242 LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS. 
a fertile soil: they spread themselves over 
marshes, and soon transform them into smiling 
plains. In winter, when no other plants vege¬ 
tate, they take up the hydrogen and the carbon 
which vitiate the air we breathe, and give it 
back to us charged with the oxygen which 
purifies it. In summer they form, beneath 
overarching trees, carpets on which the shep¬ 
herd, the lover, and the poet, alike delight to 
rest. The little birds line with it the nests 
which they prepare for their infant families, 
and the squirrel constructs with it his circular 
dwelling. Nay, it may be asserted that but for 
the Mosses part of our globe would be uninha¬ 
bitable. 
At the extremity of the earth, the Lapland¬ 
ers cover with Moss the subterraneous abodes, 
where, collected in families, they defy the 
longest and severest winters. Their numerous 
herds of reindeer have no other food, yet they 
supply their owners with delicious milk, nutri¬ 
tious flesh, and warm clothing; thus combining 
for the poor Laplander all the advantages that 
we derive from the cow, the horse, and the 
sheep. 
