204 



wise rendered useless. Yet when the impregnation is 

 over, they do not close, either upon showers, or the 

 approach 0f evening. 



For the scattering of seed nature has provided 

 numberless ways. Various berries are givc^n for food 

 to animals, but while they eat the pulp, they sow the 

 seed. Either they disperse them at the same time ; 

 or if they swallow them, they are returned with 

 interest. The mistletoe always grows on other trees, 

 because the thrush, that eats the seeds of them, casts 

 them forth with his dung. The junipers also, which 

 fill our woods, are sown in the same manner. The 

 cross-bill that lives on fir-cones and the haw. finch 

 which feeds on pine-cones, sow many of those seeds, 

 especially when they carry the rone to a stone or 

 stump, to strip off its scales. Swine, likewise, and 

 moles by throwing up the earth, prepare it for the 

 reception of seeds. 



The great Parent of all decreed that the whole 

 earth should be covered with plants. In order to 

 this he adapted the nature of each to the climate 

 where it grows. So that some can bear intense heat 

 others intense cold. Some love a moderate warmth. 

 Many delight in dry, others in moist ground. The 

 Alpine plants love mountains whose tops are covered 

 with eternal snow. And they blow and ripen their 

 seeds very early, lest the winter should overtake and 

 destroy them. Plants which will grow no where else, 

 flourish in Siberia, and near Hudson's bay. Grass 

 can bear almost any temperature of the air. in which 

 the good providence of God appears : this being so 

 necessary ail over the globe, for the nourishment of 

 cattle. 



Thus neither the scorching sun, nor the pinching 

 c^old hinders any country from having its vegetables. 

 Nor is there any soil which does not bring forth 

 some. Pond. weed and water-lillies inhabit the wa- 

 ters. Some plants cover the bottom of rivers and 

 seas, others fill the marshes. Some clothe the plains j 



