meets with the (Enanthe 
 Phellandrium (another plant called the water- 
 hemlock), which he will not touch. To the cow, 
 however, it is wholesome, and she being guided 
 by her faculties of smelling and tasting, feeds upon 
 it unhurt. 
 
 It is, indeed, wisely arranged by God that the 
 plants designed for pasture are not equally in- 
 viting to all his creatures ; were not this the case 
 one animal would deprive another of food, and the 
 necessity of affording a sufficient supply of the 
 same kind of plant to so great a number of ani- 
 mals would prevent that display of variety in the 
 vegetable kingdom which now affords so much 
 opportunity for research and admiration. The 
 various objects of nature are not placed before 
 us that we may extend our hand to gather them, 
 and, ^\ithout any thought or pains, to receive from 
 them all their advantages : but to man are given 
 intellectual powers to study, and bodily strength 
 to labour for the extension of their value. All
 
 NECESSITY OF EXERTION. 283 
 
 that is necessary to be known respecting our 
 destiny for a future world is revealed with great 
 plainness by the Scriptures ; but for our comfort 
 in this world we are required to exert the capa- 
 cities with which we are endowed in order to 
 make the requisite discoveries. We may remark, 
 in favour of cultivation, that even the soils most 
 friendly to vegetation commonly become by it 
 more productive as the nature of the product is 
 rendered more valuable. In every important at- 
 tainment each one of us should endeavour to leave 
 the world better than we found it, that, even as 
 regards others, we may not have lived in vain. 
 
 It is a singular fact respecting plants containing 
 poison, that some of their parts are not only free 
 from an unw^holesome quality, but are very nu- 
 tritious. The potato, which when boiled is so 
 valuable a vegetable, bears little poisonous green 
 knobs upon its branches. The leaves and flowers 
 of the peach-tree contain a bitter and poisonous 
 juice ; while its fruit is wholesome and delicious, 
 and its gum is of a gentle and mucilaginous 
 nature.
 
 284 CHRISTMAS-ROSE. 
 
 Poisonous plants very generalh' present, either 
 in their blossoms or leaves, a dingy uninviting ap- 
 pearance. The hemlock has its stems spotted 
 with brownish purple, and its foliage of a dull 
 green. The flowers of plants whose nature is 
 deleterious are very often of a dark purple colour ; 
 but, as a proof that this distinction is not invariable, 
 I may mention the hellebore or Christmas-rose 
 {Helleborus Niger), that blooms in our gardens 
 at the season of the year when they are almost 
 desolate, and is, like one of its winter companions, 
 the snowdrop, of a most lovely white, until it 
 begins to fade, when its petals assume a green 
 colour. ^ 
 
 Naturalists have accounted for the prevalence 
 of white flowers during winter and early spring 
 by the circumstance that this colour is peculiarly 
 adapted to reflect the sun's rays. Dark coloured 
 objects absorb light and heat ; and, as at this season 
 of the year the sun's rays are feeble, it is wisely 
 ordained that the flowers should be of the colour 
 best calculated to reflect them in the most advan- 
 tageous manner. Few who looked upon the
 
 BUTTERCUP. 285 
 
 Christmas-rose would think that a flower whose 
 appearance was so pure and lovely could contain 
 a quality so pernicious ; for if it is taken in large 
 quantities it produces giddiness, and even death ; 
 yet the botanist upon a slight inspection would 
 feel assured of its dangerous nature. 
 
 There are around the centre of this flower a 
 number of stamens or small threads. When 
 blossoms have these numerous stamens inserted 
 on the receptacle (that middle of the flower where • 
 all points meet), we may conclude the plant to be 
 of an unsafe nature. A familiar instance of this 
 is the common buttercup {Ranunculus A'cris). 
 The blossom of the apple-tree, of the plum, the 
 peach, and other fruit-trees, have also a number 
 of stamens, but these are seated on the calyx. If 
 the leaves of the flower-cup and the white petals 
 of the Christmas- rose be carefully pulled off", one 
 by one, you will find that the stamens remain 
 behind. If the petals of the apple-blossom be 
 thus used, the stamens will almost all come off 
 with them ; and this circumstance determines 
 whether or not flowers thus formed are poisonous.
 
 286 HELLEBORE. 
 
 Two species of hellebore {Helleborus viridis 
 and Hellehorus foetidus) grow wild in woods. 
 Their flowers, which are of a dull yellowish-green, 
 have a very unpleasant scent ; and the latter 
 species has its calyx edged with a dingy purple, 
 its leaves remaining green through the winter. 
 Altogether its appearance is such that you would 
 probably giiess it to be a poisonous plant. As it 
 possesses nothing to invite to the taste, the chief 
 injury that arises from hellebore is owing to its 
 being sometimes injudiciously used as medicine. 
 
 The Greek hellebore {Hellehorus officinalis) 
 was thought by the ancients to invigorate the 
 powers of the mind ; and when they were about 
 to engage in any undertaking which required a 
 greater portion of mental energy than usual, they 
 were accustomed to take a small dose of it. It is 
 still used by medical practitioners, and it derives 
 its name from two Greek words which signify " to 
 injure" and "food." 
 
 The purple foxglove (^Digitalis Purpurea), 
 perhaps the most beautiful ornament of our sum- 
 mer woods and hedges, is extremely deleterious in
 
 MONKSHOOD. 287 
 
 its nature; and although Avhen used in small 
 quantities it is a valuable remed}- for some dis- 
 eases, yet in the hands of the unskilful it is 
 replete with danger. Its purple bells are large, 
 and their white and spotted interior very hand- 
 some ; but its colour is rather of a suspicious 
 character, and to those accustomed to notice plants 
 would indicate probable danger. 
 
