112 



THE SYCAMORE. 



is well protected against tlie severest \dcissitudes 

 of weather, first by the horny, or almost woody, 

 case in which it is enclosed ; and secondly, by the 

 copious, soft, and glossy down which lines the 

 seed-vessels, a covering alike impervious to cold 

 and wet. 



It may be, that many trees which have been in- 

 troduced into a strange country, fail to propagate 

 themselves extensively, because the attendant cir- 

 cumstances are not the same in the new comitry 

 that they were in the old. Were the Sycamore, 

 for instance, to be introduced into a country where 

 no such periodical recurrence of rain and storms 

 took place, and w^here, also, there was no inter- 

 ference of human agency, it might soon become 

 extinct, inasmuch as its seeds, if kept dry for a 

 year, generally lose their vegetative power. The 

 Oak, if planted in a country uninliabited by man, 

 and where no such friendly depredator as the rook 

 or the squirrel acted the part of a skilful forester, 

 would soon disappear. Its acorns would indeed 

 fall to the ground, and perhaps germinate, but i 

 would rarely become trees, for the Oak, like many 

 other trees, will not flourish under the shade of 

 its own species. I may here observe, that the 

 mast-bearing trees generally, such as the Oak, 

 the Chestnut, and the Beech, are indebted for 

 their propagation to animals whose instinct leads 

 them to bury their food: those provided with. 

 winged seeds, such as the Sycamore, the Ash, 

 and the Elm, to storms and tempests ; and the 

 drupe-bearing trees (those, namely, which are 

 furnished with stone-fruit), to frugivorous birds, 

 which fly away with the fruit and drop the seed. 

 Thus by the wise arrangement of the Almighty 



