looked upon as a nuisance, and the man that can cut down the largest number, and have the fields about his house most clear of them, is looked upon as the most industrious citizen, and the one that is making the greatest improvement in the country. The same author mentions his having heard of Americans, who, on landing on the north-west coast of Ireland, evinced the greatest surprise and pleasure at the beauty of the country, "so clear of

The latter part of the above quotation is calculated to refute the assertion, that the American trees are easily blown down; but I apprehend this to be really the fact, and perhaps it may account for the great preference given in America to the Lombardy poplar, which is planted not only along the roads, but in the towns, and is supposed to enhance the value of every place where it is grown.+ Travellers too, who were certainly not thinking *Weld's Travels in North America, vol. i. p. 39.

+"Great numbers of these poplars, which serve for not one useful purpose, have been planted in America. They border all the streets in Philadelphia, and all the roads about the town.". Liancourt's Travels, vol. i. p. 47.

The Lombardy poplar is much cultivated in the Crimea also. "As soon (says Pallas) as the trees begin to thrive, they are sometimes cleared of all their shoots; when they speedily form the most beautiful pyramidal heads, and attain to an astonishing height; but, notwithstanding their solitary and frequently exposed situation, they have never been observed to be shivered by lightning, broken by violent storms, or torn out of the soil. Their long and vigorous roots run by the side of ditches to a great distance, with extensive ramifications, and sometimes make their way into wells." - Pallas's Travels, vol. ii. p. 442.

ROOTING OF TREES.

25

on our present subject, have been struck with surprise at the facility with which they have observed large trees to be uprooted with the wind. "It is surprising," says Liancourt," that the largest trees seldom strike their roots deeper than about four or five inches into the ground; this was at least the case with all those which had been overturned with the winds, and lay near the road.” *

This superficial situation of the root may, perhaps, arise entirely from the trees growing originally in great numbers together, and affording mutual protection; and I think we may observe that whereever trees stand alone, or are thinly planted, their roots very seldom protrude above the ground; but in thick woods we find them running in numbers upon the surface. The American trees, therefore, if planted in situations where, as they grow up, they would have to depend on their own roots, singly, for support, instead of being upheld by their neighbours, may perhaps acquire as much firmness as the trees of Europe. It is at least a common, and I think a rational opinion, that trees acquire greater stability of root in proportion as they are accustomed to contend with the elements.

Mark yonder oaks! superior to the power
Of all the warring winds of heaven they rise,
And from the stormy promontory tower,
And toss their giant arms amid the skies,

While each assailing blast increase of strength supplies.

*Liancourt's Travels in North America, vol. i. p. 48.

C

Some indeed only grow in situations where they are unavoidably exposed to every storm that blows. Such is a species of fir, which Lord Byron mentions as being peculiar to the Alps, and thriving only in very rocky parts, where it might be supposed there could not be soil sufficient for its nourishment. Yet trees of this kind acquire a giant size, and

grow

Loftiest on loftiest and least sheltered rocks,
Rooted in barrenness, where nought below
Of soil supports them 'gainst the Alpine shocks
Of eddying storms; yet springs the trunk and mock s
The hovering tempest, till its height and frame
Are worthy of the mountains from whose blocks
Of bleak, gray granite, into life it came.

When a horizontal root pushes up stems, at intervals, through the ground, as at Fig. 10., it is named a repent or creeping root (RADIX repens), as in mint, couch-grass, &c.

This root is very tenacious of life, as any portion of it will grow, and hence weeds furnished with it are very troublesome to the gardener and

COUCH-GRASS.

REST-HARROW.

27

husbandman. One of the most familiar examples is the couch or squitch grass (Triticum repens), which is the pest of gardens, and grows in almost every climate. Its root has a sweetish taste, and in seasons of scarcity has been made into bread At Naples, and in some parts of France, it is collected for feeding horses. *

The repent root is in some instances highly useful; for some plants provided with it inhabit naturally the loose sand of the sea coast, and by their spreading and interlacing roots prevent the sands from travelling with the winds, and encroaching on the arable land. Among the most beneficial in this respect, are the sea-lime-grass, the sea-reed, and the sea-seg or sedge. The very existence of Holland depends on these and some other plants, which bind its dikes so firmly together, as to enable them to resist the action of the sea. Some other plants, not of the family of grasses, serve a similar purpose, as the creeping rest-harrow (Ononis repens), and the single-seeded broom, which grow in the loose sands of the shore of Spain, and which latter plant, according to Osbeck, “ turns the most barren place into a fine odoriferous garden, by its flowers, which last a long while." The beautiful

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"Upon the banks of the Garonne I met women loaded with the roots of this plant, going to sell it at market; and they informed me it was bought to feed horses with." Young's Travels in France.

† Osbeck's Voyages, vol. i. p. 42.

sea-eryngo is one of the repent-rooted plants which inhabit the barren sands, and draw their nourishment from a source in which we might naturally suppose nothing but sterility could exist.

Th' Eryngo here
Sits as a queen among the scanty tribes
Of vegetable race. Around her neck
A gorgeous ruff of leaves with arrowy points,
Averts all harsh intrusion. On her brow
She binds a crown of amethystine hue,
Bristling with spicula, thick interwove

With clustering florets, whose light anthers dance
In the fresh breeze, like tiny topaz gems.

Here the sweet rose would die. But she imbibes
From arid sands, and salt-sea dew-drops, strength;
The native of the beach, by nature formed,
To dwell among the ruder elements. *

Roots, also, by retaining the earth and mud, change marshes into dry and habitable land. Hasselquist mentions a small reed which grows in the Nile, and to which, though useless in ordinary life, "the very soil of Egypt is owing, for the matted roots have stopped the earth which floated in the waters, and formed out of the sea a country that is habitable." +

Roots are distinguished by their duration, as well as their direction, substance, or form. They are said to be annual when both root and herb perish within the year; biennial when they live till the second year, or longer, then flower and perish; and perennial, when they live and flower many

* Clontarf, a Poem, by the Rev W. H. Drummond, D. D. + Hasselquist's Voyage, p. 97.