212 
HABITATION OF PLANTS. 
perpendicular precipices. Large trees are not usually placed so 
near each other as to prevent a passage between them ; their lowest 
branches are mostly at a height sufficient to admit men and beasts 
under them, and thus few forests are impenetrable. 
In cold countries, whether occasioned by distance from the equa¬ 
tor, or elevation by means of mountains and table lands, we find the 
pine, fir, and cedar, and other resinous plants, which furnish man 
with light and fuel during the dreary season of winter. The leaves 
of these trees are mostly filiform, or long and narrow, thus fitted 
for reverberating the heat like the hair of animals, and for resisting 
the impetuosity of winds which often prevail in those regions. 
In warm countries, trees present, in their foliage, a resource from 
the scorching rays of the sun; their leaves serving as fans and um¬ 
brellas. The leaf of the banana being broad and long, like an 
apron, it has acquired the name of Adam’s fig-leaf. The'leaves of 
the cocoa-tree are said to be from twelve to fifteen feet long and 
from seven to eight broad. A traveller remarks, that one leaf of the 
talipot-tree is capable of covering from fifteen to tw 7 enty persons. 
The soldiers, he says, use it for .a covering to their tents. He ob¬ 
serves, that it seems an inestimable blessing of Providence, in a 
country burnt up by the sun, and inundated by rains for six months 
of the year. In our climate, during the warm season, Providence 
bestows upon us a variety of juicy and acid fruits, cherries, peaches, 
plums, melons, and berries ; nuts and many fruits are fitted for pres¬ 
ervation during the winter, so that we are never destitute of some 
of these bounties. 
A remarkable instance of the care of Providence in providing 
for the wants of man, appears in what is related of a plant* found 
amidst the burning deserts of Africa; the leaf of which is said to be 
in the form of a pitcher, and to possess the property of secreting 
moisture to such a degree as to form a quantity of v/ater sufficient 
for a draught to a thirsty person ; the end of the leaf is folded over 
the throat, as if to prevent the evaporation of the fluid. Various 
other plants, in hot regions, furnish refreshing draughts, or cooling 
fruits, for the thirsty traveller. 
These remarks might be pursued to an extent as great as the 
vastness of the vegetable kingdom, and the wants of man; w 7 e have 
merely glanced at the subject of the adaptation of plants to the wants 
of animal life, hoping that these few 7 suggestions may lead you to 
trace, from your own observation of the w 7 orks of nature, the opera¬ 
tions of that great designing Mind , which rules and governs all with 
infinite wisdom and benevolence. 
The earth, then, we find to be covered with a multitude of species 
of plants, differing not more by their external forms than by their 
internal structure, and each endowed with peculiar habits and 
instincts. 
Some species seem adapted to the mountains, some to the valleys, 
and others to the plains ; some require an argillaceous or clayey 
soil, others a calcareous soil or one impregnated with lime , others a 
quartzose or sandy soil, and some will only grow where the earth 
contains soda or marine salts. Many plants w 7 ill grow only in 
water ; we find here such as are peculiar to the marsh, the lake, the 
river, and the sea. Many plants require a very elevated tempera- 
* Probably the Nepenthes distillatoria. 
Trees—Trees of cold countries—Trees of warm countries—Fruits of our climate— 
A plant found in the deserts of Africa—Reflection—Plants adapted to various soils, 
&c. 
