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Picture of Vegetation on the Surface of the Globe. 



JL he Creator of the universe has not confined himself to deco- 

 rating our world with all the luxury of a brilliant vegetation ; he 

 has varied it in every locality ; diversified its forms to infinity 

 in their general arrangement, in their comparative size, in the 

 correspondence or contrast of all their parts. Elegance of form, 

 richness of colouring, delicacy of perfume, are the seducing cha- 

 racters under which those varied and numerous flowers, the 

 lovely children of spring, disclose themselves to the eyes of man. 

 What, then, is that Omnipotence which covers the barren rock 

 with vegetation, peoples deserts, carries vegetation to the very 

 bottom of rivers, and even to the depths of the sea ? What 

 sublime pencil has designed these rich decorations of the abode 

 of man ? Who could refuse to own in this the invisible hand of 

 the Creator ? 



All are admitted to the enjoyment of this spectacle ; but it is 

 he only who has been enlightened by observation that can enjoy 

 it to its full extent, or comprehend its beautiful order. In the 

 midst of apparent confusion, he will perceive that plants have 

 not been thrown at random over the surface of the globe, but 

 that each has its peculiar place, that it could not be in any other, 

 that the beauty and variety of the landscape would disappear 

 were each portion of it not covered with its own peculiar orna- 

 ments ; that the plants of the shores would be misplaced upon 

 the heights, while those of the mountains, descending from the 

 icy summit of their vast amphitheatre, would no longer produce 

 the same effect in our level plains ; that they would lose their 

 native graces, as well as the delicacy of their perfumes, or the 

 variety of their colours, as has happened to the greater number 

 of such of them as have been rendered objects of cultivation. 

 How inferior the interest which the most brilliant flowers of our 

 parterres excite, compared with that which they would inspire, 

 were we to meet with them in their native abode ? Nor are the 

 systematic order, and the air of finery which we give them, in 

 any degree equivalent to the loveliness of that disorder which 

 reigns in their distribution in the midst of the fields, scattered 

 in the woods, or dispersed among the meadows. 



In reality, vegetation is not equally brilliant throughout. 



