278 BOTANY. 



BOTANY, 



"Soft roll, your incense Herbs and Fruits and Flowers, 

 In mingled clouds, to Him whose power exalts ; 

 Whose breath perfumes you, and whose pencil paints." 



JlF we derive as already stated, so considerable a proportion 

 of the necessaries of life from the Tarious classes of the 

 Animal kingdom, we are infinitely more indebted to the 

 Vegetable one, as it is from this source that the larger portion 

 of the animal world is itself supported ; besides the food we 

 derive from Vegetables, they form the basis of our dwellings. 

 Agricultural and Mechanical Implements^ and in fact, most 

 of our domestic conveniences are obtained from the vegetable 

 kingdom. 



As it would encrease the size of this volume beyond that 

 of a Pocket Companion, were we to detail the structure and 

 peculiarities of each genus, as in the preceding classes, we 

 shall content ourselves with giving such an outline of 

 the dififerent Classes and Orders of the Vegetable kingdom, 

 as may enable a Tyro, on finding a plant, to discover its 

 situation in the system. 



