SEASIDE PLANTS. 153 



them not ; the storm or the ocean spray does them 

 little harm ; and so they are all more or less sug- 

 gestive of that mental vigour, that strength of 

 character, and those sterling virtues of courage 

 and self-dependence, which enable the brave to 

 smile at the frowns of fortune, and by the force of 

 perseverance to be superior to adversity. If there 

 be sermons in stones ; if we discover theology in 

 the strata of the sea-shores ; we may also discover 

 divinity in the flowers and plants that make their 

 dwelling by the wild sea waves. 



As a general rule, vegetation at the sea-shores 

 does not exhibit the luxuriance by which it is 

 characterised in situations at a distance from the 

 sea. In many parts o the coast, and especially 

 on the eastern coast, trees will not grow unless in 

 sheltered situations, and those which do take root 

 seldom attain to the size they exhibit in inland 

 localities. They appear to increase slowly, and to 

 have a stunted aspect ; the principal branches, it is 

 remarkable, grow chiefly from the side of the 

 trunk, which is toward the land, towards which all 

 the branches appear to be directed. This is 

 probably caused by the violence with which the 

 wind blows on an unsheltered shore, and by the 

 saline quality of the air when impregnated by the 

 spray, which in high winds is carried like small 

 rain over the adjacent land, and sometimes in 

 storms to an immense distance. Proximity to the 

 sea, therefore, is unfavourable to the growth and 

 development of plants belonging to inland situa- 

 tions ; but, as already observed, there are plants 



