FOLIAGE OF TREES AND PLANTS. 51 



tion. Should they remain in any quantity beneath the 

 tree, they appear to be injurious to the smaller herbage, 

 but they are more generally dispersed as they part from 

 the sprays by the gales of autumn, which whirl them 

 along in crowds to the hedges, trenches, and ditches 

 around : here they accumulate and decay, furnishing, in 

 conjunction with other vegetable decompositions, a very 

 nutritive earth, as is manifest by the wild plants grow- 

 ing in those situations, for notwithstanding all the ob- 

 structions of shade, thorns, and briers, they are gene- 

 rally found in great luxuriance or health. This earth 

 in time crumbled by frosts, and washed by rains into 

 the ditches from the banks, becomes accumulated there, 

 and we collect it, compost it with other matters, and 

 use it as a beneficial dressing for our cultivated lands: 

 many of these leaves, however, remain near the tree, 

 and soon communicate their virtues to the herbage : 

 some are consumed by natural consequences, others are 

 attacked by small fungi, which break their surfaces, 

 admit moisture, 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 sepa- 

 ration of the parts takes place, and they are received 

 through the roots into vegetable circulation anew ; and 

 thus the beautiful foliage which has been so pleasing 

 during our summer months, supplied the tree with sus- 

 tenance to increase its magnitude, and all the requisites 

 demanded by its fruits and products has glowed per- 

 haps with splendor, and been our admiration in the de- 

 cline of the year, now returns to the soil, not to encum 

 ber it, but to administer health and vigor to a new serie 

 of vegetation, and circulate in combinations hidden from 

 any human perception. 



By a very wise appointment, peculiar propensities 

 have been bestowed upon the vegetable world, greatly 

 assimilating to the tastes and inclinations of the ani- 

 mated tribes. Beasts and insects feed on particular 

 plants, and reject others, and the delight of one is dis- 

 gusting to another. So, some plants, not having the 

 power of locomotion, will thrive only in certain com- 

 pounded soils, aspects, and situations, evincing a similar 



