98 NATURAL HISTORY 



voting money for "bugs and hornpouts." Yery 

 many have favored such schemes y hoping that a coal 

 mine, at least, would be discovered on their own 

 farms ; while the birds and fishes were added and 

 carried along by some shrewd managers, as politi- 

 cians would say, " like a passenger under the boot." 

 These departments do not attract attention so 

 readily, because their connection with wealth is not 

 so direct and obvious as the discovery and working 

 of minerals. They are some of them of equal im- 

 portance, and are destined yet to become of the very 

 highest value in an economic point of view. These 

 investigations add to the number of the useful 

 plants, teach us to protect them, and to increase 

 their value. 



The earth produces more than a hundred thou- 

 sand species of plants ; they are directly or indirectly 

 serviceable to man. This is true, at least of the 

 greater portion of them, without doubt. The lovers 

 of Botany, from the days of Solomon till now, have 

 been bringing out the beautiful a>nd the useful in 

 this kingdom of nature. What multitudes of plants 

 now minister to health and luxury, of which we 



