110 THE WILD CLEMATIS. 



branch, light it, and running about, use it as their 

 seniors do the tobacco-pipe. They call it tf smoke 

 wood," and the action of the breath constantly 

 agitating the fire, it will long continue kindled. 

 The pores are well seen by drawing some bright 

 coloured liquor into them. I have often observed 

 the long feathered part of the seed at the entrance 

 of holes made by mice on the banks, and pro- 

 bably in hard seasons the seed may yield these 

 creatures part of their supply. The diversity of 

 form and arrangement in the pores of the roots, 

 stems, and branches of plants, and the nerves, air- 

 vessels, and fibres of the leaves, are extremely won- 

 derful and beautiful; and it is possible that all the 

 genera, species, and varieties, have more or less a 

 different conformation of some of these parts. It 

 is from the agency of these vessels, imbibing both 

 from the air and the earth, compounding, decom- 

 posing, and discharging, in a way we know little 

 about, that the sweetness of our fruits, the oil, the 

 bread, and wine to glad the heart of man, proceed ; 

 and grateful should we be for them. From the 

 vegetable world man derives his chief enjoyments : 

 much of his fuel, most of his food, and the chief of 

 his clothing, have once circulated in the tubes of a 

 plant. The clematis plant possesses the power of 

 preserving its verdure, and even thriving, in situa- 

 tions and seasons, when most other shrubby vege- 

 tation fails or languishes. With us its roots run 

 amid loose stones, and in rocky places, far from 

 any spring or apparent moisture ; and yet, in those 



