184 PERSPIRATION OF LEAVES. 



crop is produced, and longer, as in the Fir, 

 the Arbutus, and the Bay. It is reported 

 that in hot chmates, where there is ahnost 

 perpctuallj a burning sun, scarcely any 

 trees lose their leaves, because they require 

 them for shade/' Caesalpinus goes on to 

 show that leavQs proceed from the bark, with 

 some remarks on the pith, (in which we may 

 trace the origin of the Linna^an In^pothesis 

 , of vegetation,) but which are now superseded 

 by more accurate inquiries. 



The ab6ve is certainly a very small part of 

 the use of leaves. Yet the observations of 

 this writer, the father of botanical philosophy 

 among the moderns, are so far correct, that 

 if the leaves of a tree be stripped off, the 

 fruit comes to nothing, which is exemplified 

 every year in Gooseberry bushes devoured by 

 caterpillars ; and though the fruit-trees of 

 warm climates, partly naturalized with us, 

 Grapes and Peaches for instance, ripen their 

 fruit sooner perhaps if partially deprived of 

 their leaves, yet if that practice be carried 

 too far, the fruit perishes, as gardeners who 

 tried it soon discovered. The White Mul- 

 berry indeed, cultivated in the ,^outh of Ea- 



