494 ON USEFUL AND BOOK I. 



ground is to expand those parts which remain : that the effect 

 of removing any of the parts under ground, or, of removing the 

 whole vegetable into a colder climate and a less congenial soil 

 and situation, is to contract or consolidate the whole. . This, 

 were it necessary, could be illustrated in a thousand instances 

 from the commonest vegetables : but I only notice further at 

 present, that this takes place more or less in a degree corre- 

 sponding with the rapidity of the growth of the vegetable, and 



ts duration. Thus all the annual grasses are much further re- 

 moved from a state of nature by culture than the perennial 



mes. So are the annual garden vegetables, as cabbages, le- 

 gumes, and spinach, in opposition to strawberries, asparagus, 

 &c. Quick growing trees or shrubs, as willows, raspberries, &c. 

 are also much easier removed from their natural state, than 

 such as oaks, thorns, hollies, and heaths, which grow much 

 slower. 



If the foregoing remarks are just, which I think none will 

 ieny, it must follow, that the same general effects take place 

 more or less on all trees ; that when they are removed into a 

 colder climate, or have part of their roots cut off, it will in some 

 degree contract the fibre of the wood, and render it of a more 

 solid and hard texture; and that when they are removed into 

 a warmer climate, have most of their branches taken off, or are 

 placed in a better state, it must, by accelerating their growth, 



