216 



THE FARMERS CABINET. 



VOL. r* 



the soil. By p!ou2;hing in the manure before 

 the ferinentcition takes place, there will be 

 comparatively but a triflino^ evaporation. The 

 fermentation and putrefaction will ensue, but 

 the small and subtile particles whicli escape 

 from the dung heap, are now retained in the 

 soil and become incorporated with it. Econo- 

 my requires that tiie plough should be put in 

 motion as soon as is practicable, after the 

 manure is carried into the field. Even the 

 moisture in the manure when it is carried 

 out, is in itself some of the richest part of the 

 load, and the longer it is suffered to lie in the 

 sun, before it is ploughed in, the greater the 

 diminution of its strength and value. — 

 Lalhrop's Address. 



A Pictwre of VegetaftioM. 



To form a comprehension of tlie work of 

 nature, we must observe it in those countries 

 where the grouud, abandoned to its natural 

 productions, has not yet been turned up by 

 the hand of man. Wherever this has estab- 

 lished its power, it has subjected to his em- 

 pire all that might contribute to his well- 

 being, or embellish his abode ; the animals 

 have become slaves ; rich harvests and vast 

 meadows have replaced the wilderness of 

 nature; ancient forests have fallen under the 

 axe, and the ground, despoiled of its original 

 productions, no longer presents to the eye of 

 the observer uncultivated nature, but a vast 

 garden, created by human industry. The tree 

 of the mountains has descended into the 

 plains, and the exotic plant, more useful or 

 more agreeable, has chased from its native 

 soil the plant which is noxious, or of no utility 

 to man. It is, therefore, only at a distance 

 from great societies, in foreign countries, in 

 lands untouched by man, that vegetation can 

 be studied in its natural state, understood in 

 its modification, developement, and progress. 



There still, however, exist countries in 

 Europe, which the power of man has not en- 

 tirely subjected; but it is only among the 

 proud rocks, and the summits of the Alps, 

 that they are to be looked for. There moun- 

 tains piled on mountains, rising above the 

 clouds, form so many gardens, each furnished 

 with a vegetation of its own, the character of 

 whicii changes at each degree of elevation. 

 There, in proportion as we rise, we find suc- 

 ceeding each other the temperatures of va- 

 lious climates, from that of the tropics to that 

 of the poles, as well as several of the vegeta- 

 l)les peculiar to each of these climates. 



At the foot of these mountains, and in the 

 lower vallies, vegetate the plants of the plains, 

 and a part of tliose of the southern countries 

 of Europe. Forests of oalc occupy the first 

 platform; they rise, but not v/ithout losing a 

 proportioual degree of their strength and 



beauty, to a height of about eight hundred 

 toises,* the extreme limit of their habitation. 

 The beech shows itself equally, but the oak 

 has ceased to grow more than a hundred 

 fathoms beneath the highest limit of this plant. 

 In the zone which succeeds, these trees, 

 more exposed to the impetuosity of the winds, 

 would present too much scope for their ac- 

 tion, in the large cyme [literally a sprout] and 

 broad leaves which they possess. The pine, 

 the yew, the fir, furnished with a finely divi- 

 ded foliage, raise securely towards the re- 

 gions of perpetual snow their robust and 

 branchless trunks. The action of the winds 

 no longer meeting the same resistance, is di- 

 vided, and loses its force among their short 

 and slender leaves. These trees do not, how- 

 ever, attain a greater elevation than a thou- 

 sand toises ; above this, woods of cratagus and 

 birch, and tufts of hazel and willow, among 

 which the rhododendrons [dwarf rose-bay] 

 flourish, brave the cold and the tempests, to 

 the height of 1,200 toises. Beyond this ap- 

 pear, but with a much lower stature, a multi- 

 tude of beautiful and elegant shrubs, creeping 

 willows, &c. 



Farther on, to the region of snow, scarcely 

 any more woody vegetables are found, if we 

 except some dwarf birches, some stunted wil- 

 lows, scarcely a few inches long. A short, 

 beautiful, and tufted sward springs every sum- 

 mer from beneath the snowny mountains, 

 and is covered with a multitude of pretty little 

 flowers with rosaceous petals, naked pedun- 

 cles, and vivacious roots; this is the peculiar 

 place of the numerous saxifrages, elegant 

 primulas, gentians, ranunculi, and a profu- 

 sion of other diminutive plants. The frightful 

 nakedness of the poles reigns upon the sum- 

 mits of these mountains, loaded with perpetual 

 ice ; if there still remain some traces of vege- 

 tation, tliey only exist in a few lichens, which 

 here, as elsewhere, endeavor, but in vain, to 

 lay the foundations of vegetation. 



Thus the traveler, having arrived at tliese 

 mountains, at the region of ice, has expe- 

 rienced, in the course of a few hours, ihe 

 different degrees of temperature which reign 

 in each climate from the tropics to tiie poles; 

 he may have observed a portion of the plants 

 which grow from about the 45th degree of 

 latitude to the 70th, that is to say, along a 

 meridian of 800 leagues, a phenomenon which 

 exists in all high mountains, of botli the old 

 and the new continent, with sonic modifica- 

 tions peculiar to the localities. 



The observations made by i\I. Humboldt, in 

 the equinoctial regions and on the highest 

 mountains of our globe, furnish us with a 

 proof of this. The same order occurs there 

 in the gradation of species, but only above 



* A toisc is about six and a third English feet. 



