18 THE ORIGIN OP CREATION. 



It may be asked why a tree in our latitude does not grow in 

 winter? This is a question that cannot be answered by a 

 botanist. For, if plants feed on carbon, which they say is 

 given out by animals they ought to grow in winter as well as 

 in summer, for animals are breathing at all times of the year. 

 How is it also that they obtain their carbon in a hot house in 

 winter, from whence all exhalations except the gardener's own 

 breath are excluded ? Just for the same reason that we find 

 trees in tropical climates, growing and bearing flowers and fruit 

 all the year round. They need warmth, and similar exhalations 

 to their own to grow in. A cold, mineral, frosty air, checks the 

 exhalations, and kills the plant. While a warm, vegetable, 

 moist, (or mixed) atmosphere, draws it out and increases its 

 growth. 



