I98 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



the beauty of their cocoa-trees. There are other 

 vegetables of the mores, the roots of which are 

 drawn out like cords. This configuration renders 

 them exceedingly proper for binding together the 

 ground, and thereby defending it ngainft the in- 

 roads of the watery element. Such are, among 

 ourfelves, the alder, the reed, but, above all, a 

 fpecies of dogs-grafs, which I have feen very care- 

 fully cultivated in Holland along the dikes. 



. Bulbous plants appear, in like manner, to take 

 pleafure in foft muds, into which they cannot pe- 

 netrate very far, from the roundnefs of their bulbs. 

 But the elm extends it's roots at pleafure on 

 the declivity of the mountain ; and the oak inferts 

 his flurdy pivots into it, to lay hold of the fuccef- 

 five ftrata of which it is compofed. Other plants 

 preferve, on the high grounds, by their creeping 

 foliage and their fuperficial roots, the emanations 

 of dud which the winds there depofit. Such is the 

 anemone nemorofa. If you find a fingle foot of it 

 on a hill, in a wood not greatly frequented, you 

 may reft afïured, that it diftufes itfelf like a net- 

 work through the whole extent of that wood. 



There are trees, the trunks and the roots of 

 which are admirably contrafted with obftacles 

 which appear to us accidental, but which provi- 

 dent Nature forefaw. For example, the cyprefs 



of 



