SEEDS. 



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nations by an interchange of their most valuable pro- 

 ductions, and science has discovered in the remotest 

 sections of the earth, vegetables which are now diffus- 

 ed through countries where they were formerly un- 

 known. The common Stramonium, now a weed 

 throughout all Europe and in various parts of the 

 United States, was brought from Abyssinia by a class 

 of empyrics who pretended that its seeds were a 

 sovereign remedy for various diseases. Buck-wheat 

 and most kinds of grain were received through Italy 

 from the eastern nations, while the various kinds of 

 cultivated fruit were derived from Greece, ultimately 

 perhaps from the provinces of Asia. Persia is the na- 

 tive country of the Peach ; Arminia of the Apricot ; 

 and from these nations they have travelled through 

 Europe and at last reached this country. The Potatoe 

 was carried from America to Ireland by Sir Walter 

 Raleigh, and from thence it has found its way to almost 

 every section of the eastern continent. These are 

 but a few of the many examples which might be men- 

 tioned, to prove how much man has contributed to the 

 dissemination of seeds. The fertility of the vegetable 

 kingdom will warrant the conclusion, that its numerous 

 species have all been preserved in the midst of the dan- 

 gers which assailed them ; dangers too, which they have 

 no eyes to see, and no voluntary power to avoid. 



The patience of Ray enabled him to ascertain the 

 number of seeds, which were produced by a single 

 plant of the Tobacco, and they amounted to 300,000. 

 Dodart with a perseverance equally worthy of our ad- 

 miration, ascertained that in one year a single Elm 

 produced more than half a million of seeds, yet com- 

 pared with the fertility of other plants, the Tobacco 



and Elm are unproductive, for it exceeds the power* 

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