Book I. 



DISTRIBUTION OF VEGETABLES. 



271 



ture in gardens, fields, or timber-plantations ; and indirectly by acclimation and final 

 naturalisation of many species, by the influence of winds and birds in scattering their 

 seeds. The vine and the fig are not indigenous to France, but are now naturalised there 

 by birds. In like manner the orange is naturalised in the south of Italy. Many plants 

 of the Levant are naturalised both in France and Britain ; some, as the cabbage, cherry, 

 and apple, were probably naturalised in England during its subjection to the Romans. 

 The narrow-leaved elm was brought from the Holy Land during the crusades. Pha- 

 seolus vulgaris and Impatiens ^alsamina were brought originally from India ; and, 

 Datura Stramonium, which is now naturalised in Europe, was brought originally from 

 India or Abyssinia. Buckv/heat and most species of corn and peas came also from the 

 East, and along with them several plants found among corn only, such as Centaur^a 

 Cyanus, Agrostemma Githago, jRdphanus Raphanistrum, and ilfyagrum sativum. The 

 country whence the most valuable grasses migrated is not known. Bruce says he found 

 the oat wild in Abyssinia, and wheat and millet have been found in a wild state in hilly 

 situations in the East Indies. Rye and the potato were not known to the Romans. 

 The country of the former Humboldt declares to be totally unknown. 



1771. The greatest refinement in culture consists in the successful formation of artificial 

 climates, for the culture of tropical plants, in cold regions. Many vegetables, natives of 

 the torrid zone, as the pine apple, the palm, &c., cannot be acclimated in temperate 

 countries : but by means of hot-houses of different kinds, they are grown, even on the 

 borders of the frolzen zone, to the highest degree of perfection ; and, in Britain, some of 

 the tropical fruits, as the pine and melon, are brought to a greater size and better flavour 

 than in their native habitations. Casting our eyes on man, and the effects of his industry, 

 we see him spread on the plains and sides of mountains, from the Frozen Ocean to 

 the equator, and every where wishing to assemble around him whatever is useful and 

 agreeable of his own country or those of others. The more difficulties to surmount, the 

 more rapidly are developed the moral faculties ; and thus the civilisation of a people is 

 almost always in an inverse ratio with the fertility of the soil which they inhabit. What 

 is the reason of this ? Humboldt asks. Habit and the love of native land. 



Sect. IV. Characteristic or Picturesque Distribution of Vegetables, 



1 772. The social and antisocial habits of plants are their most remarkable characteristics. 

 Like animals, they live in two classes : the one class grows alone and scattered, as Sola- 

 num Dulcamkra, iychnis dioica. Polygonum Bist6rta, Anthericum Liliago, &c. ; the 

 other class unites in society, like ants or bees, covers immense surfaces, and excludes 

 other species, such as Fragkria v^sca, Faccinium Myrtillus, Polygonum aviculkre, .^^ira 

 can^scens, Jinus sylv^stris, &c. Barton states that the Mitchella ripens is the plant 

 most extensively spread in North America, occupying all the ground between the 28 

 and 69 of north latitude ; that the ^'rbutus uva ursi extends from New Jersey to the 72 

 of north latitude ; while, on the contrary, Gordonia, Franklinm, and Dionae^a muscipula are 

 found isolated in small spots. Associated plants are more common in the temperate zones 

 than in the tropics, where vegetation is less uniform and more picturesque. In the tem- 

 perate zones, the frequency of social plants, and the culture of man, have rendered the 

 aspect of the country comparatively monotonous. Under the tropics, on the contrary, all 

 sorts of forms are united ; thus cypresses and pines are found in the forests of the Andes 

 of Quindiu and of Mexico ; and bananas, palms, and bamboos in the valleys {Jig, 201.) : 



but green meadows and the season of spring are wanting, for nature has reserved gifts 

 for every region. The valleys of the Andes," Humboldt observes, are ornamented 

 with bananas and palms; on the mountains are found oaks, fijs, barberries, alders, 



