MOSS. 
145 
While I am contented to blossom apart, 
In my humble bower, by the lowly cot, 
I ask for no homage but that of the heart, 
And smile while I whisper — “ Forget-me-not /” 
MOSSES. 
A few of the most remarkable Mosses are, the Greater 
Water-moss, the Grey Bog-moss, the Yellow Powder-wort, 
and the Common Club-moss. 
Mosses are almost constantly green, and have the finest 
verdure in autumn. Some of the Mosses spread in a con¬ 
tinual leaf; others grow hollow above, like small cups ; 
others round on the top, like mushrooms; and some shoot 
out in branches. All these have their different seeds, which 
do not require great delicacy of soil, but take root on any 
thing where they can grow unmolested. Those Mosses 
which rise immediately from the earth are more perfect: 
some of them white and hollow, or fistulous; and some of 
them not much inferior to regular plants. The more perfect 
sorts grow on stones, in the form of a pile or fur, like vel¬ 
vet, and of a glossy colour, between green and black. But 
the first sort, which appears like scurf or crust, seems to 
rise but one degree above the unwrought mould or earth. 
An unhealthy tree is never without these imperfect super- 
plants ; and the more unhealthy the tree is, the better they 
thrive. 
