UNCLE IN ENGLAND. 263 



native of Killarney, which surprised me, as you 

 told me that it was ; and my uncle expressed 



!the same opinion lately. On the contrary, she 

 is inclined to believe the tradition, that the Monks 

 of Mucross Abbey introduced it there from 

 Spain for, she says, trees are seldom found, in 

 a state of nature, confined to one spot only : and 

 it is well known that the arbutus does not grow 

 naturally in any other part of Ireland ; it grows, 

 however, abundantly on all the shores of Spain, 

 and from thence she thinks it may have been 

 originally brought. 



She gave me a very satisfactory reason why the 

 native vegetable productions of Great Britain are 

 inferior in number to those of countries on the 

 continent ; few seeds are furnished with the means 

 of flying across the Channel so as to have natu- 

 ralised themselves here. Where no sea inter- 

 venes, they are gradually but continually spread- 

 ing from one place to another. On the road 

 sides and in the corn-fields of France, Germany, 

 and Holland, we see many plants which have 

 been imported for our gardens ; even in the 

 Flora Danica there are many belonging to that 

 small country, which are not possessed by us ; 

 and all the mountainous regions of Europe, 

 though separated by a great distance, have 

 several species in common, while we can boast 

 of very few which are found in Great Britain 

 only. 



