THE FLOWBRLBSS PLANTS. 213 



seem to have been overlooked by the cultivator. They 

 undoubtedly possess qualities that might be rendered 

 valuable for purposes of artificial embellishment. There 

 is no tree with foliage of so perfect a green tint as that 

 of the moss which covers the roofs of very old build- 

 ings. The mossy knolls in damp woods are peculiarly 

 attractive on account of their verdure, and the fine 

 velvety softness of their pleasantly rounded surface. 

 Though the mosses produce no flowers, the little germs 

 that grow on the extremities of their hair-like stems are 

 perfect jewels. With them, however, it is the stem that 

 exhibits the most beauty of hues, varying from a deep 

 yellow to a clear and lively claret or crimson, while the 

 termination is green or brown. I have nothing to say 

 of the physiology of their propagation. I treat of 

 mosses only as they are beautiful objects of sight, and 

 useful agents in unfolding and distributing the bounties 

 of nature. This tribe furnishes no sustenance to man 

 or to any other animal. Those eatable plants which 

 are called by the name of mosses are either lichens or 

 sea-weeds. Nature, who, with a provident hand, renders 

 many of her productions capable of supplying a mani- 

 fold purpose in her economy, has limited the agency of 

 the mosses to a few simple and beautiful services. 

 They perform under her invisible guidance, for the field 

 and the forest, what is done by the painter and the 

 embosser for the works of the builder of temples and 

 palaces. 



The ferns have fewer picturesque attractions than the 

 mosses; but like the latter, they are allied with the 

 primitive wilds of nature, with gloomy swamps, which 

 they clothe with verdure, and with rocky precipices, on 

 whose shelvy sides they are distributed like the tiles on 

 a roof of a house. They resemble mosses in their dis- 



