AND ITS DIFFERENT KINDS. 115 



at the foundation of the wall, and volun- 

 tarily sent down its root to o]jt4nn it; nor is 

 it wonderful that the Author of life should 

 provide for it as efTectually as it could for 

 itself, had it really been a reflecting being. 

 So in the case of the grasses in question, I 

 presume the herb being in the first instance 

 starved, by a failure of the nutrimental fluids 

 hitherto conveyed by the water of the soil, 

 its growth would be checked, and wh n 

 checked, the same growth could not, as ^^e 

 know by observation on vegetation in g-neral, 

 be instantaneously renewed. A sudden fresh 

 supply of food would therefore cause an accu- 

 mulation of vital energy in the root, which 

 would consequently assume a degree of vi- 

 gour and a luxuriant mode of growth not 

 natural to it, and become bulbous. Thus it 

 acquires a resource against such checks in 

 future, and the herb is preserved alive, though 

 in a very far less luxuriant state than \\\h n 

 regularly and uniformly supplied with its 

 requisite nourishment. These are not so- 

 litary instances. It is well worthy the atten- 

 tion of an intelligent cultivator to seek them 

 out, and turn tliem to his advantage. 



i2 



