98 FLORA HISTORICA. 



sends its fibres deep into the earth, to draw the 

 necessary moisture which is to force up its tall 

 and straggling stem, which being too weak 

 to support itself, has a kind of hand bestowed 

 upon it as it advances in height, which curls its 

 tendril fingers around whatever it can meet with 

 to support it from the earth, where, were it suf- 

 fered to fall, the flower could scarcely perform the 

 act of impregnation for the want of sun and air ; and 

 its leguminous fruit, could it be formed, would be 

 devoured by insects before it could mature its 

 seed, and what might escape their ravages would, 

 were it to rest on the ground, be consumed by 

 the birds, who cannot so easily open the pods 

 whilst they are dangling in the air. Thus under 

 cultivation we observe the common Peas of the 

 field, which have no aid lent them, supporting 

 each other in friendly embrace. Each plant clings 

 to its neighbour whilst it offers its own arm in 

 return for the support it borrows, until we find 

 the whole field linked in that happy union which 

 rears each individual plant from the cold ground, 

 and supports their pods out of the reach of rep- 

 tiles. 



The Pea in its ripened state is also the food of 

 numerous species of the larger kind of animals, 

 from the mouse of the fields to the noble horse of 

 the plain, and nature seems to have guarded the 