 The monkshood (Aconitum Napellus), found 
 wild in some parts of England, but so common in 
 gardens as that you can scarcely walk in one 
 during summer without meeting it, is a very 
 noxious plant. It is certainly the most gloomy, 
 forbidding-looking flower in the whole parterre. 
 You have perhaps often pulled off the purple hood 
 or helmet of this flower, to see the two long 
 thread-like parts placed underneath, which children 
 call the doves of Venus's chariot. This plant 
 contains so much poison as that its scent alone is 
 very injurious, and it ought upon no account to be 
 smelled to, or rubbed over any part of the face. 
 Indeed, were its properties more generally known, 
 we should not have it so often in gardens to
 
 288 NIGHTSHADE. 
 
 which the children of careful parents have access. 
 This flower is called also wolfsbane, because the 
 hunters who chase the wolves upon the Alps dip 
 their arrow^s in an extract procured from the plant, 
 which ensures the death of the wounded animal. 
 
 The flowers of the nightshade have the same 
 lurid purple hue, and both our wild species, one 
 of which bears the beautiful ruby-coloured berry, 
 and the other the larger black fruit, are dan- 
 gerous. The black-berried nightshade (Jtropa 
 Belladonna), is called after Atropos, one of the 
 Fates, on account of its deadly properties, and is 
 very common in fields and road-side hedges. A 
 very remarkable property of this plant has been 
 discovered by recent experiments. When rubbed 
 on the eye-brow it so afl'ects the pupil or black 
 spot in the middle of the eye as to make it expand ; 
 a circumstance of which the occulist is very glad 
 to avail himself, when proceeding to operate upon 
 the eye. 
 
 The other wild nightshade (Soldnum Dulca- 
 mdra) has berries which are extremely beautiful 
 in the hedges at the end of autumn, and whose
 
 NIGHT-SHADE. 2S9 
 
 shrivelled remains hang upon the bushes till 
 spring; often attracting the unwary by the re- 
 semblance of their colour to the garden currant. 
 Though not so highly dangerous in their nature 
 as the berries of the other species, children often 
 fall victims to their poison ; especially in country 
 places where the little creatures roam about alone 
 during the greater part of the day, among the 
 woods and hedges, gathering blackberries, haws, 
 sloes, and the other wild fruits so palatable to 
 children. I shall dwell no longer upon poisonous 
 plants. What has already been said is sufficient 
 to show the folly of those who, unacquainted with 
 the nature of flowers, often pull them from the 
 hedges and taste them, or even eat some part of 
 their blossoms; a practice doubtless sometimes 
 attended with painful consequences. 
 
 With one instance of a plant which is not 
 strictly speaking a poisonous plant, and which 
 you will, perhaps, be surprised to hear contains 
 any portion of venom, I shall conclude my letter. 
 The common nettles of our hedges (Urtica)^ of 
 which we have three species, have often reminded 
 
 u
 
 290 NETTLE. 
 
 3'ou of their presence by the pain they have in- 
 flicted. Small bags of poison exist at the base 
 of the stiff hairs which thickly cover the surface of 
 the nettle. The wound made by one of these 
 sharp bristles is not nearly so large as that which is 
 made by the point of a fine needle, yet the pain 
 caused by it is far more severe and lasting. The 
 orifice made by the sting of the nettle would not 
 be sufficiently large to occasion the pain we feel, 
 did not the sting convey into the wound this 
 secreted poison, for which it serves as a duct. The 
 structure of this hair and its base are similar to 
 that of the fang of a serpent ; which in the same 
 way darts into the wound made by its tooth the 
 venomous secretion. 
 
 I have frequently seen boys beating the hedges 
 with a stick, as if they thought that by extermi- 
 nating the nettle they would perform a valuable 
 service. Nettles, however, are useful in vaiious 
 ways. From the fibres of the stalk a kind of 
 hemp is manufactured by the North Americans ; 
 and in some parts of India, muslin and calico 
 are made from them. In Madagascar the cordage
 
 USES OF NETTLES. 291 
 
 and sails of the vessels are made chiefly from the 
 fibres of these plants ; and the root of one of our 
 most common nettles is useful in dyeing. In many 
 parts of England and Scotland the tops of the 
 young nettles are boiled and eaten as vegetables ; 
 and you have, perhaps, yourself partaken of them 
 dressed in this way, as children in the country 
 often eat them thus. Several kinds of butterfly 
 feed upon nettles. One especially (the Papilio 
 Urticce) lays its eggs always upon the stem of the 
 nettle, and dies immediately. The caterpillars, 
 which are hatched from these eggs, often so thickly 
 surround the nettle as to give it the appearance 
 of being covered with black velvet. Sometimes 
 these little insects are so destructive to the nettles 
 as to eat away from them all but their stalks and 
 fibres. 
 
 u 2
 
 292 
 
 Letter XI. 
 
 Leaves— Variety of forms— Surfaces— Coverings of hair— Structure of 
 leaves — Seed-vessel of winter cherry — Uses of leaves — Perspiration 
 of plants — Evergreens — Shadows afforded by trees of Tropical 
 Climates — T'ses of leases among the Hindoos — Leaves of Talipot- 
 palm — Leaves formerly used for writing upon — L'se of leaves in 
 protecting the tree — Fall of the leaf— Beauties of Autumn— Effect 
 of light on leaves — Sensitive plants — Venus's fly-trap— Rapid 
 growth of plants — Use of leaves in Persia — Olive-leaf brought to 
 Noah — Effect of trees on the landscape — Lines on the oak-tree. 
 
 In directing your attention to the leaves of plants 
 it is not my design to describe their various shapes. 
 You must have observed that the leaves of dif- 
 ferent plants are variously formed ; thus the leaves 
 of the geranium and nasturtium are round; those 
 of the vine and ivy lobed ; and those of the grasses 
 long and slender. 
 
