130 BOTANY FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. 



ing alike to shelter their own flowers and trunk, 

 as well as travellers and animals. 



E. As you advance towards the poles the 

 leaves diminish most remarkably in size, dwin- 

 dling down to an exceeding minuteness, while 

 in the torrid zone, flourishes the Talipot of 

 Ceylon, a single leaf of which is sufficiently large 

 to shelter twenty men from the changes of the 

 climate in which they dwell. 



Another remarkable peculiarity, in which 

 plants resemble animals, is their clothing. In 

 cold climates the trees have a warm and thick 

 covering of fine moss, as the bear has of fine 

 fur ; in warm ones, on the contrary, both trees, 

 men, and animals are naked. 



L. I should think also, that in places exposed 

 to great winds they would have roots sunk very 

 deeply in the earth to prevent their being torn up. 



E. Nature is always careful to adapt her 

 children to the dangers that surround them, and 

 invariably suits their abilities to their circum- 

 stances. The Reed has flexibility and bends to 

 the blast, the Oak, vigoi and bravely withstands 

 it. A botanist can divine at a glance the coun- 

 try of a vegetable that is placed before him. He 

 observes its structure and then considers the 



