HARMONIES OF VEGETATION. 277 



stroyed by war, levelled by winds, or swept away by inundations, it 

 would require whole ages to re-produce them. On the contrary, 

 the principal food of man is produced by plants peculiarly formed 

 to stand the shock of winds and rains, and singularly constructed in 

 the flower to secure fertility. Again, if corn-plants are destroyed, 

 they require but a short time to be replenished. 



5. The anxiety of nature to furnish a sufficient sup- 

 port for man and animals, is more beautifully conspicu- 

 ous by rendering every spot on the face of the globe 

 capable of producing some species of corn. 



It is, in fact, formed for growing in every situation, from the 

 Line to the Coast of the Frozen Ocean. Some species a-e adapted 

 to the humid districts of hot countries, as the rice of Asia, which 

 yields an abundant produce in the mud of the Ganges : other are 

 suited to the marshy grounds of cold regions. Other kinds of com 

 thrive wonderfully in hot and dry soils, as the millet and the pannic 

 in Africa, and the maize in Brazil. In onr climates, wheat thrives 

 best in a strong soil ; rye, in sands ; buck-wheat on rainy hills ; 

 oats in humid plains, and barley among rocks. 



6. Corn, including grasses, being most plentiful, 

 and of one kind or other, distributed over the whole 

 habitable globe, is also most serviceable, of all plants, 

 to the comforts and necessities of man. 



Its straw furnishes him with the means of lodging, of covering, of 

 warming himself, of feeding his sheep, his cow and his hoise. With 

 Its grain he composes aliments and liquids both pleasing to the 

 palate, and valuable to his life. 



7. Though corn is sufficient for the food of man, yet 

 has nature not been so parsimonious as to prohibit other 

 auxiliaries to his comforts and support. 



Corn is the undoubted fountain from which he must draw his^sub- 

 B B 



