212 HABITATION OF PLANTS. 



perpendicular precipices. Large trees are not usually placed so 

 near each other as to prevent a passage between them ; their lowest 

 branches are mostly at a height sutficient to admit men and beasts 

 under them, and thus few forests are impenetrable. 



In cold countries, whether occasioned by distance from the equa- 

 tor, or elevation by means of mountains and table lands, we find the 

 pine, fir, and cedar, and other resinous plants, which furnish man 

 with light and fuel during the dreary season of winter. The leaves 

 of these trees are mostly filiform, or long and narrow, thus fitted 

 for reverberating the heat like the hair of animals, and for resisting 

 the impetuosity of winds which often prevail in those regions. 



In warm countries, trees present, in their foliage, a resource from 

 the scorching rays of the sun; their leaves serving as fans and um- 

 brellas. The leaf of the banana being broad and long, like an 

 apron, it has acquired the name of Adam's fig-leaf The leaves of 

 the cocoa-tree are said to be from twelve to fifteen feet long and 

 from seven to eight broad. A traveller remarks, that one leaf of the 

 talipot-tree is capable of covering from fifteen to twenty persons. 

 The soldiers, he says, use it for a covering to their tents. He ob- 

 serves, that it seems an inestimable blessing of Providence, in a 

 countiy burnt up by the sun, and inundated by rains for six months 

 of the year. In our climate, during the warm season, Providence 

 bestows upon us a variety of juicy and acid fruits, cherries, peaches, 

 plums, melons, and berries ; nuts and many fruits are fitted for pres- 

 ervation during the winter, so that we are never destitute of some 

 of these bounties. 



A remarkable instance of the care of Providence in providing 

 for the wants of man, appears in what is related of a I'lant* found 

 amidst the burning deserts of Africa; the leaf of which is said to be 

 in the form of a pitcher, and to possess the property of secreting 

 moisture to such a degree as to form a quantity of water sufficient 

 for a draught to a thirsty person ; the end of the leaf is folded over 

 the throat, as if to prevent the evaporation of the fluid. Various 

 other plants, in hot regions, furnish refreshing draughts, or cooling 

 fruits, for the thirsty traveller. 



These remarks might be pursued to an extent as great as the 

 vastness of the vegetable kingdom, and the wants of man; we have 

 merely glanced at the subject of the adaptation of plants to the wants 

 af animal life, hoping that these few suggestions may lead you to 

 trace, from your own observation of the works of nature, the opera- 

 tions of that great designing Mind^ which rules and governs all wit^ 

 infinite wisdom and benevolence. 



The earth, then, we find to be covered with a multitude of species 

 of plants, differing not more by their external forms than by their 

 internal structure, and each endowed with pecuUar habits and 

 instincts. 



Some species seem adapted to the mountains, some to the valleys, 

 and others to the plains ; some require an argillaceous or clayey 

 soil, others a calcareous soil or one impregnated with lime^ others a 

 qiiartzose or sandy soil, and some will only grow where the earth 

 contains soda or marine salts. Many plants will grow only in 

 water ; we find here such as are peculiar to the marsh, the lake, the 

 river, and the sea. Many plants require a very elevated tempera- 



* Probably the Nepenthes distillatoria. 



Trees— Trees of cold countries— Trees of warm countries— Fruits of our climate— 

 A plant found in the deserts of Africa— Reflection -Plants adapted to various S01I3, 

 &c 



