Construction; how nicely are they formed for the protection and nourishment of the first and tender rudi- 
ments of the fruit, and when it has attained more firmness and solidity, how readily do they relinquish their 
charge, and drop off in decay, when no longer necessary! How wonderfully does the fruit, in some classes, 
envelope and protect the seed till it has arrived at maturity; and lastly, what a passing strange piece of 
organized mechanism is the seed itself, and, being necessary for the reproduction of its species, what a 
remarkable provision is made for its preservation and succession! What but the wisdom of a Deity could 
have devised, that those seeds which are most exposed to the ravages of the inhabitants of the forest should 
not only be doubly, but some of them trebly enclosed;* that those most in request as articles of food, 
should be so hardy and so abundantly prolific;! and that seeds in general, which are the sport of so 
many casualties, and exposed to injury from such a variety of accidents, should be possessed of a principle 
of lasting variety, which makes it indeed no easy matter to deprive them of their fructifying power ! Plants 
are also multiplied and propagated by a variety of ways, which strengthen the provision made for their 
succession. 
Nor is the finger of Providence less visible in the means for diffusing or spreading abroad vegetables, 
than in the provision made for keeping up their succession. The earth may be said to be full of the good- 
ness of the Lord; but how comes it to pass, that in parts untrod by man, and on the tops of ruinous 
buildings, so many varied specimens of the vegetable creation are to be found? Is it not from the manner 
in which nature’s great Husbandman scatters his seeds about? While the seeds of some plants are made 
sufficiently heavy to fall down and take up their abode near the place of their nativity; and others after 
having been swallowed up by quadrupeds, are deposited in the neighbouring soil; some are carried by the 
fowls of the air to places more remote, or, being furnished with a soft plumage, are borne on the winds of 
heaven to the situations allotted for them. To prevent some from pitching too near, they are wrapped up 
in elastic cases, which, bursting when fully ripe, the prisoners fly abroad in all directions; to prevent others 
from straying too far, they are furnished with a kind of grappling hooks, that arrest them in their flight, 
and attach them to the spot most congenial to their growth. These are some of the doings of the Lord, and 
are wondrous in our eyes! 
In the construction of plants we observe a considerable difference in the consistence of the three 
classes. Compared with the shrubby race, how hard, firm, and tenacious is the trunk of the majestic oak; 
and, compared with the herbaceous tribe, how woody, tough, and elastic is the hawthorn twig! But for 
this, how could the mighty monarch of the wood have been able to withstand the fury of the tempest? 
While the more humble and lowly shrubs stand not in need of such firmness of texture, their pliability and 
elastic toughness, together with the prickly coat of mail by which they are enveloped, render them less 
susceptible of injury in their exposed situation. 
Softness, united with a still greater degree of flexibility, are the distinguishing characteristics of the 
herbaceous order; and how wisely has this been ordered for the various purposes for which they were 
created! With the firmness of trees, to what a prickly stubble must nature’s soft and downy carpet have 
given way! With the tenacity of shrubs, how would it have answered as food for our cattle? 
There are, besides, a number of other properties and peculiarities in the vegetable kingdom, in which 
the wonderful working of the Divinity shines pre-eminent. How strange, for instance, that if a seed is 
sown in a reversed position, the young root turns of itself downwards, while the stem refuses to sink 
deeper in the soil, and bends itself round to shoot up through the surface of the earth ! How surprising, 
that when the roots of a tree or a plant meet with a stone or other interruption in their progress under 
ground, they change their direction, and avoid it! How amazing, that the numerous shoots which branch 
out from the root in quest of moisture, pursue, as it were by instinct, the tract that leads to it — turn from 
a barren to a more fertile soil; and that plants shut up in a darksome room, bend or creep to any aperture 
through which the rays of light may be admitted! 
What amazing variety of size, of shape, and of hue, do we discover among this multitudinous order of 
things! What different properties do some possess from others; and what a near approach do a few make 
to that superior order immediately above them, in the scale of existence! The sensitive plant, when 
slightly touched, evinces something like the timidity of our harmless animals; the hedysarum gyrans, or 
moving plant of the East, exhibits an incessant and spontaneous movement of its leaves during the day, in 
warm and clear weather; but in the night season, and in the absence of light and heat, its motions cease, 
and it remains, as it were, in a state of quiescence! The American Venus’ flytrap, like an animal of prey, 
seems to lie in wait to catch the unwary insect.. 
* As in the walnut, we have first a thick, pulpy covering, then a hard shell ; within is the seed, enclosed in a double membrane 
t Wheat is not only a most prolific plant, but comes to maturity in hot and cold, as well as in temperate climates. 
X Carpenter’s Scripture Natural History. 