 The round or peltate leaf, as it is called, of 
 the nasturtiimi (Tropwlum mdjus), may have 
 struck your fancy as resembling a shield ; and the 
 name of this plant, which signifies a trophy-plant,
 
 NASTURTIUM. 293 
 
 was given to it by Linnseus, on account of its 
 shield-like leaves and the resemblance of its flower 
 to a helmet stained with blood. The forms of 
 leaves, however, partaking of that regularity for 
 w^hich all the works of God are so much distin- 
 guished, are always the same in the plants to 
 which they belong; a circumstance which often 
 aids the botanist in determining their species, and 
 in conveying a description of the plant to others. 
 
 You have doubtless remarked that the surfaces 
 of leaves vary in different plants, some being 
 smooth and shining as the laurel ; others like those 
 of the mullein or nettle, being covered with down 
 or hairs. Hairs are often found covering not 
 only the stem but both surfaces of the leaf; when, 
 however, this is not the case, they are frequently 
 found on its under surface only ; and instances 
 are very few in which they exist on the upper part, 
 while the lower is destitute of them. 
 
 Hairs serve to keep plants warm in the same 
 manner that the fur of the dog protects him from 
 the coldness of the atmosphere ; and on this 
 account we often see that plants, while their buds
 
 f94 FORMS OF LEAVES. 
 
 and leaves are young and tender, are covered with 
 hairs, while as they grow older and stronger they 
 become quite smooth. Hairs also serve to collect 
 moisture from the air. Plants growing on dry 
 rocky situations, where they are greatly exposed 
 to the sun, are generally more hairy than those 
 of sheltered spots ; and you may often see the 
 hairs of plants rising erect at early morning and 
 late in the evening, to collect the dews with which 
 they are soon bespangled ; and during day, when 
 the sun is shining and the air is dr}-, lying down 
 close to the surface of the leaf. 
 
 The upper surfaces of leaves generally facing 
 the skies present the more glossy appearance, 
 and the veins sink into them ; while on the under 
 part these generally stand out from the surface. 
 
 The substance of leaves consists chiefly of two 
 parts ; the vessels or fibres which extend through 
 all the leaf, and give it a firmness of texture that 
 prevents its being broken by the winds ; and the 
 green pulpy substance v.hich fills up the spaces 
 between the fibres. Over these the cuticle or 
 skin is spread. You have, perhaps, sometimes
 
 FORMS OF LEAVES. 295 
 
 picked up, daring your walks either in the woods 
 or in your garden, skeletons of leaves formed en- 
 tirely of the vessels, from which the green sub- 
 stance has been eaten away by insects, or gradually 
 destroyed by exposure to damp. The seed-vessel 
 of the winter cherry affords a very pretty specimen 
 of a similar kind — tlie vessels extending like a 
 delicate gauze covering, with its threads quite 
 imbroken over the bright red cherry within. You 
 will find very little difficulty in making these 
 skeletons of leaves ; and, as they are very pretty, 
 and show you the situations of the veins of the 
 leaf, I should recommend you to make some. 
 You must for this purpose select in autumn some 
 leaves whose texture is firm, as those of the holly 
 or ivy, and let them lie some time in water until 
 the pulp is destroyed ; then with a knife gently 
 take off the upper and under cuticle. 
 
 Leaves are useful to plants in the same way that 
 lungs are to animals, by drawing in air for their 
 support, and giving it out again. They also im- 
 bibe moisture and again evaporate it. You may 
 easily ascertain the fact that leaves emit perspira-
 
 296 SECRETIONS OF LEAVES. 
 
 tion, by placing a young vine-leaf over a wine- 
 glass ; when, if it be a hot day, you will very soon 
 find the glass quite damp, and in the course of a 
 short time the moisture will run down in drops. 
 The amount of perspiration yielded by a sun- 
 flower {Helidnthus annuus) during day is one 
 pound four ounces. The cornelian cherry (Cornus 
 mdscula) is said by Sir J. E. Smith to perspire 
 in twenty-four hours a quantity twice the weight 
 of the shrub ; and Hales ascertained that the 
 usual amount of perspiration thrown off by plants 
 is seventeen times greater than that of the human 
 body. If on some warm, clear afternoon, when 
 the sun has been shining powerfully all the morn- 
 ing, you examine the leaves of the Lombardy 
 poplar (Populus dilitdta), you will probably find 
 them covered with small drops of clear liquid, 
 which are generally trickling down them like the 
 remains of a shower of rain. It has been re- 
 marked that the leaves of those plants which fre- 
 quent dry and rocky situations are so formed as 
 not only readily to imbibe moisture but to evapo- 
 rate it very slowly, thus retaining the moisture so 
 necessary for the plant.
 
 SECRETIONS OF LEAVES. 297 
 
 Evergreens generally emit but little perspira- 
 tion. Our own evergreens are few in number, 
 but the trees of hot climates never at any period 
 lose their leaves so as to present the naked appear- 
 ance which winter brings to ours generally, but 
 their foliage falls gradually in small quantities, 
 and is continually replaced by the growth of new 
 leaves. This arrangement is peculiarly adapted 
 to the necessities of the human beings as well as of 
 the plants and animals of tropical climates ; as 
 the leaves serve not only to defend the tree from 
 the heat of the sun, but also to shelter the inha- 
 bitants of those regions and their cattle from its 
 powerful rays. Many natives of the countries in 
 the torrid zone spend the greater part of their 
 lives out of doors, reclining or performing their 
 light manufactures under the shadow of the plain- 
 tain, and at night sleeping beneath its foliage. 
 
