Oakes^s Catalogue of Vermont Plants. 339 



REVIEWS. 



Art. I. Catalogue of Vermont Plants. By Wm. Oakes, 

 of Ipswich, Mass., as published in Thompson's History 

 of Vermont. Pamphlet, 8vo. 36 pages. 



Our Forest Trees. — New England, with its variable 

 climate, its rugged soil, and general barren aspect, is yet 

 capable of being regarded in one favorable point of^ view, 

 at least, and that, to the eye of the lover of genuine beauty, 

 a point of view by no means insignificant — the variety of 

 its forests. The sterner character of northern latitudes, if 

 softened by the auspicious breezes of long summers, seems 

 most favorable to the existence of a greater variety of for- 

 est growth. Would wc witness luxuriance and stately 

 magnificence combined, ample foliage and spice-breathing 

 blossoms, we should indeed turn to the deep woods of 

 southern latitudes; but would we behold the elegance of 

 utility, the compactness of form united with the grace of 

 expression, the vegetable types of the physical and moral 

 character of the people who dwell among them, we must 

 turn to the hardy specimens of northern oaks and vigorous 

 pines, which, daring the storms of many a winter, yet pre- 

 sent their leafy honors fresh and lustrous on each return- 

 ing spring. 



The peculiarity of forests, in regard to their productions, 

 indicate, with an unvarying certainty, the condition and 

 character of a climate. Species of plants, and more es- 

 pecially of trees, define with most remarkable precision 

 the natural boundaries of countries. They indicate, also, 

 to the penetration of the geologist, the structural features 

 of the soil. Thus the Geography of Plants becomes a 

 very interesting subject for consideration and research. 

 Something like a fixed and established law seems to govern 

 the natural growth of vegetables ; from which, when we 

 find them deviating, it is considered a striking and peculiar 

 anomaly. The geological conditions, oftentimes, such as 

 the nature of the soil, rather than on the diflference of lati- 

 tude, the production of plants seem to depend. The varied 

 character of the geology of New England affords, in this 

 way, a rich and almost ubiquitous forest growth, and from 



