LETTER XYIII. 



203 



preserved for man's use only by careful husbandry. 

 How strikingly does this accord with what we read of 

 the curse passed on the ground for man's sake and 

 the natural result of this — Thorns and thistles shall 

 it yield thee and of the terms imposed on man in 

 order to the procuring of his means of support — In 

 the sweat of my face shalt thou eat bread," — terms 

 no sooner imposed than man is " sent forth to till the 

 ground." 



21. Consider next the " Grass of the field," which 

 may be said to be the main-stay of the lower animals, 

 and contrast it with the Cereals. Cursed for man's 

 sake as the ground has been. Nature has yet made 

 provision for those of her creatures that can neither 

 sow nor reap." And thus, strictly annual as, accord- 

 ing to my theory, all plants are, the common grass, 

 producing buds as well as seeds, is by means of buds 

 preserved in 2l permanent form on the earth's surface. 

 Capable of being propagated by seed, largely propa- 

 gated in this way from year to year by man himself, 

 and thus chiefly in the first instance spread over the 

 earth, sown broad-cast by Nature's own hand, it is also 

 capable of being propagated by buds ; and from buds 

 it now springs up annually, for the sustentation of 

 animals, and that spontaneously, in far larger quan- 

 tities than from seed. 



22. And to advert, as we appropriately may, to 

 tree-plants, let us dwell for a little on some striking 