 The common table-cloth of the Hindoos is 
 formed either of the leaves of the plaintain or of 
 those of the beautiful Indian lotus, whose white 
 or blue blossoms float like those of our water-lily 
 upon the surface of the streams, adorning almost
 
 298 TALIPOT-PALM. 
 
 every lake in Hindoostan ; and are much admired 
 by the Hindoos, forming a source of frequent 
 allusion in their poetical images. *' Frail as the 
 dew-drop on the lotus," is a simile familiar to the 
 mind of every Hindoo who would wish to express 
 the mutable nature of earthly happiness. These 
 leaves are large and shining, and a number of 
 them, being fastened together to the size of the table, 
 serve as its covering for their daily meal. Newly- 
 gathered leaves form also their sole dishes, which 
 are used but once by the cleanly Hindoos. 
 
 The large leaves of the talipot palm of Ceylon 
 are shaped like a fan. They are, while growing, 
 of a beautiful dark green ; but, being cut into 
 strips, placed in boiling water and then dried, they 
 become of a yellowish-brown colour, resembling 
 old parchment ; when several strips are enclosed 
 in a wooden case and constitute the only books of 
 the natives of Ceylon. They are written upon 
 with a pointed steel instrument, and a dark-co- 
 loured substance being rubbed over them, remains 
 on the writing and renders it more legible. 
 
 It has been supposed that the first material used
 
 TALIPOT-PALM. 299 
 
 for writing upon was the leaves of plants ; and 
 Virgil represents the sibyl as writing her oracular 
 promises in detached sentences upon dry leaves, 
 which, when the door of her cavern was opened, 
 were scattered afar by the winds. 
 
 D'lsraeU mentions that it is affirmed by the 
 Roman historian Varro that the leaves of the 
 palms and the mallows were first used as writing 
 materials ; and that he assigns this as the reason 
 that the same word expresses the leaf of a tree and 
 that of a book. 
 
 • The immense leaves that adorn the trees of hot 
 climates are used to cover huts, to shelter their 
 inhabitants from the sun and rain, and for many 
 purposes which a European would not imagine 
 The traveller in Ceylon is glad to avail himself of 
 the parasol formed by a leaf of the talipot-tree, 
 which is so light as to be no burden even in a 
 climate whose heat is so oppressive. One of these 
 leaves will shelter fifteen men from a sudden rain 
 and when not in immediate use may be folded as 
 close as a lady's fan. 
 
 Leaves are so important as clothing to shield
 
 300 USE OF LEAVES. 
 
 from heat and cold the plants to which they be- 
 long, as that we may often see the fruit of a tree 
 perish from the leaves having been destroyed by 
 caterpillars in spring. You have probably seen 
 gooseberry bushes in this condition without having 
 upon their boughs one single gooseberry, all the 
 green fruit having fallen off. If the leaves are 
 stripped oif a single branch of a tree, the branch 
 will either perish or it will not increase in size. 
 You may indeed have seen the gardener plucking 
 off some of the leaves of peach-trees, and the 
 reason of his so doing is, that this tree, being a 
 native of a warm climate, requires a great degree 
 of sun to bring its fruit to perfection. In this case, 
 however, the leaves are but partially cleared off, 
 for were they wholly removed the unripe peaches 
 would fall from the tree. 
 
 As leaves are no longer required for the pro- 
 tection of plants when their fruit has been per- 
 fected, the greater number of plants are deprived 
 of their foliage during the winter months; the 
 leaves of some falling in the course of summer, 
 and others in autumn, though some which are
 
 LEAVES IN AUTUMN. 301 
 
 called evergreens retain the verdure through the 
 winter, till spring again appears. Some trees, 
 although they wither in autumn, do not part with 
 their leaves until the succeeding year, as the 
 beech-tree, but contrast their brown and withered 
 dress with the bright snows of winter. 
 
 Beautiful as is the green mantle with which 
 spring covers the earth, — the more beautiful be- 
 cause contrasted with the aspect of nakedness 
 which it so lately exhibited, yet in richness of 
 colour, and in appearance of profusion, it must 
 surely yield to the foliage of autumn. The deep 
 red tints of the leaves and some of the stems ; the 
 bright yellow mingled with the green hue in the 
 folias:e of others : and even the withered branches 
 of some trees whose leaves assume the sombre 
 brown before the year's decline, present a scene 
 of rich, profuse, and varied beauty, which no other 
 season can offer. The under surfaces of some 
 leaves, covered with a white down, float upon the 
 wind and mix among the blue green of the willow 
 and the numerous red fruits which at that season 
 of the year adorn the trees of the woodlands.
 
 302 EFFECT OF LIGHT ON LEAVES. 
 
 The action of light upon leaves and stems pro- 
 duces their green colour, and when kept for a long 
 period in darkness these become white. This 
 may be seen in the common endive of our gardens, 
 which perhaps you have sometimes bleached by 
 the simple process of putting bricks over it to 
 exclude the light. Celery, as you well know, is 
 regularly subjected to bleaching before being 
 brouglit to table, and by this treatment the vege- 
 table is rendered wholesome, as for want of light 
 and air the poisonous principle which exists in the 
 wild celery is prevented from being perfected. 
 
 If plants are placed in a room they invariably 
 lean in the direction of a window, turning towards 
 it the upper surfaces of iheir leaves to receive the 
 light. Some leaves, however, as those of the iris, 
 grow upright, and have not either an upper or 
 under surface ; their position is not therefore 
 changed by this circumstance. 
 
