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and in the words of Bigland, " the earth is but 

 an immense garden, laid out and planted by the 

 hand of the Deity ; the lofty mountains and the 

 waving forests are its terraces and its groves, and 

 fertile fields and flowery meadows form its beau- 

 tiful parterres." 



The endless variety and diversity of form, and 

 colour, and structure displayed in the vegetable 

 kingdom, are evidently intended to excite the 

 attention of man : and well would it be for him 

 if he oftener followed that natural inclination 

 that innate principle implanted within him, but 

 blunted and made obtuse by more worldly con- 

 siderations which would lead him to the con- 

 templation of the works of creation. 



As I before stated, I have no intention at pre- 

 sent to enter upon the first principles of botany 

 so many popular and cheap treatises on the 

 subject are to be met with, that it would be use- 

 less here to do so : all that I propose undertak- 

 ing at present is, to draw the attention of the 

 reader to the effects of culture upon plants, and 

 to point out to him how clearly an acquaintance 

 with the vegetable kingdom, shows that the curse 

 of an angry and justly offended God, pronounced 

 in the beginning of the world, has been hitherto 

 incessantly executed. In the third chapter of 

 Genesis we find " cursed is the ground for thy 

 sake ; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days 

 of thy life : thorns also and thistles shall it bring 

 forth to thee." It must have struck the most 

 unobserving beholder, that, although the earth 



