LECT. VI.] THE STBM. BRANCHING. 263 



pressive. The finest examples of this alteration of 

 form are the two venerable Cedars which grace the 

 Apothecaries' garden at Chelsea. Even when the 

 general character of the tree is not changed, cir- 

 cumstances occur to alter the natural direction of 

 the branches : thus, if fruit-trees, which spread 

 horizontally, be planted on a declivity, the 

 branches still preserve a direction parallel to the 

 surface of the earth, and consequently the angle 

 which is formed between them and the upper part 

 of the stem is much more acute than is natural 

 on the side next the acclivity, and much more 

 obtuse on the opposite. The steeper the declivity 

 is, the more fertile the trees are said to become; 

 which is undoubtedly owing to the position as- 

 sumed by the branches, enabling the ground to 

 operate in the same manner as a wall ; but more 

 beneficially. Cultivation, also, varies the natural 

 aspect of plants : the buds, for instance, which 

 on trees growing in a rich and cultivated soil, 

 shoot into branches, often, from a deficiency of 

 nourishment, run out into sharp-pointed thorns ; 

 and this is the case with almost every species of 

 fruit-trees in a state of nature. The changing of 

 these into branches by cultivation, is termed, by 

 Linnaeus, the taming of plants ; but many plants, 

 however, have appendages of this description un- 

 der all circumstances of situation and culture. 



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