 Darkness, although it will not totally deprive 
 the corolla of plants of their gay colours, greatly 
 dims their brilliance, and in course of time com- 
 pletely alters the w hole aspect and nature of the
 
 THE IVY. 303 
 
 plant. A portion of ivy will sometimes, after wan- 
 dering in all directions over the walls of abuildinff, 
 send forth its branches in some dark place, as in 
 a deeply-shadowed window^ or some gloomv nook, 
 where its appearance will he completely changed. 
 Weak and drooping, pale in its colour, and with 
 its stems of an unusual length, you would scared v 
 recognise the sickly-looking plant as a branch of 
 the beautiful ivy which is throwing its profuse 
 and blooming foliage about the ruin. The follow- 
 ing passage upon the subject I have selected for 
 you from the Magazine of Natural History : — 
 "It frequently happens in America that clouds 
 and rain obscure the atmosphere for several days 
 together, and that during that time buds of entire 
 forests expand themselves into leaves. These 
 leaves assume a pallid hue till the sun appears, 
 when, within the short period of six hours of a 
 clear and bright sunshine, their colour is changed 
 to a beautiful green. A writer in Silliman's Tour 
 mentions a forest on which the sun had not shone 
 for twenty days. * The leaves during this period 
 had expanded to their full size, but were almost
 
 304 SENSITIVE PLANTS. 
 
 white. One forenoon the sun began to shine in 
 full brightness. The colour of the forest abso- 
 lutely changed so fast that we could perceive its 
 progress. By the middle of the afternoon the 
 whole of these extensive forests, many miles in 
 length, presented their usual summer's dress. ' " 
 
 The folding and drooping of leaves during 
 night was called by Linnaeus the sleep of plants. 
 This phenomenon occurs more or less in all, but 
 in none is it so manifest as in the pinnated leaves 
 of some jjlants, as the different species of acacia. 
 The leaves of plants, if exposed to the light of a 
 candle, will unfold during the night; and will, 
 upon its removal, again resume their former situa- 
 tion. 
 
 Some pinnated leaves display a very remark- 
 able degree of sensibility to the touch. The dif- 
 ferent kinds of sensitive-plant {Mimosa) will, if 
 any one of their leaflets be touched, communicate 
 an influence to all the rest, and they will all 
 instantly turn back and fold themselves together ; 
 while the branch on which the leaflets grow will 
 approach the stem of the plant. In this position
 
 VENUS S FLY-TRAP. 305 
 
 they will remain for a space of time wliich varies 
 with the period of the day, or the strength of the 
 plant. A slight shower of rain will be ineffectual 
 to produce this shrinking in a sensitive-plant ; 
 but if the rain fall in heavy drops it will close 
 immediately. A beautiful shrub of this character, 
 a species of mimosa, is said by Niebuhr " to droop 
 its branches whenever any person approaches it, 
 seeming as if it saluted those who retire under its 
 shade ;" and tlie sensitive-plant which adorns 
 many of the beautiful gardens of India, spreading 
 itself in great abundance, will, if one of its leaves 
 be touched, convey the impression rapidly to the 
 numerous plants near ; so that every leaflet of 
 a long row of shrubs will fold itself up ; and 
 for many hours the plant will continue to 
 exhibit this effect of its singularly-delicate con- 
 struction. The causes of this and some other 
 kinds of irritability evinced by plants have not 
 yet been discovered by naturalists. 
 
 If the centre of the leaf of a flower called 
 Venus's fly-trap {Dioncea Muscijjula) be touched, 
 it immediately closes the sides of its leaves over
 
 306 RAPID GROWTH OF PLA.NTS. 
 
 the object which irritates it. These leaves, being 
 edged with sharp teeth, like those of a steel-trap, 
 enclose within its prison any insect which may 
 have been unfortunate enough to choose its leaf 
 for a resting-place. 
 
 Have you ever been interested in remarking the 
 rapid growth evinced by some plants ? In this 
 respect different species vary greatly ; some scarcely 
 making a perceptible advance during some weeks, 
 others in the course of a few hours extending 
 their stems and leaves considerably. Plants in 
 all cases, however, grow more during the night 
 than in the day. Professor Lindley mentions a 
 plant of the mushroom tril)e, — a class of plants at 
 all times remarkable for their quick growth, — 
 which Avas observed by a botanist to grow during 
 one damp warm niglit from the size of a single 
 point to that of a large gourd. The same author 
 mentions that a leaf of the Urania speciosa was 
 observed by Mulder to increase four or five inches 
 during a day. The quickest growth that I have ever 
 had occasion to remark was afforded by a garden 
 nasturtium (Tropcelum mdjiis), which was trained
 
 USE OF LEAVES IN PERSIA. 307 
 
 in a very sunny situatioa over a garden window. 
 This spot -was most likely favourable to the plant, 
 which, although so common in our gardens, is a 
 native of warm climates. The stem of this nas- 
 turtium grew during one warm day between two 
 and three inches in length. 
 
 In Persia and Hindoostan an amusement is 
 very common at the entertainments of rich natives, 
 which consists in writing upon the leaf of a plant 
 some lines of poetry or other original effusion. 
 Bartholomew D'Herbelot, the eminent French 
 orientalist, mentions an interesting anecdote which 
 refers to this custom. Al Mamon, the son of the 
 famous Caliph Haroun Al Raschid, was blessed 
 with the counsels and instruction of the sage 
 Kessai. One day, when the prince Al Mamon 
 was at table enjoying the company of several of 
 his young associates, Kessai came to the door of 
 his saloon with the intention of reading a lecture. 
 The prince, unwilling that his social pleasures 
 should be interrupted, wrote upon the leaf of a 
 myrtle two lines to this effect :" There is a time 
 for study and a time for diversion; this is an 
 
 x2
 
 308 USE OF LEAVES. 
 
 hour that I have destined for the enjoyment of 
 friends, wine, roses, and myrtle." Kessai re- 
 turned the leaf with this reply written on the 
 back : " If you had understood the value of know- 
 ledge you would have preferred the excellence that 
 it gives to what you at present enjoy in company ; 
 and if you were aware who it is that stands at 
 your door you would directly arise and come and 
 prostrate yourself on the ground, praising and 
 thanking God for the favour he had bestowed 
 upon you." When Al Mamon read the reply, 
 he hastened to exchange the society of his com- 
 panions for that of his preceptor. 
 
