ECONOMICAL USES OF PLANTS. 
may be seen trunks of trees which shaded the bower of fair Rosa 
rnond, and which it is supposed are not less than a thousand years old. 
At Hartford, in Connecticut, is the Charter-oak, which was a hol- 
low tree in the days of James II., nearly two hundred years ago. In 
the hollow of this tree was concealed the charter of the state, when 
the King of England, through his agents, attempted to deprive the 
colonists of that guarantee of their civil rights. This oak must, ever^ 
at that period, have been an aged tree. 
Economical uses of various Plants. 
We perceive among the various species of vegetable beings, some 
which seem destined only to beautify and enliven the earth ; others, 
with little or no beauty, are valuable only for their utility ; and in 
some instances we find utihty and beauty united ; roses, lilies, tulips 
carnatio.-^s, and most of the green-house and garden plants, belong 
to the first mentioned class. Trees are not only beautiful, but many 
of them 3.ro highly useful, affording fuel, shelter, and shade, nuts, ber- 
ries, and -^thw fruits ; their bark is used in tanning, for medicine, 
and spices j ihi'ir sap and secretions furnish sugar and various 
medicinal ex' vac t^. 
Trees, with "CiiiVct \o their wood, may be divided, 1st, into such 
as have hard wc >d, 5> s \\e oak, elm, apple, &c.; 2d, such as have soft 
wood, as the poj, -^r qni willow; 3d, such as have resinous wood, 
as the pine and fir , Uu ^uch as are evergreens, but not resinous, as 
the evergreen oak «»i 'he vuvh of Europe. 
Hard wood is ccnrix ^r^v. be>t for fuel ; as it contains the greatest 
quantity of carbon, i*-. c a more intense and permanent heat; 
resinous wood com?i;iinj. '-n hydrogen, burns with a more bril- 
liant flame. 
The fermented jul".'? of thi .a^ *; produces wine. Grain of differ- 
ent kinds produce gii> whisk t"'^^ Apples, by their fermentation, 
produce cider; this ^{"^uor, co.v -^n ^aJed by distillation, produces 
brandy and alcohol. Vhe vine> --ivds Italy and France, and of 
some of the Atlantic isl. ^ \ are thv-* mt •it celebrated for their wine. 
In America, the vine dc 'a "aot flour: sh l.> the same luxuriance as 
upon the eastern contine "t 
Grasses are the palms v f L Md chmates ; (hey are of the class of 
monocotyledons, and have <?inclogenous stems. Some are perennial, 
some annual; the meadow Q;rasses are of the former kind. The 
grains, Indian corn, and rice ire annual. There are certain grasses 
which are called artificial, bs^-ause they do not spring up without 
cultivation ; of this kind is clover. Gramineous plants, although 
very important, as furnishing from their leaves tbod for cattle, are 
yet more especially useful for their seeds, which furnish food for man. 
Some plants furnish oils, which are of important uses in various 
ways. Of the fixed and volatile oils we have already spoken. The 
fixed oils are extracted from plants called oleaginous ; they may be 
considered under three hends: 1st, ohve-oil, produced from the olive 
in warm coimtries ; 2d, nut-oil, of temperate climates, as obtained 
from walnuis &,c. ; 3d, oil obtained from the seed of oleaginous, or 
oily plants, a^' the flax. 
Tuberous roris, as the turnip, potato, carrot, beet, parsnip, &c., fur- 
nish important O'vticles of food. 
Asparagus, wh. n young, is esteemed a luxury ; the rhubarb plant 
is used in makiiii^ pies ; celery, o 'lions, and even garlic, areesteem- 
Charter-oak— Plant, -^i "f.h are chiefly vt -"able for beauty — F'or utility— Division of 
trees with respect to voo ^ — Liquors pud 'nd from plants— Grasses— Oleaginous 
plants- Tuberous roots — .t^ vragus, &,c. 
