186 FOREST TREES. 



furnish a most salutary exercise for the physical, intel- 

 lectual, and moral development of those who make them 

 they add in no small degree to the resources and wealth 

 of our country, by bringing to view its hidden treasures. 



When it is known that our earth is adorned and en- 

 riched by sixty thousand different species of plants, ren- 

 dered attractive by an endless variety, the most delicate 

 shades of beauty, and frequently by their lofty and ma- 

 jestic appearance, as well as their various uses, it cannot 

 be denied or doubted that the vegetable kingdom, no less 

 than the animal and mineral, contains a vast store-house 

 of materials, well fitted to enliven the imagination, invig- 

 orate the understanding, and warm and purify the hearts 

 of the thousands of the sprightly intelligences constantly 

 blooming into youth, or ripening into manhood. Ve- 

 getables, by the variety of their species, the curious work- 

 manship of their structure, the richness of their verdure, 

 the beauty and fragrance of the flowers, and the constant 

 and abundant supply they furnish to the wants of man 

 and beast, present a boundless and exhaustless field for 

 the cultivation, improvement, and elevation of the intel- 

 lectual and moral kingdom of our Creator, for which his 

 whole material universe was designed. Every plant, 

 from the humblest vine that creeps upon the earth, or 

 the most uncomely moss that hangs upon the wall, to the 

 stately and majestic oak that towers in the forest, fully 

 proves the divinity of the hand which made it, by a 

 striking and wonderful display of wisdom, power, and 

 goodness, which far surpasses everything human. 



If such is the character of the vegetable kingdom, the 

 adoption of the science which treats of it, as a branch 

 of common instruction, must be a necessary consequence 

 of enlarged and appropriate views of the subject of 

 education. We hence find that in most schools where 

 instruction is given under the most enlightened and ra- 

 tional views, and upon the largest and most liberal plan, 

 the science of botany forms an essential part of the 

 course. It is already introduced into numerous schools, 

 especially female seminaries, besides the instruction 

 extensively given in the form of lectures, to classes col- 

 lected particularly for the purpose. 