 A leaf was once made to convey, in a different 
 manner from that just mentioned, a message of 
 good. What must have been the feelings of Noah 
 and his family, when, after having so long floated 
 upon the bosom of the waters, the dove brought 
 in her mouth the welcome evidence that again 
 the foliage was covering the trees, and again 
 the earth was about to be decked in new verdure 
 and loveliness ! An incident so interesting and 
 important to these lone dwellers upon the waters
 
 EFFECT OF TREES IN LANDSCAPES. 309 
 
 seems to have been the cause that future genera- 
 tions have agreed to designate the dove as the 
 emblem of peace and goodwill. 
 
 I need hardly enlarge upon the beauty with 
 which the foliage of trees invests a landscape. 
 A prospect may possess verdant meadows and 
 lovely streams, yet, if wanting in trees, it is not 
 one which the mind would picture to itself in 
 hours spent far away from it, nor is it one to 
 which we should most readily direct our steps 
 when about to seek some of the picturesque scenes 
 of nature. The large trees of eastern nations are 
 so useful to their inhabitants tliat he is deemed by 
 the Turks an enemy to mankind who would level 
 a noble tree ; and they would not fail to wish that 
 the sun might pour his rays upon his unsheltered 
 head until he sunk exhausted beneath thtir over- 
 powering influences. 
 
 THE OAK-TREE. 
 Oh ! lay not low the green oak-tree, 
 
 Beneath whose boughs my childhood play'd ; 
 For dear to all must ever be 
 
 Its foliage fresh, — its cooling shade; 
 Which yet is full and fair to view. 
 As when the landscape first I knew.
 
 310 THE OAK-TREE. 
 
 Full many a change the years have brought. 
 That since have pass'd mid sun and rain; 
 
 And brows are clouded o'er with thought. 
 And eyes, once glad, are dimm'd by pain ; 
 
 And voices, then so full of mirth. 
 
 Have perish'd from this bright green earth. 
 
 And yet thou art unchanged, fair tree, 
 
 Though stormy winds have o'er thee driven; 
 
 And still thy verdant canopy 
 
 Is freshen'd by the dews of heaven ; 
 
 And now in youth and beauty's prime 
 
 Thou Blandest, all unmark'd by Time. 
 
 More years may pass o'er thee and me, 
 And see me laid beneath the ground, 
 
 "While thou, a young and beauteous tree, 
 Shalt spread thy knotted branches round ; 
 
 And oft the cliild shall seek the flower 
 
 That blooms beneath thine ample bower. 
 
 But thou at length must droop and <lie. 
 
 And yield thy beauty to decay ; 
 And that which now delights the eye 
 
 Must from the landscape pass away; 
 And man alone of all can be 
 '•"he heir of long eternitv.
 
 311 
 
 Letter XII. 
 
 Gigantic vegetation — Baobab — Great age — Caverns in interior — 
 Opening of its blossoms— Form of its brandies— Concluding re- 
 marks — Verses. 
 
 I SHALL in this letter give you an account of one 
 of the most gigantic productions of the vegetable 
 kingdom which are known to us. Those parts of 
 Africa immediately under and about the torrid 
 zone, are remarkable for severalinstances of plants 
 of a prodigious size ; but none can exceed the 
 immense baobab {Adansonia dujltdla)^ which 
 flourishes in those countries bordering the Gambia, 
 and some other parts of Africa. This tree received 
 its name from M. Adanson, a French naturalist, 
 who first described it. Tliis gentleman resided 
 several years in Africa, and greatly contributed by 
 his information to our knowledge of African 
 botany. 
 
 The French have called this tree the calabash- 
 tree, and named the fruit which it produces mon-
 
 312 
 
 BAOBAB. 
 
 key's-bread ; but the natives of the countries near 
 the Senegal denote it by the appellation of boui. 
 
 We are struck %vith surprise and admiration 
 when we read of the beautiful aud useful banian- 
 tree of warm climates; a tree whose frequent 
 description must have made you acquainted with 
 its extraordinary size and nature; yet the baobab 
 exceeds even this tree in size ; for, although its 
 branches do not extend to so great a distance, the 
 dimensions of its trunk are far greater than that 
 of any other tree. 
 
 Time seems to have little effect upon the baobab. 
 Ages roll over it, and it still preserves its strength 
 of frame and youthful appearance. It is yet 
 young while nations which have arisen since its 
 shoot first rose from the ground are known only 
 by their names and past history : and cities have 
 originated, crumbled to dust, and been forgotten, 
 while it has gradually been advancing to maturity. 
 It possesses the faculty of living for many cen- 
 turies, and not only do its leaves remain green 
 and beautiful, but the heart of its wood is light 
 and tender. Its immense trunk, which is often
 
 BAOBAB. 313 
 
 100 feet in circumference, though attaining to the 
 height only of thirty feet, has in its interior a 
 great quantity of pith, and ^hen a mouldiness 
 commences, as it frequently does in the internal 
 part of the tree, caverns of twenty feet high and 
 as many in diameter, are formed in the pith. In 
 these caverns are deposited the bodies of the 
 musicians, and of those bards who are found 
 in most uncivilized countries, and who wander 
 from place to place reciting verses and tales which 
 their rude imaginations have framed. Yet it is 
 not, as you may suppose, from a love and reverence 
 to what they might deem the remains of genius, 
 that they give them a resting-place which a poet 
 might deem so appropriate ; it is because they 
 fancy that their superior endowments must have 
 been imparted by an evil spirit ; and, though ho- 
 nouring and fearing these bards while living, they 
 imagine that the presence of their dead bodies 
 would defile the land and render it unfruitful, 
 and so contaminate the sea as that the fish would 
 perish. 
 
