6 BERTHA'S VISIT TO HER 



interesting. I am so full of the idea of our Irish 

 travels that I can write no more to-day. 



5th. I have had another long walk to-day 

 with Miss Perceval, and, therefore, another 

 charming conversation. The infinite variety in 

 the vegetable kingdom was our chief subject. 



" Plants/' she said, " have not been thrown 

 at random over the surface of the globe ; in every 

 region, we find those which are best adapted to 

 each particular situation. Every climate, and 

 every soil, has some peculiarity which influences 

 its plants ; and every plant seems to be sub- 

 servient to some great and important object. 

 From the brilliant profusion of vegetation in 

 some countries, down to the stunted lichen, 

 which just colours the rocks in others, every 

 change points out the beneficence of the Creator ; 

 and those who endeavour to comprehend this 

 beautiful order, and who trace these arrange- 

 ments to the general system of Providence, can 

 alone enjoy the study of botany in its full 

 extent." 



She then told me a great deal about this 

 distribution of plants^ and mentioned many of 

 the circumstances which appear either to fit them 

 for the different regions of the earth, or to render 

 them useful in supplying the local wants of the 

 inhabitants. She began with the low plants 



