290 HABITS OP" PLANTS. 



rishment is too abundant, the vessels becoming loaded with 

 excess, cease to perform their accustomed functions, and the 

 plant dies of surfeit ; if on the other hand the food offered is 

 too little, or not sufficiently nourishing, the plant dies of star-, 

 vation. 



Yet plants may be brought to live in climates, and on food 

 not naturally suited to their constitutions ; or in other words 

 their habits may be changed. Although we may suppose that 

 many things now necessary to our comfort and even our lives, 

 are rendered so by nature ; yet if we reflect a moment we shall 

 see that very many of our own wants are the result of habit. 

 Did you never see the children of poor parents running about 

 in the snow with bare feet, and apparently much more healthy 

 than the little master or miss whom a servant must carry to 

 school, for fear the winds of heaven may visit them too roughly ? 

 Why does this difference exist between individuals of the same 

 species ? It is owing to habit. Thus we may see lingering 

 almost upon the verge of a northern winter, the nasturtion ; but 

 the same temperature which it bears without injury, would at 

 once destroy those of the same species which have flourished 

 only beneath a tropical sun. 



In changing the habit of a plant, or, as it is frequently termed, 

 naturalizing it, the temperature is the principal thing to be 

 considered ; although the soil and the quantity of moisture 

 should be rendered as similar as possible, to those of its native 

 habitation. 



Plants from warm climates are gradually accustomed to a 

 lower temperature by placing them in hot-houses, then in 

 green houses, and lastly in the open air. While the plant is 

 going through with this* kind of disci pline, an opportunity is 

 afforded of observing the kind of soil most favourable to its 

 growth, the quantity of moisture which it requires, the degree 

 of light which seems necessary, and the kind of exposure as to 

 wind which appears most favourable. 



Plants vary much in their susceptibility of naturalization. 

 The horse-chesnut, which is now common in the middle and 

 northern United States, was originally brought from the tro- 

 pical regions. In these regions, however, it usually grows in 

 grounds somewhat ahove the level of the sea, and therefore its 

 habit, as to temperature, renders it in some degree fitted for 

 more northern countries. Orange and lemon trees cannot 

 be brought to bear the roughness of our climate, without some 

 protection. 



Remarks on their habits Temperature considered in the naturalization of 

 plants Observations necessary in the process Plants vary in susceptibility 

 f naturalization. 