 Many are the purposes to which the baobab is
 
 314 BAOBAB. 
 
 applied by the negroes. They use the leaves for 
 giving a flavour to their broth and for seasoning 
 their meats. The fruit, -^vhich is in shape some- 
 thing like a cucumber but much larger, is ^vhen 
 ripe full of a pleasant acid substance, which when 
 dried in the sun becomes of a pulpy and spongy 
 nature, and is still nutritious. When the fruit 
 is in this dried state its rind is quite black and 
 highly polished. 
 
 The Africans consider the fruit of this tree of 
 great value as a remedy in many complaints, and 
 as a preventive to indisposition in general. The 
 negroes about Cape Verd possess the exclusive 
 privilege of collecting the leaves and fruit of the 
 baobabs which grow in that neighbourhood, and 
 it is to the possession of this right, and their fre- 
 quent application of its advantages, that the 
 strength and courage for which they are remark- 
 able are attributed by the Africans. 
 
 The blossoms of the baobab are extremely 
 beautiful. Thev are of a bright white colour and 
 immensely large. They spread open their surfaces 
 as soon as the day has fully dawned upon them,
 
 BAOBAB. 315 
 
 and close again at the approach of night, so that 
 they have, by a French naturalist, been called 
 belles de jour (beauties of the day). 
 
 The natives of Africa, though sunk in ignor- 
 ance and accustomed to tlie daily sight of this 
 phenomenon of nature, seem not so destitute of 
 observation and natural taste as to behold it 
 without interest ; but, assembling in little groups 
 during their season of flowering, they stand around 
 the baobabs to await the rising of the sun; and 
 as soon as the flowers, according to their own 
 language, awake from their sleep, they address 
 them with the words, " Good day, sweet lady ! " 
 
 Not less remarkable than the tree which rises 
 above, is the root which spreads its branches 
 beneath, afi'ording to the baobabs that firmness and 
 support, without which the shock of one of the 
 tempests, which in the course of ages must fiercely 
 blow over its widely-extended surface, would level 
 it with the dust. The central root is of an im- 
 mense diameter, and extends below the ground 
 to an unknown distance ; though the depth of the 
 root is generally supposed to be greater than the
 
 316 BAOBAB. 
 
 height of the tree. But when we consider the 
 great extent of surface which is presented to the 
 winds by the foliage and branches of this tree, 
 we must perceive that this central root, however 
 firm, would not alone have been enough to keep 
 the tree upright. Very large fibres or branches, 
 extending to the distance of 100 feet, and being 
 often three feet in diameter, spread from the main 
 root, and thus by this arrangement the baobab is 
 enabled to resist the elements. In the valley of 
 the Two Gagnacks, a place at some distance from 
 the Gambia, M. Golberry, a French traveller, 
 met with the largest tree of this kind that he saw 
 throughout Africa. Its circumference was 104 
 feet, but the height of its trunk was not above 
 thirty feet. Its branches extended in every di- 
 rection, and were profusely covered with most 
 beautiful foliage. The appearance of this asto- 
 nishing tree was that of an arch, the surface of 
 the baobabs being generally of a concave form. 
 One part of the trunk of this patriarch of vege- 
 tation had been severed by the hand of decay, 
 and presented an opening to one of those caverns
 
 BAOBAB. 317 
 
 before mentioned, of twenty feet liigli, which are 
 formed by the pith. 
 
 *'The entrance of this cavern," says our author, 
 '* was about seventeen feet higli, and the negroes 
 of the valley had given it a very regular form. 
 The upper part was composed of two curved 
 lines which formed an angle somewhat resem- 
 bling the Gothic arches. On the two sides of this 
 entrance were carvings of flowers and animals. 
 The representations were indeed of an uncouth 
 nature, but their very imperfection gave a kind 
 of impressive effect wliich was felt on contem- 
 plating this antique monument, which was entirely 
 the work of nature, except those savage ornaments 
 which seemed to indicate an antiquity far more 
 remote than the discovery of Africa by the Euro- 
 peans, The negroes had also filled up the interior 
 of the cavern, and, tliough they had left the rough 
 and rugged forms which characterize such a place, 
 they had nevertheless polished the surface, and in 
 many places had carved the figures of men and 
 animals." 
 
 The soil of the cavern was an or an ere -coloured
 
 318 BAOBAB. 
 
 sand which had been conveyed thither from tlie 
 banks of the stream. This grotto was recorded 
 by the legends of the people to have once formed 
 an idol temple, but, after the introduction of the 
 Mahomedan religion into the country, the priests 
 had demolished the image. At the time when the 
 country was visited by M. Golberry the cavern 
 was used as a hall of assembly, and was the place 
 of public resort for the cliief people of the valley. 
 
 *'They assembled here," says this gentleman, 
 " morning and evening, and passed whole hours 
 together sitting in a circle on the earth, smoking 
 their pipes and enjoying the supreme pleasure of 
 negroes, namely, that of doing nothing and chat- 
 ting." " I was not aware that this cavern was 
 the general rendezvous for the principal people 
 of Dock Gagnack, and on my arrival at this de- 
 licious valley near the village, the beauty of the 
 baobab above described induced me to pitch my 
 little camp at the side of it. After having ad- 
 mired it for some time I resolved to take up my 
 lodging in the inside and have my bed placed 
 there. I therefore ordered my domestics to per-
 
 EOABAB, 319 
 
 form this task ; but, when they began to obey my 
 orders, I perceived a kind of discontent and mur- 
 muring between the negroes of both villages, who 
 formed a crowd round my little caravan. I inquired 
 the reason of this conduct, and the chiefs informed 
 me that the cavern was their place of general 
 meeting, but nevertheless offered to place my bed 
 there. I declined their offer, and remained in 
 my tent, w^hich was pitched about ten paces dis- 
 tant from this fine baobab ; but the cavern of this 
 tree, one of the oldest in the world, served me as 
 an eating-room, and the disappointment of sleep- 
 ing there was well compensated by the testimonies 
 of friendship, benevolence, and regard which I 
 received from the inhabitants of this valley during 
 the two days that I resided there." 
 
