on Gardening and Rural Affairs. 201 



the subject; as we have compressed in our chapter on Vegetable Geography, 

 in the Encyclopedia of Gardening (§ 908.), some idea maybe formed of the 

 service which Mr. Barton has rendered to the British naturalist. His little 

 book may be considered an essential appendage to every introduction to 

 botany that has hitherto appeared ; and, as the subject of the geography 

 and history of plants is far more interesting than the technical details of 

 systematic botany, we think there are few, even general readers, that will 

 not be gratified by its perusal. Not more than 1,400 plants were known 

 to the Greeks and Romans ; at present 5,000 species are known to be na- 

 tives of Britain, and more than 50,000 have been described, exclusive of 

 cryptogamous plants. Of this vast number only a few of the very lowest 

 orders, as mosses, are universally distributed. The cause of the limitation 

 of plants to certain latitudes, is doubtless to be found in certain peculiari- 

 ties of their internal structure ; but with these we are but very little ac- 

 quainted. Each of the great divisions of the earth has also given birth 

 to a set of plants distinct from those of other places; but the cause of this 

 limitation may be traced to the geographical boundaries of these divisions. 

 Plants originally belonging to one part of the world, when removed to 

 another enjoying a similar climate, prosper as well as in their native coun- 

 try. These three facts form the foundation of ail our knowledge of the 

 geography of plants. It would occupy too much room, and in some 

 measure be a repetition of the chapter on the subject in our Encyclopedia, 

 if we were to abridge Mr. Barton's pages ; the naturalist and general reader 

 will have recourse to the work itself, and such gardeners as have not our 

 Encyclopedia may purchase it, or borrow it from their employers. We shall 

 finish our remarks with the beautiful conclusion of the author : — 



" Here I terminate my sketch of botanical geography. If the question 

 be now asked, ' Whether any useful result is likely to follow from such a 

 pursuit ? ' I must acknowledge that if the word useful is employed in its 

 vulgar acceptation, as referring to the supply of our physical wants, I can- 

 not tell, — never having made the inquiry. But if the term utility is in- 

 tended to comprise those higher advantages which are connected with the 

 moral and intellectual influence of the employment itself, its tendency to 

 elevate, refine, and humanise the character — to exercise, without harass- 

 ing the faculties — to divert the attention from mercenary and sensual ob- 

 jects to purer and nobler contemplations — to bring the mind within the 

 precincts of the temple, where it may readily, and often, and without 

 violence, be called into the sanctuary : — if by this standard the value of 

 our pursuits is to be measured, there are few of them, perhaps, that deserve 

 to occupy a higher place than the study of nature." 



The maps are of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, on which the names 

 of plants are substituted for the names of places. A good exercise for 

 children in the country would be to copy off* the names of the plants be- 

 side the places on maps on a large scale, or on a blank globe ; or miniatures 

 of the plants might be painted on their geographical situations in either 

 case. 



Menteath, Robert, Designer and Valuator of Woods and Plantations, Author 

 of " The Forester's Guide and Profitable Planter : " Miscellaneous 

 Reports on Woods and Plantations, showing a Method to plant, rear,, 

 and recover all Woods, Plantations, and Timber Trees, on every Soil 

 and Situation in Britain and Ireland. Edinburgh. Svo, pp. 155, 2 pis. 

 Is. 6d. 



Mr. Menteath has had much employment and experience relating to the 

 subject on which he writes. His statements go far to prove that there is 

 no portion or description of our wastes, but might be made highly produc- 

 tive and valuable, both in a private and public point of view. 



