HABITATION OF PLANTS. 
206 
by fire, or by some other means. Can we imagine that the 
grass and herbs which now afford a soft carpet for our feet came 
Oy chance to grow thus, rather than hard and woody like the 
trees ? That by chance the prevailing color of vegetation is 
green^ the color upon which the eye rests with the most agree- 
able sensations ? Had the prevailing hue of vegetation been 
red or yellow, with our present organs of sight how painful 
would be the sensations excited by these bright colors ! Instead 
of beholding the face of nature with delight, we should turn 
from it, and vainly seek some object on which the eye might 
repose. Woody shrubs occasionally alternate with herbs, but 
they are so placed as not to offer obstructions to the foot of 
man ; they often grow out of the clefts of rocks, affording a 
means of climbing almost perpendicular precipices. Large trees 
are not usually placed so near each other as to prevent a pas- 
sage between them ; their lowest branches are mostly at a hight 
sufficient to admit men and beasts under them, and thus few 
forests are impenetrable. 
314. In cold countries^ whether occasioned by distance from 
the equator or elevation by means of mountains and table- 
lands, we find the pine^ Jir^ cedar and other resinous plants 
which furnish man with light and fuel during the dreary season 
of winter. The leaves of these trees are mostly filiform, or long 
and narrov/, thus fitted for reverberating the heat like the hair 
of animals, and for resisting the impetuosity of winds which 
often prevail in those regions. In warm countries trees present 
in their foliage a resource from the scorching rays of the sun^ 
their leaves serve as fans and umbrellas. The leaf of the ba 
nana being broad and long like an apron, it has acquired the 
name of Adam's fig-leaf. The leaves of the cocoa-tree are said 
to be from twelve to fifteen feet long, and from seven to eight 
broad. A traveler remarks, that one leaf of the talipot-tree is 
capable of covering from fifteen to twenty persons. The sol- 
diers, he says, use it for a covering to their tents. He observes 
that it seems an inestimable blessing of Providence, in a coun 
try burnt up by the sun, and inundated by rains for six months 
of the year. In our climate during the warm season, Provi 
dence bestows upon us a variety of juicy and acid fruits, cher- 
ries, peaches, plums, melons, and berries ; — nuts and many fruits 
are fitted for preservation during the winter, so that we are 
never destitute of some of these bounties. 
315. A remarkable instance of the care of Providence in providing for the wants 
of man, appears in what is related of the Nepenthts distillatoria, found amidst the 
burning deserts of Africa ; the leaf of which is in the form of a pitcher, and the 
plant possesses the property of secreting moisture to such a degr(!e, as to form a 
Woody shrubs— Trees. — 314. Trees of cold countries- 
mate.— 315. A plant found in tlie deserts of Africa. 
i — Trees of warm countries — 1 
-Fruits of our o.i 
