NATURAL CONDITIONS OF PLANTS. 17 
chises, and these again to the mulleins, campa- 
nulas, and various other plants, all in their turn 
delighting the eye, and gladdening the heart ; nor 
is the winter season devoid of interest ; the sur- 
face of the ground, and every decaying leaf and 
twig, are inhabited by a world of microscopic 
beauties. All these have maintained their ground 
without interfering with each other, year after 
year, and generation after generation. The same 
page in the great Book of Nature, which filled the 
mind of Ray with the wisdom of God in creation, 
lies open to our view. “ All these things live 
for ever for all men, and they are all obedient. 
All things are double one against another, and 
He hath made nothing imperfect. One thing 
establisheth the good of another, and who shall 
be filled with beholding His glory ? ” Can man, 
with all his boasted wisdom, realize such a scene 
as I have just attempted to depict ? He cannot ; 
he would feel that, “ when he hath done, then he 
beginneth, and when he leaveth off, then he shall 
be doubtful.” 
I have dwelt at some length on the natural 
conditions of plants, convinced of the paramount 
importance of a knowledge of these conditions to 
all cultivators of plants, and cannot do better 
than sum up in the words of a great philosopher 
of the present day. 
