66 VEGETABLE PECULIARITIES. 



and facilitate decay ; the worm now seizes them as 

 his portion, and having fed upon a part, draws the 

 remainder into the earth, where a rapid separation of 

 the parts takes place, and they are received through 

 the roots into vegetable circulation anew 3 and thus 

 the beautiful foliage which has been so pleasing 

 during our summer months, supplied the tree with 

 sustenance to increase its magnitude, and all the 

 requisites demanded by its fruits and products has 

 glowed perhaps with splendour, and been our 

 admiration in the decline of the year, now returns 

 to the soil, not to encumber it, but to administer 

 health and vigour to a new series of vegetation, 

 and circulate in combinations hidden from any 

 human perception. 



By a very wise appointment, peculiar propensi- 

 ties have been bestowed upon the vegetable world, 

 greatly assimilating to the tastes and inclinations of 

 the animated tribes. Beasts and insects feed on 

 particular plants, and reject others, and the delight 

 of one is disgusting to another. So, some plants, 

 not having the power of locomotion, will thrive 

 only in certain compounded soils, aspects, and 

 situations, evincing a similar tendency to preference 

 of nourishment as do the sensitive tribes ; and some 

 districts, that vary a little in their component parts 

 or position from those adjoining, will present an 

 individual or a race that is not found in another : 

 the common product of the North or of the East is 



