264 



NOTICES OF AUTHORS. 



In the same way, light is nearly shut out from such 

 plantations, except from the top, and a dispropor- 

 tionate elongation of the stem is occasioned hy the 

 efforts which each individual makes to gain the 

 lightr P. 191. 



Now, what do we gather from all these disco- 

 veries which, in continuation, our author turns round 

 and round, and exhibits to us under every com- 

 bination, with admirable elegance, it must be al- 

 lowed, like the objects in a kaleidoscope ? — that trees 

 grown in sheltered situation are not suited for ex- 

 posed situation, because their roots are proportionally 

 too small, and the stem too long for stability under 

 the strain of high winds ; their exterior bark or epi- 

 dermis, dead and living, too thin to afford protection 

 to the sap- vessels from cold, the effect of evaporation 

 caused by the wind; their spray and leaves too ele- 

 vated and open to exclude the cold, or wind gene- 

 rating cold, from the stem and branches. That the 

 reverse coexistent conditions of trees in open situ- 

 ation — sliort stout stem, thick bark dead and liv- 

 ing, strong rooting, close cover of spray and leaves 

 all around, befitting the plant to withstand the tem- 

 pest, and affording shelter to the sap-vessels of the 

 stem and branches— and these conditions being want- 



