OF THE LEAVES, &C. 95 



machinery be preserved uninjured and com- 

 plete ; and in conformity with this, if we wish 

 to limit the size, or surface of plants, we must 

 limit the food ; this is the only check, or re- 

 straint, nature will admit of, without entailing 

 future loss. 



That her great work of creation and propa- 

 gation, may not be obstructed and retarded in 

 vegetables, by the accidental privations they are 

 subject to, from being made subservient to the 

 use of animals ; nature, all bountiful in her pro- 

 vision, and ever fertile in resources, has given 

 them the power within themselves, to a great ex- 

 tent, of repairing and retrieving their losses ; 

 and to this end, every plant and every branch, is 

 furnished with more buds than are required for 

 the immediate formation of branches or blos- 

 soms, so that if one be destroyed, another may 

 be ready to take its place, and prevent a waste 

 of time, or surface ; thus we find that the ef- 

 forts of a plant, from the seed forwards, are to 

 attain and acquire, the surface proportioned by 

 its nature, to the supply of food, necessary to 

 enable it, to fructify, and propagate its species ; 

 and the juices continue to flow until it has ob- 

 tained this required extent. 



From the preceding observations it must be 



