THE NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE, 195 
system. should be subservient to, not the main object of, 
pursuit. 
Vegetation is highly worthy of our attention; and in itself 
is of the utmost consequence to mankind, and productive of 
many of the greatest comforts and elegancies of life. To 
plants we owe timber, bread, beer, honey, wine, oil, linen, 
cotton, etc., what not only strengthens our hearts, and exhila- 
rates our spirits, but what secures us from inclemencies of 
weather, and adorns our persons. Man, in his true state of 
nature, seems to be subsisted by spontaneous vegetation; in 
middle climes, where grasses prevail, he mixes some animal 
food with the produce of the field and garden; and it is 
towards the polar extremes only that, like his kindred bears 
and wolves, he gorges himself with flesh alone, and is driven 
to what hunger has'never been known to compel the very 
beasts, to prey on his own species. 
The productions of vegetation have had a vast influence on 
the commerce of nations, and have been the great promoters 
of navigation, as may be seen in the articles of sugar, tea, 
tobacco, opium, ginseng,’ betel, paper, etc. As every climate 
has its peculiar produce, our natural wants bring on a mutual 
intercourse ; so that by means of trade each distinct part is 
supplied with the growth of every latitude. But, without the 
knowledge of plants and their culture, we must have been 
content with our hips and haws, without enjoying the delicate 
fruits of India and the salutiferous drugs of Peru. 
Instead of examining the minute distinctions of every various 
species of each obscure genus, the botanist should endeavor 
to make himself acquainted with those that are useful. You 
shall see a man readily ascertain every herb of the field, yet 
hardly know wheat from barley, or at least one sort of wheat 
or barley from another. But of all sorts of vegetation the 
* Ginseng — a plant whose root, of an aromatic flavor, is greatly esteemed 
as a medicine by the Chinese. 
