72 TERRESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



Thus widely are spread the traces of the con- 

 nexion of the progress of civilization with na- 

 tional intercourse. In our own country a higher 

 state of the arts of life is marked by a more 

 ready and extensive adoption of foreign produc- 

 tions. Our fields are covered with herbs from 

 Holland, and roots from Germany ; with Flemish 

 farming and Swedish turnips ; our hills with 

 forests of the firs of Norway. The chestnut and 

 poplar of the south of Europe adorn our lawns, 

 and below them flourish shrubs and flowers from 

 every clime in profusion. In the mean time 

 Arabia improves our horses, China our pigs, 

 North America our poultry, Spain our sheep, 

 and almost every country sends its dog. The 

 products which are ingredients in our luxuries, 

 and which we cannot naturalize at home, we 

 raise in our colonies ; the cotton, coffee, sugar of 

 the east are thus transplanted to the farthest west; 

 and man lives in the middle of a rich and varied 

 abundance which depends on the facility with 

 which plants and animals and modes of culture 

 can be transferred into lands far removed from 

 those in which nature had placed them. And 

 this plenty and variety of material comforts is 

 the companion and the mark of advantages and 

 improvements in social life, of progress in art 

 and science, of activity of thought, of energy of 

 purpose, and of ascendency of character. 



The differences in the productions of different 



