PARTICULAR USES OF PLANTS. 301 



have some thousand years of age. In England, at Blenheim 

 Park, it is said, may be seen trunks of trees which shaded the 

 bower of fair Rosamond, and which it is supposed are not less 

 than a thousand years old. 



At Hartford, in Connecticut, is the Charter-oak, which was a 

 hollow-tree in the days of James II. 143 years ago. In the 

 hollow of this tree was concealed the charter of the state when 

 the King of England, through his agents attempted to deprive 

 the colonists of that guarantee of their civil rights. This oak 

 must, at that period, have been an aged tree. 



Useful Plants. 



We perceive among the various species of vegetable beings, 

 some which seem destined only to beautify and enliven the earth ; 

 others, with little or no beauty, are valuable only for their 

 utility ; and in some instances we find utility and beauty united ; 

 roses, lilies, tulips, carnations, and most of the green-house and- 

 garden plants belong to the first mentioned class. Trees are 

 not only beautiful, but many of them are highly useful ; aiford- 

 ing fuel, shelter and shade, nuts, berries and other fruits ; their 

 bark is used for tanning, for medicine and spices ; and their 

 sap and secretions furnish sugar and various medicinal extracts. 



Trees with respect to their wood, may naturally be divided, 

 1st, into such as have hard wood, as the oak, elm, apple, &c. 

 2d, such as have soft wood, as the poplar and willow. 3d, 

 such as have resinous wood, as the pine and fir. 4th, such as 

 are evergreens but not resinous, as the evergreen oak of the 

 south of Europe. 



Hard wood is considered best for fuel ; as it contains the 

 greatest quantity of carbon it causes a more intense and perma- 

 nen,t heat ; resinous wood, containing more hydrogen, burns 

 with a more brilliant flame. 



The fermented juice of the grape produces wine. Grain of 

 different kinds produces gin, whiskey, &c. Apples by their 

 fermentation produce cider ; this liquor, concentrated by dis- 

 tillation, produces brandy and alcohol. The vineyards of 

 Italy and France, and of some of the Atlantic islands are the 

 most celebrated for their wine. In America, the vine does not 

 flourish in the same luxuriance as upon the eastern continent. 



Grasses are the palms of cold climates ; they are of the class 

 of monocotyledons, and have endogenous stems. . Some are 

 perennial, some annual ; the meadow grasses are of the former 

 kind. The grains, Indian corn and rice are annual. There 



i ______ . 



Charter-oak Plants which are chiefly valuable for beauty For utility 

 '' Division of trees with respect to wood Liquors produced from plants Grasses. 



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