340 PLANT LIFE. 



The green covering of the earth is nearly continuous. 

 It passes through and under the water and from 

 the snow-Hne downwards over every undulation of 

 the surface. We may try to distinguish the con- 

 nections and mechanism of a single plant, or even of 

 a single flower or leaf The result in either case is the 

 same. We find ourselves at once on the shore of 

 the ocean of human ignorance. Just enough can be 

 distinguished, to show us that there is a meaning in 

 the minutest detail of its behaviour, in its micro- 

 scopical structure, and in its general organisation and 

 position in the world. So it is also with associations 

 or societies of plants. The members, though always 

 in competition, are nevertheless useful to the society 

 and to one another. The higher type of society 

 overspreads any country, which has been made suffi- 

 ciently fertile by the preliminary labours of some 

 less efficient association. 



Cultivated plants are now, in civilised countries, the 

 dominant forms, and every year they occupy a little 

 more of the earth's surface. Thus the whole series of 

 sunlight-catching foliages is seen to have a definite and 

 intelligible meaning. They are making the earth fit to 

 yield her profitable fruits, in due season, to the one 

 animal which is capable of the reverent study of 

 Nature. 



