what analagous to those which nature has assigned 
them ; that is, in bog earth and moisture. These are, 
of course, naturally found together, and the plants 
which inhabit moist peat are generally unsuitable 
for cultivation in other soil, even if it be kept moist, 
nor in this soil, if it be kept dry. This latter case is 
well elucidated by an example which may he some- 
times met with in farming. In swampy peat mea- 
dows, which yield a fair amount of coarse grass, the 
farmer, to improve the land, drains it thoroughly ; 
the consequence is, that nearly the whole of his for- 
mer stock of grasses dies. They w^ere of species in- 
tended by their Maker for growth in such a situation ; 
and the farmer finds his drained land almost a bar- 
ren plain, till he has cultivated it, and sown seeds 
suitable to the altered circumstances of the soil ; or 
has left it, for years, to its fate, as unproductive and 
useless, till nature herself, and adventitious circum- 
stances, gradually spread over it the seed of other 
grasses, suitable to properly dried land. The seeds 
that are always mixed with the earth, are sometimes 
the careless cultivator’s reliance; but in peat marshes 
there are few of these, unless such marshes have 
been, at times, overflowed with w r ater, which fre- 
quently carries with it abundance of seeds, and dis- 
tributes them indiscriminately. In due time, those 
near the surface vegetate ; and, if the situation be 
suitable to the plant, it flourishes, and lapidly in- 
creases, by the distribution of its own seeds around 
it. Thus continues the earth’s fertility. 
Trillium erectum should be planted in a bed of 
peat, in a moist situation ; or, it may be kept as a 
pot plant with the alpines. 
