188 PEARLS AND PEBBLES. 



prove foreign to its nature. It shows, as it were, a will 

 of its own, which is often stubborn and resists inter- 

 ference from man's will ; and man must conform as far 

 as it is possible to the natural wants of the tree or the 

 plant if he would turn it to his own advantage. 



The vegetable, like the animal, experiences hunger, 

 and must be fed. Like the animal, also, it seems to be 

 endowed with a power of choice. It has its likings and 

 dislikings ; it rejects or selects according to its peculiar 

 tastes and necessities. 



Man by his superior gifts can, by care and observation, 

 give to the plant what is needful to promote its growth, 

 and by long experience is enabled to acclimatize, 

 improve, and, as it were, educate the plant for his own 

 uses, through the power given him by God. 



The florist or the agriculturist is able to increase the 

 value of his crops by studying the best food for the 

 plants whose seed he casts into the ground. Yet, that 

 there is a diversity in the requirements of some vege- 

 tables is evident. Some species are gross and demand 

 rich soil ; others of a more delicate habit are abstemious, 

 and will thrive best with the most scanty nourishment, 

 where the ranker feeding kinds would starve. 



The little Carpet Weed, a small hardy plant belonging 

 to the Poligonum family, grows and thrives by our path 

 in dry sandy soil ; down- trodden and despised it still 

 flowers and increases, where another species would perish 

 utterly. In richer mould and under the protecting hand 



