212 STUDIES OF NAT t" RE. 



the animal kingdom. Vegetables which are the 

 moll contemptible in the eyes of Man, are fre- 

 quently the mod neceffary in the order of Cre- 

 ation. 



The principal means employed by Nature for 

 fecuring the growth of plants of every fpecies, are 

 the thorny plants. It is very remarkable, that 

 plants of this defcription are the firft which appear 

 on lands in fallow, or in foreds which have been 

 cut down. They are, in truth, wonderfully well 

 adapted to promote foreign vegetations, becaufe 

 their leaves with deep incifions, like thofe of the 

 thidle and echium, or their fprigs bent into an 

 arch, as thofe of the bramble, or their horizontal 

 and interlaced branches, like thofe of the black- 

 thorn, or their boughs bridled with briars and un- 

 provided with leaves, as thofe of the fea-rum, 

 leave underneath and around them many intervals 

 through which other vegetables may arife, and 

 find protection from the tooth of mod quadrupeds. 

 Nurferies of trees are frequently to be found in 

 their bofom. Nothing is more common in cop- 

 pice-woods than to fee a young oak dart out of a 

 tuft of brambles, which enamels the earth all 

 around, with it's cluders of prickly flowers; or a 

 young pine arife out of a yellow brake of marine- 

 rufhes. 



When 



