332 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



as the grafles, we mould have, firft, for our own 

 country ; the wheat of ftrong lands, the rye of the 

 fands, the barley of the rocks, the oats of humid 

 places, the buck-wheat of rainy declivities ; and 

 for other climates and expofures, the pannic, the 

 millet, the maize, the Canadian oats, the rice of 

 Afia, fome fpecies of which thrive in dry fitua- 

 tions ; and fo of the reft. 



It would be farther ufeful to afcertain on the 

 Globe the places to which the feveral origin of 

 each alimentary plant might be referred. What I 

 have to advance on this fubject may be conjecture 

 merely, but it appears to me to have an air of pro- 

 bability. I am of opinion, then, that Nature has 

 placed in iflands the fpecies of plants which are 

 mod beautiful, and beft adapted to the neceffities 

 of Man. Firft, iflands are more favourable to the 

 elementary expanfions of plants, than the interior 

 of continents, for there is no one but what enjoys 

 the influences of all the elements, being completely 

 furrounded by the winds and the feas, and fre- 

 quently in it's interior, poffefling the combined 

 advantages of plains, of fands, of lakes, of rocks, 

 and of mountains. An ifland is a little world in 

 epitome. Secondly, their particular temperature 

 is fo varied, that you find of them in all the prin- 

 cipal points of Longitude and Latitude, though 

 there be a conGderable number ftill unknown to 



us, 



