LECT. I.] SCIENCE OP BOTANY. 29 



the uncertainty of seasons ; and to multiply the 

 means of supplying the wants of the community 

 and enriching- himself. These mistaken notions 

 are now happily vanishing ; and the utility of Che- 

 mistry and Botany is beginning to be felt and ac- 

 knowledged by the farmer. From the more ge- 

 neral study of the economy of vegetable life, how 

 many improvements might be suggested in the cul- 

 tivation of even the most common of our useful 

 plants ! How many of those which are still re- 

 garded as useless weeds, might be found to be of 

 great importance if their properties were accu- 

 rately investigated! And certainly the nature of 

 soils would be better and more easily known by an 

 acquaintance with the different kinds of plants 

 which each variety of surface produces. 



But, besides these objects of utility, to the ad- 

 vancement of which Botany unquestionably con- 

 tributes, it is likely to render a still greater service 

 to social life, by the cultivation of that branch of 

 it which assigns to each tribe of plants its altitude, 

 its limits, and its climate ; and which the French 

 designate by the tei-mGeographie Botanique. By its 

 aid nature may be in some degree subdued by art, 

 the mountains of Europe may be girt by the Cin- 

 chona, the vine may cluster upon our rocks, and 

 the high Palmetto and Coco wave on the sun- 

 ward sides of our native vales. 



These examples are sufficient to show the uti- 



