Appendix.] 



of high Mountains. 



89 



globe, where man inhabits, is more changed in one century, than 

 in twenty where he is absent. 



After all, in Alpine countries, the different soils, and their pro- 

 ductions, retain most of their aboriginal character: there the 

 primitive distribution of vegetables has been least disturbed; 

 tbeir localities can be easily traced, the influence of the air is 

 most perceptible ; there the contiguity of objects exhibiting 

 more forcibly their similitudes and dissimilitudes, the eye of the 

 observer takes in at one glance every trait, which is interesting; 

 and if it is necessary for the geologist to visit these grand chains 

 of mountains, to study the structure of the earth and those ca- 

 tastrophes, which have imprinted its present form, it is still more 

 so f\>r the horticulturist, who wishes to penetrate the mysteries 

 of the primary dissemination of vegetables and their subsequent 

 propagation, hoping thence to derive hints for their successful 

 cultivation, and improvement, in the paradise surrounding his 