 The branches of these trees, which are covered 
 with leaves in tufts, are of a very flexible nature ; 
 hanging towards the earth, to which their extre- 
 mities approach so nearly, that at a short distance 
 from the tree its stem is entirely hidden from view 
 by their thick foliage, under which the Africans 
 recline during day in total listlessness, or in telling
 
 320 EAOBAJl. 
 
 to each other some tale of wonder. At a great 
 distance this umbrageous tree presents the appear- 
 ance of a large and high cottage of an hemi- 
 spherical form, covered with a massy and beautiful 
 foliage. Some travellers have said that its dis 
 tant aspect resembles that of a thick forest. 
 
 The vast extent of shadow cast by this magni- 
 ficent tree must be peculiarly refreshing in that 
 hot climate where alone it flourishes ; and, as we 
 imagine the soft and solemn light diffused upon 
 the ground beneath, we are reminded of part of 
 a beautiful description given by Southey of the 
 banian-tree : — 
 
 " Beneatli 'twas smooth and fair to si^^ht, 
 
 Kor weeds nor briars deform'd the natural floor,' 
 And through the leafy eope which bower'd o'er 
 Came gleams of chequer'd lijjht ; 
 So like a temple did it seem, that there 
 The pious heart's first impulse would be prayer." 
 
 In concluding my letters, I cannot refrain from 
 again reminding you of the importance of study- 
 ing nature for yourself; of devoting to it some of 
 those hours of recreation which are allotted even 
 to the busiest life, and which with you may be 
 manv. Relief from studv or business is often
 
 CONCLUDING REMARKS. 321 
 
 afforded by the mere change of employment, by 
 a new direction of the thoughts, and, after a day of 
 fatigue, the investigation of nature will often 
 rather give repose to the mind than add to its 
 •weariness. 
 
 Let us reject the indolence that would whisper 
 that such knowledge will be useless, for we little 
 know how greatly we may need it. But while I 
 ■would especially recommend yuu to observe nature 
 for yourself, — to seek your lessons in the open 
 air, — I can see no reason why you should not call 
 to your aid the results obtained by the investiga- 
 tions of others. If such men as Linnaeus, Sir 
 James Edw^ard Smith, and many others, have 
 spent their lives in the pursuit of the knowledge 
 of nature, and bequeathed to us their attainments, 
 surely these are worth our attention. In science, 
 as well as in every business of life, a division of 
 labour is of great advantage ; and these great 
 men have added to their own researches the con- 
 clusions of the chemist and the geologist. You 
 may object either to botany or to any other branch 
 of natural science, that it is rendered extremely 
 
 Y
 
 322 CONCLUDING REMARKS. 
 
 difficult by the number of terms employed. I do 
 not say these studies are without difficulties, but 
 they are certainly not so great as you may suppose. 
 You may commence your engagements as a 
 practical botanist with a very slight acquaintance 
 with these terms, and gradually learn them by 
 practice. Associated as they soon become in the 
 mind with the flowers v/ith whicli they are con- 
 nected, they are very easily remembered. It is 
 long before the musical pupil can enjoy the delights 
 of his own music ; still longer is it before the 
 student of a lansuage can derive much gratifica- 
 tion from his pursuit. But the examination of 
 the flower may commence almost with the study 
 of botany, and you may walk into the meadow or 
 the garden to confirm the truth of the first lesson 
 you have taken. 
 
 It is often a svibject of complaint that the Latin 
 language should be so generally employed in the 
 descriptions of natural objects. "Were it not that 
 there is oue language common to learned m.en, 
 and that all the nations of Europe have agreed to 
 use this language, their descriptions would often
 
 CONCLUDING REMARKS. 323 
 
 be unintelligible — as one person would call a 
 flower by a name different from that used by 
 another. A translation of a foreign scientific 
 work into our language would be attended with 
 great disadvantages; and we should thus be de- 
 prived of those continual improvements which 
 are suggested by men of science on the continent. 
 The various species of the same plant vary in 
 some important particulars, and any information 
 obtained respecting them would be of little use, 
 unless we were able to detect the exact species to 
 which it related. The important experiments of 
 the celebrated Bonnet have been sometimes of far 
 less value than they would have been, had he not 
 omitted to give the Latin name of the plant, or 
 the species, on which they were performed. In 
 consequence of this, no certainty could be felt in 
 some instances that the plant, which in familiar 
 language he called by one name, might not in the 
 familiar language of another bear a name totally 
 different. 
 
 Never, I trust, will you learn to look upon the 
 beautiful objects of nature without connecting 
 
 y2
 
 324 CONCLUDING REMARKS. 
 
 them in your mind with the goodness of their 
 Author. His eternal power and Godhead, says 
 the inspired writer, are revealed by the things 
 which are made, and it is alike our duty and pri- 
 vilege to contemplate them in this view. But 
 while we value the lessons taught by natural re- 
 ligion, — while we rejoice in the manifestation 
 afforded by nature of the power und goodness of 
 God, — we must remember that the book of nature, 
 although it confirms that of Revelation, does not 
 supersede its necessity. One attribute — and that 
 too one of deep importance to fallen man, — is 
 not declared by nature. The attribute of mercy 
 is peculiar to the Scriptures. Kind and wise, we 
 should know from the works of God that he must 
 be, but that he should pardon the disobedient, 
 nothing could assure us but his own word. Study, ' 
 therefore, I entreat you, the book of nature, but, 
 above all, lay up deeply in your heart the truths of 
 Revelation. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 London : Printed by W. Clowes and Sons, Stamforl btreet.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 Los Angeles 
 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
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