274 



SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part H. 



1765. In respect to geographical distribution, the mountainous and^hilly districts of Eng- 

 land and South Wales are most prolific ; the greatest number, according to extent of sur- 

 face, are found in England and Wales, and the smallest number in Ireland. 



1766. The genera of the native British Flora enter into 23 classes and 71 orders of the 

 former, and 8 classes and 121 orders of the latter system. 



1767. With respect to the uses or application of the native Flora, there are about 1 8 sorts 

 of wild fruits which mai/ be eaten, exclusive of the wild apple and pear ; but only the 

 pear, apple, plum, currant, raspberry, strawberry, and cranberry, are gathered wild, or 

 cultivated in gardens. There are about 20 boiling culinary plants natives, including the 

 cabbage, sea-kale, asparagus, turnip, carrot, and parsnep. There are about the same 

 number of spinaceous plants, salading, and pot and sweet herbs, which may be used, but 

 of which but a few only enter into the dietetics of modern cooks. There are three fungi, 

 in general use, the mushroom, truffle, and morel ; and various others, as well as about 

 eight species of sea-weeds, are occasionally eaten. There are about six native plants 

 cultivated as florists' flowers, including the primula elatior, crocus, narcissus, dianthus, 

 &c. Nearly 1 00 grasses, clovers, and leguminous plants are used in agriculture, or serve 

 in their native places of growth as pasturage for cattle. Two native plants, the oat and 

 the big, or wild barley, are cultivated as farinaceous grains. Most of the trees are used 

 in the mechanical arts, for fuel, or for tanning : one plant, the flax, not an aboriginal 

 native, but now naturalised, affords fibre for the manufacture of linen cloth. Various 

 plants yield colored juices, which may be, and in part are, used in dyeing ; and some 

 hundred species have been, and a few are still used in medicine. About 20 cotyledonous 

 plants, and above 50 cryptogameae, chiefly fungi, are, or are reputed to be, poisonous, 

 both to men and cattle. 



1768. By the artificial Flora of Britain, we understand such of the native plants as ad- 

 mit of preservation or culture in gardens ; and such exotics as are grown there, whether 

 in the open ground, or in different descriptions of plant habitations. The total number 

 of species which compose this Flora, or Hortus Britannicus, as taken from Sweet's cata- 

 logue, is about 13,000, including botanists' varieties, and excluding agamous plants. 

 This is nearly a fourth part of the estimated Flora of our globe, and may be considered 

 in regard to the countries from whence the plants were introduced ; the periods of their 

 introduction ; their obvious divisions ; their systematic classification ; their garden habit- 

 ations ; their application ; and their native habitations. 



1769. With respect to the native countries of the artificial Flora or Hortus Britannicus, 

 of 970 species the native countries are unknown ; the remaining 12,000 species were first 

 introduced from the following countries : - 



1770. With respect to the dates of the introduction of the exotics from those different 

 countries, the dates of the introduction of none are known before the time of Gerard, in 

 Henry VIII. 's reign. From this author and Trew, it appears that 47 species were intro- 

 duced on or before 1548, including the apricot, fig, pomegranate, &c. Those previously ' 

 introduced, of which the dates are unknown, may be considered as left here by the Ro- 

 mans, or afterwards brought over from France, Italy, and S,pain, by the ecclesiastics. 



