352 CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



offer on this subject will not be thought irre- 

 levant in a history of cultivated vegetables. 



Mosses, in general, were originally thought 

 imperfect plants, until the year 1719, when 

 the seed of some of the varieties was disco- 

 vered; and in 1741 this circumstance was 

 made more extensively known amongst bota- 

 nists by Dillen Linnaeus. 



The generic name Muscus is a word that 

 signifies an herb composed of hairs or threads 

 instead of leaves. 



" Each moss, 





Each shell, each crawling insect, holds a rank 

 Important in the plan of Him who formM 

 This scale of beings ; holds a rank, which lost 

 Would break the chain, and leave a gap 

 That Nature's self would rue !" 



The superficial observer of the works of Na- 

 ture may pass this species of plants without 

 even knowing that they are as perfectly 

 formed as the roses of the garden, or the 

 more majestic oaks of the forest. 



The mosses have roots, flowers, and seeds, 

 like other plants. M. Valmont Bomare says, 

 some think mosses are to vegetables, what 

 flies are to animals, and that the word 

 Mousse in French was derived from the Latin 

 word Musca for fly, which in French is 



